In 9 The ball will roll in Germany at the 2024 European Championship in just a few days. The DFB team will then open the finals in the first group match against Scotland. Kick-off is at 9 p.m. in Munich's Allianz Arena.
Today we look at our European Championship countdown the player who scored the most goals in a final tournament – and not on the record goalscorer in the entire history of the European Football Championship. This is none other than the 'Maestro of French Football': Michael PlatiniThe future national coach and long-time UEFA President was to EM 1984 namely (most likely) set a record for eternity.
That European Championship was France's second home European Championship, after the first tournament had already taken place there in 1960. The curious thing is that the Equipe Tricolore did not even take part in the five tournaments that took place between 1960 and 1984. They had not qualified in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976 or 1980. Platini, who had been awarded the first of his three Ballon d'Ors the year before, actually played his first European Championship games at the age of 28 at the 1984 European Championship.
But that didn't stop Platini – who came seventh in the FIFA vote for the best footballer of the 20th century – from making his mark on the home European Championship. Two years earlier, France had been unluckily defeated by Germany in the semi-finals of the 1982 World Cup. Now the team led by coach Michel Hidalgo wanted to make amends and finally win the great football nation's first title – and Platini delivered.
The attacking midfielder and creative mind of Les Bleus scored the decisive 1-0 winning goal in the opening game against Denmark in the 78th minute and was also on hand in the second group game against Belgium. There he scored the 1-0 goal in the 4th minute and thus initiated a 5-0 win, to which he contributed two more goals in the closing stages. In the narrow 3-2 win against the already eliminated Yugoslavia, Platini even managed his second hat trick in a row, which was of particular importance. With the 1-1 he scored his 31st international goal and thus replaced Just Fontaine as his country's record goalscorer. His diving header to give them a 2-1 lead was also voted 'Goal of the Month for June' by German football fans in the Sportschau shortly afterwards.
As only eight teams took part in the finals of a European Championship in 1984, the group phase was followed by the semi-finals. France were faced with Portugal – and probably the most dramatic game of the tournament. The Equipe Tricolore had taken an early lead through Jean-Francois Domergue, but conceded a 1-1 equaliser in the 74th minute against a strong defensive and counter-attacking Portuguese team. This was a real shock, as the game went into extra time. There, France pushed for the lead – and ran into a counter-attack. The game seemed decided, but the hosts did not give up and actually equalised in the 114th minute. But that was not all: One minute before the end, Platini even scored the much-celebrated 3-2 winner, lifting France into the final.
There, it was Platini who played the decisive role again. Initially surprised by the offensive style of play of the Spanish team, France hardly had any chances to score for a long time. In the 57th minute, when the French fans were already getting restless, Platini, with the help of the Spanish goalkeeper Luis Arconada, converted a free kick to give them a somewhat surprising 1-0 lead and put his nation on the road to victory. Spain pressed, France countered and scored the 2-0 in the 90th minute through Bruno Bellone. Les Bleus' first title win was secured – thanks to Platini's nine goals.
A figure that no player has come close to since then. In fact, only one player has scored more than five goals at a European Championship since 1984 – once again a Frenchman at a home European Championship: Antoine Griezmann. The Atletico Madrid striker shot the Equipe Tricolore into the 2016 final with six goals, which they then lost 1-0 to Portugal.
Platini was not to score any more goals at the European Championships, as France, as defending champions, failed to qualify again in 1988. It was not until 1992 that they made it to the finals again – and then with Platini on the coaching bench. Nevertheless, his nine goals were enough to keep them in the top flight for a long time. Record goalscorer the European Championship. Christiano Ronaldo was only able to equal this record in 2016 and surpass it in 2021. The Portuguese now holds the new goal record with 14 goals in finals, Platini remains in second place ahead of Griezmann and Alan Shearer (7 each).
