Are the age and experience of football players important for betting on the Euro?

What role does experience play in the European Championship, and how important are the average age and number of games played by a participating team? When assembling a team capable of competing in an international …

What role does experience play in the European Championship, and how important are the average age and number of games played by a participating team? When assembling a team capable of competing in an international tournament, the age and experience of the players often become critical components for success. The right combination of players can enable a team to perform at a higher level than one might expect based solely on their abilities. With this in mind, what can we say about the role of age and experience in Euro 2024? To find out, read on.

What Role Does Experience Play in the European Championship?

Predicting the outcome of a match or guessing which players will score is a challenging task for bettors, especially since teams play weekly and rely on a relatively small pool of players. Betting on international football markets adds an extra layer of complexity due to the dynamics of team selection and tournament schedules.

For example, between the 2022 World Cup and the end of the 2023-2024 season, England played 12 matches, eight of which were competitive. During these matches, coach Gareth Southgate selected 43 different players, and all but four of them took the field at least once. With such high variability, predicting the exact lineup for Euro 2024 is difficult, let alone the team’s overall performance.

This variability is similar for the other 24 teams participating in Euro 2024. As the tournament unfolds, it will likely become clear that one of the favorites has brought together the best players to lift the trophy on July 14th.

However, it’s always worth considering trends from past tournaments and identifying patterns in the characteristics of teams that make it to the later stages. By the way, if you’d like to test your sports knowledge and analytical skills, we recommend visiting the bookmaker rankings via this link: https://odds2win.bet/bonuses/pakistan and claim a personal bonus for your first deposit from one of the reliable sports betting sites.

How Important Are Average Age and Number of Games Played for European Championship Teams?

Studying the average number of games played and the average age of players in comparison to their final standings in the last six European Championships reveals an intriguing anomaly.

Winning teams (France, Greece, Spain twice, Portugal, and Italy) have an average of 34.3 international games per player, with an average age of 27.4 years at the start of the tournament. Among teams finishing between 1st and 16th, these figures rank fourth in terms of games played and seventh in terms of player age. It seems that age and experience indeed play a role in the European Championship.

However, three of the six teams with the highest results in both parameters finished 14th, 15th, and 16th, which directly contradicts the initial conclusion.

Looking at Euro 2016 and Euro 2020, the first tournaments with 24 teams, we find unexpected data. At Euro 2016, several teams (Germany, Iceland, Poland, and Wales) had fewer than 10 players who had participated in more than 25 international matches. All of these teams reached the quarter-finals. This might suggest that experience matters, as Iceland and Wales exceeded expectations.

However, only two of the top eight teams with the most games played or the oldest average age made it to the quarter-finals. Ireland, the oldest team in Euro 2016 history, reached the playoffs but won only one of their four matches.

At Euro 2020, teams were generally less experienced, as players had played fewer matches on average than in the previous five tournaments. This was likely due to the expanded rosters (from 23 to 26 players), allowing coaches more room for experimentation.

Some less experienced teams performed well, too. Runner-up England and semi-finalist Spain ranked among the bottom seven teams in terms of games played and average age. Quarter-finalist Czechia also ranked in the bottom seven for games played, while Ukraine ranked in the bottom seven for average age.

Belgium had fewer than 10 players with more than 25 international matches. Their 26-man squad was the oldest on average and had played the most games overall, yet they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Italy, who went on to win the tournament. The publication was interesting and useful! Would you like to get predictions for a football match? Follow the link https://odds2win.bet/predictions/football and check out the latest analysis for upcoming football matches. Bet wisely!

How Experienced Were Past European Championship Winners?

The tournament is more than just one final match, although the final is the most important. It’s worth noting that nearly all the players on Italy’s Euro 2020 winning team had taken the field, and for Portugal’s victorious 2016 team, 21 of 23 players participated at least once.

With this in mind, we can create a metric for experience based on the average number of games per player and average age. While this may not create a strong correlation between tournament results, in five of the last six Euros, the teams with the highest experience metrics won the finals.

Italy at Euro 2000 had a highly experienced captain, Paolo Maldini (105 international caps), while 16 of their players had fewer than 25 caps. Only eight of 111 teams at the last six Euros had more players with such limited experience, and only at Euro 2020 did one of these teams make it to the quarter-finals.

The winning team from Euro 2000, France, had only eight players with fewer than 25 caps, and the same was true for Greece’s surprise win in 2004. Only two teams this century started a tournament with fewer players having so little international experience.

The final of Euro 2008 is the exception to this rule. In that match, a less experienced Spain won the trophy. However, Spain still relied on highly experienced players in key positions. Iker Casillas, with the most caps of any player in the squad, was in goal, and three players aged 30 or older were tasked with defense or controlling the midfield.

Of the 11 players on Luis Aragonés’ team with the most international experience, eight started the final against Germany, and another, Xabi Alonso, was the first substitute. Golden Boot winner David Villa, another highly capped player, would have likely played in the final had he not been injured in the semi-final.

Spain enjoyed even greater success four years later with an even more experienced team, the most experienced of the past six European Championships. Six of the starting 11 in the 2012 final had also played in the 2008 tournament, and four of the remaining five had at least 40 international caps.

Conclusion

While individual skill and tactical acumen play a decisive role in how far a team progresses, history suggests that bettors should consider a team’s experience when predicting match outcomes.