With Germany getting Euro 2024 off to an emphatic start, we take a look at the biggest wins in European Championship history.
Biggest Euros Wins
Netherlands 6-1 Yugoslavia – 25 June 2000
France 5-0 Belgium – 16 June 1984
Denmark 5-0 Yugoslavia – 16 June 1984
Sweden 5-0 Bulgaria – 14 June 2004
Slovakia 0-5 Spain – 23 June 2021
From Michel Platini to Cristiano Ronaldo, Johan Cruyff to Kylian Mbappe; the European Championship has seen so many of the game’s biggest stars grace its stage since its inception in 1958.
However, it has been a relatively low-scoring tournament, with there only one instance of a team scoring more than five goals in a game at the Euros. By comparison, there have been 38 matches at the FIFA World Cup where a country has scored six or more goals, albeit that competition has had far more games given it is a larger tournament and has been going since 1930.
There have been some heavily one-sided encounters at the Euros, though. Will UEFA Euro 2024 provide any more? We hope so, but for now, here’s the biggest wins ever recorded at previous tournaments.
Netherlands 6-1 Yugoslavia – 25 June 2000
The Dutch flourished in their home tournament at Euro 2000 (jointly hosted with Belgium) and had looked impressive in their group, finishing top of Group D ahead of reigning world champions France, whom they beat 3-2 at the Amsterdam Arena.
Yugoslavia had already shown a vulnerability at the back, finishing second in Group C despite conceding the most goals out of the four teams in it, including three against Slovenia and four to Spain.
This quarter-final was indeed as one-sided as the scoreline suggests, with Patrick Kluivert giving the Netherlands a 2-0 lead at the break. A lovely ball over the top from Dennis Bergkamp found Kluivert to control and prod past Ivica Kralj, before the Barcelona striker converted an almost identical Edgar Davids pass to double the advantage with a first-time shot.
Rotterdam could relax when a Dejan Govedarica own goal made it 3-0, which became four soon after when Kluivert found the corner of the net from a Boudewijn Zenden ball to complete his treble – one of only eight hat-tricks scored at the Euros.
Frank Rijkaard’s side added two more through Marc Overmars, before Savo Milošević scored what was the epitome of a consolation for Yugoslavia late on.
Netherlands went no further, though, losing on penalties to Italy in the semi-finals. It will have hurt the Oranje to see France go all the way and win the trophy having bested Les Bleus earlier in the tournament.
France 5-0 Belgium – 16 June 1984
Both teams came into this meeting having won their opening Group 1 games. Hosts France had edged Denmark 1-0 in the first game of Euro 84, while Belgium had beaten Yugoslavia 2-0.
Michel Platini scored the only goal of that opening game and took just four minutes to give his country the lead in this one, firing in from the edge of the box after Patrick Battiston had hit the bar with a free-kick.
The second came after a lovely one-two between Jean Tigana and Alain Giresse, which allowed the latter to race through and dink Jean-Marie Pfaff in the Belgium goal. Giresse then turned provider, crossing for Luis Fernandez to head in a third before half-time.
Pfaff brought down Didier Six to allow Platini to score his second from the penalty spot, before the France legend completed his hat-trick in the 89th minute when he headed in a Giresse free-kick from the right.
Platini ended the tournament with nine goals as France went on to win the whole thing, beating Spain 2-0 in the final. Belgium were eliminated in the group stage after losing 3-2 to Denmark in their next game.
Denmark 5-0 Yugoslavia – 16 June 1984
Remarkably, not only is this game from the same tournament, but it’s also actually from the same day. Just a few hours after France had beaten Belgium 5-0 to record the biggest win in Euros history, Denmark matched it with a rout of Yugoslavia.
Wanting to make up for their opening game defeat to the tournament hosts France, the Danes wasted no time and were ahead inside eight minutes when Frank Arnesen’s low cross was pushed into his own net by Yugoslavia goalkeeper Tomislav Ivković.
Klaus Berggreen made it two after Michael Laudrup lifted the ball over Ivković, but Denmark had to wait until midway through the second half to pull away. Arnesen converted a penalty before Preben Elkjær and substitute John Lauridsen completed the scoring in the final minutes.
Yugoslavia ended Euro 84 without a point from Group 1, but Denmark made it to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Spain in a penalty shoot-out.
Sweden 5-0 Bulgaria – 14 June 2004
Sweden’s opening game of Euro 2004 went about as well as could be expected, especially after seeing Denmark and Italy play out a 0-0 draw earlier in the day in the other game in Group C.
There weren’t many early signs of their tussle with Bulgaria developing into a hammering, as Freddie Ljungberg’s tap-in from a Zlatan Ibrahimović pass was the only goal of the first half in Lisbon.
The game was effectively settled by Henrik Larsson just before the hour, though, first heading in superbly from an Erik Edman cross in the 57th minute and then diverting a low ball from Anders Svensson in at the far post just a minute later.
Ljungberg was brought down in the box by Vladimir Ivanov to allow Ibrahimović to make it 4-0 from the spot, before Marcus Allbäck made it five in stoppage time after racing onto a pass from Larsson.
It made a difference for Sweden as they finished top of the group on goal difference after themselves, Denmark and Italy all finished on five points, the Azzurri suffering elimination on goal difference. Sweden couldn’t get past the quarter-finals, however, losing to the Netherlands on penalties, with Greece surprisingly going on to win the tournament.
Slovakia 0-5 Spain – 23 June 2021
Spain were in a precarious position heading into their final game of Group E at Euro 2020, with just two points after draws against Sweden and Poland. Another draw would probably have seen them eliminated, while a defeat against Slovakia certainly would.
La Roja were awarded an early penalty, but Alvaro Morata’s kick was saved by Martin Dúbravka, making it five successive penalties in all competitions that Spain had failed to score from.
A shocker from Dúbravka just before the half hour provided the break they needed, though, with the Newcastle United goalkeeper surprisingly pawing the ball into his own goal after Pablo Sarabia had hit the crossbar. The sun was in Dúbravka’s eyes, which made him misjudge where the ball was when he tried to help it over the bar.
The goalkeeper was all over the place again when failing to deal with a lofted ball, allowing Gerard Moreno to cross for Aymeric Laporte to head in a second just before half-time.
A low ball from Jordi Alba was diverted in by Sarabia 10 minutes into the second half, before the Sarabia turned provider to give Ferran Torres a tap-in just moments after coming on as a substitute.
It was 5-0 in the 71st minute via another own goal, this time it was the unfortunate Juraj Kucka who tried to clear a Pau Torres header and instead found the bottom-right corner of the net.
Slovakia were eliminated as a result, while Spain made it all the way to the semi-finals, beating Croatia and Switzerland along the way before losing a penalty shootout to eventual tournament winners Italy, who had also dumped them out at Euro 2016.
All Four-Goal Wins at the UEFA European Championship
- Spain 4-0 Republic of Ireland – 14 June 2012
- Spain 4-0 Italy – 1 July 2012
- Hungary 0-4 Belgium – 26 June 2016
- Wales 0-4 Denmark – 26 June 2021
- Ukraine 0-4 England – 3 July 2021
- Germany 5-1 Scotland – 14 June 2024
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