An England fan was so confident they'd win that he had a tattoo that says "England Euro 2024 winners" put on his leg three days before the final. 

Dan Thomas, 29, from Swindon, believed the Three Lions would win the coveted title of Euro winners and defeat Spain in Berlin on Sunday evening and marked his confidence with a tattoo.

The data consultant spent two and a half hours getting the UEFA European Championship trophy tattooed on his leg at the Reign Barbers and Tattoos parlour in Swindon on Thursday – the day after England defeated the Netherlands securing their place in the final.

He said he does not regret getting the sizeable tattoo covering a large part of his left thigh and predicted England will defeat Spain by 2-1.

(Image: Jack Wilkinson/PA)

“I thought (England) would get far, so it’s come as no shock,” he told the PA news agency before yesterday's loss.

“I’m pretty confident. I think it will happen. I wouldn’t have got it done if I didn’t think it would happen.

“I think it will be close and I think it will be 1-1, but go to extra time. I think we’ll win 2-1 at extra time.”

Mr Thomas considered getting a similar tattoo in 2021 when England faced Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

“I went into the studio and just said it would be great to have (the tattoo). I was joking, but then I thought, ‘actually, no, I’m really confident I’m going to get it done’ so it was a spur-of-the-moment, last-minute thing,” he said.

Mr Thomas live-streamed the moment he had the artwork tattooed to his leg, which received 42,000 views on TikTok, and he has encouraged others considering getting a similar tattoo to “go and get it”.

Mr Thomas’s friend, Jack Wilkinson, who owns Reign Barbers and Tattoos, did not believe Mr Thomas would go ahead with the tattoo “until the needle actually touched the skin”.

Mr Wilkinson told PA: “I thought it was a joke to start with, but he said he was full of confidence and wanted to be the first one to get it done before everyone else gets it done after they win.

“It still feels surreal that he actually got it done. It sums up Dan as a person. He’s quite eccentric and Mr Positive.”

Tattoo artist Tinashe Chikerema applied the ink to Mr Thomas’s skin, not before he “triple-checked” with the data consultant if he wanted it done.

“I couldn’t believe he actually wanted the tattoo, but I triple-checked with him. Fair play to him for being so confident in the team,” Mr Chikerema told PA.

He said the Euros has been a “nice boost” for business particularly after his shop struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’ve had quite a few queries off the back of (Dan’s tattoo),” he explained.