The best teams at the European Championship, including eventual winners Spain, played to keep possession and counter-attack in numbers, UEFA says.
Analyzing key footballing trends, the governing body of European football presented its technical analysis of Euro 2008 to national coaches and technical directors of 53 European football federations at a three-day conference, three months after the tournament was staged in Austria and Switzerland.
"The progress of possession football was the winner," UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh said Wednesday at the closure of the 8th UEFA Conference for National Team Coaches.
"It's all about keeping the ball in possession and playing with pace," Roxburgh said. "Spain and a number of teams played that way. Guus Hiddink did a presentation this morning on how he changed the way Russia is playing into that same direction."
Counter-attacking has also become more important, UEFA said in its report.
Euro 2008 was "a tournament of brilliant counter-attacking," Roxburgh said. "Not the classic counter-attack to get the ball as soon as possible from one penalty box to the other," Roxburgh said. "But a collective counter-attack where players are moving forward at speed even before the ball closes in."
More than 40 percent of goals scored from open play came from fast breaks, Roxburgh noted.
Surprisingly, only one goal was scored directly from a free kick.
"Daniele De Rossi scored for Italy against France, and that shot was deflected," Roxburgh said. "We have no explanation for that. In the Champions League, the average of goals from a direct free kick is 50 per cent higher."
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