Euro 2024: Winners & Losers from the Group Stage

The Euro 2024 group stage is in the books and as we head into a barren two days of no football, here's a look back at some of the winners and losers from the groups.

Winners

Minnows

Romania (47th in the world rankings), Georgia (74th), Slovenia (57th) Slovakia (45th) have put some respect on the so-called minnow name at this tournament, but especially Romania, who topped their group ahead of Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine, and Georgia who snuck in as one of the best third-placed teams after an incredible 2-0 win over Portugal.

Georgia, who needed an extra-time play-off victory over Greece to enter the tournament via the Nations League, now join the last 16 elite and face Spain this Sunday after three fearless performances in their group. With Khvicha Kvaratskhelia they have one of the most exciting players anywhere right now, granted he hasn’t had the best tournament, he popped up with a massive goal against Portugal and has claimed progression to the Last 16 as the best moment of his career.

Romania, meanwhile, meet the Netherlands, who haven’t exactly been brilliant so far—could a huge upset be on the cards? I wouldn’t bet against it, Romania are physical, in-your-face and will have nothing to fear on evidence of the Dutch’s group stage.

Ralf Rangnick

That’s one way to help restore some of your reputation, having been bombed out of Manchester United after a dreadful period, where he was lined up to become a consultant at the club after seeing through a period as caretaker manager. None of that transpired and he joined the Austrian FA and he’s now in the Last 16, and it’s not by the skin of their teeth either—they were fully deserving of top place in Group D, ahead of France and the Netherlands. A very well drilled side, playing decent football and scoring lots of goals, with six in the group stage. Their Last 16 game with Turkiye should be an absolute cracker.

N’Golo Kante

The former Leicester and Chelsea man rolled back the years with some extraordinary performances for France, making us wonder would he still do a job in a top league in Europe, having been shipped off to Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad. He absolutely still would of course, despite being 33 now. France weren’t great in the group stage but he has been exemplary, covering huge mileage, harassing attacks and interconnecting play between the defence in attack.

Great Goals

It’s definitely been a tournament of great goals. Arda Guler’s cracker for Turkiye against Georgia, Romania’s Nicolae Stanciu against Ukraine, Mattia Zaccagni’s last gasp heroics for Italy, Xherdan Shaqiri’s beauty against Scotland

And of course, my personal favourite - Roman Yaremchuk against Slovakia.

Spain

The only team to run through the group stage unbeaten, with nine points, even with the 10 changes they made ahead of their last game against Albania. These pages have been bullish on their chances throughout the tournament, but they’ve ended up on the tough side of the draw. If they get past Georgia they’ll meet one of Denmark and Germany in the quarter-final, then potentially France or Portugal in the semis. It’s a gauntlet they’ll have to run through but I am absolutely not ruling them out getting to the final.

Christian Eriksen

Denmark are through to the Last 16 and to see the Manchester United midfielder there is just extraordinary, considering what happened three years ago in Copenhagen when he collapsed on the field. It’s one of the great sporting stories that will be appreciated more further down the line, but seeing the pictures live during that game against Finland will stay with me forever, to see him return and play a key role in their path to the knockout stages, where they’ll meet Germany, is incredible.

Own Goal

This kid leads the way with 7 goals all tournament, a name to watch out for in the transfer windows as clubs will be all over him. But seriously, it hasn’t been a vintage tournament for goalscorers and the top scorer bets are giving people absolutely no runs for their money

Own Goal - 7
Georges Mikautadze - 3
Niclas Füllkrug - 2
Cody Gakpo - 2
Răzvan Marin - 2
Jamal Musiala - 2
Ivan Schranz - 2

Losers

Romelu Lukaku

The Belgian would be atop that chart if three of his goals hadn’t been chalked off by VAR for offside. It’s been an immensely frustrating tournament for the Roma striker, as it has been for Belgium as a whole - despite qualifying on Wednesday night, they were booed off the pitch by their fans, despite Kevin de Bruyne’s rallying efforts he eventually gave up and herded his teammates away from the deafening displeasure of the travelling fans.

They await France in the next round and will need to improve massively to have any chance, even though France themselves have yet to get out of first gear, Belgium have probably been slightly worse.

Gareth Southgate

The cloud of negativity hanging over England, despite winning their group, is incredible. They put together three pretty awful performances and still ended up on the ‘right’ side of the draw, avoiding Germany, France, Spain and Portugal. You’d think that’d be a cause for celebration, but the morale is low as the fans and media circle Southgate and his men. Nothing seems to be working, none of the players seem to be performing, and Southtgate certainly doesn’t seem to be able to set up the side in a way to succeed.

His Trent Alexander Arnold experiment was pulled after two games, and the man he replaced him with—Conor Gallagher—was pulled after 45 minutes against Slovenia. Difference makers like Anthony Gordon have only had a handful of minutes while players who are clearly struggling, like Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, are going the full 90. It’s hard to know what his plan is and although England have a lot of problems, they do have a clear path through to the final—they need to improve and that starts with Southgate doing something to change England’s focus.

Scotland

Poor Scotland—a late, late winner from Hungary but paid to their already bleak hope of making it through to the knockout rounds. The Scots brought a huge crowd of fans to Germany and had some various viral moments, but sadly on their on pitch performances could never reach the tenor of that off it and they were pretty poor, all told, and deservedly go out—and extent their absolutely mental run of never having qualified out of the groups at a major tournament.

Croatia

Luka Modric is no loser, but his side conceded a late equaliser to Italy and go out of the groups, one of the two worst third placed sides. It’s a sad way for Modric to go out, even though he scored in that game and tried everything to drag his country forward. It’s likely the last we’ll see of him at a major tournament and it’s a real shame he never capped an already incredible club career with some international silverware.

Deutsche Bahn

How about that German efficiency, eh? That myth has truly been busted as the public transport system in Germany gets absolutely slammed for such a shoddy setup throughout the tournament. Frequently late trains has added hours and hours onto trips. Apparently the Deutsche Bahn is losing €5million a day and not been upgraded much, if at all, in the past few decades, and what was only a German problem has not become worldwide news as fans complain about such a disastrous operation.