Euro 1972 Top Goal Scorers

The European Nations' Cup 1972, also known as the

UEFA Euro 1972

Championships, was the fourth edition of the European tournament, held in Belgium from June 14 to 18, 1972.

The host nation was Belgium on the ground of the fact that the tournament occurred through an exceptional chilly era of the Cold War as they were neutral in the aura of cold war relations.

The hosts, Soviet Union, West Germany, and Hungary were the four teams that qualified for the final competition after a battle between European countries in the qualifiers.

The qualifying round took place during 1970 and 1971 (group phase), and 1972 (quarter-finals). There were eight qualifying groups, each consisting of four teams. The games were held in a home-and-away system.

Coming back to the tournament, its finals were made up of four matches: two semi-finals, a third-place play-off, and the final, all of which were hosted by one of the participating countries.

West Germany and the Soviet Union were evident flashpoints, while Hungary, the other losing semi-finalist was still behind the Iron Curtain.

West Germany won the tournament, defeating the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, with two goals scored by Gerd Müller and one netted by Herbert Wimmer.

Euro 1972 Top Goal Scorers

In a quest to know the Top Scorers in UEFA Euro 1972, in this section we would take a closer look at the phenomenal goal scorers who put away the most goals in the tournament, being revered as

Euro 1972 Top Goal Scorers.

Herbert Wimmer (1 Goal)

Being regarded as a "destroyer," by The Guardian writer in 2013, Herbert Wimmer had a role of holding midfielder all of his own which enabled him to help win back possession and distribute the ball to other football players.

One of his most significant assets was his physical strength and endurance, which led him to acquire the nickname of "Iron Lung."

Wimmer was also regarded as a paragon of a player who never ran out of steam. Being widely known as a

player, he put away 51 goals in 366 Bundesliga games between the years 1966 and 1978.

He won five national titles with the club (in 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, and 1978), as well as the German Cup in 1973 and the UEFA Cup in 1975.

Likewise, Wimmer also made 36 appearances for the West German national football team between 1968 and 1976, scoring four goals. He achieved the 1972 European Football Championship and the 1974 FIFA World Cup with Germany, in which he played in two matches.

From the matches he played in the UEFA Euro 1972 tournament he managed to net a goal as he scored the second goal in the 3–0 win in the final against the USSR. Therefore with this goal, this former

Footballer got himself among the list of the

top goal scorers of Euro 1972.

Anatoliy Konkov (1 Goal)

Anatoliy Konkov is a retired Ukrainian football player who was known as the USSR's Merited Master of Sports (1982). Konkov was a stopper on defence during his playing career as he featured in clubs like Avanhard, Shakhtar and

.

Between 1971 and 1978, the Shakhtar Footballer was a member of the Soviet Union squad. Likewise, between the year 1974 and 1975, he won four Soviet championships and was a winner of the Soviet Cup, UEFA Supercup, and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In 1972, he was the vice-champion of Europe, and in 1976, he won an Olympic bronze medal.

As one of

Euro 1972 top goal scorers

, Anatoliy Konkov put away one goal from the matches he starred in during the tournament. With this goal, this former footballer got himself among

Euro top goal scorers

.

His team featured in the tournament final, as they were beaten 0-3 by the West Germany team. Besides, Konkov went on to put away 8 goals from his 47-match of his international career.

In 1979 Konkov played a number of games for Ukraine at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. Konkov became a coach after he was retired from playing professional football, being at the helm of clubs in the Soviet Union, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan.

He was elected as the President of the Football Federation of Ukraine on September 2, 2012, becoming the second player who took presidency profession after Viktor Bannikov.

Lajos Ku (1 Goal)

Lajos Kű is a retired Hungarian football player who played in the position of midfielder and represented the clubs such as Videoton, Ferencvárosi TC, SC Eisenstadt, and Club Brugge K.V.

His appearance in the second game for the latter club, in the European Cup Final 1978 against

was specifically notable. Lajos Kű took part in the Munich 1972 Summer Olympics for Hungary, winning a silver medal.

If you want to

know the top scorers in UEFA Euro 1972

, you could count on him as well, in so far as he contributed to UEFA Euro 1972 for the Hungary national football team.

He put away a goal from the match in which his team appeared during the tournament. Scoring this goal, saw our Hungarian Footballer being considered as Euro top goal scorers.

His national team continued as they lost their semifinal match 0-1 against the final Runners-up Soviet Union, while afterwards they also lost the 3rd place playoff 1-2 against Belgium to finish 4th in the tournament.

Apart from his football profession, after spending 15 years abroad, he came back to Hungary in the early 1990s, taking a job as a businessman.

Paul Van Himst (1 Goal)

With having the nickname of Polle Gazon because of excessive fouls committed on him, Paul Van Himst is a former Belgian football forward who holds the record of four times being granted the Golden Shoe.

In our effort to know the top scorers in UEFA Euro 1972, Paul Van Himst has a special place in our list especially if you find out that for celebrating UEFA's Jubilee in November 2003, the Belgian Football Association called him the Golden Player of Belgium for his exceptional performance throughout the previous 50 years.

Paul Van Himst won the Belgian championship eight times, all with Anderlecht, the club where he began his professional career in 1959–60.

He put away 233 goals in 457 games for

for a span of 16 seasons. In 1975–76, he starred for RWDM (another Brussels club), and the following season for Eendracht Aalst (then in the second level).

As one of Euro top goal scorers, Van Himst played for the Belgian national team from 1960 until 1974, scoring 30 goals in 81 games. With this feat, he became Belgium's second-best scorer, after Bernard Voorhoof, and the country's tenth most capped player.

He made his debut against Sweden on October 19, 1960, and was a member of the Belgian team that qualified for the 1970 World Cup. After that, he led Belgium to reach third place at the Euro 1972.

Being regarded as one of the

Euro 1972 top goal scorers

, he netted a goal in the third-place playoff match of the tournament. It was with this goal that saw his team finish third in the tournament. He later worked as a football manager, most prominently with Anderlecht and the Belgian national team.

Odilon Polleunis (1 Goal)

Odilon Polleunis is a former Sint-Truidense VV player who was a member of the Belgian national team during 1968-1975 as well.

He started his national profession in a 1–2 friendly victory over the Netherlands on 7 April 1968 while he won the Belgian Golden Shoe in 1968 appearing in 22 matches and putting away 10 goals for the national team in a span of 7 years.

Being utterly qualified to be enlisted among top goal scorers of Euro 1972, he incredibly netted on his debut while the first of his 7 goals were in his first 5 Internationals, as they consisted of a hat-trick against Finland and two against Yugoslavia in World Cup qualifiers in October 1968.

In the 1970 Mexico World Cup, Polleunis appeared as a substitute in Belgium's victory over El Salvador and started the third game against Mexico, replacing Raoul Lambert.

Being revered as one of Euro 1972 top goal scorers, he put away a goal from the game he played during the tournament. With this goal, he led his country's squad to third place in the team ranks at the end of the competition

Raoul Lambert (1 Goal)

In the list of our Euro 1972 top goal scorers, Raoul Lambert (left one in the image above) is a former Belgian footballer who, while playing for Club Brugge in 1972, finished as the top scorer in the Belgian First Division with 17 goals.

He spent his whole career at

, scoring 270 goals in 458 games across all competitions. Between 1966 and 1977, he also played for the Belgian national team, scoring 18 goals in 33 games. Lambert made his international debut against France in a 0–3 friendly win on April 20, 1966, while he managed to score a goal in the game.

He was a member of the team that won the FIFA World Cup in 1970 and Euro 72 in 1972. In the latter one, Lambert put away a goal from the game In which his team played during the tournament, hence became one of Euro, 1972 top goal scorers.

His team were beaten in their semifinal match 1-2 by eventual Champions West Germany, and afterwards, they won the 3rd place playoff against Hungary 2-1.

Gerd Muller (4 Goals)

Gerd Muller is an indispensable member of Euro 1972 top goal scorers, at the same time he is immensely popular for being one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of football.

On the international stage, he netted 68 goals in his 62 appearances in West Germany and holds an international record of 66 goals in 74 European club games.

Despite playing fewer games than every other 48 top players, Müller is now 19th on the all-time international goalscorers list with West Germany, averaging nearly a goal per game. He has the third-best goal-to-game ratio among the leading scorers.

Having the nickname of the nation's Bomber he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1970. Following a successful season at

, he flourishingly netted ten goals at the 1970 FIFA World Cup for West Germany as he was awarded the Golden Boot as top goalscorer for the feat.

In 1972, he became a leading member of the top goal scorers of Euro 1972, as he scored 4 goals, just two of them in the final. His team went on to win the tournament for the first time whereas he turned into one of the German legends in Football.

Likewise, just two years later, he put away four goals in the 1974 World Cup, most notably the winning goal in the final match. In essence, 10 goals were scored during the tournament of 4 matches by Euro 1972 top goal scores as listed above; it is to be hoped you enjoy reading as much as we did.

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