Berlin, Jun 19 (EFE).- The start of the Euro 2024 Championship in Germany has been the best scoring start in the competition’s history in terms of average goals per game since it was held in Belgium and the Netherlands almost a quarter of a century ago.
The stoppage time goal by Francisco Conceiçao that gave Portugal a victory over the Czech Republic on Tuesday night took the number of goals to 34 in 12 matches in the opening round of the tournament, starting with Florian Wirtz’s 10-minute opener in Friday’s Germany Vs. Scotland match.
It also took the average goal to a considerable 2.83 points per game.
These figures have remained close to the mark of three goals per game scored in the first round of Euro 2000.
The highest five goals per game were seen in the Yugoslavia 1976 edition, which ended with Antonin Panenka converting a historic penalty to hand Czechoslovakia the title.
Since the group stage prior to the playoffs was introduced, with their successive expansions of both teams and rounds, Euro 2000 has been the most prolific in terms of goals per game at the opening of the championship.
Until now, since the expansions occurred in the tournament, the record of Belgium and the Netherlands in 2000 was closely followed by the start of the competition in Poland and Ukraine in 2012, when 20 goals were scored in eight matches.
The 2020 multi-venue event postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19 saw an average of 2.33 goals after teams found the back of the net 28 times in 12 matches. EFE
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