For the first time in history, the first 34 goals (own goals excluded) in a major international tournament (Euros and World Cup) were scored by 34 different players at Euro 2024.
That was until 21-year-old phenom Jamal Musiala netted his second goal of the event during Germany’s 2-0 victory over Hungary on Wednesday.
The record was originally set when Francisco Conceicao scored a late goal in Portugal’s 2-1 victory over Czechia on Tuesday, marking the 31st goal by a 31st different player to kick off Euro 2024.
Thereafter, Albania’s Qazim Laci and Klaus Gjasula and Croatia’s Andrej Kramaric netted goals in their match on Wednesday to increase the tally to 34 different scorers. Gjasula also made the error of making an own goal that doesn’t count toward the unique 34 for 34 pattern.
The previous record was set at World Cup 1998 and World Cup 1986 when 29 different players scored the first 31 goals.
Long-distance goals galore
Besides the variety of scorers getting on the board, there’s also been an unprecedented number of long-range goals scored at the event thus far. Nearly a third of goals have come from outside the 18-yard box, marking the highest percentage for long-distance conversions in Euro history.
Out of the 42 goals scored so far, a remarkable 12 have been struck from outside the box, per The Telegraph. For context, Euro 2008 and Euro 2012 saw a combined 14 long-distance goals.