The 24 teams set to compete at the 2024 European Championships in Germany have finally been confirmed, with a first-timer, and some that have not seen the competition in several editions to feature.
Of course, there are those that will be in the competition that are perennial challengers, with a few of them being among the leading candidates to win this year’s edition. Italy will be looking to return to the top of European international football as they look to reclaim the title they won in the rearranged Euro 2020 tournament. In contrast, England will want to go one better and finally get over the line.
Other nations will also feel they have a great opportunity to compete for the biggest honours the competition provides, which is why the tournament is one of the biggest in the football calendar whenever it takes place.
Competitive Nations Can Lead to Extra-Time
Given the strength of the UEFA European Championships in terms of competitive teams, the likelihood of seeing games reach extra-time in the knockout stages of the competition is a real possibility.
According to data by freebetoffers.org.uk, the number of games that can go into additional time can be of the higher number. In the last seven editions of the tournament (going back to Euro 1996), four of them that have required 10+ games to need more time to separate the two teams that have been involved.
The highest total has been 13, with this coming in the 2016 edition of the competition, although it should be noted that, like this year’s edition, there were 51 games played in the tournament. This is 20 more games than the other editions mentioned, which had just 31 games. The 2020 edition also featured 51 games, but only had one fewer draw occur in the knockout rounds. As a result, these stats suggest we could expect quite a bit of draws, as the 2024 European Championships will also feature 51 games.
In addition, the two finals that were played in those events also resulted in requiring additional time to be played, with scores of 0-0 and 1-1 being registered by the time the whistle was blown after 90 minutes in the 2016 and 2020 tournaments, respectively. With these figures, it would not be a surprise to see more of the same, especially as national teams continue to get stronger with talented pools of players to choose from.
What Scores Have Been Recorded the Most to Force Extra-Time in the Euros?
The same available data reveals that there is one score that can often occur during the knockouts more than others when forcing a game to go into extra-time. This is something that bettors may want to consider if they are thinking about placing a bet on the football competition this summer, as there does appear to be a pattern.
A score of 1-1 by the time the final whistle is blown during the elimination rounds has occurred on no fewer than 32 times. Since Euro 1996, there have been 61 draws that have been experienced in these rounds, meaning this result has occurred in more than half of them.
Unsurprisingly, 0-0 is the second most frequent result when pushing a game to extra time, with it having been registered on 21 occasions. Of the other 10 ties remaining, 2-2 and 3-3 have each occurred five times each.
At Euro 2020, only one game finished 0-0 in the knockout stage despite 12 ties needing extra-time. Similarly, no game in the knockout rounds of Euro 2016 that required an extra 30 minutes finished 0-0, with the four times of the 51 games played in which it occurred having happened in the tournament’s group stage.