9 world-class players we can’t believe have never scored at the Euros

The UEFA European Championship has been graced by great goalscorers from Gerd Muller to Cristiano Ronaldo – yet some legends of the sport have failed to find the net in the competition.

Whether they played for nations who made early exits in the competition or were simply unlucky, this lot do not appear in the record books.

We’ve picked out nine superstars, both past and present, who never scored in the European Championship.

Kylian Mbappe

We strongly suspect Mbappe will remove himself from this list at Euro 2024 – the Real Madrid and France forward is currently favourite with bookmakers to win the Golden Boot.

But, ahead of the finals, the 25-year-old is yet to score in a European Championship.

Mbappe played four times at Euro 2020, failing to score as France made a shock last-16 exit to Switzerland. To make matters worse, he missed the decisive penalty in the shoot-out.

Thomas Muller

Despite scoring nine goals at four World Cups, the great Muller has never found the back of the net at the Euros.

His barren run in the competition started in 2012, when an all-star Germany fell in the semi-finals, and matched this unwanted feat four years later in France.

The Bayern Munich forward’s most recent Euros appearance is best remembered for blowing a one-on-one chance to equalise against England in the last 16.

He’s another star name looking for redemption this summer.

Toni Kroos

Kroos will retire after Euro 2024 and has never been renowned for his goalscoring anyway; the Real Madrid midfielder has 17 in 109 appearances for Germany.

But he’ll be desperate to break his Euros duck on home soil, having made 13 appearances across three separate competitions, spearheading Julien Nagelsmann’s increasingly confident side.

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David Beckham

Seven matches, zero goals for Beckham at the European Championship in stark comparison to the England legend scoring at three successive World Cups between 1998 and 2006.

He did set up Alan Shearer’s winner against Germany at Euro 2000, but also swore at England supporters abusing his wife after the defeat to Portugal.

Four years later, the by-now Galatico had a stinking tournament encapsulated by launching his penalty against the Portuguese into orbit.

Andres Iniesta

Having won the Euros twice, Iniesta is unlikely to give a solitary eff that he never found the net in the competition – especially when you consider that he scored the winning in the effin-World Cup final.

Still, it was a statistic that tickled us.

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Sergio Ramos

Again, Ramos won’t be bothered in the slightest by his goal-shy Euros record when he looks at the medals stuffed into his sock drawer.

But the Spain defender is also a relatively prolific goalscorer at club level, meaning his absence from the scoresheet is a medium-sized eyebrow-raiser.

In fairness, he did panenka the f*ck out of his penalty against Portugal in the 2012 semi-final shoot-out so we can forgive him.

Tomas Rosicky

Part of that gorgeous Czech side in 2004, Rosicky played in four European Championship finals without troubling the goal statisticians. But what a wonderful player…

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Nicolas Anelka

Anelka was part of France’s victorious Euro 2000 campaign, although the striker failed to score at the tournament (obviously considering his presence on our list) and didn’t play in the final against Italy.

Left out four years later, Anelka returned to the 2008 side that travelled to Switzerland but France endured a miserable tournament of one point, one goal and one early return trip across the border.

Edgar Davids

Veteran of three European Championships, and a twice semi-finalist with the Netherlands in 1996 and 2000, Davids is probably best remembered for getting sent home from Euro 96 by Guus Hiddink.

The midfielder was furious at being left out of the Dutch line-up against Switzerland and accused teammates, believed to be Ajax colleagues Ronald de Boer and skipper Danny Blind, of trying to get him dropped while pouring scorn on Hiddink.

“Hiddink listens too much to other players,” Davids complained, refusing to apologise and getting a one-way ticket back to Amsterdam.