Colorful and crazy EM

How close Spain’s winning goal from Oyarzabal counted

Spain's winning goal from Joker Oyarzabal in the European Championship final against England was very close. Only Stones' knee canceled out an offside position.

(Bild: AFP/AFP or licensors)

A look back at the best shower, the worst seat, the craziest streakers and one of the closest goal decisions of Euro 2024. The big event from A to Z.

A for offside. A crazy close decision gave Spain the winning goal in the European Championship final. England defender Stones used his kneecap to cancel out the offside.

That's how close Spain's winning goal was.

(Bild: UEFA)

B for train. Deutsche Bahn was blamed for the train chaos and Austria's fans chanted in abuse, which amused many.

C for Cucurella. The Spaniard's handball in the quarter-final against Germany, which was not awarded a penalty, was one of the biggest upsets of the European Championship.

D for thank you. This European Championship inspired and united people like few tournaments before it.

E for own goals. Ten own goals were scored at this EURO - one fewer than in 2021.

Time and again, streakers stormed onto the pitch at this EURO. The most common motif: a selfie with a superstar like Cristiano Ronaldo.

(Bild: AFP/KENZO TRIBOUILLARD)

F for streaker. Never before have so many "fans" stormed onto the pitch. The most common motif: a selfie with a superstar like Kylian Mbappé or Cristiano Ronaldo.

G for Gregoritsch. He is the scorer of special moments, scoring just one goal in Germany, but the 100th of the tournament. At Euro 2021, he scored the 700th goal in EURO history against North Macedonia.

H for malice. After Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty miss in extra time of Portugal's round of 16 match against Slovenia, the BBC called him "Misstiano Ronaldo". Ex-professional John Terry didn't like this coverage at all, calling it "a disgrace".

J for Joker goals. There was a new EURO record here with 23 goals.

Marcel Sabitzer's 3:2 against the Netherlands was a real cracker and Austria's best goal at this European Championship.

(Bild: EPA)

K for cracker. Marcel Sabitzer's goal against the Netherlands was a real cracker and the best Austrian goal of this European Championship.

L for Lukaku. The Belgian striker would have been one of the top scorers with three goals. But the video assistant referee disallowed all three of his goals.

M for marches. Never before have so many spectators marched together to the stadiums. The funniest were the Dutch fans, who kept dancing to the European Championship hit "Links rechts".

N for zero number. At least one goal was scored in all 50 EURO matches - before the Netherlands and France became spoilsports with a 0-0 draw.

O for stewards. The craziest story was told by a steward from Munich. When he chased a streaker after the semi-final match between France and Spain, he injured Spain's Alvaro Morata, but he was fit for the final.

P for policeman. An official made big headlines in Dortmund as a lookalike of England team boss Gareth Southgate. English fans sang battle songs for him. The video went viral.

Q for ratings. Servus TV hit the jackpot with the European Championships. Record figure: 2.44 million people watched the second half of Austria's round of 16 match against Turkey.

R for turf. The Baden-based company Richter-Rasen supplied the green for the final in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

S for column. The Victory Column in Berlin was a popular European Championship photo motif. During the European Championship final, the otherwise busy street around the landmark was completely empty because it felt like the whole city was watching the final. Another column in Berlin's Olympic Stadium provided the worst seat at this European Championship.

T for trick. England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had all of Switzerland's penalty-taking habits written on his water bottle. Akanji's was marked "Jump to the left" - that's how he saved the penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals and secured promotion.

U for interruption. A thunderstorm with heavy rain caused a 25-minute break in the round of 16 match between Germany and Denmark. Two Danish fans used the masses of water flowing from the stadium roof to take a shower.

These Danish fans enjoyed the thunderstorm shower during the round of 16 match against Germany.

(Bild: AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur/Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

V for frequent flyer. France flew 177 kilometers from Düsseldorf to Paderborn after the round of 16 victory against Belgium. This caused a lot of criticism.

W for wolf salute. Turkey defender Merih Demiral received a two-match ban for this political gesture in the round of 16 against Austria.

Turkish defender Merih Demiral was banned for two matches after his wolf salute in the round of 16 against Austria.

(Bild: AFP)

X for Xavi. Dutchman Xavi Simons (RB Leipzig) is sought after by top clubs such as Bayern Munich and Paris SG after the European Championship.

Y for Yamal. Youngest European Championship player, youngest European Championship goalscorer, youngest European Championship champion - that's as good as it gets.

Z for spectators. A total of around 2.7 million fans were in the European Championship stadiums!