Czech striker Kliment wins Golden Boot award
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Article summary
Czech Republic striker Jan Kliment, who has scored just three top-flight goals in his entire career, topped the adidas Golden Boot award rankings thanks to his matchday two hat-trick.
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Czech Republic striker Jan Kliment topped the adidas Golden Boot award rankings thanks to his hat-trick against Serbia on matchday two.
Kliment struck his three goals inside the first 56 minutes of the 4-0 victory on 20 June. The 21-year-old, who has since completed a move from Jihlava to Bundesliga side Stuttgart, was a surprise inclusion in the hosts' final tournament squad having struck just twice in 15 top-flight appearances last term. Indeed he had found the net on only three occasions in his entire career in the Czech first tier.
"It's the peak of my career and I've never even considered such an achievement," said Kliment. "I've never won such a great trophy and could not even have dreamt of this. I didn't think about winning this even after the game against Serbia. I was thinking about our team and about the match against Germany. Even now, a few days later, I'm still thinking about the draw which means we were eliminated!"
Kliment finished ahead of five players who scored two tournament goals. Those include John Guidetti and Simon Tibbling of champions Sweden, and João Mário, whose Portugal side lost in the Prague final.
Final tournament
Golden Boot: Jan Kliment (Czech Republic) – 3 goals
Silver Boot: Kevin Volland (Germany) – 2 goals, 1 assist
Bronze Boot: John Guidetti (Sweden) – 2 goals, 1 assist
João Mário (Portugal) – 2 goals, 1 assist
Marco Benassi (Italy) – 2 goals
Simon Tibbling (Sweden) – 2 goals
Assists and then minutes played (with the player boasting the better goals to minutes on the pitch ratio taking precedence) are used to separate players with the same goal tallies.
Past winners*
2013 – Álvaro Morata, Spain (4)
2011 – Adrián López, Spain (5)
2009 – Marcus Berg, Sweden (7)
2007 – Maceo Rigters, Netherlands (4)
2006 – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Netherlands (4)
2004 – Alberto Gilardino, Italy (4)
2002 – Massimo Maccarone, Italy (3)
2000 – Andrea Pirlo, Italy (3)
* Current format
2015 competition top scorers (including qualifying)
10 – Saido Berahino (England)
9 – Arkadiusz Milik (Poland)
8 – Kevin Volland (Germany), Álvaro Morata (Spain), Emil Atlason (Iceland), Munas Dabbur (Israel)
7 – Philipp Hofmann (Germany), Marcelo Brozović (Croatia), Quincy Promes (Netherlands)
You can find more information on the Golden Boot here.
