By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp
The group stage of the 2024 European Football Championship (EURO 2024), hosted by Germany, with 24 teams competing in six groups of four, concluded on Wednesday.
In a total of 36 matches, 81 goals were scored and the average goals scored per match was 2.25.
- Guler youngest player to score in Euro debut, Modric oldest to score in competition
Turkish wunderkind Arda Guler became the youngest player to score in his European Championship debut at the age of 19 years and 114 days with his goal from distance against Georgia in the first match of Group F.
Croatian midfielder Luka Modric, who is his country's most-capped player in the history of the European Championships with 16 matches, became the oldest scorer in the EURO history with his goal against Italy at the age of 38 years and 289 days.
Modric played for Croatia at the EURO 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Albanian player Nedim Bajrami scored the fastest goal in the history of the competition by scoring in the 23rd second against Italy in a Group B match.
Georges Mikautadze, a striker from Türkiye's opponent in Group F, Georgia, was the top scorer of the group stage with three goals, two of them from penalties.
Germans Jamal Musiala and Niclas Fullkrug, Romanian Razvan Marin, Dutch Cody Gakpo, and Slovak Ivan Schranz followed with two goals each.
- Hosts Germany top-scoring team of group stage
The top-scoring team of the group stage was hosts Germany with eight goals, followed by Austria with six, while Türkiye, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland were also top scorers with five goals each.
The EURO 2024 will continue on Saturday with a Round of 16 match between Switzerland and Italy.
The final will be held on July 14 in Berlin.