Euro 2024 is definitely epoch-making, for no other reason than that after 1980, the European Championship finally gave birth to a new king - Spain. The king here does not just refer to this championship, but to the fact that Spain has become the team with the most championships in the history of the European Championship through this championship. In the 1980 European Championship, Germany won the championship for the second time, becoming the first team in history to win the European Championship twice; In 1996, they won the title for the third time, cementing their European throne. But Spain used the golden age of '08-'12 to win two consecutive European Championships, plus the 1964 title, and they equalled Germany. And in 2024, Spain will finally complete the surpass, winning 4:3, and the new king of the European Championship is born, winning the championship four times, the best in history.
In fact, Spain's victory this time is equivalent to aligning Brazil horizontally. Although there has been one less title, Spain is now to the European Championship what Brazil is to the World Cup. After all, Brazil is the team with the most titles in World Cup history, with 5 times, and no team can compare to it so far. When it comes to the World Cup, everyone takes it for granted that Brazil is the king, and now, when it comes to the European Cup, we can also say that Spain is the new king.
However, whether it is the European Championship or the World Cup, Spain and Brazil are still second in one key statistic. And the team they are behind is also the same - Germany.
Coincidentally, whether it is the World Cup or the European Cup, in terms of the number of championships, Germany ranks second, and they have one less World Cup than Brazil, tied with Italy; In the European Championship they have one less than Spain. But today's statistic, Germany is the top player in both top competitions. Of course, it's only one lead so far.
That's the number of finals.
Although it is said that history only remembers the champion, not the runner-up. But in a major competition, the ultimate suspense is the champion, and there are only two teams participating in the championship, so the runner-up is obviously more special than other teams. And, who said that the runner-up will not be remembered? As the uncrowned king of the World Cup, Netherlands is no less famous and influential than the champion at that time.
Therefore, the number of finals is also a data that can be interpreted in depth.
And in this regard, Germany is indeed the king, there is no one.
In World Cup history, Germany has reached a total of eight finals, one more than Brazil, which has reached seven finals. Therefore, many people think that although Brazil is a five-star hegemon, if you really want to talk about the total results or total points of the World Cup, Brazil really may not be able to fight Germany.
Of course, Germany's final win rate is too average, winning 4 of 8 finals, and the final win rate is only 50%. Brazil, on the other hand, has won 5 of the 7 finals, and the winning rate is obviously much stronger. Of course, it needs to be explained that there were no finals in the 1950 World Cup, and the top four at that time played a single round-robin, and the one with the highest points won the championship. But because Sweden and Spain were too weak, the match between Brazil and Uruguay was basically the same as the final in nature.
In the history of the European Championship, Germany has reached a total of six finals, one more than Spain. In fact, Spain's status as the king in the European Championship is largely due to the accumulation of the last ten years. In the last century, their European Cup results could not be compared with Germany. Spain won the title only once in 1964 and reached the final in 1984, losing to France.
And Germany has been writing the epic of the European Cup since 1972. They won the championship three times and won the runner-up three times, and in terms of the times, the distribution is relatively balanced.
However, there is a fact that cannot be ignored, whether it is the World Cup or the European Championship, Germany has not appeared in the final for a long time, and it is quite a trend of getting further and further. World Cup, since winning the championship in 2014, Germany has completely stayed away from the championship ranks, and in the next two World Cups, they actually went out of the group. And what about the European Championship? The last time they reached the final was in 2008. It is worth mentioning that it was Spain, the new king of the European Championship, who stepped on them to win the championship at that time.
Therefore, if Germany continues to form at present, then they may not be long ahead in this data. The deepest voice in world football now is calling for Germany to return to the top. We'll see.