UEFA European Championship awards

At the end of each UEFA European Championship tournament, several awards are attributed to the players and teams which have distinguished from the rest, in different aspects of the game.

There are currently five post-tournament awards, and one given during the tournament:^[1]

• the Player of the Tournament for best player, first awarded in 1996;
• the Top Scorer Award (currently commercially termed Alipay Top Scorer Award) for most prolific goal scorer;^[a]
• the Young Player of the Tournament (currently commercially termed as SOCAR Young Player of the Tournament) for best under 21 years of age at the start of the calendar year, first awarded in 2016;
• the Man of the Match Award for outstanding performance during each game of the tournament, first awarded in 1996;
• the Team of the Tournament for best combined team of players at the tournament.

The Player of the Tournament award is presented to the best player at each edition of the UEFA European Championship since 1996.

UEFA published on its website the Player of the Tournament in 1984, 1988 and 1992. The winners were Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Peter Schmeichel, respectively. However, these winners are unofficial.

Due to Schmeichel's award in 1992 being unofficial, Gianluigi Donnarumma was the first goalkeeper to officially win the award, at UEFA Euro 2020.

The Young Player of the Tournament award is presented to the best player in the tournament who is at most 22 years old. For the UEFA Euro 2016, this meant that the player had to have been born on or after 1 January 1994. The award was first given out in 2016.

The "Goal of the Tournament" is an honorary award selected by UEFA's technical observers. The award was first awarded at 2016.

Between the years 1960 and 2008, and since 2024, the Golden Boot has been awarded to the top goalscorer(s) of each edition of the UEFA European Championship.^[16]

From 2012 to 2020, the number of assists contributed by players was used as a tie-breaker if more than one player scored the same number of goals, with fewest minutes played used as a further tie-breaker if required.^[17]

The Man of the Match award picks the outstanding player in every game of the tournament since 1996.^{[21][22][23][24]}

Total awards

As of 14 July 2024

Players in bold are still active.

The Team of the Tournament is a team of the best performers at each respective UEFA European Championship edition, as chosen by the UEFA Technical Study Group since 1996.^[25] UEFA also retroactively named teams of the best 11 players from the 1960 to 1992 tournaments. The number of players in these squads has changed, from 18 players in 1996, 22 players in 2000, and 23 players from 2004 until 2012. Since 2016, a team of 11 players has been named.^[26]

As of 2024

The following table lists players who have been chosen in at least two Teams of the Tournament.

Players in bold are still active.

In June 2016, ahead of UEFA Euro 2016 in France, UEFA published an All-time Euro XI; the winning team was chosen based on votes cast on EURO2016.com and Twitter. The application featured the 11 players who have made the greatest impact at EURO final tournaments. Nominees had to meet at least two of the following four criteria:^[42]

• Appeared in at least a semi-final
• Featured in a Team of the Tournament
• Finished a EURO tournament as top scorer
• Produced an iconic EURO moment

Goalkeeper

• Gianluigi Buffon

Defenders

• Paolo Maldini
• Franz Beckenbauer
• Carles Puyol
• Philipp Lahm

Midfielders

• Andrés Iniesta
• Andrea Pirlo
• Zinedine Zidane

Forwards

• Cristiano Ronaldo
• Thierry Henry
• Marco van Basten

• FIFA World Cup awards
• Copa América awards
• Africa Cup of Nations awards
• AFC Asian Cup awards
• CONCACAF Gold Cup awards
• OFC Nations Cup awards