by Matthew Adams

Created on: July 26, 2011

The Uefa European Championships is one of the great soccer championships alongside the Fifa World Cup. As such, many great strikers have played in this soccer championships and scored a number of goals. These are a few of the top goal scorers in the Uefa European Championship dating back to the early European Championships of the 1960s.

Platini:

Platini was not strictly a striker playing more in midfield, but his goal scoring record in the Uefa European Championship remains un-eclipsed. This was largely because of Euro ’84 which Platini and France dominated. During this championship Platini scored a total of nine goals including two hat-tricks. As such, Platini set two goal scoring records in the Uefa European Championship firstly for the most goals scored in a single European Championships, and nine goals also remains the overall record number of goals scored in the European Championships. His goals also ensured that France won the 1984 European Championship which was their first trophy.

Shearer:

Shearer has scored the second highest number of goals in the Uefa European Championships. His best form was in ’96 when Shearer scored a total of five goals for England which helped them towards the semi-final. These included two of England’s four goals against Holland. As such, Shearer was the top goal scorer in this European Championship. In addition to this Shearer also played his final games for England in Euro 2002 where he scored a further two goals in the group stage. Shearer has therefore scored a total of seven goals in eight games played at the Uefa European Championships.

Henry:

Henry played in three European Championships from 2000 up to 2008 and scored in all of them. Henry was most prolific in the 2000 European Championships when he scored three goals and won the trophy with France. In the two further European Championships Henry also scored a further three goals to take his total to six. As such, Henry has been among the most prolific strikers in the Uefa European Championships with formidable pace enough to outrun most defenders.

Van Basten:

Van Basten starred for Holland during the 1988 European Championships, and was an influential player for the team. During this championship Van Basten netted a hat-trick in Holland’s 3 – 1 against England and also scored again in the semi-finals. The highlight came in the final when Van Basten scored one of the finest goals in soccer history with a great volley from an acute angle beating the goal keeper and setting Holland up for an historic win. Holland won the game 2 – 0 and won their first international trophy. With five goals Van Basten was also the top goal scoring player in this Uefa European Championship.

Platini, Shearer, Van Basten, and Henry were four great players in the Uefa European Championship that scored lots of goals for their national teams. In total they scored 27 goals between them in the European Championship.  They are four of the top goal scoring players in history of the Uefa European Championship.

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