Has Euro 2024 ACTUALLY Been The Worst Tournament of All Time? 

Worst of all time is typical social media hyperbole, but it is pretty much forgettable.

If Lamine Yamal lives up to even half of his potential, we will all look nostalgically back at this tournament as his breakout campaign

I've actually enjoyed this tournament specifically with the new young generation showing their abilities on the world stage in Musiala, Wirtz, Yamal, Williams, Saliba, Mainoo, Nuno Mendes etc and also the smaller nations in Georgia showing up and beating the odds

As a German from Stuttgart, it's been a great tournament. I've been partying with Scots, Hungarians, Danes, etc. and had the best time of my life. The group stage was great, but the knockouts are forgetful I must admit. But purely for the fact that it was hosted by my country and there have been games played in my hometown, it's been the best month of my life

No one who watched any of Euro 2016 would make this claim- genuinely the most miserable version of football I’ve ever seen

I don’t think it’s been a horrible tournament, but the fact that the 3 most talented teams on paper (France, England and Portugal) have played absolutely awful football hasn’t helped

Worst ever? no Completely forgettable? yes

The tournament was entertaining, it's just the small countries like Turkey, Georgia and Austria braught on the show and were knocked out early and the boring big countries went far Fortunately an entertaining side (Spai) made it to the final

Spain against Germany was a great match. That's what happens when two offensive teams face each other.

4:37 to name france vs portugal as a stand out in terms of boringness as an english person is ridiculous. that game probably had more highlights than england during the whole group stage

Own goals is the footballer with the most goals in the same way that Vacant is the wrestler with the most titles in Wrestling

2 video suggestions for a video "What on earth is going to on" 1.Fluminese from the winner Copa Libertadores in the last and penultimate Braziliero Seria A and Fernando Deniz was fired. 2.Sheriff Tiraspol from a victory against Real Madrid in the 2021-2022 season for the first time in 9 years when they lose the title in Moldova and they lost in the Europa League against NK Zira for Azerbaidjan

You’ll hear about how bad the Euros have been almost only in English media channels. Actually, there have been many exciting games.

When Greece won that thing we were lectured by English media about destroying football. Meanwhile England with 10 times better roster got to the finals having literally half a game of good football against Netherlands.

I think social media plays a huge part. Groupthink whinging skews perception and whips people into a false sense of misery. In the old days, the average fan at home wasnt exposed to ridicule from rival fans when we drew with smaller teams so now it seems disastrous. I'm still struggling to accept England were booed in the final warm up game just before they left for a tournament. To see the manager and players' families being pelted with beer cups after a win and a draw from the first two games was just insane.

more like deception from favorites like portugal, france and england. These 3 teams didnt offer the spectacle expected from their overhyped superstars. Spain and Germany are the only favorite that played as favorite. The underdogs offered better spectacle than the favorite.

the group stage of this euros was one of the best ive seen, the knockouts less so

As someone mostly immune to nostalgia, this Euros has been solidly middle of the pack. Spain, Turkiye, Georgia, Austria, and Germany have all entertained. And if Spain win the Euros, it will be the greatest Euros run at all time!

The group stage was FIRE. The knockouts ... not so much. Basically, the small teams were dope and the big ones were crap to watch this year, the exception being Spain.

2000, 2004 and especially 2008 were all terrific tournaments with wonderful football. The expansion in 2016 marked a huge decline.

To be fair, I would have sort of enjoyed France winning it without ever scoring in open play. I would have expected an "achievement unlocked" message plop up on the screen.

I'm 49, and I do have that BMW. HELP!!!! Even the nostalgia was better in my day.

Not at all. Euro 2016 was much worse, as were many World Cups. I guess you could say that at least some of the most boring World Cups from a footballing POV, like Italia 90 and South Africa 2010, had plenty of drama to somewhat make up for it, which this Euros don't really. Still, we have seen some interesting storylines develop. That being said, the tournament definitely got less interesting over time after a strong start. I blame the big teams (mainly France, England, Italy, Belgium and Portugal) for playing a brand of nigh unwatchable antifootball but somehow still managing to get far in the tournament. Had the semifinals been Spain v Austria/Switzerland/Turkey and Germany v Netherlands, this Euros might've been among the best ever.

Im really happy England lost a second final in a row this brutal defeat really saved this tournament from being absolute garbage

It’s interesting that this is a European perspective this summer. In Latin America, we compare the Euros to the shitshow that is copa America and wish we had the same quality and professionalism of that tournament

As a slovenian, no it has been one of the best 😅 And taking my slovenian hat off, the 2016 euro was way way worse. (Besides Wales making a deep run and the hungarian GK wearing sweatpants of course.)

France were truly dreadful at this Euros. England may have been poor at times, but at keast scored some spectacular goals

Statistically, it is fair to say that Euro 2024 has not been the most entertaining international tournament in the 21st century, but it has by no means been the dullest. It would perhaps be fairer to say that good performances and entertaining clashes have almost been overshadowed by the lacklustre displays of major nations such as France and England, who despite the talent at their disposal have bored fans with their risk-averse playstyles. However, entertaining performances from teams like Spain have in some ways redeemed the competition and salvaged it from being labelled as the most boring tournament this century.

For me it's Euro 2012. All I remember from it is the Ballotelli memes and Spain thrashing Italy in the finals.

You always remember just the highlights of the past, which is why every tournament will be the «worst ever»

Should do a video about what is happening at Jeonbuk Hyundai Fc. Gone from one of the best teams in Korea to near the bottom of the league potentially getting relegated

Apart from a couple of matches like turkey vs georgia or netherlands vs austria the only two teams that delivered entertainment were spain and germany (arguably the two best teams at the tournament)

So funny how AFCON and Asia Cup are routinely mocked by Europeans yet their competition isn’t really any better than those two

I think I will always remember this Euro as smaller countries playing very well but getting knocked out and bigger countries playing just okay but always passing to the next round. With the exception of Spain that played very well all throughout and should have played Germany in the final.

I would say that it was one of the most entertaining with respect to the small countries. Eurocup is not just about Germany, Spain, France and Italy. The sad part is that all the Cinderella runs have ended already, unless we consider England one (for which there is a case, taking into account how bad they usually play), but it was good for quite a while.

Just the fact that some people are calling this the worst tournament tells you that some people haven't seen that much football outside videogames anyways 😂

What people need to understand is the simple fact that with this format, you can lose your first game and then play for a fricking draw in the second, putting hope and risk into the third exclusively. Think about it: teams need a draw and a loss after two games, no more. It doesn't make matchday three worse, it makes matchday two horrible.

There is actually an old song about nostalgia gilding inaccurate memories by a German pop group called BAP. It's called *_Bunte Trümmer._* It's in the Cologne dialect though, so go down _that_ particular rabbit hole at your own peril. "It's your memory trying to fool you, gilding the things that were somewhat OK, burying all the rest."

Chelsea are currently planning a 100 million bid for own goals according to Fabrizio Romano

Good points about revisionist history fuelled by nostalgia. Most people don't even remember that Zidane was pretty pedestrian compared to his later years for almost the entirety of France's World Cup winning campaign in 1998. And knowing English fans, we will NEVER hear the end of it for the rest of our lives.

The only boring teams were France and England 😅

England, should they win, would basically become Greece ‘04 but with better players. Edit: England didnt win but I did get a Cucurella assist and Palmer golazo. I left with something.

Only the english would say the tournament was the worst while every other nation loved watching spain beat bottlejob kane and co lose....

As a portuguese, I must say... I enjoyed more watching Copa America with their entertaining football, more tecnical and less tactical. Europe has adopted this boring defensive game, especially the underdog teams, and it is annoying. Underdog teams always did play defensive football but never like this. Football needs some rule changes to prevent this 11 at the goal defensive style or else, no tournament will ever be fun to watch, this prevents any team to even try and make a play! Spain were the ONLY national team that actually managed to beat this park the bus style by tiki-taka around, but we all know that no other national team managed to replicate this play-style in many years. Kudos to spain tho, they were amazing to watch in this euro, deserved the title more than anyone else!

**adjusts glasses** um, actually Alfie, there won't be a euro tournament in 2074, as 50 isnt divisable by 4, boy I hope someone got fired for that blunder. In all seriousness, nostalgia is quite the drug, I was at a pre season friendly yesterday and was talking to someone else in the crowd and we were talking about how good Serie A was in the 90s, based on the old highlights show on Channel 4, very much confusing his two boys. We acknowledged, even just chatting like that, that becuase we were only seeing the highlights and it was so different that it blew our young minds, that completely warped our perception, and if we were seeing the full 90s it would have been a different story.

It's been really entertaining at least for me, ofc it hasn't had no historical result or performances, but this Spain team is amazing, beating a really good Germany, a mediocre France but still with certain star power, and a final against a pragmatic England. Nice performances from smaller nations like Turkey, Georgia, Austria, Slovenia. Good level in Portugal as well.

2010 South Africa World Cup was arguably worse out of pure match quality.

in the group stages there were tons of people online saying that this tournament was the best international competition ever amongst world cups, euros and other confederation tournaments. Thats only my perspective but it seemed to be the general consensus. Football fans just have incredibly short attention spans and opnions are almost always based entirely on the last game they watched

People who say this is worst euro are those that watched mostly England and France. They should rather head watched Slovakia, Austria, Turkey and other high intensity teams.

I mean, of course football gets more boring over time. That's such a weird criticism, because it's a natural progression of the sport. The more time passes, the more people realise what works and what doesn't, and what universally works across most sports is making less mistakes than your opponent, therefore conceding less goals and overall playing more conservatively.

If England had won, people would be raving about how good the tournament was - such as the last minute equaliser against Slovakia. Much of it sounds like sour grapes. Mind you, had Slovakia won, the tournament might have been labelled brilliant (or not). The main issue was the flop-sided knock out stages which put all the good reams in the same half.

13:56 - you say that this tournament has lacked "star power", this tournament has had a star player, none other than Mr. Owen Goal - 0 goals total!

Thought the group stage and round of 16 were excellent. A group with all teams on equal points for the final game, Croatia getting knocked out by Italy in the last minute, Georgia qualifying, and Austria topping their group, as well as Switzerland knocking out Italy, England's goals against Slovakia and Turkiye v Austria were all really entertaining for me. Spain Germany was exciting but apart from that the other final games weren't as good

The only way 2024 could be condemned if FIFA, IFAB and UEFA decide to implement a new rule that only 10 consecutive passes can be completed before a team must progress the ball into the opponent's final 30 yards (final third) of the pitch. Once the ball goes into the final third of your opponent's side, it cannot be backpassed outside the final third unless your opponent intercepts and clears the ball out.

The final will be Football vs anti-football

I'm old enough to remember a couple of weeks ago when some people were saying Euro 2024 was the best tournament ever because all the minnows were exclusively scoring screamers

I blame France, England, Portugal and Belgium for playing some boring ass football. At least Spain got in the final

International football aside, the most fascinating (and chaotic) game I've watched since Qatar was probably that calamitous Chelsea v Spurs 4 - 1 game last year.

The Italian side is possibly the worst I've seen coming from that country. How they beat England in the last Euros Final is beyond me. Plus, they've never qualified for two successive World Cups. I'd like to add Euro 1984 tournament was great.

2010 world cup was pretty awful, those Vuvuzela were even banned half way through it, cant remember any football only the sound.

Football has become chess where endgame is a draw

Come on guys let’s be honest here… I love the Euros but Copa America, AFCON, and even Asian Cup were all more exciting than Euros this year. Just admit it

The majority of own goals conceded at this tournament would not be counted as own goals few decades ago.

Everyone would respect Southgate by letting his team play football - which is normal due to the quality of his players and how they would play together… but that guy thought: no man, I’ll be playing catenaccio for 20 years

The big teams were boring, but the underdogs were amazing. Romania toping the group, Austria toping the group, Georgia making it through beating Ronaldos Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia were playing exceptionally with Slovakia almost kicking England out. Switzerland defining the odds and beating Italy. France and England were sooooo boring.

I don't think Alfie was sober watching Portugal - France match..

2010 World Cup was the worst football tournament of all time. Here's a couple of things you should know: The Netherlands with the good talent played an "anti-football" against Spain. The football pitch quality was poor. Jabulani's quality was poor. None of good players, except Diego Forlan, were able to take control of the ball more efficiently. Stupid Vuvuzela around the stadium. Big teams like Brazil, England, France, and Italy flopped heavily. Diego Maradona, as a coach, turned Lionel Messi from being the alien of football as one of the greatest Barcelona player to simply a regular human with Argentina. Stupid referee decisions such as Frank Lampard's ghost goal and Luis Suarez's handball.

Worst of all time Italia 90: "Hold my beer"

the way football is played rn where everything is just about statistics is just boring to me i still follow the games but it‘s more background noise than me actually being tuned in, not even my country or favorite teams can keep my attention for 90 minutes it‘s just 100 crosses and one team parking the bus every game (ofc i know it‘s not completely like that and it‘s just me not caring about football so much anymore but still something about the way the game is played today feels so robotic)

I never compare tournaments with previous ones, first of all because my football memories really begins from 2006 and also because nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

If you say tha this Euro Cup was "the worst of all time" is just because you didn't want Copa America which only had ONE good match!

Italia 1990 and Euro 2016 were the worst tournaments of all time.

It started well but fizzled out. I wouldn't say it was one of the worst though.

I remember Greece winning a Euro while playing like crap and having infinite luck. So yeah, people remember if a certain team played really bad but still won the Euro. Even more than teams who deserved it.

Just wanted to drop by and tell Alfie - it's NOT coming home! Go Spursy Brit Team!🎉🎉🎉

If I had a time machine, I'd go back to the 1800s, make the goals bigger, and make the pitch smaller. Football can be inherently boring.

These people who say this was a bad tournement never saw Italia 90.

The quality of football on display is hard to watch.

Football is nothing like baseball A sport where the playoffs are a crapshoot (regular season success has a NEGATIVE correlation to playoff success since seeding was introduced) has expanded its postseason three times in 30 years to the point where the teams with the largest “advantages” are claiming they are at a disadvantage BEFORE playing a game (so not even sour grapes)

England lost another final. Best tournament ever.

I watched the 1974 World Cup which could be seen as boring as many games seemed to be 1-0. But it was actually high quality football where teams had to battle to outwit their opponent and get the result. And Total Holland too.

I remember Italia 90. It was godawful. At least we got the back pass rule out of it.

A 24 team Euros can never be anything other than boring, but the next 48-country World Cup is likely to set a new benchmark in tedium. Less-is-More Fifa/Uefa.

At twice your age, I can confirm that the 1990 World Cup in Italy was probably the worst tournament in modern football ever. However, you had Diego, though most sadly, he was eclipsed by Klinsmann diving again and again. If I had a time-machine, I would just show him straight red cards in every game Germany played and show Lineker at least two. 2014? If you watch the game Germany against Ghana, you will probably think twice about calling this a great tournament. There is one tournament that I cannot judge, because the games were always broadcast in the middle of the night here in Switzerland. However, people tell me that Argentina's road to the final in 1978 was absolutely fraudulent: like in 1974, every screw was turned, so that the hosts would win.

It’s not a great tournament, the 2020 Euro was so much better and more thrilling. Yes there have been good stories like Georgia making the round of 16, and España’s Lamine Yamal being impressing at 17 years of age. But the games have become stalemates with many teams parking the bus and preferring to defend rather than score. It hasn’t been the best tournament but also it hasn’t been the worst.

Germany vs Spain was the peak Euro 2024. It went downhill after that.

This was a terrible tournament, I'm English & I still can't wrap my head around how we got to the final. We were atrocious, we didn't look like a football team 1 full game . Our captain was a passenger, meaning we played every game with 10 men until he was taken off. But the tournament was that horrendous he was one of the joint top scorers. He didn't even look like a footballer. The only bright spot in the whole tournament was Spain. They thoroughly deserved to win it. They were the best team by miles. Thank God they beat us yesterday because we would be stuck with Southgate if they didn't. I keep comparing it to the 2018 world cup in Russia. Every single game was entertaining. I'm in my 50's & I've seen a lot of tournaments. I haven't seen one worse than the 2024 Euro's & I've not seen better than the 2018 World Cup. In the space of 6 years the difference was unbelievable. Well done Spain you deserve to be Champions.

Thing is, if England win, it won't be like Greece playing the way they did because they were the underdogs in 2004. It'll be because they had a manager who set up defensively. Southgate apologists can come for me if they want. Doesn't change the fact that if they win, it wasn't a great story that'll be remembered as a fairy-tale

Euro 2016 was by far the worst tournament I ever witnessed since I began watching football (during WC 2010). The expansion of teams was done 1 tournament too soon and all the mid-level teams combined with only needing about 3 points to advance from a group made for a significant drop in quality. People remember Wales & Iceland's runs and Portugal's unlikely win but everything else (including every game Portugal played) was forgettable. Classic 2016 bias tho lol, it was a pretty wild year in terms of sports highlight moments but as a whole, the tournament sucked a lot.

Those who had to suffer through WC2010 still hear the vuvuzela's and wake up in a cold sweat asking for it all to end

The group stage was really fun. But the knock outs where pretty forgettable.

It's going to be forgettable in a few years just like all the Euros since the 24-team format expansion. World Cups will be like that too from 2026 onwards.

Euro 2020 wasn't much better! One disappointment about Euro 2024 is no free kick goals because of the draught excluder 😤

Horrible tournament, on par with 2016. Spain's deserved title just saves it. But to see teams like France, England and the Netherlands reach the semis doing the bare minimum is a terrible indictment of this tournament. People can scoff at Greece and the Czech Republic teams of 2004 but these played at a much higher level.

It was that bad. France and England got to the finals scoring 1-2 goals. Portugal sold the match against Georgia as they were scared from Hungary they couldn’t beat for years now. England played the ugliest football ever seen in history, advancing against multiple better playing teams. That was the death of football. Not to mention certain refs blowing the whistle for Germany.

Ngl only underdog nations were fun to watch

So, was Copa America 2024 better than Euro 2024?

To be honest I didn't like the 2010 world cup ,not because of the football ,but the noise of them horns every match , I've never had to watch a game with the TV turned down ,I had to turn it down and have sub titles on the whole competition

Oh well, we lost the final and your beloved Kane will be remembered for being the problem.

Somehow it seems that the rules were made to make football as boring as possible! 😴 Slow motion and sensors that tell you exactly whether a ball or a player has crossed a line or not. Offside is also intended to prevent too many goals from being scored. Worst of all are disallowed goals...pure frustration! It seems as if UEFA wants every game to end 0:0 or 0:1? 😴