When the Belgium defender Jan Vertonghen deflected Randal Kolo Muani’s shot past his own goalkeeper to give France 1-0 win and a place in the quarter-finals, he became the ninth player to score an own goal at Euro 2024. It was not the first time France have benefited from an own goal at this tournament – 66% of their goals have been scored by their opponents.

Nine own goals in 44 matches is a startling number. To put it in context, the joint-top scorers in Germany – Cody Gakpo, Georges Mikautadze, Jamal Musiala and Ivan Schranz – have three goals each. Only one team has scored more goals, the hosts Germany with 10. There have been 20 own goals in the last two European Championships, one every five matches. That is remarkably high considering there were only nine in the first 15 European Championships, between 1960 and 2016, an average of one every 30 matches.

There were none until the fifth tournament in 1976. The Czechoslovakia captain Anton Ondrus scored the first in the semi-final of Euro 76. Dubbed the “Beckenbauer of the East”, Ondrus had already scored at the right end of the pitch, giving the Czechs a 1-0 lead against the Netherlands before he sliced the ball into his own net with a wild hack at the near post. Czechoslovakia beat the Netherlands 3-1 after extra time and Ondrus went on to lift the trophy when his team defeated West Germany in the final courtesy of Antonín Panenka’s famed penalty kick.

There was a gap of 20 years before the second own goal, which arrived at St James’ Park in 1996, when the Bulgaria striker Lyuboslav Penev diverted a Youri Djorkaeff free-kick into his own net. There were fewer matches in the early years but this does not explain the massive increase in own goals at the last two tournaments. We have gone from two own goals in 20 years to four in four days at Euro 2024. So, what has happened?

A law change?

The awarding of own goals used to be the responsibility of individual referees, who were inconsistent in their approach. Uefa president Michel Platini intervened in March 2008, saying: “There has been a lot of debate over deflected goals and whether they should be awarded to the player who originally shot at goal or the player who got the last touch. We want to clear the issue up and have the same rules at every match.”

Uefa decided that players would be awarded a goal if their attempt was already heading towards the net when the deflection occurred. Off-target shots diverted into the net would be attributed to the player who deflected the ball. Platini acknowledged the guidelines were already being observed informally by most referees but would be formally “codified” immediately for all Uefa matches, including the European Championship. Uefa has since taken charge themselves and relieved match officials of the burden of apportioning blame.

Could this change of approach explain the increase in own goals? Well, if there has been a swing towards awarding more own goals, the last two World Cups would also reflect this increase, but there were only two own goals in 64 matches in Qatar. There were 12 at the previous tournament in Russia – which is considerably more than any other World Cup – but even that historic peak cannot match the last two Euros, which account for 69% of the own goals scored in Euros history. And there are still seven games to play in Germany.

More crosses?

Are there more own goals because teams are crossing the ball more? That argument doesn’t stack up. There were 32.1 crosses per game at Euro 2020 and 33.8 per game in the group stage of Euro 2024, but that figure is not as high as previous tournaments. In fact, the numbers of crosses per game at two most recent tournaments are the lowest since records began in 1980.

View image in fullscreen
Antonio Rüdiger scored the first own goal of 2024, nodding past Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the opening game. Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP

The rise of inverted wingers?

The lack of crosses might be linked to the increased usage of inverted wingers, who are more likely to cut inside and shoot. Could they be causing the rise in own goals? With more players cutting in and shooting, are their efforts being deflected into the net? Well, if that were the case, there would also be record numbers of own goals in the Premier League and other competitions. There were a lot of own goals in the Premier League this season – 49, as many as any previous campaign. But there were also 49 own goals in the 2013-14 season, long before inverted wingers were common, and the average in between was 35 per season, so the increase has been nowhere near as dramatic as at the last two Euros.

A change in goalkeeping?

One theory is that goalkeepers have changed in recent years. They punch the ball more now, which runs the risk of pushing a shot back into the path of a defender, and are often picked for their distribution rather than their shotstopping, so could they be making more mistakes? But none of the own goals at Euro 2024 have arisen from a keeper being too adventurous or misplacing a pass.

More low blocks?

Maybe it’s the way teams are setting up? The trend of sitting back and then hitting opponents on the counterattack has encouraged teams to defend deeper, in low blocks. Deflections have been responsible for eight of the nine own goals at the tournament and most have come from close-range shots in crowded boxes. For instance, there were eight Belgium players in their box when they conceded an own goal against France; and there were 10 Italians in the box when they conceded to Spain. With so many players defending, deflections are inevitable.

View image in fullscreen
Italy’s box was packed with defenders when they conceded an own goal to Spain. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Getty Images

Quite a few teams at the tournament have played on the counterattack, especially the lower-ranked sides (and there have been more of them in recent editions). Various teams have had success on the counter. Georgia only had 33.8% possession yet made it to the last 16. Teams are better organised to defend in low blocks and counterattack – but, when you pack your own box, you run the risk of deflecting a shot into your own goal.

Just bad luck?

Or maybe it is down to sheer misfortune, a theory that might appeal to Portugal and and Slovakia fans. Portugal went into Euro 2020 as the reigning champions but were nearly knocked out in the group stage after they lost 4-2 to Germany – a game in which Rúben Dias and Raphaël Guerreiro both scored own goals.

Euro 2024: previews and predictions for the quarter-finals

Read more

Not to be outdone, Slovakia scored a pair of own goals four days later in a 5-0 thrashing by Spain, with the first a particularly tragicomic effort. Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka, who was attempting to push the ball over the crossbar, only managed to palm the ball into his own net. Juraj Kucka added to the misery when he deflected in the second own goal of the game, prompting Ally McCoist, with no sense of exaggeration, to brand the Slovakians as “appalling”. Unsurprisingly after these double disasters, Portugal and Slovakia hold the joint record for the most own goals at the Euros, with three each.

Portugal have enjoyed better luck at this tournament though. They benefited from the most spectacular own goal of Euro 2024 so far in their 3-0 win against Turkey. Semet Akaydin was not on the same wavelength as his goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, which led to an almighty mix-up over a backpass. The defender stroked the ball back to his keeper without checking Bayindir’s positioning and the ball rolled past the keeper and over the line despite desperate attempts to haul it back.

“There was a misunderstanding,” said Turkey manager Vincenzo Montella. “Sometimes it happens, and unfortunately today it happened to us. Next time it may be our opponents.” Bearing in mind the sheer volume of own goals at this tournament, the next misunderstanding may not be too far away.