Which player is the quickest? Who covered the most ground during a match? Who’s our player of the tournament so far?
Now that we are at the business end of Euro 2008, the tournament statistics are painting an interesting story about some of Europe’s finest players.
In association with the Castrol Performance Index, we’ve put football boots to one side temporarily whilst we get an insight into the player performances.
Fastest Player – Ivica Olic
The Croatian striker who plays for Hamburg, has been recorded as the fastest player in Euro 2008 so far.
Thanks to technology that was used to track missile targets and using sixteen match cameras, Ivica Olic was measured running at an impressive 31.76 kmh – 19.74 mph, in his Zhero Gravity Due football boots.
Runner up is Robin Van Persie of Holland and Arsenal, recorded at 31.53 kmh – 19.59 mph. Robin van Persie wears the Adidas AdiPure football boots.
Most Ground Covered – Sergey Semak
The player that has covered the most ground to date is Russia’s midfield dynamo Sergey Semak. Semak has played 390 minutes of football so far. That’s four games, plus the extra time period against Holland in the quarter final round.
During that period he’s run a colossal 50.03 km – 31.09 miles in his Adidas Predator PowerSwerve football boots. Not bad for a 32 year old!
Russia have players taking 1,2,3 in the pecking order for most distance run. Proving that Guus Hiddink’s side are a team high on effort and stamina.
Tournament Player – Michael Ballack
With three fixtures to go, Michael Ballack looks like our favourite to be crowned player of the tournament.
The analytics prove that the German captain is an outstanding team player, who contributes all round.
Speed – Ballack comes in at a healthy 8th place with a top speed of 30.88 kmh – 19.19 mph.
Distance – Ballack has covered 46.27 km – 28.75 miles. He is sitting 5th in this league, but has played 30 minutes less football that any of the players who have covered more distance.
Passes – In his 360 minutes of football, Ballack has totalled 192 passes, just 18 less than the tournament leader, Ballack’s compatriot Philipp Lahm. 152 of Ballack’s passes were completed too, that’s a respectable 79%.
Fouls Suffered – He’s been fouled 12 times by his opponents, only four other players have suffered more fouls.
Michael Ballack is an attacking force too, he’s scored twice, hit the target three times and has seen three shots wide. As captain of Germany he has most definitely led by example.
Michael Ballack wears Adidas Predator PowerSwerve football boots.
