IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - UEFA EURO 2024 QUALIFIERS
Picture : Daniel Håkans became the 1st player to score a hat-trick for Finland (vs San Marino) since Mikael Forssell did it in the 8-0 Euro qualifier vs the same opposition on 17 November 2010.
Statistics on Euro 2024 qualifiers of 16-19 June
*Kylian Mbappé, with two converted penalties vs Gibraltar (3-0) and Greece (1-0), has reached the mark of 40 goals for France, becoming the 5th player in their history to do so and the first who did it before 30 years (actually, even before 25 years).
*Mbappé has finished the 2022-23 season with 54 goals in 56 games (including 41 goals for PSG and 13 for France), the most goals any French player has ever scored in one season.
The previous national record stood since 1957-58 when Just Fontaine amassed 53 goals (39 for Reims and 14 for Les Bleus).
*Mbappé caught up with Erling Haaland who also has 54 goals in this season, the most for any player in the world football. Haaland is yet to finish his season today in a qualifier for Norway (vs Cyprus).
*Olivier Giroud has scored vs Gibraltar his 16th headed goal for France, 10 more than any other player in the XXI century (the next is Thierry Henry with 6).
*France have started their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with 4 wins without conceding a goal, for the first time in their history in major competitions (World Cup/Euro).
*Harry Kane, having netted in both England’s June qualifiers, vs Malta (4-0) and North Macedonia (7-0), has now series of 12 Euro qualifiers with scoring a goal, the longest such streak by any player in the competition history.
*Kane has scored at least once in 21 of his last 22 qualifiers in the major tournaments (World Cup/Euro).
*For the first time of Three Lions history, two different players (Harry Kane and Callum Wilson) have converted a penalty in the same game (vs Malta).
*Bukayo Saka became the 4th Arsenal player to score a hat-trick for England (vs North Macedonia), after Ted Drake on 2 December 1936, Ian Wright on 17 November 1993 and Theo Walcott on 10 September 2008.
*Saka’s hat-trick is the youngest (21 years 287 days) scored for England since Theo Walcott did it vs Croatia at the age of 19 years 178 days in September 2008.
*Thanks to Saka’s efforts, Arsenal became the 6th club whose players have scored 100 goals for England.
Tottenham Hotspur leads this ranking with 261 goals, followed by Manchester United (258), Liverpool (156), Chelsea (136) and Everton (102).
*Marcus Rashford became the first Manchester United player to score for England at Old Trafford since David Beckham vs Sweden in November 2001.
*This 0-7 defeat became the biggest ever for North Macedonia. Previously, it was the 0-5 loss to Belgium suffered in 1995.
*Beating Kosovo 2-0, Belarus have won their first competitive match since 7 March 2021 (vs Estonia 4-2). They broke a streak of 16 matches without a win.