With the thrilling Euro 2020 tournament coming to an end it’s time to rank all 24 competing nations.
1.Italy (2)
The underdog Azzurri’s well-balanced, team-based approach propelled them to the championship.
2. England (5)
While he had a good tournament, Gareth Southgate will rightly be criticized for his management in the final.
3. Spain (1)
Young side played well enough to win its semifinal against Italy before falling in penalty kicks.
4. Denmark (4)
Were second-best to England in their semi, but didn’t deserve to lose on a cheap penalty in extra time.
5. Belgium (3)
Lost a close game to eventual champs and will certainly be one of the favourites at next year’s World Cup.
6. Czech Republic (7)
I’m sure that everybody had Patrik Schick finishing as Euro 2020’s joint top-scorer, right?
7. Switzerland (6)
Took Spain to penalties while down a man before ultimately falling short in the shootout.
8. Ukraine (8)
The 4-0 quarterfinal loss to England looks worse on paper than it actually was, but were lucky to get that far.
9. Croatia (9)
Co-starred in one of the wildest international games we’ve seen and was certainly picking up momentum.
10. Sweden (11)
Emil Forsberg, who hit the woodwork twice against Ukraine, had been one of the tournament’s top players.
11. France (10)
With the latest reports, it turns out that behind the scenes this French squad was an absolute mess.
12. Austria (12)
Is Marko Arnautovic the angriest player in soccer? He certainly plays like it most of the time.
13. Germany (13)
You have to wonder what changes will be in store for the World Cup with Joachim Low officially out.
14. Netherlands (14)
To no one’s surprise, Frank de Boer is already gone as the Dutch manager after that knockout loss.
15. Portugal (15)
Couldn’t defend its Euro championship and will now be asked questions about the team’s future.
16. Wales (16)
Put on the worst performance of any team that made the knockout phase in loss to Denmark.
17. Hungary (17)
Does anyone else wonder if Hungary could’ve done just as well as Portugal against Belgium?
18. Poland (18)
It turns out that changing your manager after qualifying for a major tournament is a bad idea.
19. Finland (19)
Up next for star Teemu Pukki is trying to keep Norwich City in the Premier League for more than one season.
20. Russia (20)
Only truly looked competitive in its game against fellow also-ran Finland and now have fired their manager.
21. Scotland (21)
Kieran Tierney, one of the Scots’ two great left backs, got a nice contract extension from Arsenal.
22. North Macedonia (22)
Always nice to see a veteran leader like Goran Pandev go out with his head held high.
23. Slovakia (23)
Should maybe get a little bit of credit from Spain for getting La Roja’s attack on track.
24. Turkey (24)
Still not sure how a supposedly solid defence from qualifying was exposed so often.