Who will be crowned champions of Europe in Berlin on July 14? What made you feel warm and fuzzy during this European Championship’s group stage? If you had to wear one Euro 2024 kit every day for the rest of your life, which would it be, and why?
These are all very important questions that need answering, we are sure you’ll agree.
Six of our writers give their verdicts on the group phase and look ahead to the knockout rounds starting today (Saturday) in Germany…
Who will win this tournament, and why?
Seb Stafford-Bloor: Spain. They have a bit of everything: pace, skill, flair — and it’s all supported by dependable world-class players. Anyone who beats them will probably win the tournament.
Jacob Whitehead: Spain — their strength in depth was shown against Albania, and in Nico Williams, they have the player of the tournament so far.
Carl Anka: Germany. The hosts have the most tactically-adept coach, a fluid front four and great options off the bench.
Oliver Kay: I’m sticking with France, even though they’ve been poor so far and they are on the tougher side of the draw. Why? Quality and know-how.
James Horncastle: Seb’s gone for Spain so… Austria were my dark horse before the tournament. They’ve exceeded expectations, and shouldn’t fear England and Italy in their half of the draw.
Matt Slater: It’s coming home… if football was invented in Spain. No, that’s too obvious. It’s coming home.
Who will win the Golden Boot, and with how many goals?
Stafford-Bloor: Jamal Musiala (Germany). Five.
Whitehead: Niclas Fullkrug (Germany). Four goals, all off the bench.
Anka: Fullkrug. Six.
Kay: Kylian Mbappe (France), four.
Horncastle: Musiala, four goals.
Slater: Harry Kane (England), four.
What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen at Euro 2024?
Stafford-Bloor: Cristiano Ronaldo missing the best own goal of the tournament because he was mid-tantrum.
Zeki Celik and Altay Bayindir chase after Samet Akaydin’s errant backpass (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images)
Whitehead: A glum Scotland being serenaded out of their base camp by the world’s jolliest oompah band after elimination.
Anka: A Scotland fan telling his friend, “When this gets to 2-0, I’m going back to town”, in Frankfurt’s fan zone on day one of the tournament. He stuck to his word, too.
Kay: Seeing people queue for a photo with a full-kit-wearing Cristiano Ronaldo lookalike who, up close, looked more like a cross between Alvaro Morata and John O’Shea.
Horncastle: Remember that scene from one of The Matrix movies about cursing in French being the best? What about a Frenchman cursing in English? Willy Sagnol’s use of the word ‘tw*t’ was magnifique.
Slater: While watching a freestyler in the Cologne fan zone before England-Slovenia, a fan behind me said, in broad Geordie, “Someone two-foot the flash git.”
If you had to wear one Euro 2024 kit every day for the rest of your life, which would it be, and why?
Stafford-Bloor: Germany’s away pink. Everyone here is wearing it and I just really want to fit in. Also, I’m really into using e-scooters, particularly at night on the streets around Munich, so… visibility.
Whitehead: Portugal away. Feels weirdly smart, but also frivolous. My girlfriend is unlikely to accept this, but once expressed an admiration for the tiling in Lisbon.
Anka: France away. The pinstriping is lovely and I reckon it would match well with a nice blazer and linen trousers.
Kay: Netherlands away. The Athletic’s Nick Miller likened it before the tournament to the pattern you’d find on the seats of a rural bus. Very much like my wardrobe, then.
Wout Weghorst, Netherlands’ No 9, did not delay his impact at Euro 2024 (Joosep Martinson – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Horncastle: Italy home and France away are perfect, but I’m a sucker for a cultural motif like the Azulejos (famous ceramics from the city of Porto) detailed on Portugal’s second shirt.
Slater: Carl has already nabbed France away and we can’t go out wearing the same shirt, so I’ll go for Georgia’s home one. I love a bit of Macron.
More on the world of football kits…
Who is the player at this tournament Europe’s biggest clubs should be tracking?
Stafford-Bloor: Turkey’s left-back Ferdi Kadioglu, of Fenerbahce. Skilful and smart with the ball, resilient without it. Terrific. Perhaps there are flaws, but I have not seen any in their first three games.
Whitehead: Georgia and Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili is already being tracked — but should be boosted. Outstanding in all three games, with good distribution.
Anka: Mamardashvili, 23, is going about his business like a young Manuel Neuer or David de Gea. The jury’s out on his distribution but he’s a tremendous shot-stopper.
Kay: It’s an obvious one, but Nico Williams. He’s already at a big club, Athletic Bilbao, but the 21-year-old Spaniard is certain to attract interest from higher up the food chain.
Horncastle: Bologna’s Riccardo Calafiori is a Kappa anthem jacket away from being the identikit major-tournament Italy centre-half.
Calafiori carrying the ball out of defence for Italy (Claudio Villa/Getty Images for FIGC)
Slater: Going last isn’t doing me any favours (I spotted Mamardashvili, too!). I like Romania’s Andrei Ratiu of Rayo Vallecano in Spain and David Strelec, who still plays in his native Slovakia for Slovan Bratislava… but “biggest clubs”? A stretch. I’ll go for England and Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi.
Tell us one thing that has made you say ‘Wow!’ — or a ruder variation of ‘Wow!’
Stafford-Bloor: Probably the atmosphere in Munich’s Marienplatz on the opening day (hosts Germany beat Scotland 5-1 in Munich that night). It was one of those ‘Welcome to the tournament’ moments that set a tone which has lasted throughout.
Whitehead: Mattia Zaccagni’s late equaliser for Italy against Croatia — an Alessandro Del Piero-esque finish that knocked out the great Luka Modric from what was probably his final major tournament.
Anka: Georgia fans singing their national anthem before facing the Czech Republic. Players and fanbase beaming with pride. They partied hard in Hamburg all night afterwards, too.
Kay: That run of dramatic, late, winning goals, some of them spectacular, and the noise that greeted them. A welcome reminder of how much international football means, particularly to smaller countries.
The aftermath of Cenk Tosun’s late winner for Turkey against the Czech Republic (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Horncastle: Honestly, it’s my colleague Pol Ballus telling me, in the car back from Gelsenkirchen, that Lamine Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, is 34 years old. Check out his Instagram. Incredible content.
Slater: The flash of lightning that seemed to hit the Frankfurt Arena during the Romania-Slovakia game, which was plenty loud enough already.
England will…
Stafford-Bloor: Go far. Tournaments are about surviving, rather than playing well. England need fear to perform. There is plenty of that around the corner.
Whitehead: Lose in the quarter-finals to an Italy side who aren’t actually as bad as their defeat by Spain made them appear. It’s feeling like Euro 2012 again.
Anka: Have a workman-like win against Slovakia in the round of 16 before losing in the quarter-finals. Gareth Southgate and Kane will both hang it up after that.
Is Euro 2024 Southgate and Kane’s last dance? (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Kay: Beat Slovakia (I think). Beyond that, nothing would surprise me. They’ve been miserable, but the draw is now favourable. They might only have to achieve competence, rather than brilliance, to reach the final.
Horncastle: Never learn.
Slater: Most likely annoy, depress and infuriate me, as they have done so many times before, but now that I have set my expectations so low, who knows, right?
Which team have been the most fun to watch?
Stafford-Bloor: Slovenia’s organisation and willingness to work for one another has been compelling. They are also a better team than assumed and have already shown themselves capable of attacking in neat, well-built counters.
Whitehead: Georgia. They play like bullfighters, though with less ethical questions: waiting until the final moment before shuffling the ball away with a flash of their blood-red cloak.
Anka: Jacob has already said Georgia, so I’ll nominate Albania. A hard-working, hard-running, counter-attacking team you wish had a little more guile in front of goal.
Kay: Spain have played some lovely football, built around the wing play of Yamal and Williams. They also take risks and leave gaps at the other end, which is fun.
Lamine Yamal, 16, is lighting up the tournament (Alex Pantling – UEFA via Getty Images)
Horncastle: Spain. They do that Top Gun thing: “I’ll hit the brakes and they’ll fly right by.” I remember Lorenzo Pellegrini sliding in so fast on Yamal, only for him to lift the ball over the Italian.
Slater: I haven’t seen Spain in the flesh yet, so I’ll let the others praise them. I enjoyed Musiala, Toni Kroos et al against Hungary, and Romania are bags of fun.
Which team have been the most boring to watch?
Stafford-Bloor: England. The standard of performance was bad enough, but the noise they have inspired has been — as it always, always is — deeply tedious.
Whitehead: All of Group C. It would have been Serbia, but at least they scored a last-minute equaliser, so England get a special mention.
Anka: Poland have struggled in the entertainment stakes since beating Switzerland in the round of 16 at the Euros eight years ago. Robert Lewandowski or bust has finally run its course.
Kay: The easy answer is England, but at least they’ve tried to keep the ball and tried to attack. Scotland, having done so well to qualify, left their ambitions in the overhead locker when they flew here.
Horncastle: I want to know at which point the England fan who woke up in the early hours in Gelsenkirchen’s Arena AufSchalke fell asleep. I’m guessing it was half an hour after England kicked off.
Slater: England, by miles. The Denmark game was so bad it conned me into thinking the Slovenia game that followed was OK. But Scotland’s insipid display against Hungary warrants a mention.
Which team has had the most ‘unusual environment‘?
Stafford-Bloor: I’ll always remember Serbian players shouting at one another about rhythm and positioning during their game with Slovenia, while manager Dragan Stojkovic was doing tricks with the ball in his technical area.
Whitehead: The Netherlands, mostly because Ronald Koeman has been insulting his players in interviews every five minutes. Check out poor Joey Veerman, who he subbed off in the 35th minute against Austria.
Ronald Koeman ‘encouraging’ Cody Gakpo (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Anka: Watching England games with German commentary/pundits puts into perspective how odd and over the top we can get about them.
Kay: It’s been strangely meltdown-free. I’ll say England. By the upbeat standards of the Southgate era, the vibes from the camp haven’t seemed right.
Horncastle: Turkey are essentially playing at home in this tournament. You might think that brings positive pressure, as multiple German cities are gridlocked by celebratory Turks after a win. But it also seems to weigh on the players and head coach Vincenzo Montella.
Slater: Ukraine. It is sad that we have got so used to the insanity of what is happening in their country we are disappointed with their performance here.
Which set of fans have been the best?
Stafford-Bloor: Romania’s. When they returned to Munich city centre after beating Ukraine out at the Allianz Arena, it began a party that lasted well into the night. Every bar, restaurant, tram, bus and train seemed to be painted with yellow shirts for at least 48 hours.
Whitehead: Turkey’s. I’ve been walking around cities they aren’t even playing in to a soundtrack of honking cars with Turkish flags waving out the windows.
Anka: Georgians can party. Hard.
Kay: Scotland’s. Their team gave them precisely nothing to cheer, or even smile, about — beyond the obvious achievement of qualification — but they remained loud, passionate, upbeat and funny.
Scotland fans had a better time in Germany than their team (Michaela Stache / AFP)
Horncastle: Tough call between the spaghetti-snapping Albanians, Dortmund’s Turks and the 25,000 Croatians who made the Italy game in Leipzig so beer-soakingly hostile.
Slater: Lots of candidates for this. The Dutch have the best visuals, the Romanians the best acoustics. But the Scots are very good all-round tourists.
What has made you feel warm and fuzzy inside?
Stafford-Bloor: Musiala making the tournament his own. For many, he has become a unifying figure; an image of modern Germany to be proud of.
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Jamal Musiala – made in Fulda: ‘It’s crazy to think he used to play here’
Whitehead: Fullkrug’s gap-toothed grins of glee after two goals — his blast against Scotland and that group-winning equaliser against Switzerland. Underestimated no longer.
Anka: Fans from all across Europe having a sing and a dance to whatever German folk music many of the smaller bars here like to play.
Kay: The celebrations of the Georgia players, singing and dancing on their way out of the stadium after that historic victory over Portugal.
Georgia players dance through the mixed zone after their famous win over Portugal, and qualification into the #Euro2024 knockouts.
🎥 @OliverKay pic.twitter.com/TpqU7exi85
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) June 26, 2024
Horncastle: Josip Ilicic coming on for Slovenia against England. Declan Rice showing his appreciation for him. That and Italy’s training base, Casa Azzurri. It has a barbershop and a pinsa oven.
Slater: I’m a sucker for good national anthems and, no matter how many times I hear it, La Marseillaise always makes me think of this scene in Casablanca and brings a lump to my throat.
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What has made you throw your beer/would have done if you were into that sort of thing?
Stafford-Bloor: Fullkrug’s stoppage-time equaliser against Switzerland in Frankfurt. That was a header.
Whitehead: Arda Guler’s goal for Turkey against Georgia. A match played in an incredible atmosphere, with a fantastic strike to match. It felt like the emergence of a big player.
Arda Guler lets fly against Georgia (Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
Anka: Croatia have conceded two last-minute equalisers that dragged me out of my seat — Klaus Gjasula’s goal for Albania saw a stadium erupt.
Kay: My main thought here is … what happened to throwing streams of toilet roll? Think Argentina 1978. So much more evocative, so much more economical. (NB — it must be unused.)
(Staff/AFP via Getty Images)
Horncastle: “…ZAAAACCCCCCAGNNNNNNI!!”
Slater: There is absolutely no way I would ever throw a €9 (£7.50; $9.50) beer but, again, of the games I’ve witnessed, Hungary’s late winner against Scotland was a ‘limbs’ moment.
GO DEEPER
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(Top photos: Getty Images)
