EURO hosts: How successful have they been? Does home advantage matter?

Germany's EURO 2024 campaign came to an end with their quarter-final defeat by Spain, but how much difference has home advantage traditionally made down the years?

Quite a bit, is the answer. Prior to 2024, on the 12 previous occasions that a EURO was staged in a single country, the hosts had always made at least the semi-finals. England became the sixth host nation to reach the UEFA European Championship final at EURO 2020, from 16 attempts, but could not add their name to the list of three sides to have lifted the trophy on home turf – Spain (1964), Italy (1968) and France (1984).

EURO 2020 was, of course, held at 11 venues across Europe, including Rome – so Italy, who played their three group games at the Stadio Olimpico, have a claim to another host win, even if their entire knockout campaign took place elsewhere, including the final against England at Wembley.

How have the EURO hosts fared?

Four teams competed in the finals from 1960 to 1976 inclusive, eight from 1980 to 1992, and 16 between 1996 and 2012. Subsequently, from 2016 onwards, 24 countries have participated per EURO. Hosting duties were shared in 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2020. Here's how the hosts have fared:

1960: France (fourth)
1964: Spain (winners)
1968: Italy (winners)
1972: Belgium (third)
1976: Yugoslavia (fourth)
1980: Italy (fourth)
1984: France (winners)
1988: West Germany (semi-finals)
1992: Sweden (semi-finals)
1996: England (semi-finals)
2000: Belgium (group stage), Netherlands (semi-finals)
2004: Portugal (runners-up)
2008: Austria (group stage), Switzerland (group stage)
2012: Poland (group stage), Ukraine (group stage)
2016: France (runners-up)
2020: Italy (winners), England (runners-up), Spain (semi-finals), Denmark (semi-finals), Germany (round of 16), Netherlands (round of 16), Hungary (group stage), Russia (group stage), Scotland (group stage)
2024: Germany (quarter-finals)

Who have been the hosts' top scorers at every EURO?

Host nations have produced the top or joint-top scorer on seven occasions: François Heutte (France, 1960), Jesús María Pereda (Spain, 1964), Michel Platini (France, 1984), Tomas Brolin (Sweden, 1992), Alan Shearer (England, 1996), Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands, 2000) and Antoine Griezmann (France, 2016). Here, however, is the list of each home team's leading scorer from their respective final tournament.

Harry Kane ended UEFA EURO 2020 with four goalsUEFA via Getty Images

1960: François Heutte* (France, 2)
1964: Jesús María Pereda* (Spain, 2)
1968: Pietro Anastasi, Angelo Dominghini, Luigi Riva (Italy, 1)
1972: Raoul Lambert, Odilon Polleunis, Paul Van Himst (Belgium, 1)
1976: Dragan Džajić (Yugoslavia, 2)
1980: Francesco Graziani, Marco Tardelli (Italy, 1)
1984: Michel Platini* (9)
1988: Andreas Brehme, Jürgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthäus, Olaf Thon (West Germany, 1)
1992: Tomas Brolin* (Sweden, 3)
1996: Alan Shearer* (England, 5)
2000: Bart Goor, Émile Mpenza (Belgium, 1), Patrick Kluivert* (Netherlands, 5)
2004: Rui Costa, Maniche, Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, 3)
2008: Ivica Vastić (Austria, 1), Hakan Yakin (Switzerland, 3)
2012: Jakub Błaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski (Poland, 1), Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine, 2)
2016: Antoine Griezmann* (France, 6)
2020: Harry Kane (England, 4)
2024: Jamal Musiala* (Germany, 3)

*Top or joint-top scorer for the tournament