Greek national football team / European championships

Greece
Ελλάς / Ellás

European Championship record scorer:	Angelos Charisteas (4)
European Championship record players:	Konstantinos Katsouranis (13)
Rank:	14th
Balance sheet
16 European Championship games 5 wins 3 draws 8 defeats 14:20 goals
statistics
First European Championship game Greece 0: 1 Netherlands Naples ( ITA ); June 11, 1980
Biggest European Championship victories Greece 2: 1 Portugal Porto ( POR ); June 12, 2004 Greece 1-0 France Lisbon ( PRT ); June 25, 2004 Greece 1-0 to SG Czech Porto ( PRT ); July 1, 2004 Greece 1-0 Portugal Lisbon ( POR ); July 4, 2004 Greece 1-0 Russia Warsaw ( POL ); June 16, 2012
Biggest European Championship defeats Greece 1: 3 Czechoslovakia Rome ( ITA ); June 14, 1980 Greece 0-2 Sweden Salzburg ( AUT ); June 10, 2008 Greece 2-4 Germany Danzig ( POL ); June 22, 2012
successes
European Championship
Participation in the finals	4 ( first : 1980 )
Best results	European Champion ( 2004 )
Best results in the countries where the UEFA European Football Championships are held
(As of November 2019)

The article contains a detailed description of the Greek national football team at European championships . Greece took part in the finals of the European Championship four times and sensationally won the title in 2004.

Overview

Greece took part in the final round of the European Championship four times, once with eight participants and three times with 16 participants.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	not qualified				In the second round later in the Fourth France failed.
1964	Spain	not participated				Greece didn't want to play in Albania.
1968	Italy	not qualified				In qualifying later in the Fourth USSR failed.
1972	Belgium	not qualified				In the qualification of England failed, could not qualify for the final round.
1976	Yugoslavia	not qualified				In qualifying on defending champion and later vice-European champion Germany failed.
1980	Italy	Preliminary round	Germany , Netherlands , Czechoslovakia	-	Alketas Panagoulias	After defeats against the Netherlands and the defending champions, as well as a draw against eventual European champions Germany, they were eliminated as bottom group
1984	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Denmark failed.
1988	BR Germany	not qualified				In qualifying at the eventual winners the Netherlands failed.
1992	Sweden	not qualified				In qualifying on defending champions the Netherlands failed.
1996	England	not qualified				In the qualification of Russia and Scotland failed.
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	not qualified				In the qualification of Norway and Slovenia failed.
2004	Portugal	final	Portugal	European champion	Otto Rehhagel	First title for Greece
2008	Austria and Switzerland	Preliminary round	Russia , Sweden , Spain	-	Otto Rehhagel	Eliminated after three defeats as bottom of the group
2012	Poland and Ukraine	Quarter finals	Germany	2: 4	Fernando Santos	In the preliminary round , the Greeks met co-hosts Poland , then the Czech Republic and Russia in the opening game and were able to qualify for the quarter-finals
2016	France	not qualified				In the qualification , Greece met Hungary , Romania , Finland , Northern Ireland and the Faroe Islands . Greece could not qualify after just 7 games.
2021	Europe	not qualified				Greece had initially applied for hosting the Olympic Stadium in Athens , but then withdrew. In the qualification of Italy failed and Finland.

EM 1960

Greece also wanted to take part in the 1960 European Football Championship, which was still called the “European Cup of Nations”. To do this, they had to play against France in qualifying . After a 1: 7 in Paris , the 1: 1 in the home game in Athens was not enough to qualify. France then qualified for the final round, hosted it and finished fourth.

EM 1964

Four years later, more teams than 1960 wanted to participate, so the round of 16 was preceded by a preliminary round . Greece was supposed to play against Albania but refused to play against Albania. Both countries were still at war at the time. So Albania got on without a fight, failed in the round of 16 at what would later be fourth Denmark.

EM 1968

For the European Football Championship in 1968, group games were scheduled for the first time in qualifying . Greece had to compete against vice European champions Soviet Union , Austria and Finland . The Greeks could only win their home games against Finland and Austria and draw in Finland, but lost both games against the Soviet Union. This meant that they had no chance of qualifying before the last game in Austria. This game was then canceled due to spectator riots in the 86th minute when the score was 1: 1. The result was canceled by UEFA, but no longer played a role in the outcome of the qualification. The Soviet Union then also reached the finals and came fourth.

European Championship 1972

For the European Championship finals in 1972 Greece could not qualify . In a group with England , Switzerland and Malta , only the home game against Malta was won and thus took third place. Group winners England lost to Germany for the first time in the quarter-finals at Wembley Stadium . They could not equalize the 1: 3 in the goalless second leg. Germany drove to the European Championship finals and became European champions for the first time.

EM 1976

The final round was held for the last time with four teams in 1976, Greece failed again in the group stage to defending champions Germany . Bulgaria and Malta ended up in 3rd and 4th place. After all, the Greeks scored 2-2 against Germany at home and 1-1 in Germany. Decisive for the elimination was a 2-0 defeat in Malta, so in the end Germany had two points more and then reached the finals, but lost there in the final on penalties against Czechoslovakia .

EM 1980

In qualifying for the European Championship in Italy , which was held for the first time with eight teams, the Greeks met in the group on Hungary , Finland and the Soviet Union. Greece surprisingly prevailed in this close group with three home wins in a draw and two defeats in the away games and was thus qualified as group winners for the first time for the finals. The higher rated team of the USSR ended up in last place, two points behind.

In the final round, a group stage took place for the first time, in which four teams played each other once and the best team in each group reached the final, while the second best team played the last game for third place. Greece met the Netherlands in their first game and lost 1-0 with a penalty goal. In the second game against defending champion Czechoslovakia , the Greeks lost 3-1, with Nikolaos Anastopoulos scoring the first European championship goal for the Greeks at 1-1. Greece thus had no chance of reaching one of the finals before the last game against Germany, the Germans were enough after their two wins against Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands to reach the final. So both parted goalless, Greece said goodbye to the EM stage for 24 years, Germany won the final 2-1 against Belgium and became the first team to become European champions for the second time. After all, Greece hadn't lost to the new European champions.

EM 1984

In qualifying for the European Championship in France in 1984, the Greeks had to compete in Group 3 against Denmark , England , Luxembourg and Hungary . The Greeks only won both games in Luxembourg and the game in Hungary, but at least they scored 0-0 in England. As a result, the English were missing a point in the end, so that the Danes surprisingly came first in the group. Greece only reached third place, after all with a balanced balance of 8: 8 points.

EM 1988

For the European Championship in Germany for Greece should be against the Netherlands again Hungary, Poland and Cyprus qualify . The Dutch prevailed undefeated with six wins and two draws, Greece only remained in second place. At the European Championship, the Dutch won the title for the first time.

EM 1992

In qualifying for the European Championships in 1992 , Greece met the Netherlands again, as well as Portugal , Finland and Malta. The Dutch lost one game this time - the first in Portugal - but prevailed again in the end, Portugal in second and the Greeks in third. At the European Championship, however, the Dutch could not defend the title, they failed in the semifinals on penalties against the later surprise European champions Denmark.

EM 1996

England, Greece, the Netherlands, Austria and Portugal had applied for the 1996 European Championship. It was not yet clear at the tender that the tournament would be held for the first time with 16 teams. On May 5, 1992, England was awarded the contract and was automatically qualified for the finals. Greece therefore had to play in the qualification and against Russia , Scotland , Finland, the Faroe Islands and San Marino . The Greeks lost both games against Russia, which qualified as group winners, in Scotland, which also qualified as fourth-best group runner-up, and in Finland. The other games were won, but that was only enough for third place.

EM 2000

For the EM 2000 the Greeks had to compete in the qualification against Norway , Slovenia , Latvia , Albania and Georgia and again only finished 3rd. Norway qualified as group winners, Slovenia in the playoffs of the group runners-up against Ukraine . Both played no role in the final round.

EM 2004

The team at the award ceremony

Starting grid in the final

Angelos Charisteas ( far left) headed the winning goal against Portugal in the 2004 European Championship final (final score 0: 1)

In November 2001 Otto Rehhagel , who won the German championship in 1988 and 1993 with Werder Bremen and in 1998 with 1. FC Kaiserslautern , took over as national coach in Greece. In qualifying for the 2004 European Championship, Greece met Spain , Ukraine, Armenia and Northern Ireland . Greece started qualifying with two defeats, 2-0 at home to Spain and 2-2 in Ukraine, but then won all games. That put them in first place ahead of Spain and qualified for the finals again after 24 years. Spain was then able to secure a place in the finals in the relegation games of the group runners-up against Norway.

In Portugal, the Greeks met hosts Portugal in the opening game and took the lead 1-0 in the seventh minute with a goal from Giorgos Karagounis . In the 51st minute, Angelos Basinas converted a penalty to make it 2-0. The Portuguese only managed the connection goal in stoppage time by Cristiano Ronaldo . This was the first time the Greeks had won a European Championship game. In the second game against qualifying opponents Spain they fought 1-1, but had to accept five yellow cards . The last game against the already eliminated Russians they lost 2-1, but since Spain lost to Portugal, it was enough to second place ahead of the Spaniards due to the more goals scored.

In the quarter-finals, defending champions France , against whom Greece had never won before, were the opponents and Greece created another surprise. While the favored "Equipe Tricolore" acted without ideas, especially in the first half, the Greeks created a number of high-profile opportunities despite their defensive tactics. In the second half the French did have some good chances, but they lacked the necessary precision. Angelos Charisteas from the German double winner Werder Bremen scored the winning goal in the 65th minute with a header. They then defended the lead against the French who were using the crowbar to the end. In the semi-finals, the opponents were the Czechs , who had eliminated Germany as runner-up in the preliminary round . And again the tactics of the Greeks worked: the two Czech strikers Milan Baroš and Jan Koller were put in classic man coverage and the spaces were narrowed so that the Czech team could hardly develop. The Czechs still had a number of scoring chances that they could not use. Since the Greeks failed to score either, it was extended and in the first half of the extra time the Czechs were again unable to use their chances. Greece then won again with a single goal, the silver goal by “ Ausputzer ” Traianos Dellas , scored with a header from a corner at the end of the first extra time. The 1-100 favorite was in the final of the European Championship for the first time and met hosts Portugal there, as in the opening game, which means that the teams that had played the opening game were also in the final for the first time. In addition, for the first time since the first European Championship in 1960, there were two teams in the final that had never reached a final before. Greece played as before, the Portuguese tried not to make the mistake of the opening game and tried to avoid falling behind. After a goalless first half with no highlights, the Portuguese increased the pressure in the second half and pushed the Greeks into their own half. The Portuguese could not use the resulting opportunities. Angelos Charisteas headed a corner kick again in the 57th minute, taking advantage of a mistake by Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo . It was his only shot on goal in the game. The Portuguese increased their attack efforts, but failed again and again because of the Greek defense against Traianos Dellas. Cristiano Ronaldo and Luís Figo still had a few good chances, but either missed them or failed because of the Greek goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis . Despite more than twenty scoring chances for Portugal, it remained 1-0 for Greece and the biggest sensation at an EM to date. The German trainer Otto Rehhagel was the first and to date only foreign trainer to win the European Championship.

EM 2008

Goal scene from the game against Russia

Greeks (left) and Spaniards (right) before the group game

As European champions, Greece still had to qualify for the next EM. Greece was seeded at the draw and was drawn into qualifying group C. Opponents were Turkey , Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina , Hungary, Moldova and Malta. Greece was able to confirm the European Championship title at least in the qualification and won ten games, only lost the home game against Turkey and played once, so that on the third last day of the match the qualification was confirmed by a 1-0 win in Turkey.

At the final draw , the Greeks were placed in pot 1 together with the two hosts Austria and Switzerland , as well as the Dutch. Russia, Sweden and Spain were drawn to them. In the opening game against Sweden they kept the 0-0 for 67 minutes with their tried and tested tactics, but then had to accept two goals. In the second game, the 0-0 only lasted half as long, then a goal had to be accepted, but it stayed that way. In the last group game against Spain they took the lead with a goal by the EM hero Charisteas - the last goal the Spaniards conceded in the competition - but in the second half the Spaniards turned the game around and won 2-1. Greece was eliminated as the bottom of the group and for the first time without winning a point. Otto Rehhagel remained in office and led the Greeks to their second World Cup participation . Spain survived the next few games and became European champions for the second time with a 1-0 win against record European champions Germany.

EM 2012

Scene from the opening game against Poland

Greek fans in the quarter-final against Germany

The Greeks were able to qualify again four years later . The Greeks have now been trained by the Portuguese Fernando Santos , who had replaced Otto Rehhagel as coach after the World Cup. In a group with Croatia , Israel , Latvia , Georgia and for the fifth time Malta they started with two draws, but then won five games in a row. A 1-1 draw in Latvia made it exciting again, but a 2-0 win against direct rivals Croatia on the penultimate matchday brought the preliminary decision. With a 2-1 win in Georgia, qualification was secured on the last day of the match. The second placed team from Croatia also secured a place in the European Championship finals in the playoffs of the group runners-up against Turkey.

At the finals, which again took place in two countries, the Greeks were drawn into a group with co-hosts Poland , Russia and the Czech Republic and were allowed to play the opening game against Poland. Although the Poles took the lead in the 17th minute through Robert Lewandowski and thus into the half-time break, Dimitrios Salpingidis , who came on for the second half, equalized five minutes after the restart after a goalkeeping error. After an emergency brake from the Polish goalkeeper, who received the red card , the Greeks even had the chance to score the winning goal. But captain Giorgos Karagounis failed because of the substitute Polish goalkeeper. Since both teams failed to improve the result, the game ended 1: 1. In the second game against the Czechs, the Greeks had to accept goals in the third and sixth minute and change their tactics. In the second half, the former Bundesliga shooter king Theofanis Gekas , who came on as a substitute in the second half, still managed to score, but it wasn't enough for more. Before the last game they were only in last place, opponents Russia were first in the group and only needed one point to advance to the quarter-finals. And once again the Greeks managed a surprise. Captain Karagounis was able to score 1-0 in stoppage time in the first half and the Greeks defended that until the end. Due to the direct comparison, they were second in the group ahead of Russia despite the worse goal difference, as the Poles lost to the Czech Republic. In the quarter-finals they then met record European champions Germany and lost 4-2 in the most goal-scoring game in the European Championship. Greece said goodbye to the European Championship, Germany made it to the semi-finals for the eighth time, but lost it 1: 2 against Mario Balotelli and Italy .

EM 2016

For the first time, 24 teams will take part in the European Championship. For the qualifying group draw , which took place on February 23, 2014, Greece was placed in Pot 1. As opponents were Hungary , Romania , Finland , Northern Ireland and the Faroe be drawn.

The first two in the group qualify directly for the European Championship finals. If the third-placed team is the best third in the group, it is also directly qualified. The remaining third in the group play four other participants in the playoffs.

Greece started qualifying with two draws and four defeats and is only in last place ahead of the final games in autumn 2015. Even the home game against the Faroe Islands was lost, whereupon national coach Claudio Ranieri , who had taken over the post before qualifying, was dismissed. His successor was Sergio Markarian , but he has not yet won a victory. With the 0: 1 against Finland on matchday seven, it was clear that they would miss out on qualifying, as Greece was 10 points behind third-placed Hungarians before the last three games. The Greeks then won their first qualifying victory against Hungary on the last day of the match and with four goals they scored one more than in the previous nine games. Due to the direct comparison with the Faroe Islands, they only finished in the last group place despite a better goal difference.

EM 2021

For the first pan-European European Championship, Greece initially applied for the Olympic Stadium in Athens to host games, but then withdrew. In the qualification , the Greeks met Italy, Finland, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liechtenstein . The Greeks, who have been coached by Angelos Anastasiadis since November 2018 , started qualifying with a 2-0 victory in Liechtenstein and a 2-2 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was followed by home defeats against Italy and Armenia, after which Anastasiadis 'brief tenure ended, as well as a 0-1 defeat in Finland under the now responsible Dutchman John van' t Schip . In the next four games they lost only in Italy but only scored 1-1 in the home game against Liechtenstein. The following narrow victories against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Armenia were therefore relatively worthless and on the penultimate matchday the team had no chance of reaching the finals. As the Greeks only finished third in their group in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League, their way through the playoffs remains blocked.

Player with the most appearances in European championships

Konstantinos Katsouranis , Greek player with the most EM games

Games	player	Year (games)
13	Konstantinos Katsouranis	2004 (6), 2008 (3), 2012 (4)
9	Angelos Charisteas	2004 (6), 2008 (3)
	Traianos Dellas	2004 (6), 2008 (3)
	Antonios Nikopolidis	2004 (6), 2008 (3)
8th	Angelos Basinas	2004 (5), 2008 (3)
	Georgios Seitaridis	2004 (6), 2008 (2)
7th	Giorgos Karagounis	2004 (4), 2012 (3)
6th	Michalis Kapsis	2004 (6)
	Stelios Giannakopoulos	2004 (4), 2008 (2)
	Theodoros Zagorakis	2004 (6)
	Theofanis Gekas	2008 (2), 2012 (4)
	Vasilios Torosidis	2008 (2), 2012 (4)

As of June 28, 2012

Player with the most goals at European championships

Angelos Charisteas , Greece's top scorer in the European Championship

Gates	player	Year (goals)
4th	Angelos Charisteas	2004 (3), 2008 (1)
2	Dimitrios Salpingidis	2008 (0), 2012 (2)
	Giorgos Karagounis	2004 (1), 2012 (1)
1	6 players

As of July 1, 2012

Players banned from European championships

• In 2004 Giorgos Karagounis received the second yellow card in the second group match and was suspended for the last group match. In the quarter-finals he received the third and in the semifinals the fourth yellow card and was therefore suspended for the final. Zisis Vryzas received the second yellow card in the last group game and was suspended for the quarter-finals. Georgios Seitaridis received a yellow card in the first group game, in the semi-finals and in the final, Theodoros Zagorakis received a yellow card in the second group game and in the quarter-finals. Since individual cards from the preliminary round were not taken into account for the final round, these cards had no effect.
• In 2008 Georgios Karagounis received the second yellow card in the last group game, as the Greeks were eliminated this had no effect.
• In 2012, Sokratis received the yellow-red card in the first group game and was suspended for the second group game. The German- born José Holebas and captain Giorgos Karagounis received the second yellow card in the last group game and were suspended for the quarter-finals against Germany.

Share of players playing abroad in the EM squad

Legionnaires played no role in the first squad, after which they formed the core of the team and in 2008 the main contingent.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1980 (3)	0
2004 (6)	8 (1 in Germany, 2 in England, 1 in Portugal, 1 in Spain)	Angelos Charisteas (6); Stelios Giannakopoulos (4), Nikos Dabizas (4); Zisis Vryzas (5), Traianos Dellas (6), Giorgos Karagounis (4); Panagiotis Fyssas (5), Demis Nikolaidis (4)
2008 (3)	13 (5 in Germany, 1 in England, 3 in Italy, 1 in Portugal, 1 in Scotland, 2 in Spain)	Ioannis Amanatidis (3), Angelos Charisteas (3), Theofanis Gekas (2), Kostas Katsouranis (3), Sotirios Kyrgiakos (3); Stelios Giannakopoulos (2); Kostas Katsouranis (3); Georgios Samaras (1); Angelos Basinas (3), Georgios Seitaridis (2)
2012 (4)	7 (3 in Germany, 1 in France, 1 in Italy, 1 in Scotland, 1 in Turkey)	Konstantinos Fortounis (2), Kyriakos Papadopoulos (4), Sokratis (3); Giorgos Tzavelas (2); Alexandros Tzorvas (0); Giorgos Samaras (4), Theofanis Gekas (4)

As of June 28, 2012

Record against the other European champions at European championships

• Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic: 3 games, 1 win, 2 defeats, 3: 5 goals
• USSR / CIS / Russia: 3 games, 1 win, 2 defeats, 2: 3 goals
• Portugal: 2 games (including 1 final), 2 wins, 3-1 goals
• Spain: 2 games, 1 draw, 1 defeat, 2: 3 goals
• Germany: 2 games, 1 draw, 1 defeat, 2: 4 goals
• France: 1 game, 1 win, 1-0 goals
• Netherlands: 1 game, 1 defeat, 0-1 goals
• Denmark: 0 games
• Italy: 0 games

Records

• The only team that could win a final against the hosts.
• The following countries achieved the highest victory in European championships:
  •  France : 2004 1-0 quarter-finals (only win against France)
  •  Russia : Preliminary round 2012 1-0 (also a 1-0 in the 1994 World Cup qualification, which means Greece qualified for a World Cup for the first time)
  •  Czech Republic : Semi-finals 2004 1-0 after SG (only win against the Czech Republic)
• The Greek team suffered their biggest defeat at an EM tournament against only one country:
  •  Czech Republic : Preliminary round 2012 0: 1 (only defeat against the Czech Republic)

Negative records

• The fastest goal conceded: Dmitri Kiritschenko (Russia) after 67 seconds in the 2004 preliminary round match between Russia and Greece (final score 2: 1)

Games

Rome Turin Naples Postage (3) Faro-Loulé Lisbon (2) Salzburg (3) Warsaw (2) Wroclaw Danzig

Venues (green = positive balance, yellow = balanced balance, red = negative balance, bold = final venue, number in brackets = number of games if> 1)

Greece has played 18 European Championship games so far, five of which have been won (all with one goal difference), eight have lost and three have ended in a draw. One game had to be extended and was won by the last silver goal in European Championship history. Greece took part in the opening game against the hosts twice, in 2004 and 2012, and played a total of three times against the hosts (2004 and 2012 in the preliminary round, 2004 again in the final). Greece are the first team to have played against the hosts twice in a European Championship.

Greece played twice (1980 in the preliminary round and 2004 in the quarter-finals) against the defending champions and twice (1980 and 2008 in the preliminary round) against the eventual European champions.

All EM games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	June 11, 1980	0: 1	Netherlands	*	Naples ( ITA )	Group game
2	June 14, 1980	1: 3	Czechoslovakia	*	Rome ( ITA )	Group game
3	17th June 1980	0-0	BR Germany	*	Turin ( ITA )	Group game
4th	June 12, 2004	2: 1	Portugal	A.	Postage ( PRT )	Opening game
5	June 16, 2004	1: 1	Spain	*	Postage ( PRT )	Group game
6th	June 20, 2004	1: 2	Russia	*	Faro-Loulé ( PRT )	Group game
7th	June 25, 2004	1-0	France	*	Lisbon ( PRT )	Quarter finals
8th	0July 1, 2004	1: 0 n.SG	Czech Republic	*	Postage ( PRT )	Semifinals	400th international match
9	04th July 2004	1-0	Portugal	A.	Lisbon ( PRT )	final	Greece wins EURO 2004
10	June 10, 2008	0: 2	Sweden	*	Salzburg ( AUT )	Group game
11	June 14, 2008	0: 1	Russia	*	Salzburg ( AUT )	Group game
12	June 18, 2008	1: 2	Spain	*	Salzburg ( AUT )	Group game
13	0June 8, 2012	1: 1	Poland	A.	Warsaw ( POL )	Group game
14th	June 12, 2012	1: 2	Czech Republic	*	Wroclaw ( POL )	Group game
15th	June 16, 2012	1-0	Russia	*	Warsaw ( POL )	Group game
16	June 22, 2012	2: 4	Germany	*	Gdansk ( POL )	Quarter finals

See also

• Greek national football team at world championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Charisteas Greece vs France HD 1080
2. ↑ youtube.com: Germania - Grecia 4-2 Highlights
3. ↑ Draw for the EURO qualification: Pot 1 in focus. In: uefa.com. UEFA , February 20, 2014, accessed March 11, 2014 .