José Sá (Portugal)

Four clean sheets in five matches tells its own tale but the Maritimo keeper still made vital saves despite having the tournament’s best defence in front of him. He could not save Portugal from defeat in the final shootout but they had him to thank for getting that far: he produced a brilliant save to deny John Guidetti in the final few minutes of normal time.

Carl Jenkinson (England)

In a rather chastening tournament for England’s youngsters the right-back was the standout. Has benefited from regular first-team football in the Premier League and it showed. His final ball could have been better but he was robust, energetic and offered an attacking threat. Narrowly edges out the Czech Republic’s Pavel Kaderabek for this spot.

Jannik Vestergaard (Denmark)

“This will take a long time to heal,” said the Denmark centre-half after the 4-1 semi-final thrashing at the hands of Sweden. It was a slightly distorted scoreline, with Denmark chasing the game perhaps too aggressively at 2-1, leaving Vestergaard and his defensive colleagues exposed. In the group stages, though, he was excellent.

Paulo Oliveira (Portugal)

Leader of the stingiest defence in the tournament (though this slot could have gone to Tiago Ilori had injury not disrupted his participation). Will win plenty of senior caps, you feel, and should get plenty of game time in the coming years at Sporting, where he has a €45m buyout clause.

Ludwig Augustinsson (Sweden)

Outstanding throughout the tournament and exceptional in the final, where he forced the livewire João Mário into his most ineffective performance of the competition. The other outstanding left-back in the tournament, Portugal’s Raphael Guerreiro, also had a fine game. Showed his commitment and drive (and not to mention fitness) with one final lung-bursting charge into the box in the 121st minute of the game and slammed home his penalty in the shootout. FC Copenhagen will struggle to hold on to him.

Oscar Lewicki (Sweden)

Man of the match in the final: Bernardo Silva will be seeing him in his sleep for weeks to come. Summed up Sweden’s tenacity and tactical discipline with a performance that did much to quell the usual dominance of the Portugal midfield – indeed Rui Jorge ditched his diamond for a 4-5-1 at the midpoint of each half. Spent time at Bayern Munich as a teenager and though he might not quite be up to that level, Malmo will do well to keep him.

William Carvalho (Portugal)

William Carvalho tussles with Emre Can, two of the star performers in the tournament. Photograph: Martin Rose/Getty Images

Struggled to make much of an impact in the final, and missed the decisive penalty, but was superb otherwise. Has the imposing build of a midfield enforcer but the easy, almost relaxed style of a pass-master such as Xabi Alonso. Much of Portugal’s success at the tournament was down to him.

Emre Can (Germany)

Bossed affairs in the Germany midfield in the group stage although he was utterly dominated by Carvalho in the semi-final and ended up a frazzled and frustrated figure. That (possibly pizza-induced) disappointment apart, though, he offered a few signs that he is ready for a more advanced role in the Liverpool lineup.

Bernardo Silva (Portugal)

Brilliant at the attacking tip of Portugal’s midfield diamond, though Rui Jorge seemed to grow frustrated by Sweden in the final and shunted his attacking fulcrum out wide. There he was less effective but he bamboozled plenty of defensive midfielders, not least England’s Nathaniel Chalobah, and has the talent to be a mainstay in the senior side for many years.

Jan Kliment (Czech Rep)

Is hasn’t really been a tournament for strikers so one of the slots up front should probably go to the leading scorer, even if all his goals came in one game. Kliment’s 49-minute hat-trick in the host nation’s second game, the 4-0 thrashing of Serbia, gave them hope of progressing to the last four but their failure to beat Germany in the final fixture put paid to that.

Domenico Berardi (Italy)

The exceptional talent in an Italy squad that, it turned out, blew their chance of progressing deep into the tournament in the second half of their opening fixture against 10-man Sweden. Berardi’s drive and creativity tore England apart in Olomouc and he seems a certainty to be a regular feature for the Azzurri for years to come.