Twenty-two UEFA European Championship finals have been decided on penalties, with Antonín Panenka, Iker Casillas and Spain securing pieces of shoot-out history.
Penalties were not introduced until the fifth edition of the UEFA European Championship in 1976. The only drawn finals before that had been decided by tossing a coin (Italy’s 1968 semi-final against the Soviet Union) and a replay (Italy’s victory over Yugoslavia in the subsequent final).
The first match that was decided with a penalty was the final in 1976, Antonín Panenka’s decided winner gave Czechoslovakia victory over West Germany – and gave his name to a bold skill. It was the first of 22 penalty shootouts so far, and the first of only two in the showdown.
Which team has played in the most EURO shoot-outs?7 Italy6 Spain5 England4 Netherlands3 Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic, France, West Germany / Germany, Portugal, Switzerland2 Denmark, Poland1 Croatia, Sweden, Turkey
Which team has won the most EURO shoot-outs?4 Italy, Spain3 Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic2 Germany, Portugal1 Denmark, England, France, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey
Italy won the latest EURO shoot-out / Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images
Which team has lost the most EURO shoot-outs?4 England3 Italy, Netherlands2 France, Spain, Switzerland1 Croatia, Denmark, West Germany / Germany, Poland, Portugal, Sweden
Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic (3) and Turkey (1) are the only sides with a 100% record in EURO shoot-outs, where the Czechs have so far converted all their 20 kicks. England and the Netherlands have only won one of their five and four shoot-outs respectively.
What was the longest sentence in EURO?18 kicks: 1980 third place playoffs: Czechoslovakia 1-1 Italy, Czechs won 9-8 on pencils 18 kicks: quarterfinals 2016: Germany 1-1 Italy, Germany won 6-5 on pencils
What was the shortest penalty structure in EURO?7 kicks: quarterfinals 2008: Croatia 1-1 Turkey, Turkey won 3-1 on pencils
Italy thought in both mammoth shoot-outs, missing a kick in the 1980 saga and four in 2016 – the most unsuccessful attempts from either side in a single EURO shoot-out. That competition in 2016 was the sixth EURO shoot-out that went to sudden death. A total of seven penalties were rejected at that time (39% of the kicks taken), although the record was worse in the match against Croatia and Turkey where three of the seven attempts went wrong (a failure of 43%).
Gianluigi Buffon extends after Steven Gerrard’s penalty shootout between Italy and England 2012 / Alex Livesey / Getty Images
Which goalkeepers have been involved in most EURO shoot-outs?3 Gianluigi Buffon (Italy – 1 win, 2 losses: 12 dropped, 3 saved, 3 missed) 3 Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands – 1 win, 2 losses: 12 dropped, 2 saved, 1 missed) 3 Yann Sommer (Switzerland – 1 win, 2 losses: 12 dropped, 2 saved) 2 Iker Casillas (Spain – 2 wins: 4 dropped, 3 saved, 1 missed) 2 Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy – 2 wins: 4 dropped, 3 saved, 2 missed) Fabiański ( Poland – 1 win, 1 loss: 9 dropped, 1 missed) 2 Bernard Lama (France – 1 win, 1 loss: 10 dropped, 1 saved) 2 Rui Patrício (Portugal – 1 win, 1 loss: 7 dropped, 2 saved) 2 David Seaman (England – 1 win, 1 loss: 8 dropped, 1 saved, 1 missed) 2 Unai Simón (Spain – 1 win, 1 loss: 5 dropped, 3 saved, 1 missed)
Which goalkeepers have been involved in most EURO shoot-outs?Ten goalkeepers have appeared in two or more shoot-outs, where Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Unai Simón and Gianluigi Donnarumma share the honor of having saved most of the penalties in EURO history (three each). Only half of the eight penalties scored against Casillas during his two shoot-outs found the net.
Who has scored the most EURO shooting targets?Switzerland’s Fabian Schär and Italian Leonardo Bonucci are the only outfielders to have been involved in three shoot-outs – both converting twice. However, another 24 players have taken penalties in two, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski. All but five of these 24 players scored twice, with the exception of Portugal’s Nani, Poland’s Jakub Błaszczykowski, Spain’s Dani Olmo and Italy’s duo Jorginho and Andrea Belotti.
Leonardo Bonucci celebrates his penalty against England in the EURO 2020 final / Marc Atkins / Getty Images
Players who have made two EURO penaltiesFederico Bernardeschi (Italy), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Paul Gascoigne (England), Mario Gavranović (Switzerland) Kamil Glik (Poland), Ladislav Jurkemik (Czechoslovakia), Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands), Robert Lewandowski (Netherlands) Poland), Marián Masný (Czechoslovakia), Arkadiusz Milik (Poland), Gerard Moreno (Spain), João Moutinho (Portugal), Zdenĕk Nehoda (Czechoslovakia), Anton Ondruš (Czechoslovakia), Antonín Panenka (Czechoslovakia), Stuart Pearce (England) , David Platt (England), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Fabian Schär (Switzerland), Alan Shearer (England)
EURO shoot-outs per round: when is penalty most likely?The competition has expanded over the years from a four-team tournament to the current 24-team line-up, with new rounds introduced and the playoffs from third place abandoned. Until now, shoot-outs have probably been the last eight steps, with almost 40% of all quarter-finals decided on penalties.
Eighth round: two of 14 possible matches so far have gone to penalties – 14% chance of relegation Quarter final: ten of possible 28 matches – 36% chance Semi-finals: seven of 30 possible 30 matches – 23.33% chance Third place playoff: one of possible six matches – 17% chance end: two of possible 16 matches – 12.5% chance
1976 final: Czechoslovakia 2-2 West Germany, Czech Republic won 5-3 on pencils1980 third place playoffs: Czechoslovakia 1-1 Italy, Czech Republic won 9-8 on pencils1984 semifinals: Denmark 1-1 Spain, Spain won 5 -4 on pencils1992 semifinal : Netherlands 2-2 Denmark, Denmark won 5-4 on pencils1996 quarterfinals: Spain 0-0 England, England won 4-2 on pencils1996 quarterfinals: France 0-0 Netherlands, France won 5-4 on pencils1996 semifinals: Germany 1-1 England, Germany won 6-5 on pencils1996 semifinals: France 0-0 Czech Republic, Czech Republic won 6-5 on pencils2000 semifinals: Italy 0-0 Netherlands, Italy won 3-1 on pencils2004 quarterfinals: Portugal 2-2 England, Portugal won 6 -5 on pens2004 quarterfinals: Sweden 0-0 Netherlands, Netherlands won 5-4 on pens2008 quarterfinals: Croatia 1-1 Turkey, Turkey won 3-1 on pens2008 quarterfinals: Spain 0-0 Italy, Spain won 4-2 on pens 2012 quarterfinals: England 0-0 Italy, Italy won 4-2 in pens2012 semif nals: Portugal 0-0 Spain, Spain won 4-2 on pencils Round 16 2016: Poland 1-1 Switzerland, Poland won 5-4 on pencils 2016 quarterfinals: Poland 1-1 Portugal, Portugal won 5-3 on pencils 2016 quarterfinals: Germany 1-1 Italy, Germany won 6-5 on pens2020 round 16: France 3- 3 Switzerland, Switzerland won 5-4 on pens2020 quarterfinals: Switzerland 1-1 Spain, Spain won 3-1 on pens2020 semifinal: Italy 1-1 Spain, Italy won 4-2 on pens2020 final: Italy 1-1 England, Italy won 3-2 on pencils
