Conor McGregor wins huge bet after predicting Spain to win on first day of Euro 2024

That's the Euro 2024 final all done and dusted, with Spain beating England in a 2-1 win to clinch their fourth title in this continental competition.

After no goals in the first half the Spanish caught the England defence napping in the early moments of the second half to score.

A Cole Palmer goal evened things up before Spain scored again, and in the dying moments of the game cleared an effort from England off the line to hold onto the win.

For England it's the dejection and despair of defeat, though perhaps tinged with the feeling that the team have done us proud and the past few years being a better time for English football than we've had since 1966.

For Spain it's a victory in a competition where they proved themselves to be the favourites from early on in the tournament.

They played some beautiful football and generally provided a refutation of the idea that a nation ought to grind its way through international tournaments a la the ethos of Didier Deschamps and his French side that won the 2018 World Cup while reaching the finals of Euro 2016 and the 2022 World Cup.

One person who will be very happy at the result is Conor McGregor, who posted on social media that he had put on a big bet for Spain to win Euro 2024 and raked in the big bucks as a result.

"€1million won on my birthday!" he wrote on social media, showing a betting slip which showed he'd placed an €83,500 (£70,000) bet on Spain to become champions, which earned him a tidy €1,002,000 (£841,000) in winnings.

McGregor can feel very much like a happy bunny after watching England lose and seeing his prediction of 'easy money on the Spaniards to win' come to fruition.

€1million won on my birthday! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/GNb4LPDZfm

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 14, 2024

Even sweeter for McGregor is that the Euro 2024 final fell on 14 July, his birthday.

The MMA fighter can celebrate turning 36 with his betting payout and spend it on whatever his heart desires.

Of course, not all bets pan out, the gambling companies are rather built on losing bets instead of the lucky winners.

Meanwhile, some of us got frigging Hungary in the office sweepstake and won't be seeing that £5 again.

If you'd put on a bet for which player would win the Golden Boot at Euro 2024 then you might be feeling quite lucky.

That's because a change to the rules in dishing out the personal accolade means that it's being shared between six different players.

Harry Kane is one of those, but his tally of three goals has him level in the top scorer charts with Dani Olmo, Jamal Musiala, Cody Gakpo, Ivan Schranz and Georges Mikautadze.