Euro 2024 Most Assists Predictions | OneFootball

Euro 2024 Most Assists Predictions

Euro 2024 is right around the corner and one of the most important factors between success and failure is who provides the assists.

An assist is the final pass that leads directly to a goal and with that in mind, those creating chances are just as important as those scoring them. Euro 2024 will play host to some of the most technically gifted players in football right now, so the battle to be the top assist provider will be a heated one.

Euro 2024 Most Assists Pre-Tournament Favourites

Bruno Fernandes provided 13 assists across all competitions with Manchester United last season, while Kevin De Bruyne notched 18 assists in just 1,750 minutes for rivals Manchester City, so it’s no surprise to see them as the favourites to be Euro 2024’s most creative players.

Also high up in the betting stakes right now is Antoine Griezmann, who has nine assists in 30 combined European Championships and World Cup appearances to date. Others who will fancy their chances at topping the assist charts are Bayer Leverkusen wonderkid Florian Wirtz, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane.

Key Matches And Player Form

Someone like De Bruyne will be eyeing up Belgium’s group stage fixtures against outsiders Romania and Slovakia as a great opportunity to put some assists on the board, and that’ll also be the case for Fernandes when Portugal take on debutants Georgia.

However, a defence-splitting moment of magic can also decide games against the big hitters. With Italy, Spain and Croatia all drawn in the same group and blessed with playmakers like Nicolo Barella, Dani Olmo and Luka Modric, this could be a key factor in who goes through and who heads home. The same also applies to Group D, where Griezmann and Mbappe of France will go up against Frenkie de Jong and Cody Gakpo of the Netherlands — dark horses Poland and Austria also occupy this group.

How Team Strategy and Formation Impact Assist Stats

Being the set-piece taker is one of the easiest ways a player can find more assists. Aside from their elite technical ability, that is another key reason why the likes of Fernandes and De Bruyne are so well-fancied, given they’ll be whipping in corners and free-kicks throughout the tournament for Portugal and Belgium, respectively.

And, of course, if your team is naturally more front-footed, that will always give you more chances to create openings for your teammates. With that in mind, Kane and Phil Foden are far more likely to run up high assists numbers for England than, say, Hakan Calhanoglu for Turkey, despite there being little to separate them in terms of individual playmaking ability.

The ‘No.10’ role behind the main striker is also a position where players can run up high assist numbers. Although it is a role that is fading in European football, it does make you the direct supply line for strikers and wingers. Keep an eye out for Florian Wirtz and Jude Bellingham operating behind their forwards in this role, aside from the aforementioned Fernandes and De Bruyne.

There is no official award given to the player with the most assists at the European Championships. However, it is still the aim for many creative players and in the last few editions of the tournament alone, there have been some world-class winners, including Eden Hazard, Mesut Ozil, David Silva and Wesley Sneijder.

Former Manchester United and Benfica Czech winger Karel Poborsky is the player with the most assists at the European Championships all time with eight, four of which came in 2004 when he finished top of the pile. Behind Poborsky is Cristiano Ronaldo on eight, followed by a clutch of players on five that would make it into any legends team: Cesc Fabregas, Bastien Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben, Luis Figo, Eden Hazard and David Beckham.