If it comes to England taking part in a penalty shootout at Euro 2024, which players should step up and be their takers? We analyse the penalty data for England’s squad to find out.

Penalty shootouts haven’t been kind to England in the past. Across the men’s World Cup and European Championship, the Three Lions have been involved in nine shootouts and lost seven of them.

No European nation have lost more penalty shootouts than England across the World Cup and Euros, although the Three Lionsdid also win a UEFA Nations League penalty shootout against Switzerland in 2019.

England Penalty Shootouts at Major Tournaments

1990 World Cup Semi-Final vs Germany – Lost 4-3
1996 European Championship Quarter-Final vs Spain – Won 4-2
1996 European Championship Semi-Final vs Germany – Lost 6-5
1998 World Cup Last 16 vs Argentina – Lost 4-3
2004 European Championship Quarter-Final vs Portugal – Lost 6-5
2006 World Cup Quarter-Final vs Portugal – Lost 3-1
2012 European Championship Quarter-Final vs Italy – Lost 4-2
2018 World Cup Last 16 vs Colombia – Won 4-3
2020 European Championship Final vs Italy – Lost 3-2

The closest England’s men’s team have come to winning something since their 1966 World Cup success was at Euro 2020, but that ended in penalty shootout heartache, too.

At this edition of the European Championship, do England have the players that can win them a penalty shootout? We look at the records of their squad members from the spot at senior club and country level to find out.

Who Should Take a Penalty for England at Euro 2024?

Harry Kane is England’s most experienced penalty taker with 86, 40 more than any other player in the squad. While he’s missed 10 penalties across his senior career, a lot of those were in his earlier years; five of them came in his first 23 taken, with another five missed across the subsequent 63.

Kane’s only miss in his last 18 penalties taken was particularly unfortunate for England, as it came against France in the 2022 World Cup quarter-final. After scoring a spot-kick in the 54th minute of that match, he blazed another over the bar with six minutes remaining and England exited the tournament.

His record in penalty shootouts is impeccable, however. He has scored all five of his kicks in shootouts, including both for England in international tournaments – one versus Colombia at the 2018 World Cup and the other in the Euro 2020 final shootout loss to Italy at Wembley.

Ivan Toney has an exceptional record from penalties, too. Overall, he’s missed just three of his 40, and only one of those was among his 32 most recent attempts – a spot-kick saved by Nick Pope against Newcastle in Brentford’s Premier League game versus them in April 2023. Toney did atone for that miss later in the game, however, scoring from the spot 17 minutes after.

Bukayo Saka has only ever missed two penalties out of 15 taken at senior level for club and country, but unfortunately for him and England, one of those was in the shootout defeat to Italy in the final of Euro 2020. Inexperience may have played a part there, though; that was his first penalty at senior level.

There are five players in the England Euro 2024 squad who have taken at least three senior penalties and never missed.

Cole Palmer has scored all 11 of the penalties he’s taken, 10 of those coming for Chelsea in 2023-24 and the other coming against Bosnia-Herzegovina in England’s warm-up game for this tournament.

Jude Bellingham exudes confidence like no other England player, so it’s not too surprising that he’s been able to handle the pressure of taking penalties in the past. He’s scored all four that he’s taken, including one shootout kick for Real Madrid against Manchester City this season in the UEFA Champions League.

Lewis Dunk has the same record as Bellingham, scoring four from four, although all of his have come in penalty shootouts. Trent Alexander-Arnold has taken three senior penalties and scored them all – every one of them coming in shootouts against Chelsea. Anthony Gordon also has a 100% record from the spot from his three taken.

Of England’s 26-man Euro 2024 squad, 21 have taken a penalty for club or country at senior level. The only players in the England squad to have never taken a senior-level penalty are Marc Guéhi, Joe Gomez, Adam Wharton and goalkeepers Aaron Ramsdale and Dean Henderson.

Jordan Pickford is the only England men’s goalkeeper in history to take a penalty for his country and he scored it, netting past Switzerland’s Yann Sommer in the UEFA Nations League in June 2019.

England’s Euro 2024 Squad: Senior Penalty Records for Club & Country

Harry Kane – 86 taken, 76 scored (88% success rate)
Ivan Toney – 40 taken, 37 scored (93% success rate)
Bukayo Saka – 15 taken, 13 scored (87% success rate)
Ollie Watkins – 11 taken, 6 scored (55% success rate)
Jarrod Bowen – 11 taken, 8 scored (73% success rate)
Cole Palmer – 11 taken, 11 scored (100% success rate)
Eberechi Eze – 8 taken, 7 scored (88% success rate)
Kieran Trippier – 6 taken, 3 scored (50% success rate)
Jude Bellingham – 4 taken, 4 scored (100% success rate)
Lewis Dunk – 4 taken, 4 scored (100% success rate)
Declan Rice – 4 taken, 2 scored (50% success rate)
Ezri Konsa – 3 taken, 2 scored (67% success rate)
Phil Foden – 3 taken, 2 scored (67% success rate)
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 3 taken, 3 scored (100% success rate)
Anthony Gordon – 3 taken, 3 scored (100% success rate)
Kyle Walker – 2 taken, 2 scored (100% success rate)
Conor Gallagher – 2 taken, 2 scored (100% success rate)
Kobbie Mainoo – 2 taken, 2 scored (100% success rate)
John Stones – 1 taken, 1 scored (100% success rate)
Jordan Pickford – 1 taken, 1 scored (100% success rate)
Luke Shaw – 1 taken, 1 scored (100% success rate)
Marc Guéhi – 0 taken
Joe Gomez – 0 taken
Adam Wharton – 0 taken
Aaron Ramsdale – 0 taken
Dean Henderson – 0 taken

Should You Bring on Substitutes to Take a Penalty?

Well, it didn’t work out well for England last time they did this. Gareth Southgate brought on Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford in the final minute of the Euro 2020 final against Italy and neither scored. Rashford hit the post and Sancho’s kick was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

England Penalty Shootouts Euro 2020 Italy

These are two of the four occasions a player has come on in the final two minutes of extra-time in a European Championship match and taken a penalty in the shootout that followed. The other two also missed their spot-kicks in the shootout.

Italy’s Simone Zaza missed the target entirely with his penalty against Germany in their Euro 2016 quarter-final, while Spain’s Rodri saw his kick saved by Switzerland goalkeeper Sommer in Euro 2020. Luckily for the Manchester City midfielder, Spain went on to win that shootout despite his miss.

How About Changing Your Goalkeeper?

Probably the most successful example of substituting your goalkeeper in recent memory came at the 2014 World Cup, when the Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal took a gamble that paid off.

With seconds remaining at the end of extra-time in the Oranje’s World Cup quarter-final tie with Costa Rica, Van Gaal made the decision to substitute goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen for Tim Krul, with the coach believing the latter was a better shot-stopper from penalties than the man he replaced.

Krul went on to save penalties in the shootout from Bryan Ruiz and Michael Umaña, and the Netherlands progressed to the semis.

So, could England do the same if it came to a penalty shootout at Euro 2024, or does the data suggest sticking with Pickford would be a better option?

Pickford has faced 83 senior penalties for club and country, saving 13 of them (15.7%). But that ratio gets better when looking only at those taken in shootouts, having saved six penalties from 27 faced (22.2%). Two of those saves came in the Euro 2020 final versus Italy, as he stopped both Andrea Belotti and Jorginho’s penalties, but his efforts were in vain as they lost the shootout.

Aaron Ramsdale has only ever saved two penalties in his senior career, despite facing 34 overall. However, one of those saves came from the last penalty he faced, halting Rodri’s spot-kick in the 2023 FA Community Shield against Man City, which Arsenal won 4-1 in the shootout.

If Southgate was to make a goalkeeping substitution for the shootout, then he’d undoubtedly go for Dean Henderson. He has saved nearly a quarter of the 38 penalties he’s faced across his senior career (nine – 23.7%). In the last penalty shootout he was involved in, Henderson saved two penalties for Nottingham Forest against Wolves in their League Cup quarter-final tie, as Forest progressed to the semis.

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