Soccer in Greece

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Logo of the Greek Football Association EPO

Football (Greek: Ποδόσφαιρο ) is the most popular popular and public sport in Greece . The greatest success of the Greek national soccer team was winning the 2004 European Championship in Portugal .

The Greek Association

The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) is the 1926 founded Football Federation of the country.

League system

Super League logo

First and second division

The first league in Greece is the Super League with 18 teams. The second league is called the Football League and has two tracks (north and south seasons) with 18 teams each.

Olympiacos Piraeus , AEK Athens , PAOK Thessaloniki and Panathinaikos Athens are among the most successful clubs in Greece.

Panathinaikos Athens achieved their second noteworthy European success in 1971, when the Athens club reached the final in the European Cup .

Third division and fourth division

The third division Football League 2 is divided into four groups. 61 teams are distributed among these according to regional affiliation. Among them is the fourth league Delta Ethniki , which is played in 10 groups of 16 teams.

Participation of Greece in the European Football Championship

Charisteas' winning goal in the Euro 2004 final

Greece took part in the 1980 European Football Championship in Italy and was eliminated in the preliminary round.

At the 2004 European Football Championship he won the title. In the final on July 4th, Greece defeated hosts Portugal 1-0 ( match report ). Since the team was treated as a 100: 1 outsider before the tournament, this success is considered the greatest sensation in international football since the Germans won the World Cup in 1954. The coach of the successful team is the German Otto Rehhagel . All players and the coach were made honorary citizens of Athens at the victory ceremony in the old Olympic Stadium on July 5th.

The defending champion Greece qualified early for the 2008 European Championship in Austria and Switzerland. After losing two games in the preliminary round (0: 2 against Sweden and 0: 1 against Russia), the early exit was sealed.

Participation of Greece in the World Cup

Greece participated in the soccer world championships in 1994 , 2010 and 2014 .

See also

Web links