Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has done it again. Despite seeing his team knocked out in the Round of 16, he managed to win the award for top scorer at Euro 2021 with five goals and one assist. It’s that lone assist that gives him the tiebreaker over Czech Republic forward Patrik Schick.
Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling were within reach of Ronaldo, but they both failed to score in the Euro 2021 final against italy.
The top scorer honor is the latest in a decorated career for the 36-year-old Ronaldo, who wins the award for the first time in his career. He’s the all-time leading scorer at Euro tournaments (14 goals) and he is also tied for the most international goals ever scored by a male player. The Portuguese international is coming off a season which saw him top the Italian Serie A scoring charts with Juventus (29 goals).
Tiebreakers are used to determine the final ranking in the scoring table when players are tied on goals scored. These were implemented by UEFA beginning with the Euro 2008 tournament:
- Most assists provided in Euro 2021
- Fewest minutes played in Euro 2021
- Most goals scored during Euro 2021 qualifying (including playoffs)
- Fewest cards (yellow and red combined) in Euro 2021
- Fewest cards (yellow and red combined) in Euro 2021 qualifying
The final scoring chart follows below. If “Own Goal” was an actual entry in these rankings, it would have won. The 11 own goals scored during the tournament easily surpassed Ronaldo’s total.
Euro 2021 Top Scorers
| Ranking | Player | Team | Goals | Assists | Minutes Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 5 | 1 | 360 |
| Patrik Schick | Czech Republic | 5 | 0 | 404 | |
| 3. | Karim Benzema | France | 4 | 0 | 349 |
| Emil Forsberg | Sweden | 4 | 0 | 371 | |
| Romelu Lukaku | Belgium | 4 | 0 | 444 | |
| Harry Kane | England | 4 | 0 | 649 | |
| 7. | Xherdan Shaqiri | Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 371 |
| Raheem Sterling | England | 3 | 1 | 641 | |
| Kasper Dolberg | Denmark | 3 | 0 | 225 | |
| Robert Lewandowski | Poland | 3 | 0 | 270 | |
| Haris Seferovic | Switzerland | 3 | 0 | 301 | |
| Georginio Wijnaldum | Netherlands | 3 | 0 | 360 | |
| Alvaro Morata | Spain | 3 | 0 | 452 | |
| 14. | Pablo Sarabia | Spain | 2 | 2 | 252 |
| Memphis Depay | Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 327 | |
| Andriy Yarmolenko | Ukraine | 2 | 2 | 445 | |
| Ivan Perisic | Croatia | 2 | 1 | 261 | |
| Ferran Torres | Spain | 2 | 1 | 366 | |
| Roman Yaremchuk | Ukraine | 2 | 1 | 430 | |
| Ciro Immobile | Italy | 2 | 1 | 444 | |
| Joakim Maehle | Denmark | 2 | 1 | 570 | |
| Matteo Pessina | Italy | 2 | 0 | 191 | |
| Manuel Locatelli | Italy | 2 | 0 | 272 | |
| Thorgan Hazard | Belgium | 2 | 0 | 268 | |
| Yussuf Poulsen | Denmark | 2 | 0 | 295 | |
| Kai Havertz | Germany | 2 | 0 | 304 | |
| Denzel Dumfries | Netherlands | 2 | 0 | 315 | |
| Mikkel Damsgaard | Denmark | 2 | 0 | 330 | |
| Federico Chiesa | Italy | 2 | 0 | 438 |
Note: Total of 52 players tied with one goal in the tournament.
UEFA didn’t recognize the top scorer with an official award before Euro 1996 . Here are the winners of the top scorer honor since it was instituted:
Euros Top Scorers (since 1996)
| Year | Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Alan Shearer | England | 5 |
| 2000 | Patrick Kluivert | Netherlands | 5 |
| Savo Milošević | Yugoslavia | 5 | |
| 2004 | Milan Baros | Czech Republic | 5 |
| 2008 | David Villa | Spain | 4 |
| 2012 | Fernando Torres | Spain | 3 |
| 2016 | Antoine Griezmann | France | 6 |
| 2021 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 5 |