Kylian Mbappé ( odds 9/2, or 2 to 9, according to bookmaker Paddy Power ) won the top scorer award with eight goals as France finished second at the 2022 World Cup. In total, the French striker scored 12 goals in 14 games in the World Cup. Cup and is expected to break Miroslav Klose’s record of 16 goals.

But Mbappé did not score in his first appearance at the Euros in 2021, and even missed the decisive penalty, causing France to lose to Switzerland on penalties in the round of 16. In this tournament, only Álvaro Morata (6), Gerard Moreno and Harry Kane (5) missed clearer opportunities than Mbappé (4).

However, Mbappé is expected to shine at Euro 2024. In the 2023-2024 season, he scored 44 goals in 47 games in all competitions, an achievement only equaled by Kane (44 goals in 45 games) among Euro players. 2024. five of Europe’s main national championships.

Harry Kane (5/1) is the player who has scored the most goals in England’s history, with 63 goals, and is also the English player with the most shots in major tournaments, including 12 goals in the World Cup and the European Championship. In the last three major tournaments: the 2018 World Cup, the 2020 Euro Cup and the 2022 World Cup, only Mbappé has the same scoring record as Kane.

The 30-year-old striker is in good form, scoring or assisting in all seven matches he started in qualifying for the Euro Cup (eight goals, two assists). At club level, although he did not win the title with Bayern, Kane exploded with 44 goals and 12 assists in 45 games in all competitions, including 36 goals and eight assists in the Bundesliga. Only Robert Lewandowski (41 goals in the 2020-2021 season) and Gerd Müller (40 goals in the 1971-1972 season, 38 goals in the 1969-1970 season) scored more goals than Kane in a Bundesliga season.

Cristiano Ronaldo (January 12) has the record of having played in five European Championships, in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and will beat this milestone if he continues to play in Euro 2024. The Portuguese forward Portugal has scored 14 goals in 25 games. at the Euro: all records of the tournament, which culminated in the 2016 championship.

In total, Ronaldo contributed 20 times at the Euros, including 14 goals and six assists. He is twice as good as any other player in the European Championship since 1972, leaving Michel Platini behind with 10 goals, nine goals and one assist.

Ronaldo is no longer at his best and has moved to Saudi Arabia. But the 39-year-old striker is still maintaining good form by setting a record of scoring 35 goals in the Saudi Pro League in the 2023-2024 season, surpassing the expected goals (xG) parameter of 30.68. CR7 also scored ten goals in nine qualifying matches for Euro 2024.

Romelu Lukaku (January 12) has become the top scorer in the history of Belgian football since 2018 and currently has 85 goals in 115 games. 11 of those goals were scored by the Belgian striker in the World Cup and the European Championship.

In the qualifying phase for Euro 2024, Lukaku set the record of scoring 14 goals in eight games. On average, Lukaku scored every 39 minutes and used almost half of the shots (29), representing 63.6% of the total goals scored by Domenico Tedesco’s team (22).

At Euro 2024, Lukaku continues to have the support of Kevin De Bruyne, who has nine assists in major tournaments since the 2014 World Cup, including five in the Euro Cup and four in the World Cup, the best statistics for a European player. De Bruyne also leads the parameter of expected assists (xA) with 0.42 and the number of chances created per 90 minutes with 3.37 in the 2023-2024 Premier League season.

Jude Bellingham (January 20) is only 20 years old, but he is expected to become the driver who takes England to their first European Championship. At club level, in his first season with Real – 2023-2024, Bellingham scored 23 goals and assisted another 13 in 42 games in all competitions, winning with the team the treble of La Liga, Spanish Super Cup and Liga de Champions. .

At Euro 2020, Bellingham, then aged just 17 years and 349 days, replaced Kane in the opening match against Croatia and became the youngest English player to attend a major tournament, breaking Michael Owen’s record of 18. years in the 1998 World Cup. After that, Bellingham also played in the quarterfinals against Ukraine and became the youngest player to play in a knockout match at the European Championship.

Kai Havertz (January 20) has just turned 25, but he is the most experienced of the four German forwards at Euro 2024. He has the number of games and goals at national level (16 goals in 46 games), as well as the number of appearances. Participations and goals in the Champions League (7 goals in 49 games), more than double that of the other three players combined, Niclas Fullkrug, Deniz Undav and Maximilian Beier.

After being tested at left back in the loss to Türkiye in November 2023, Havertz returned to the striker position and shone at both club and team level. He started all four of Germany’s games in 2024 as a centre-forward in a 4-2-3-1 system. The 25-year-old always performed well: he scored in the 2-0 victory over France and had the most duels on the field of all German players (9) in the 2-1 victory over the Netherlands.

Olivier Giroud (January 22) is somewhat inferior to his junior teammate Kylian Mbappé, but remains a reliable choice of coach Didiger Deschamps as a center forward in the French attack. Euro 2024 will also be the last major tournament for the 37-year-old forward, before traveling to the United States to join LAngeles FC and play out the final years of his career.

Giroud broke the legendary Thierry Henry’s scoring record in the 2022 World Cup and currently has 57 goals in 133 games for France. The 37-year-old striker plays an important role in Didier Deschamps’ system. France won 72% of their games with Giroud in the starting lineup with Deschamps (63/88), compared to 56% when he was not present (41/73).

Other names that can create surprises in the race for the top scorer of Euro 2024 are Gianluca Scamacca (Italy, number 9 in the photo), Álvaro Morata (Spain), Florian Wirtz (Germany) or Rasmus Hojlund (Denmark).