The 2004 European Championship saw Greece perform arguably the biggest upset in football history. Here was a nation with little expectation – and essentially zero hype – going into an international tournament with some incredibly strong sides.
They overcame them all, however, lifting the trophy and making history. How exactly did that happen, though? How did they achieve what Portugal's home heroes, England's golden generation, Italy's soon-to-be World Cup winners, a France team with Zinedine Zidane & Thierry Henry, and an enormously impressive Czech Republic team couldn't?
Honestly, it makes little sense even after explaining it, but Football FanCast has given it a go, anyway.
How Denmark won Euro 1992
How Greece qualified for Euro 2004
Qualifying record: Played 8, Won 6, Drew 0, Lost 2
In hindsight, Greece's qualification campaign was a sign of things to come. They topped Group 6, finishing above Spain, Ukraine, Armenia and Northern Ireland.
Now, your first thought is likely 'hang on, they finished above Spain? Surely they were a great team?' but Spain of 2004 were not the team that would end the decade. They're now known for technical, passing football, of course, but back then was the time of La Furia Roja (Red Fury, as you may have guessed). Spain were about intensity and aggression – it just didn't really work, hence the big change in years to come.
It wasn't an enormous shock that Spain didn't qualify automatically, then, even if they still should have finished above Greece. What was perhaps even more telling, however, was the fact that Greece only conceded four goals in their eight games – and all came in their first two fixtures.
In other words, they went into the tournament on the back of six consecutive competitive wins, all with clean sheets. This was a team that knew how to defend resolutely and to say that it stood them in good stead for Euro 2004 is an understatement.
The favourites at Euro 2004
Sven's men flattered to deceive once more…
We're not sure there has ever been a tournament with this many amazing squads that underperformed. There are some scary teams in this one and yet, somehow, they all failed.
Multiple teams were in the middle of a 'golden generation' era, for one. Portugal, as hosts, perhaps had the best chance as they also boasted several players from Josè Mourinho's Champions League-winning Porto team. On top of that, a young Cristiano Ronaldo was starting to shine and they still had former World Player of the Year Luis Figo.
Then there's England. This legitimately might be the strongest England team in history, yet they somehow didn't win anything. Gary Neville, John Terry, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole made up the back four. David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes were all in midfield. Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney were up top! Not exactly a team that screams 'quarter-final exit'.
Every England performance at the European Championship
Italy's squad was littered with world-class players who would put it all together and win the World Cup two years later. Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro del Piero, Christian Vieri, Franceso Totti – all in their prime but Italy didn't make it out of the group stages.
France? Claude Makélélé, Zinedine Zidane and Patrick Vieira in midfield should be good enough – let alone when Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet are forward options. The quarter-finals would see them exit.
The Czech Republic were seen as dark horses. They were led by reigning Ballon d'Or winner Pavel Nedved and laid claim to a young Tomas Rosicky. They'd impress, too – Liverpool striker Milan Baros would win the Golden Boot.
Greece's manager at Euro 2004
Otto Rehhagel had history in the upsets department
Greece's manager was Otto Rehhagel. The German had been in place since 2001 on the back of a sensational spell with Kaiserslautern.
Rehhagel had coached Werder Bremen to two Bundesliga titles at the start of the '90s, earning him the job at Bayern Munich. He failed to win the title in his single season there, however, and lost his job in 1996. That saw him join Kaiserslautern – a team that had just won the DFB-Pokal, but also been relegated from the top flight.
What Rehhagel achieved there was extraordinary. Not only did he win immediate promotion with Kaiserslautern but he then led them to the Bundesliga title in their first season back. It's the only time in the history of German football that a team has managed this.
In other words, Greece had a manager who knew how to win – and how to upset the odds. Still, no one thought it remotely possible that he could achieve something similar at Euro 2004.
Greece's group at Euro 2004
Group A: Portugal, Greece, Spain, Russia
Greece had, on the face of it, a very difficult group. Hosts Portugal – with their star-studded squad – were the standout side. Then there was Spain, out for revenge against Greece from the qualifying campaign. The fourth team was Russia – far from a bad side, though the clear underdogs in this group.
Greece essentially played this group backwards, though. They started with a shock opening-day win over Portugal, narrowly overcoming the hosts 2-1. That was a harbinger of what was to come.
Ranking the biggest upsets at the European Championship
A 1-1 draw with Spain followed, before they lost 2-1 to Russia. Two things were of note, here: firstly, Greece conceded as many goals in these three games as they did in their entire qualifying campaign. They also survived purely on Spain not being able to score goals. The two nations finished level on points and goal difference, but the Greeks had four goals to Spain's two.
That was good enough for second-place behind Portugal and it was onto the Quarter-finals.
How Greece beat France at Euro 2004
25th June 2004: France 0-1 Greece
Greece were getting a tough fixture here no matter what – Portugal, the group winners, had to play England. Second-place in Group A led to a clash with France, another of the favourites and a team that went unbeaten in the group. They were also reigning European champions, no less.
But they just couldn't find a way past Greece. There's little doubt that France outplayed their opponents, with 10 shots to Greece's five, but none of Zinedine Zidane, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry or David Trezeguet could find a goal.
Angelos Charisteas, however, could. He'd scored in the group against Spain and found another here to win the match 1-0. It wouldn't be the last time he did that.
Greece scored the only ever silver-goal winner
1st July 2004: Greece 1-0 Czech Republic (AET)
Greece had to play the Czech Republic in the semi-finals – a team most had down as the dark horse for an upset champion. What transpired is one of the most unique wins in football history.
This one, like all of Greece's games, was a defensive affair where little happened. It finished 0-0 after 90 minutes, sending the game to extra-time.
UEFA had introduced a new rule two years prior. It was called the silver goal, with the idea being that if a team led after the first half of extra time, they'd win the game. This differed from the golden goal, where the first team to score in extra-time won.
Greece vs Czech Republic at Euro 2004 was the only major competition match to be settled by a Silver Goal. It had been announced in February of that year that both silver and golden goals would be removed as laws of the game after this tournament – but there was still time to see one.
Traianos Dellas got the goal, scoring from a corner with mere seconds remaining in the first half of extra-time. This was, quite remarkably, the only international goal of his career and one of the absolute biggest in Greece's history – and one of the more unique in football, full-stop.
The Euro 2004 final
4th July 2004: Portugal 0-1 Greece
It was all setup perfectly. Portugal, the hosts and in the final tournament for their golden generation, were into the final and ready to take home the trophy. Even better, they could do so by getting revenge on the team that upset them in the competition's opener.
They'd managed to overcome both England and the Netherlands en route to the final, with Maniche's screamer helping them over the line in the latter. Now a minnow with zero success to their name was all that remained in the way.
The greatest goals in European Championship history (ranked)
Of course, things did not play out the way Portugal thought they would. They dominated the final – as everyone expected – but struggled to find any way to Greece's goal. Like France and the Czech Republic before them, the defending was just too solid.
And this was the most 'Greece' display of the entire tournament. Not only did they have just one quarter of Portugal's shots in this one, but they scored with their only shot on target. It doesn't get more 'underdog win' than that.
It was Angelos Charisteas again who found the goal, much as he did against France. His third of the tournament remains Greece's biggest-ever goal – and it'll likely never be beaten.
With that, Greece had their first major trophy and you can't understate how remarkable that is. Before Euro 2004, they'd only ever competed in two international tournaments and never won a final-tournament match – they've still only ever qualified for seven.
Greece have also only managed to get out of the group stage on three occasions in their history. The fact that one of those ended up with them as champions makes this arguably the most sensational underdog win ever seen.
