Euro 2024 squad focus: England have youth on their side, Scotland rank oldest
England will again have youth on their side at Euro 2024 while Scotland have the oldest squad at the tournament.
With all 24 squads confirmed over the weekend, the PA news agency takes a look at how the competing nations stack up.
Experience
England have taken young squads to recent major tournaments under Gareth Southgate and this time around is no exception with an average age of 26 years and 193 days.
That is the third-youngest in the tournament, pipping Ukraine by a day and with only Turkey and the Czech Republic taking younger squads – the latter are the only nation with an average age under 26, which could yet change as they are still to confirm a replacement player for injured midfielder Michal Sadilek.
Jude Bellingham, who turns 21 during the tournament, will be a mainstay – though England’s other under-21 players, Kobbie Mainoo and Adam Wharton, are part of a probable four-way competition for one midfield place, while of Southgate’s six over-30s, Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker and, if fit, John Stones are near-certain starters with Kieran Trippier also in contention.
Scotland, even after leaving out veteran goalkeeper Craig Gordon, have an average age of 28 years and 287 days – 73 days older than hosts Germany for the highest in the tournament. Switzerland have 10 over-30s while Spain and Turkey each have five under-21s.
Croatia’s squad have the most caps in the tournament, 1,169, with Luka Modric (175) one of four centurions. Portugal are 39 behind with Switzerland and Denmark the other teams above 1,000. England’s 651 is the seventh-lowest total with Scotland ninth-lowest on 744.
The Czechs have the fewest total caps – 398 pending Sadilek’s replacement – with Spain and Italy next on 543 and 546 respectively following the weekend’s warm-up games.
Goals
Portugal have more international goals in their squad than any other competitor, with 226 led by Cristiano Ronaldo’s world-record 128 – he alone has scored more than all but eight of the other teams.
France are second on 192, with Olivier Giroud their record scorer on 57 and Kylian Mbappe 10 behind in third place. The average squad boasts 108 goals in 794 caps.
England’s 100 goals include 63 for record scorer Harry Kane, with Bukayo Saka the only other player in double figures on 11. Phil Foden has four with three apiece for Bellingham, Ollie Watkins, Declan Rice, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Stones and Luke Shaw and one each from Trippier, Walker, Cole Palmer and Ivan Toney.
Scotland’s squad have 69 goals between them, led by John McGinn with 18. Scott McTominay has eight and Che Adams and Ryan Christie six each. Only Albania (39), Italy (60), Romania (63), Hungary (64) and Georgia (67) have scored fewer than Scotland.
Leading clubs
Premier League champions Manchester City are the most represented club with 13 players at the tournament.
Stones, Walker and Foden will line up for England with Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and late call-up Matheus Nunes in the Portugal squad, Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku for Belgium, Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic for Scotland and Rodri, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji for Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland respectively.
Spanish, French and Italian champions Real Madrid, Paris St Germain and Inter Milan are just one behind along with Barcelona, while Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Arsenal have 11 players each and Bayer Leverkusen 10.
England have a tournament-high 24 home-based players, with Madrid star Bellingham and Bayern striker Kane the only exceptions, while Italy have 23 – Jorginho and Guglielmo Vicario play in England with Gianluigi Donnarumma at PSG. Albania and, surprisingly, Denmark are the only teams without a domestic-based player in their respective squads.