Greece national football team
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Greece_national_football_team".

Greece

Nickname(s)	"The Pirate Ship"
Association	Hellenic Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Otto Rehhagel
Asst coach	Ioannis Topalidis
Captain	Angelos Basinas
Most caps	Theodoros Zagorakis (120)
Top scorer	Nikos Anastopoulos (29)
Home stadium	Karaiskákis Stadium
FIFA code	GRE
FIFA ranking	18
Highest FIFA ranking	8 (From April 2008 to June 2008)
Lowest FIFA ranking	88 (September 1998)
Elo ranking	31
Highest Elo ranking	7 (August 2004)
Lowest Elo ranking	78 (November 1963)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Greece 1 - 4  Italy (Athens, Greece; 7 April 1929)
Biggest win
Greece 8 - 0  Syria (Athens, Greece; 25 November 1949)
Biggest defeat
Hungary 11 - 1  Greece (Budapest, Hungary; 25 March 1938)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 1994)
Best result	Round 1, 1994
European Championship
Appearances	3 (First in 1980)
Best result	Winners, 2004
Confederations Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 2005)
Best result	Round 1, 2005

The Greece national football team is the national football team of Greece and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation.

Greece won the UEFA European Football Championship in their second participation in the tournament, in UEFA Euro 2004. They beat hosts Portugal 1-0 in the final. Bookmakers were giving odds of about 80-1 to 150-1 for the Greeks before the tournament.

History

1980 European Football Championship

Greece made its first appearance in a major tournament at the Euro 1980 in Italy after qualifying as first - under the guidance of Alketas Panagoulias- from a group that included USSR and Hungary, both world powers back then. In the final tournament, Greece was drawn into group A with West Germany, the Netherlands, and Czechoslovakia. In their first game, Greece held the Dutch 0-0 until 65' when the only goal of the game was scored by Kist. Three days later Greece played Czechoslovakia in Rome. After halting the Czechoslovakians to a 1-1 at the end the first half, Greece eventually lost 3-1. In their last game, Greece earned a 0-0 draw against eventually winners West Germany culminating what was considered a decent overall performance in the team's maiden presence in a final phase of any football competition.

World Cup 1994

The team's success in qualifying for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA, marked the first time they had made it to the FIFA World Cup finals. Greece finished first and undefeated in their qualifying group, surpassing Russia in the final game. In the final tournament Greece were drawn into group D with Nigeria, Bulgaria, and Argentina. After the successful qualifying campaign, expectations back in Greece were high as no one could imagine the oncoming astounding failure. Most notable reason for this complete failure was the fact that legendary coach Alketas Panagoulias opted to take a squad full of those players -though most of them aging and out of form - that helped the team in the qualifying instead of new emerging talents seeing it as a reward for their unprecedented success. It is worth mentioning that all players of the squad included the 3 goalkeepers took part in those 3 games, something very rare. In their first game against Argentina, Greece lost 4-0. Four days later Greece suffered another 4-0 blow from Bulgaria and in their final game lost to Nigeria 2-0. In the end, Greece were eliminated in the first round by losing all three games, scoring no goals and conceding 10, thus making one of the worst records in World Cup history.

Near misses

Greece failed to qualify for the Euro 1996 finishing 3rd in the group behind Russia and Scotland. In their 1998 World Cup qualifying tournament the team finished only one point shy of second placed Croatia as, despite a plethora of missed chances, it was halted to a 0-0 draw by the eventual Group winners, the Danish national football team. In their Euro 2000 qualifying group, Greece finished again in third place, two points behind second placed Slovenia in a highly disappointing campaign that saw the team lose at home to Latvia and led to the sacking of then national coach Kostas Polychroniou. In the 2002 World Cup qualifying Greece finished a disappointing fourth in their group behind England, Germany and Finland making them change their coach Vasilis Daniil in the process and replace him with Otto Rehhagel. Highlights of the campaign were the humiliating 5-1 defeat in Helsinki and the 2-2 draw that followed in England both the first 2 games of the soon to become legendary German coach at the reigns of the Greek national team.

Euro 2004 triumph

Greece lineup during Euro 2004

Greece started the qualification process for the Euro 2004 in poor fashion losing at home to Spain and away to Ukraine both times with a 2-0 scoreline. Astonishingly, the team went on to win their remaining six games including a highly decisive 1-0 away win at Zaragoza securing the first place of the group and a presence in the finals of a European Championship for the first time in 24 years. Expectations before the tournament were low with the memories of the bitter 1994 FIFA World Cup experience still fresh in the minds of many, where Greece lost all three group stage matches, conceding ten goals and scoring none.

Kit worn by Greece in the final.

In the opening match against hosts Portugal, Greece achieved a surprise 2-1 victory, receiving the nickname "pirate ship" used by Greek sportscasters in reference to the floating ship used in the tournament's opening ceremony. Greece won with a 25-yard strike from Giorgos Karagounis and a penalty from Angelos Basinas. Four days later, Greece stunned Spain in front of a largely Spanish crowd with a 1-1 draw after being down 1-0 at half time. Greece fell behind from a defensive lapse, which allowed Fernando Morientes to score. However, Angelos Charisteas scored an equaliser to give Greece hope of qualifying. In the last group game, Greece fell behind 2-0 to Russia (who were already eliminated) but managed to pull one back through Zisis Vryzas and thus progressed to the next round, at the expense of Spain, on goals scored.

In the quarterfinals Greece faced off with the undefeated and reigning champions France. At 65 minutes, Greece took the lead when captain Theodoros Zagorakis flicked the ball high in the air, passed veteran French defender Bixente Lizarazu, and sent a perfect cross to Angelos Charisteas for the header and goal. Greece held on to win, despite a late French onslaught on goal with close efforts from Thierry Henry, knocking France out of Euro 2004 and becoming the first team ever to defeat both the hosts and defending champions in the same tournament.

Greece reached the semifinals to face the Czech Republic, who were the only team to defeat all of their opponents to that point. The Czech record included a convincing 3-2 win over the Netherlands, a 2-1 win over Germany, and a 3-0 win over Denmark in the quarterfinals. At this stage in the tournament, the Czechs were favourites to take the trophy. The game began nervously for Greece, as the Czech Republic applied much pressure. Tomas Rosicky hit the crossbar in the opening minutes, and Jan Koller had several efforts saved by Antonis Nikopolidis. The Czechs chances were dealt a blow when influential midfielder Pavel Nedved left the pitch injured in the first half. After 90 minutes the game ended 0-0, despite the Czechs having most of the game's missed chances. In the last minute of the first half of extra time, a close range silver goal header from Traianos Dellas from a Vassilios Tsiartas corner ended the Czech campaign, putting Greece into the final of Euro 2004 and sending their fans into raptures.

For the first time in history (a recurring theme in this tournament), the final was a repeat of the opening game, with Greece and hosts Portugal facing off in a rematch. In the 57th minute, Charisteas gave Greece the lead with a header from a corner by Angelos Basinas. Portugal had much of the possession, but the Greek defence was solid and dealt with most attacks. Cristiano Ronaldo had a good chance to equalise in the dying moments, but could not apply a finish. Greece held on to win 1-0, winning the tournament, an achievement considered by many to be one of the greater, if not the greatest, football upset in history. Captain Zagorakis was named the man of the tournament, having led Greece and made the most tackles in the entire tournament.

Recognition

Greece's victory shot them up in the FIFA World Rankings from 35th in June 2004 to 14th in July 2004.This is one of the largest upward moves in a single month in the top echelon of the rankings. The triumph of Greece at Euro 2004 is the biggest sporting achievement in the country's history for a team sport, along with the successes of the Greece national basketball team in the European Championships of 1987, 2005 and 2006 FIBA World Championship. The team has appeared on stamps and received medals from the President of Greece, the Archbishop of Athens, and an ecstatic ovation from the country's population which came out to see the team with the trophy from the Athens airport to the Panathinaiko Stadium where the Greek political and religious leadership was awaiting them. The Euro 2004 winners were selected as "World Team of the Year" at the 2005 Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year.

2005 Confederation Cup

As Euro 2004 winners, Greece qualified for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany. Greece were drawn into Group A along with 2002 World Cup champions Brazil, 2004 Asian champions Japan, and 2003 North America champions Mexico. Greece lost 3-0 to Brazil and 1-0 to Japan and drew 0-0 with Mexico in a tournament that was seen mostly as a time for experimentation as players like Efstathios Tavlaridis, Loukas Vyntra, Mihalis Sifakis, Ioannis Amanatidis, Theofanis Gekas and Sotirios Kyrgiakos either received their first ever calls or earned their maiden caps in the national squad.

World Cup 2006

After winning the Euro 2004, Greece were considered favourites to top their group, in the 2006 World Cup qualifyings. The team was drawn into Group 2 along with Ukraine, Turkey, Denmark, Albania, Georgia and Kazakhstan in what was considered the toughest qualifying group.

In their first qualifier, Greece shockingly lost 2-1 to Albania which were followed by draws (home and away respectively) with Turkey and Ukraine, before defeating Kazakhstan 3-1 at home. It was thought that the team was back on course as the 2-1 win over Denmark, with Zagorakis scoring his first ever goal in over 100 caps. This was followed by wins against Georgia and Albania and a respectable away draw with Turkey. However, despite dominating the game, Greece lost at home to Ukraine 1-0 having two goals disallowed controversially. Three months later, Greece barely escaped embarrassment as they scraped to a 2-1 away win against Kazakhstan in the dying seconds. Greece was defeated 1-0 by Denmark in Copenhagen as chances for a qualification through a playoff looked dismal after a 1-0 win of Turkey in Kiev against the already qualified Ukrainian side. In their last game, Greece defeated Georgia finishing 4th, four points behind first-placed Ukraine and two behind Turkey. Throughout the match, the 30,000 fans in the Karaiskákis Stadium chanted the name of Otto Rehhagel in their utmost support and he said afterwards "Even if 10 years pass, part of my heart will be Greek". There was a dissatisfaction with the selection of the team by Otto Rehhagel throughout qualification campaign from some journalists as they argued that he was sticking to exactly the same Euro 2004 squad even though some players didn't even have a club and was overlooking others most notably Ieroklis Stoltidis of Olympiacos and Akis Zikos of Monaco.

On May 25, 2006, less than a month before the opening of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Greece lost 1-0 to Australia in a friendly match in front of 95,103 people at the MCG.

Euro 2008 disappointment

Greece was the highest ranked seed in the 'pots' for qualification to the UEFA Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria and was drawn with Turkey, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova and Malta being the only group which did not have a team represented in the World Cup 2006.

Greece began their Euro 2008 campaign with victories over Moldova, Norway and Bosnia-Herzegovina. As a result, Greece climbed eighteen places in two months to 13th place in the October FIFA World Rankings. On March 24, 2007 Greece lost their fourth game 4-1 against Turkey in Athens. Nevertheless the team went on to win away to Malta, with the only goal coming in the 66th minute from an Basinas penalty, Hungary and Moldova at home and drew 2-2 away to Norway despite having hit the goalpost three times in this match. The draw in Oslo was followed by a 3-2 home win against Bosnia-Herzegovina and a 1-0 away win to Turkey, securing its presence to the Euro 2008 finals at their old rival's home ground. In the last two matches, Greece smashed Malta 5-0 in Athens and defeated Hungary with an away 2-1 win, finishing first in their group with a total of 31 points, the most points gained among any group. In the draw for the final tournament, Greece was seeded first as the defending European Champion. In addition to this, Greece climbed to the 11th place in the FIFA World Rankings, the highest ever for them, thus they are seeded first for the draw of the European qualification zone for the World Cup 2010, also for the first time. The draw for the Euro 2008 finals was held on December 2 in Switzerland, Greece were drawn in Group D along with Sweden, Spain, and Russia. In preparation for the tournament, Greece defeated Portugal 2-1 on March 26, 2008, in a repeat of the Euro 2004 opening and final match; as a result, Greece moved up to a record 8th position in the FIFA world ranking.

In the tournament finals, however, the Greek team lost all three games and scored only one goal. Greece underperformed in the opening match against Sweden and lost 2-0. They tried to recover in the match against Russia, but lost 1-0. Having already been eliminated, the Greek team tried their chances against -already qualified- Spain, but also lost 2-1, becoming the first defending champion not to earn a single point in the next European Championship.

World Cup 2010

Greece was seeded in the first pot for the draw of the European qualification zone for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as to the FIFA World Rankings, and they were drawn in Group 2 with Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia and Luxembourg. They will start off their campaign away vs Luxembourg on September 6, 2008.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Israel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Switzerland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Moldova 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Latvia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Luxembourg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

– 1 Apr '09 10 Oct '09 14 Oct '09 11 Oct '08 15 Oct '08 28 Mar '09 – 5 Sep '09 9 Sep '09 10 Oct '09 6 Sep '08 10 Sep '08 15 Oct '08 – 1 Apr '09 14 Oct '09 9 Sep '09 6 Sep '08 11 Oct '08 28 Mar '09 – 15 Oct '08 10 Oct '09 9 Sep '09 10 Sep '08 6 Sep '08 5 Sep '09 – 28 Mar '09 5 Sep '09 14 Oct '09 11 Oct '08 10 Sep '08 1 Apr '09 –

Stadium

Main article: Karaiskákis Stadium

Greece have been using the Karaiskákis Stadium in Piraeus (Olympiacos' stadium) as their home ground since they became European Champions. They used that stadium for all the home games of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying round.

For the home games of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying round Karaiskákis Stadium was used at first, but after some riots took place the National Team was forced to play at another ground for two fixtures, so they moved to Pankritio Stadium. What is more, it was decided that the homefixtures against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Malta were held at the Olympic Stadium of Athens.

In the past, Greece used several other stadiums including Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Athens Olympic Stadium, Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, etc. For the UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying round - in which Greece ended up winning the trophy - Greece used the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium (Panathinaikos' stadium) for all their home matches.

Kits

Greece's home kit since the Hellenic Football Federation was first established was blue, but after Greece's triumph at Euro 2004 they changed their home kit from blue to white. The team wears either a set of white jerseys, shorts and socks or a set of blue jerseys, shorts and socks. A combination of a blue jersey and white shorts has also been used in some matches. The official shirt supplier is Adidas which has signed a long-term agreement with the Greek Federation until 2012.

World Cup record

Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1930	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1934	Withdrew during qualifying	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1954	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1966	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1970	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	Round 1	3	0	0	3	0	10
1998	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2010		-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1/18	3	0	0	3	0	10

European Championship record

Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1960	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1964	Withdrew from qualifying	-	-	-	-	-	-
1968	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1972	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1976	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980	Round 1	3	0	1	2	1	4
1984	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	Champions	6	4	1	1	7	4
2008	Round 1	3	0	0	3	1	5
Total	3/13	12	4	2	6	9	13

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.

Confederations Cup record

Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1992	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1995	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1997	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1999	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2001	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2005	Round 1	3	0	1	2	0	4
2009	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1/7	3	0	1	2	0	4

Honours

• European Championship: 1
  

2004

• Laureus World Sports Awards: 1
  

2005

• World Soccer Magazine: 1
  

World Team of the Year 2004

• FIFA Fair Play Award Confederations Cup 2005: 1
  

2005

Squad

Caps and goals as of June 18, 2008.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 12 GK Konstantinos Chalkias 30 May 1974 16 0 PAOK 13 GK Alexandros Tzorvas 12 August 1982 0 0 Panathinaikos 2 DF Giourkas Seitaridis 4 June 1981 59 1 Atlético Madrid 4 DF Nikos Spiropoulos 10 October 1983 7 0 Panathinaikos 5 DF Traianos Dellas 31 January 1976 46 1 Anorthosis Famagusta 11 DF Loukas Vyntra 5 February 1981 20 0 Panathinaikos 15 DF Vasilis Torosidis 10 June 1985 16 0 Olympiacos 16 DF Sotirios Kyrgiakos 23 July 1979 42 4 AEK Athens 19 DF Sokratis Papastathopoulos 9 June 1988 4 0 Genoa DF Avraam Papadopoulos 3 December 1984 1 0 Olympiacos 3 MF Christos Patsatzoglou 19 March 1979 31 1 Olympiacos 6 MF Angelos Basinas (captain) 3 January 1976 92 7 AEK Athens 10 MF Giorgos Karagounis 6 March 1977 77 6 Panathinaikos 21 MF Kostas Katsouranis 21 June 1979 53 6 Benfica 22 MF Alexandros Tziolis 13 February 1985 9 0 Panathinaikos MF Sotiris Ninis 3 April 1990 1 1 Panathinaikos MF Vassilios Pliatsikas 14 April 1988 0 0 AEK Athens 7 FW Georgios Samaras 21 February 1985 19 3 Celtic 9 FW Angelos Charisteas 9 February 1980 69 19 Nuremberg 14 FW Dimitrios Salpigidis 10 August 1981 22 1 Panathinaikos 17 FW Fanis Gekas 23 May 1980 30 8 Leverkusen 20 FW Ioannis Amanatidis 3 December 1981 30 3 Eintracht Frankfurt 23 FW Nikos Liberopoulos 4 September 1975 61 13 Eintracht Frankfurt

Recent call-up

The following players have all been called up to the Greece squad within the last 12 months.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Chrisostomos Michailidis 15 January 1975 1 0 Atromitos GK Stefanos Kotsolis 6 May 1979 4 0 Larissa DF Christos Melissis 1 December 1982 2 0 Panathinaikos DF Michalis Kapsis 18 October 1973 34</