Euro 2024 most assists: 17-year-old Yamal tops the charts as Spain triumph

Cameron Smith

• 15 Jul 2024 10:31 BST
• 9 min read

Lamine Yamal had the most assists at Euro 2024, having created four goals for champions Spain at just 17 years of age.

Xavi Simons comes in second with three assists for the Netherlands prior to their semi-final exit.

Arda Guler, Dani Olmo, Joshua Kimmich, Michel Aebischer, Orkun Kokcu, Juraj Kucka, Ante Budimir, Remo Freuler, Ilkay Gundogan, Dennis Man, Nathan Ake, and Fabian Ruiz all had two assists apiece at Euro 2024.

READ MORE: Euro 2024 top scorers

Yamal, who turned 17 a day before the final, broke several age-related records and became the youngest-ever player to assist a goal at the European Championship during his nation's opening-round win over Croatia, when he was still 16.

Although the main focus of every player was to win the tournament with their nation, the top goalscorer and top assists race were also hotly contested, as has been the case at every edition of the Euros.

They are both highly-coveted prizes and as a result, the race to end Euro 2024 as the competition’s top assister was a fierce one.

Below, FootballTransfers runs through the top assists standings at Euro 2024.

READ MORE: European Championship all-time top scorers - Ronaldo, Griezmann and the greatest goal kings

Euro 2024 top assists standings

Joshua Kimmich grabbed the first assist of Euro 2024 with a perfect pass for Florian Wirtz's opener. Kai Havertz then laid the ball for Jamal Musiala to put Germany 2-0 up, Ilkay Gundogan was kindly credited with an assist for stumbling the ball to Niclas Fullkrug, while Thomas Muller set up Emre Can to score Germany's fifth goal.

In the second game of Euro 2024, Switzerland defeated Hungary 3-1, with Michel Aebischer and Remo Freuler notching assists for the victors, while Dominik Szoboszlai set up Barnabas Varga's consolation goal.

A little bit later, Spain ran riot in the first half against Croatia, storming into a 3-0 lead with assists from Fabian Ruiz, Pedri and Yamal, who became not only the youngest player to ever feature at a European Championship but also the youngest to set up a goal.

Italy then beat Albania 2-1 after the latter had shocked them by scoring the fastest goal in Euros history after just 23 seconds. Despite the net bulging three times in that game, Lorenzo Pellegrini was the only player to officially get an assist.

Poland's Piotr Zielinski grabbed an assist after a wicked corner for Adam Buksa, while the aforementioned Ake then provided the assist for Cody Gakpo's deflected effort. The Man City star was later awarded an assist for Wout Weghorst's winner after his pass was slightly diverted by a Poland defender.

Denmark's Jonas Wind provided the assist for Christian Eriksen's opener against Slovenia with a wonderful flick.

The following day, Romania dismantled a lacklustre Ukraine 3-0, with Dennis Man assisting Nicolae Stanciu's opener and Denis Dragus' strike to put the game beyond doubt.

In one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, Slovakia then defeated Belgium 1-0, thanks to a goal by Ivan Schranz, which was set up by Juraj Kucka.

Kylian Mbappe created the lone goal of France's opening 1-0 victory over Austria but was not credited with an assist due to Max Wober finishing into his own net.

Kaan Ayhan provided an extremely simple assist for Arda Guler's wonderstrike against Georgia, while Orkun Kokcu passed to Kerem Akturkoglu to finish into the empty net in stoppage time.

Vladimir Coufal grabbed the assist for Czechia's opener against Portugal, while Roberto Martinez then scored via a Robin Hranac own-goal and a Francisco Conceicao winner. Neither goal was assisted by a Portuguese player.

On Wednesday, Croatia and Albania played a thrilling 2-2 draw. Jasir Asani provided a perfect assist with a cross for Qazim Laci to head Albania into the lead against Croatia. The Croats fought back in the second half to lead 2-1, with Ante Budimir creating Andrej Kramaric's goal. But Mario Mitaj set up Klaus Gjasula's injury-time equaliser.

Gundogan took his assist tally to two in Germany's straightforward 2-0 over Hungary, which sealed qualification to the knockout stages. After setting up Jamal Musiala, the 33-year-old got on the scoresheet himself, with Maximilian Mittelstadt providing the assist.

Later on, Callum McGregor set up Scott McTominay in Scotland's 1-1 draw with Switzerland before Xherdan Shaqiri cancelled out the Man Utd man's strike with a wondergoal.

Thursday 20 June saw Serbia grab a last-minute equaliser against Slovenia, with Timi Max Elsnik and Ivan Ilic grabbing their first assists of the tournament in a 1-1 draw, before England were also held to a 1-1 draw against Denmark, in which Victor Kristiansen assisted Morten Hjulmand's equaliser.

Spain also beat Italy 1-0 courtesy of an own goal from Riccardo Calafiori.

Friday saw Ukraine's Mykola Shaparenko grab a goal and an assist as his side overturned a 1-0 deficit against Slovakia to claim their first points of the tournament. Oleksandr Zinchenko set up Shaparenko's strike, while he himself later provided Roman Yaremchuk with the assist for the winner. Lukas Haraslin had set up Ivan Schranz for Slovakia's opener.

Later on, Austria comfortably beat Poland, with Philipp Mwene and Alexander Prass both recording an assist each in a 3-1 victory, assisting Gernot Trauner and Christoph Baumgartner respectively. Marko Arnautovic and Krzysztof Piatek also got on the scoresheet.

In the main event, the Netherlands and France played out a drab 0-0 draw.

Saturday June 22 saw Georgia play out a 1-1 draw with Czechia, but neither goal was officially assisted by anyone. It was a similar theme in Portugal's comfortable 3-0 victory over Turkey, with Cristiano Ronaldo recording the only assist when he set up Bruno Fernandes for an easy tap-in.

In the late game, Belgium defeated Romania 2-0 thanks to goals from Youri Tielemans and Kevin de Bryune, with the first assisted by Romelu Lukaku and the second - and get this - set up by goalkeeper Koen Casteels.

On Sunday, Germany's David Raum assist Niclas Fullkrug as he scored his second of the tournament to help the hosts secure a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their final group game. The Swiss had led through Dan Ndoye, with Remo Freuler notching his second assist of Euro 2024.

Meanwhile, Hungary pinched a dramatic win over Scotland to progress through Kevin Csoboth's 100th-minute strike, which was provided by Roland Sallai.

On Monday, Dani Olmo got off the mark by assisting Ferran Torres' crucial goal in Spain's 1-0 win over Albania. Olmo had finished as runner-up in the assist charts at Euro 2020.

Ante Budimir took his tally to two by setting up Luka Modric's record-breaking goal for Croatia against Italy, which saw the legend become the oldest player in history to score at a European Championship. However, Italy came back in the 98th minute courtesy of Mattia Zaccagni, with the goal set up by Riccardo Calafiori.

On Tuesday 25 June, Xavi Simons and Wout Weghorst notched assists as the Netherlands fell to a shock 3-2 defeat to Austria, with Christoph Baumgartner and Florian Grillitsch setting up Marcel Sabitzer and Romano Schmid respectively.

Elsewhere, Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski opened their scoring accounts but as both goals came from the spot, nobody was credited with an assist in France's 1-1 draw with Poland.

In the late games, England vs Slovenia and Denmark vs Serbia, fans had to endure two snoozefests that finished 0-0.

In the final games of Group E, Juraj Kucka notched his second assist of the tournament in Slovakia's 1-1 draw with Romania by setting up Ondrej Duda before Razvan Marin equalised to seal top spot for the underdogs.

In the other fixture, Belgium played out a 0-0 draw with Ukraine, with the former thus finishing second and the latter crashing out of Euro 2024.

Orkun Kokcu improved his record to two in Turkey's 2-1 Group F win over Czechia by assisting Cenk Tosun's stoppage-time winner. Ismail Yuksek also recorded an assist by setting up Hakan Calhanoglu in this game.

Meanwhile, Georges Mikautadze, the group stage top scorer, opened his assist account by helping Khvicha Kvaratskhelia find the net in a historic 2-0 win over Portugal.

In the first round of 16 game, Michel Aebischer joined teammate Freuler atop the assist charts in Switzerland's stunning victory over reigning champions Italy. Aebischer set up Ruben Vargas, who himself notched an assist by providing Freuler for the opening goal in this 2-0 upset.

Later on, Germany enjoyed a controversial 2-0 win over Denmark, with centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck setting up Jamal Musiala's eventual winner. The opening goal was a Kai Havertz penalty.

Ivan Toney marked his first minutes of the tournament with a crucial assist for Harry Kane's extra-time winner as England came from behind to beat Slovakia.

David Strelec had earlier provided the assist for Ivan Schranz's opener, while Marc Guehi was the man who assisted Jude Bellingham's stoppage time bicycle kick.

During Spain's 4-1 win over Georgia, Nico Williams, Lamine Yamal, Fabian Ruiz and Mikel Oyarzabal all provided assists, while their opponent's goal came via an own goal.

The Barcelona wonderkid Yamal had previously became the youngest-ever player to assist a goal at the European Championship during his nation's opening-round win over Croatia.

Monday 1 July was a matchday with little action to speak of as France scraped past Belgium thanks to a Jan Vertonghen own goal, while Portugal beat Slovenia on penalties after 120 goalless minutes.

Tuesday July 2 kicked off with the Netherlands cruising past Romania 3-0. Xavi Simons notched his second assist of the tournament when he set up Cody Gakpo's third goal of Euro 2023, while the Liverpool man himself then assisted the first of Donyell Malen's two strikes.

Turkey then defeated Austria 2-1 in a breathless encounter, with Real Madrid wonderkid Arda Guler running the show. The youngster assisted Merih Demiral's second goal, while Stefan Posch was credited with providing Michael Gregoritsch's lone Austria strike.

The quarter-finals kicked off with Spain eliminating hosts Germany 2-1. Youngster Lamine Yamal grabbed his third assist of the tournament by setting up Dani Olmo, who himself assisted Mikel Merino's dramatic winner. Joshua Kimmich notched an assist for Florian Wirtz's temporary equaliser.

The late game finished with France knocking out Portugal on penalties after a mostly dull 0-0 120 minutes.

Saturday 6 July saw England knock out Switzerland on penalties. Breel Emobolo scored the opener for the Swiss, but Bukayo Saka soon equalised to make it 1-1, with Declan Rice receiving the assist.

In the last quarter-final fixture, the Netherlands also came back from behind to win, though they did it in regular time. Arda Guler set up Samet Akaydin with his second assist of Euro 2024, before Memphis Depay assisted Stefan de Vrij and Mert Muldur scored an own goal.

In the first semi final Spain came from behind to beat France 2-1. There was only one registered assist in the game as Kylian Mbappe delivered his only assist of a disappointing tournament by crossing for Kolo Muani to head home. It was not enough for France as goals from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo put Spain in the final.

In the second semi-final on July 10, Germany came from 1-0 down to beat the Netherlands 2-1 thanks to a 91st-minute Ollie Watkins goal that was set up by Cole Palmer. It was the only official assist of the match. Xavi Simons and Harry Kane were also on the scoresheet.

The final on July 14 saw Spain leave the Olympiastadion in Berlin victorious after beating England 2-1. Lamine Yamal netted his charts-topping fourth assist by setting up Nico Williams for the opener. Jude Bellingham later assisted Cole Palmer before Marc Cucurella played the all-important pass for Mikel Oyarzabal's winner.

Euro 2020 top assists chart