7 players we totally forgot ever played at the European Championship
We’re getting sick with Euro fever, and sometimes, that makes us forgetful. We’ve spent a lot of time enveloping ourselves in the Euros of old recently, and we’d completely forgotten about some of the ballers involved.
Wonder who we’ll be thinking the exact same thing about 20 years from now. Impossible to know. Lawrence Shankland, maybe. Unless Scotland win the thing. You never bloody know.
Here are seven names that stood out to us during the course of our digging, beginning with a man who spent more time in the jungle than he did at the Euros.
Kieron Dyer
It’s easy to forget that Dyer was actually a really good footballer in his time. Several terrible injuries including a broken leg had a major impact on the winger’s career, and his name is now forever synonymous with scrapping Lee Bowyer—his own teammate—whilst at Newcastle.
Dyer did however represent England at Euro 2004, playing seven minutes in a group match against Switzerland, a substitute for an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney.
Kevin Kuranyi
Germany’s Brazilian-born cult striker represented his adopted nation at Euros 2004 & 2008, playing in the second half of the final in the latter.
A few months later he wasn’t selected for the 18-man squad to face Russia in a World Cup qualifier, and left the stadium at half-time. Joachim Low didn’t take to kindly and vowed never to pick Kuranyi for Die Mannschaft again.
And that’s all she wrote for Kevin Kuranyi’s international career.
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Albert Luque
Another ex-Newcastle player, Luque was big news when he arrived on Tyneside (he was dead good on Football Manager). He scored one goal for the Geordies, but it happened to come in the Tyne-Wear derby, so it counts for 25 goals in the memory.
Luque found himself in the Spain squad for Euro 2004, where he played on the left wing versus Portugal. We have absolutely zero memory of this.
Helder Postiga
Postiga spent one year with Tottenham Hotspur back in the 2003-04 season. He scored one league goal and then headed back whence he came, to Porto.
The forward’s record for Portugal was far better, with 27 goals in 71 games. He scored against England at Euro 2004, and against Denmark in 2012.
Fun fact: Postiga grew up a Benfica fan and played for Porto and Sporting, but never Benfica. That’s kind of sad.
Jazz Richards
In 2024, Jazz Richards is representing Haverfordwest County—a semi-professional team in the Cymru Premier. Once upon a time, though, Richards was playing for his country.
The full-back came on as a sub in a 2-1 victory over Slovakia at Euro 2016. Wales fans, you probably remember this just fine, but it had completely slipped out mind.
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Ryan Bertrand
Sometimes entire periods of time just evaporate from your memory. Bertrand’s run in the England team had slipped out of our collective head like a sneaky snake.
The then Southampton left-back was part of Roy Hodgson’s ill-fated England team at Euro 2016. Alas, by 2017 his international career was over.
Oliver Norwood
The Sheffield United stalwart represented England at youth level, but went on to play for Northern Ireland at Euro 2016.
The Green & White Army made it to the first knockout round, as one of the best third-placed teams in the group stages, where they lost to eventual semifinalists, the aforementioned Wales.