Euro 2024 Opta Stat-Pack: The best nations ranked from Euro qualifiers

• France and Portugal excelled during qualifying

• England's strongest stats appear to be defensive

• Hosts Germany hard to fancy on 12-month form

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Attack

Goals per Game

Portugal were the highest scoring nation during the qualifiers, amassing 36 goals from their 10 games played. But it was France who registered the highest average of goals per game at 3.63.

Only three teams averaged over three goals per game during the qualifiers - France, Portugal and Spain - but it is England who are the favourites at 11/43.75 to be the Highest Scoring Team at Euro 2024, ahead of France at 10/34.33 and hosts Germany at 7/24.50.

With a relatively easy group, Portugal at 6/17.00 make the most appeal to score the most goals in Germany.

Shots per Game

When it comes to Bet Builders during the Euro 2024 tournament, Team Shots will be a popular market to make a selection in, so the below data could prove vital in that regard.

Once again it's France who top the charts having registered exactly 21 shots per game during the qualifying stages, two ahead of Portugal.

Note how 3/14.00 tournament favourites England don't even make the top 10 here.

xG per Game

Hello. It's Portugal and France again as we look at the data for which nations recorded the highest xG per game during the Euro 2024 qualifiers.

I think it's worth comparing the total goals scored for each team against their total xG as it tells us which nations out-performed their expected goals numbers.

France scored nine more goals than they were expected to score based on their xG number, while Portugal scored seven more than their xG. Spain also scored seven more while England out-performed their xG number by almost five goals.

However, well-fancied Euro 24 outsiders Switzerland - 15/28.50 to Reach the Semi-Finals - under-performed, scoring almost two fewer goals than their xG tally.

Passing Accuracy & Possession

We can use passing accuracy and possession as indicators to which teams are likely to dominate games during the Group stage of Euro 24.

There's only 1.3% separating Spain in first and England in fifth when it comes to passing accuracy, but the successful passes numbers reveal that Spain completed around 15% more successful passes than the Three Lions with both teams having played eight qualifying games.

It's no surprise then that Spain also recorded the highest average possession per game during the Euro 2024 qualifiers at 72.9%.

Some say that it's not the amount of possession that you have that matters, it's what you do when you have possession. On that basis we probably shouldn't be too worried that England only ranked eighth for possession during qualifying.

Touches in Opposition Box

France and Portugal dominate this table also, so a natural conclusion to make is that they both had easy qualifying groups. That's almost certainly the case with Portugal who won all 10 of their group games, but France had Netherlands and a pretty decent Greece team in their qualifying group.

On that basis I would definitely upgrade France here given that they top the number of touches in the opposition box per game stats. Les Bleus can be backed at 15/82.88 to Reach the Final of Euro 2024.

Worryingly, England don't appear in this table either. Let's hope 11/26.50 second favourite Harry Kane has his long-range shooting boots on as his bids to win the Golden Boot.

Defence

Goals Conceded per Game

A good defences goes a long way to making a successful team, and while the usual suspects are all listed in the below table, there's an eye-catching appearance from Albania.

They had some decent teams pitched against them in qualifying, including Poland and Czech Republic, so the fact that they didn't concede a single goal on home soil, and never more than one per game in any of their four away matches, suggests that they have a strong backline.

Albania are 16/54.20 To Qualify from Group B. Remember, four of the six nations that finish third in their group will qualify to the knock-out stage.

Clean Sheets

Just eight teams recorded at least five clean sheets during Euro 2024 qualifying - SPOILER: England weren't one of them - and like Albania in the above table, Romania are an eye-catching entry here with six clean sheets.

They finished five points ahead of Switzerland during qualifying, yet they're 250/1251.00 to win the tournament compared to 80/181.00 about the Swiss.

Teams with good defences should never be overlooked, and in what looks a manageable group, Romania to finish second to Belgium at 7/24.50 in the Group E Straight Forecast market might not be the worst shout in the world.

Shots and Shots on Target Faced per Game

Finally, England top a few tables, and they're important ones as they tell us that Gareth Southgate's men were, by some distance, the best team during qualifying at preventing the opposition from getting their shots away.

It's interesting that Denmark also appear prominently in these tables, and of course they're in Group C alongside England. The two teams meet in their second group game on Thursday 20 June, and based on the below data it might be wise to go low on goals and shots in that particular clash. The 0-0 Correct Score can be backed now at 8/19.00.

xG Faced per Game

No surprises to see the big teams all prominent in the below table, but of course, the one team that you won't see among all these stats is tournament hosts Germany, as they qualified automatically, as host nations always do.

So it's only fair to give them a mention by looking at all games played during the last 12 months. And to be honest, it doesn't make for great reading.

From their 11 games played they won just four, drew two and lost five. Worryingly, they recorded just one clean sheet in that time and conceded at least two goals in games against Ukraine, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Austria.

On the plus side, two of their four victories were both against France, but at just 4/15.00 to win Euro 2024, the tournament hosts look very hard to fancy.

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