A POLL of 2,000 football fans saw Cristiano Ronaldo beat Frenchman Zinedine Zidane – and England legend Bobby Charlton – to be named the Euros’ best ever player.
Other players considered among the greatest to participate in the Uefa European Championships included David Beckham, Andres Iniesta and Marco van Basten.
The survey was commissioned by Lottoland.co.uk, which is offering new customers a free bet when they spend £10 on the Euros, via its sportsbook.
A spokesperson said: “You can always rely on the Euros to watch the best players.
“From Modric to Maldini, Beckham to Beckenbauer, some of the greatest players ever to grace the turf have played in the tournament over the decades.
“And it’s one competition that Ronaldo can finally deservedly win without being compared to Lionel Messi – who, being Argentinian, is not eligible for the tournament.”
Beckham placed fourth on the list, with Holland’s Johan Cruyff rounding out the top five.
Elsewhere in the top 10 were Thierry Henry, Harry Kane – and Paul Gascoigne, who lit up Euro 96 with spectacular performances.
The study also found that while Ronaldo topped the poll for individual players, in terms of which nationality produces the biggest Euros legends, Spain came out on top.
And gallingly for England fans, they only placed third – behind the Spaniards and fierce football rivals Germany.
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Strikers were deemed to be the most exciting type of player to watch, selected by 30 per cent of respondents.
While 21 per cent love nothing more than ‘link’ players, who operate in a role between the midfield and the strikers, and 14 per cent love watching tricky wingers.
But 60 per cent said that to be considered a true Euros great, a player needs to have actually won the tournament – which would sadly rule out any British player.
However, 21 per cent of footie fans polled, via OnePoll, reckon this is England’s year, and they’ll go one better than the final they lost to Italy last time out.
The single greatest Euros-winning side ever was Spain’s 2012 vintage, which featured midfielders Xavi and Andres Iniesta, as well as legendary defenders Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique.
Lottoland’s spokesperson added: “Euro 2024 is promising to be a truly vintage tournament, after the delays and disruption to Euro 2020.
“When it comes to the UK, England and Scotland will go into the tournament with confidence, with players like Bukayo Saka and Andy Robertson in flying form for their clubs.
“Who knows, perhaps if we run a survey like this again in 10 years, a British player might find themselves topping the list.”
THE European championships has seen some of football's greatest-ever players grace the competition.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
2. Zinedine Zidane (France)
3. Bobby Charlton (England)
4. David Beckham (England)
5. Johan Cruyff (Netherlands)
6. Thierry Henry (France)
7. Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)
8. Harry Kane (England)
9. Paul Gascoigne (England)
10. Alan Shearer (England)
11. Steven Gerrard (England)
12. Marco van Basten (Netherlands)
13. Paolo Maldini (Italy)
14. Peter Schmeichel (Denmark)
15. Ruud Gullitt (Netherlands)
16. Gerd Müller (Germany)
17. Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden)
18. Gareth Bale (Wales)
19. Luka Modric (Croatia)
20. Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
