2024 in review: Spanish success, first-time winners and new competition formats

Fourteen champions were crowned across UEFA’s senior, youth and futsal competitions in 2024, with Spain winning five international tournaments – including EURO 2024 and the inaugural Women’s Nations League – and its clubs securing four club competition trophies. But there were also historic titles for Atalanta and Italy’s national Under-17 men’s team, and a momentous senior and youth team double for Greece’s Olympiacos. Those standout moments tell only part of the tale of 2024, a year which also featured the launch of a new era for UEFA’s men’s club competitions.

Record-breaking men’s EURO and golden year for Spain

A hugely competitive EURO 2024 qualification process wrapped up in March, with Georgia making history by reaching a major football tournament for the first time; they would eventually progress to the knockout stages in Germany.

The final tournament kicked off in Munich on 14 June, and after a pandemic-affected EURO 2020, full stadiums made a welcome return to the competition – and fans were back in record numbers.

2.7 million fans were in attendance at UEFA EURO 2024 UEFA via Getty Images

As well as the 2.7 million supporters who attended games in Germany, there were a further 6.2 million visitors to the 18 fan zones across the country. More than 190 nationalities were represented at EURO 2024, even before taking into account the staggering cumulative live global TV audience of 5.4 billion.

Spain dazzled en route to the final in Berlin, where they beat England 2-1. Player of the Tournament Rodri and Young Player of the Tournament Lamine Yamal were two of six Spaniards in the Team of the Tournament, with Yamal's sensational equaliser against France in the semi-finals named Goal of the Tournament.

The success was the high point of a remarkable year for Spanish football, which began in February when the women’s national team won the first UEFA Women’s Nations League final by defeating France. In UEFA’s youth competitions Spain were similarly dominant, and won both the men’s and women’s Under-19 EUROs in Northern Ireland and Lithuania respectively, results which bode extremely well for their future.

It was only Italy, by winning their first-ever men’s Under-17 EURO title in Cyprus, who prevented the clean sweep, overcoming Portugal in the final.

Later in the year, the Nations League continued to deliver opportunities for smaller national associations, exemplified by San Marino’s remarkable promotion to League C.

Road to Women’s EURO 2025

Preparations for UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 ramped up in 2024. On 2 July, two digital clocks in Basel started the countdown to mark the one-year-to-go milestone, accompanied by events across the seven other host cities.

The tournament is billed as the Summit of Emotions, and UEFA and the Swiss Football Association (ASF-SFV) underlined their determination to set the bar high by officially launching ticket sales on 1 October at the top of the Jungfraujoch mountain, high in the Bernese Alps. On 29 November Maddli, a spirited Saint Bernard puppy, was unveiled as the official UEFA Women's EURO 2025 mascot.

UEFA Women's EURO 2025 mascot Maddli and ambassador Lara Dickenmann (second left) on stage at the final draw in LausanneUEFA via Getty Images

By the end of the year, the new Women’s European Qualifiers format had revealed the identities of all 16 teams to qualify for next summer’s finals, including debutants Wales and Poland, who secured their places through the play-offs. The draw took place in Lausanne on 16 December, with a star-studded broadcast also featuring the unveiling of the tournament match ball.

Protecting and strengthening the European sports model

The year was also marked by continued efforts from UEFA, in partnership with political institutions and European football stakeholders, to strengthen the European sports model, which is guided by the principles of open competition, financial solidarity, sporting merit and recognition of the social impact of sport.

This agenda was set during UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin's opening speech to the UEFA Congress in Paris, where 26 European Union (EU) sports ministers issued a joint declaration reaffirming the support of their respective governments for the model.

In November, the UEFA president also addressed the Council of EU sports ministers in Brussels, urging Europe's policymakers to take concrete actions towards implementing the 2021 Council resolution to protect the model.

New era for men’s club competitions

One of the reasons European football is so successful and popular is that it never stands still. To ensure UEFA’s men’s club competitions continue to deliver the best for clubs, players and fans, we launched a game-changing new format promising greater fairness, excitement, intensity, emotion and uncertainty. Under the new league system, clubs in the Champions League and Europa League no longer play three opponents twice but instead face eight different teams – while Conference League teams play six different sides – allowing them to test themselves against a wider range of opponents while raising the prospect for fans of seeing top teams go head-to-head more often, earlier in the season.

The draw for the three competitions was held in late August at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and seeded teams in four pots based on their individual club coefficients, with an innovative automated software determining their eight league phase opponents.

As the league phase of Europe’s premier club competition builds towards a thrilling conclusion on 29 January – when 18 Champions League matches will take place simultaneously – it has already thrown up plenty of goals and excitement, and European matchdays to savour for Champions League debutants Girona, Aston Villa, Bologna, Brest and Slovan Bratislava.

Winners old and new: Completion of 2023/24 club competitions

Before the new era got under way with the first round of fixtures in September, the completion of club competitions in May and June crowned their winners, some tasting glory again and others doing so for the first time.

Another absorbing men’s Champions League campaign culminated with the familiar sight of serial winners Real Madrid lifting the iconic trophy for a record-extending 15th time – more than twice as many as the competition’s next most successful side – with victory over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.

At the Europa League final in Dublin, Nigerian international Ademola Lookman’s hat-trick not only secured a maiden European trophy for Serie A team Atalanta, but also halted Bayer Leverkusen’s extraordinary 51-match unbeaten run, which had won them a first Bundesliga title; they would subsequently add the German Cup. Atalanta and their veteran coach Gian Piero Gasperini were rewarded with a UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid, who won a record sixth title with a 2-0 victory in Warsaw in August.

Ademola Lookman's stunning hat-trick secured a maiden European trophy for AtalantaAFP via Getty Images

Just 37 days after their Under-19 team won the UEFA Youth League to claim Greece’s first European club trophy, Olympiacos’ senior side wrote another chapter in their nation's football history. A dramatic extra-time victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final in the ancient city of Athens – a short bus ride from Olympiacos’ base in Piraeus – delivered the nation’s first success in a senior UEFA club competition.

In Bilbao, a sell-out 50,827 crowd watched Barcelona get the better of Lyon to secure their third Women’s Champions League title. The competition is attracting ever more fans – the average attendance figure for the four semi-final matches was 35,933, with Lyon and Chelsea both setting club records, while millions more enjoyed free-to-air coverage throughout the tournament thanks to broadcast partner DAZN.

The fact that more people than ever are watching football in Europe was also one of the main takeaways in our latest European Club Talent and Competition Landscape report, which was published in September.

Futsal flying high

In May, Armenia hosted their first UEFA competition final as Mallorca Palma retained their UEFA Futsal Champions League crown with a 5-1 defeat of compatriots Barça – the 13th Spanish triumph in 23 editions.

The large crowds that filled the Demirchyan Arena SCC in Yerevan to watch the final-four tournament added a new chapter to Armenia’s futsal success story and vindicated UEFA’s desire to take its competition finals to all corners of Europe.

Futsal’s changing geography is not just limited to Armenia, with 14 national associations represented in the elite round of the 2023/24 Futsal Champions League as the five-a-side game continues to grow in popularity across Europe. This was demonstrated at the 2024 Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan, where Ukraine and surprise package France reached the semi-finals.

UEFA co-organises Ballon d’Or for first time

The 68th edition of the prestigious Ballon d'Or awards ceremony took place on 28 October at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. For the first time the awards were co-organised by UEFA and Groupe Amaury, owner of France Football and L'Équipe.

Rodri and Aitana Bonmatí claimed a Spanish sweep at the 2024 Ballon d'OrL'EQUIPE

Manchester City midfielder Rodri won the 2024 Men's Ballon d'Or after playing an integral role for club and country in the 2023/24 season, while Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí collected the Women's Ballon d'Or for the second year in a row. Carlo Ancelotti was named Men's Coach of the Year and Real Madrid were named Men's Club of the Year, with Rodri's Spain team-mate Yamal taking home the Kopa Trophy for the best under-21 player. Emma Hayes, who after 12 years in charge left Chelsea for the international stage with the United States, received the Women's Coach of the Year award.