EURO penalty shoot-outs: What was the longest? Who saved the most spot kicks?

Twenty-two UEFA European Championship finals games have been decided on penalties, with Antonín Panenka, Iker Casillas and Spain securing bits of shoot-out history.

Penalty shoot-outs were not introduced until the fifth edition of the UEFA European Championship, in 1976. The only drawn finals games before then had been settled by the toss of a coin (Italy's 1968 semi-final against the Soviet Union) and a replay (Italy's win against Yugoslavia in the subsequent final).

The first match to be decided by penalties was the 1976 final, Antonín Panenka's chipped decider giving Czechoslovakia victory over West Germany – and giving his name to an audacious piece of skill. It was the first of 22 EURO penalty shoot-outs to date, and the first of only two in the showpiece game.

Team records

Which team has played in the most EURO shoot-outs?
7 Italy
6 Spain
5 England
4 Netherlands
3 Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, France, West Germany/Germany, Portugal, Switzerland
2 Denmark, Poland
1 Croatia, Sweden, Turkey

Which team has won the most EURO shoot-outs?
4 Italy, Spain
3 Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic
2 Germany, Portugal
1 Denmark, England, France, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey

Which team has lost the most EURO shoot-outs?
4 England
3 Italy, Netherlands
2 France, Spain, Switzerland
1 Croatia, Denmark, West Germany/Germany, Poland, Portugal, Sweden

Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic (3) and Turkey (1) are the only sides with 100% records in EURO shoot-outs, the Czechs having converted all 20 of their spot kicks so far. England and the Netherlands have won only one of their five and four respective shoot-outs.

Record results

What was the longest EURO penalty shoot-out?
18 kicks: 1980 third-place play-off: Czechoslovakia 1-1 Italy, Czechs won 9-8 on pens
18 kicks: 2016 quarter-finals: Germany 1-1 Italy, Germany won 6-5 on pens

What was the shortest EURO penalty shoot-out?
7 kicks: 2008 quarter-finals: Croatia 1-1 Turkey, Turkey won 3-1 on pens

Italy figured in both mammoth shoot-outs, missing one kick in the 1980 saga and four in 2016 – the most unsuccessful attempts by any side in a single EURO shoot-out. That 2016 contest was the sixth EURO shoot-out to go to sudden death. In total, seven penalties were spurned on that occasion (39% of the kicks taken), although the miss record was worse in the Croatia-Turkey shoot-out in which three of the seven attempts went awry (a 43% rate of failure).

Individual records

Which goalkeepers have featured in the most EURO shoot-outs?
3 Gianluigi Buffon (Italy – 1 win, 2 losses: 12 conceded, 3 saved, 3 missed)
3 Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands – 1 win, 2 losses: 12 conceded, 2 saved, 1 missed)
3 Yann Sommer (Switzerland – 1 win, 2 losses: 12 conceded, 2 saved)
2 Iker Casillas (Spain – 2 wins: 4 conceded, 3 saved, 1 missed)
2 Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy – 2 wins: 4 conceded, 3 saved, 2 missed)
2 Łukasz Fabiański (Poland – 1 win, 1 loss: 9 conceded, 1 missed)
2 Bernard Lama (France – 1 win, 1 loss: 10 conceded, 1 saved)
2 Rui Patrício (Portugal – 1 win, 1 loss: 7 conceded, 2 saved)
2 David Seaman (England – 1 win, 1 loss: 8 conceded, 1 saved, 1 missed)
2 Unai Simón (Spain – 1 win, 1 loss: 5 conceded, 3 saved, 1 missed)

Which goalkeepers have featured in the most EURO shoot-outs?
Ten goalkeepers have appeared in two or more shoot-outs, with Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Unai Simón and Gianluigi Donnarumma sharing the honour of having saved the most shoot-out penalties in EURO history (three each). Just half of the eight penalties struck at Casillas in the course of his two shoot-outs found the net.

Who has scored the most EURO shoot-out goals?
Switzerland's Fabian Schär and Italy's Leonardo Bonucci are the only outfield players to have been involved in three shoot-outs – both converting twice. However, an additional 24 players have taken penalties in two, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski. All but five of those 24 players scored twice, the exceptions being Portugal's Nani, Poland's Jakub Błaszczykowski, Spain's Dani Olmo and Italy duo Jorginho and Andrea Belotti.

Players who have scored two EURO shoot-out penalties
Federico Bernardeschi (Italy), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Paul Gascoigne (England), Mario Gavranović (Switzerland) Kamil Glik (Poland), Ladislav Jurkemik (Czechoslovakia), Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Marián Masný (Czechoslovakia), Arkadiusz Milik (Poland), Gerard Moreno (Spain), João Moutinho (Portugal), Zdenĕk Nehoda (Czechoslovakia), Anton Ondruš (Czechoslovakia), Antonín Panenka (Czechoslovakia), Stuart Pearce (England), David Platt (England), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Fabian Schär (Switzerland), Alan Shearer (England)

EURO shoot-outs by round: when are penalties most likely?
The competition has expanded over the years from a four-team tournament to the current 24-team line-up, with new rounds being introduced and the third-place play-off being abandoned. Until now, shoot-outs have been most likely at the last-eight stage, with almost 40% of all quarter-finals settled on penalties.

Round of 16: two of a possible 14 games so far have gone to penalties – 14% chance of a shoot-out
Quarter-finals: ten of a possible 28 games – 36% chance
Semi-finals: seven of a possible 30 games – 23.33% chance
Third-place play-off: one of a possible six games – 17% chance
Final: two of a possible 16 games – 12.5% chance

Every EURO shoot-out

1976 final: Czechoslovakia 2-2 West Germany, Czechs won 5-3 on pens
1980 third-place play-off: Czechoslovakia 1-1 Italy, Czechs won 9-8 on pens
1984 semi-finals: Denmark 1-1 Spain, Spain won 5-4 on pens
1992 semi-finals: Netherlands 2-2 Denmark, Denmark won 5-4 on pens
1996 quarter-finals: Spain 0-0 England, England won 4-2 on pens
1996 quarter-finals: France 0-0 Netherlands, France won 5-4 on pens
1996 semi-finals: Germany 1-1 England, Germany won 6-5 on pens
1996 semi-finals: France 0-0 Czech Republic, Czechs won 6-5 on pens
2000 semi-finals: Italy 0-0 Netherlands, Italy won 3-1 on pens
2004 quarter-finals: Portugal 2-2 England, Portugal won 6-5 on pens
2004 quarter-finals: Sweden 0-0 Netherlands, Netherlands won 5-4 on pens
2008 quarter-finals: Croatia 1-1 Turkey, Turkey won 3-1 on pens
2008 quarter-finals: Spain 0-0 Italy, Spain won 4-2 on pens
2012 quarter-finals: England 0-0 Italy, Italy won 4-2 on pens
2012 semi-finals: Portugal 0-0 Spain, Spain won 4-2 on pens
2016 round of 16: Poland 1-1 Switzerland, Poland won 5-4 on pens
2016 quarter-finals: Poland 1-1 Portugal, Portugal won 5-3 on pens
2016 quarter-finals: Germany 1-1 Italy, Germany won 6-5 on pens
2020 round of 16: France 3-3 Switzerland, Switzerland won 5-4 on pens
2020 quarter-finals: Switzerland 1-1 Spain, Spain won 3-1 on pens
2020 semi-finals: Italy 1-1 Spain, Italy won 4-2 on pens
2020 final: Italy 1-1 England, Italy won 3-2 on pens