Greek National Football Team / World Championships

Greece
Ελλάς / Ellás

World Cup record goalscorer:	5 players (1 each)
World Cup record players:	Georgios Karagounis , Georgios Samaras and Vasilios Torosidis (7 each)
Rank :	52
Balance sheet
10 World Cup games 2 wins 2 draws 6 defeats 5:20 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Greece 0: 4 Argentina Boston ( USA ); June 21, 1994
Biggest World Cup victories Greece 2: 1 Nigeria Mangaung / Bloemfontein ( ZAF ); June 17, 2010 Greece 2-1 Ivory Coast Fortaleza ( BRA ); June 24, 2014
Biggest World Cup defeats Greece 0: 4 Argentina Boston ( USA ); June 21, 1994 Greece 0-4 Bulgaria Chicago ( USA ); June 26, 1994
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	3 ( first : 1994 )
Best results	Round of 16 2014
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(Status: after the 2018 World Cup )

The article contains a detailed description of the Greek national football team at World Cups :

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated
1934	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification of Italy failed (venue sold)
1938	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Hungary failed
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Yugoslavia
1958	Sweden	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Yugoslavia
1962	Chile	not qualified				In the qualification of Germany failed
1966	England	not qualified				In the qualification of the USSR failed
1970	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of Romania failed
1974	Germany	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Yugoslavia
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification of Hungary failed
1982	Spain	not qualified				In the qualification of Yugoslavia and Italy failed
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification to Poland and Belgium failed
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification of Romania failed
1994	United States	Preliminary round	Argentina , Bulgaria , Nigeria	24.	Alketas Panagoulias	Eliminated with 0:10 goals as bottom group
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Denmark and Croatia failed
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualification of England and Germany failed
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of the Ukraine and Turkey failed, Turkey then failed in the play-offs.
2010	South Africa	Preliminary round	South Korea , Argentina , Nigeria	25th	Otto Rehhagel	Otto Rehhagel oldest coach at a World Cup
2014	Brazil	Round of 16	Costa Rica	13.	Fernando Santos	Greece was able to prevail in the play-offs against Romania . Greece met Ivory Coast , Japan and Colombia for the first time in the group stage . With 4 points Greece reached the round of the best 16 for the first time. There the team met Costa Rica and lost 6: 4 including penalties.
2018	Russia	not qualified				In the qualification , the team finished second in a group with Belgium , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Estonia and Cyprus and could not prevail in the playoff games of the group runners-up against Croatia.

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Not participated: 2 × (10%; 1930, 1950)
• Unqualified: 16 × (76%; 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018)
• Athletic qualification: 3 × (14% or 16% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 2 × (10%; 1994 and 2010)
  • Round of 16: 1 × (5%; 2014)

World Cup tournaments

1930 in Uruguay

Greece had already played an international match for the first time at the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920 , but like many European countries did not take part in the first World Cup.

1934 in Italy

For the first World Cup in Europe , the Greeks were by games against the hosts Italy qualify . After the Greeks lost 4-0 in Milan , they waived the second leg and received 700,000 drachmas from the Italian association.

1938 in France

For the first World Cup in France , the Greeks first had to face Palestine . On January 22, 1938, in Tel Aviv , they won the first qualifying game against a team made up of Jewish immigrants 3-1. Kleanthis Vikelidis scored the first two qualifying goals for the Greeks. With a 1-0, which Vikelidis scored again, in the second leg in Athens , the second round was reached. In this they lost in Budapest against Hungary with 1:11, the highest defeat of the Greek team to date.

1950 in Brazil

Although Greece had already played international matches again in 1948 after the interruption of international match operations due to the Second World War and the subsequent Greek Civil War , the Greeks did not take part in the qualification for the second World Cup in South America , which began in 1949 .

1954 in Switzerland

In qualifying for the 1954 World Cup , the Greeks met Yugoslavia and Israel . Both games against Israel were won, but the games against Yugoslavia each lost 0-1, so that only second place in the group was achieved.

1958 in Sweden

Greece was unable to qualify for the 1958 World Cup. Yugoslavia was again stronger and Romania , which could not qualify as second in the group, won twice against the Greeks.

1962 in Chile

Greece was also unable to qualify for the third World Cup in South America . Opponents were the FR of Germany and Northern Ireland . Both games were lost against Germany, the home game won against Northern Ireland and the away game lost. The Greeks were eliminated on points with the Northern Irish.

1966 in England

In qualifying for the World Cup in England , the Greeks met the USSR , Wales and Denmark for the first time in a group of four . The Greeks started with two home wins against the Welsh and Danes, but then lost the next three games and were only able to score 1-1 against the Danes at the end in Copenhagen . The Greeks were eliminated as third party.

1970 in Mexico

Greece could not qualify for the first World Cup in Central America either . In a group with Romania , Switzerland and third place in the World Cup, Portugal , the Greeks had the best goal difference and the most goals, but one point less than the Romanians, who they lost 1-1 in the last game in Romania .

1974 in the Federal Republic of Germany

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Germany , the Greeks lost all games in a group with Yugoslavia and Spain .

1978 in Argentina

Greece could not qualify for the World Cup in Argentina either . This time Hungary and the Soviet Union were stronger. After all, on May 10, 1977 in Thessaloniki the first victory against the USSR was achieved with a 1-0.

1982 in Spain

For the World Cup in Spain , the field of participants was increased, but Greece was again unable to qualify . Yugoslavia, Italy and Denmark were stronger. Only one game against Denmark and both games against Luxembourg were won.

1986 in Mexico

Greece could not qualify for the second World Cup in Mexico . Behind the tied Poles and Belgians , Albania was tied with Albania , against whom the only victory but with the worse goal difference only occupied the last place in the group.

1990 in Italy

The second World Cup Italy then missed Greece also. In a group with Romania , Denmark and Bulgaria only the penultimate place was occupied and only the home game against Bulgaria was won.

1994 in the United States

The Greeks were finally able to qualify for the World Cup in the USA . In a group of six together with Russia , Iceland , Hungary , Luxembourg and the Yugoslavs who were later suspended due to the UN sanctions, the first place was surprisingly taken. The Greeks could mainly rely on their defense and conceded only two goals, but won four games only 1-0.

In the USA, the Greeks first met vice world champions Argentina and Gabriel Batistuta cracked the Greek defensive bulwark in the second minute of the game . Three more goals followed, two of them also by Batistuta and thus the Greeks lost their first World Cup game with 0: 4. In the second game against Bulgaria they also lost 4-0, which meant the Bulgarians won their first World Cup, and then the newcomer Nigeria was also lost 2-0. As the bottom of the group and without scoring, the Greeks said goodbye to the World Cup for 16 years.

1998 in France

The Greeks have not yet qualified for the second World Cup in France . In a group with Denmark as well as Croatia , Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia , which participated for the first time, only the third place was taken, one point behind Croatia. The Greeks conceded the fewest goals with four goals, but scored only 11 themselves and missed qualifying on the last day of the match with a 0-0 win in Marousi against Denmark.

2002 in Japan and South Korea

Four years later, the qualification for the first World Cup in Asia failed . England and Germany , who beat Ukraine in the group runners-up play-offs , and Finland were stronger. Only Albania ended up with fewer points than the Greeks. Decisive for missing the qualification this time the defensive weakness, because 17 goals were allowed, no team in this group had to accept more. The Greeks only scored seven goals themselves.

2006 in Germany

The Greeks also failed to qualify for the second World Cup in Germany . With a defense perfected by the German trainer Otto Rehhagel , they surprisingly won the 2004 European Championship in 2004 and started the qualification with high hopes. But in a group of seven with the Ukraine, Turkey , which failed in the playoffs of the group runners-up against Switzerland , Denmark , Albania, Georgia and Kazakhstan only came fourth. The qualification was missed on the penultimate matchday due to a 0: 1 in Denmark. Another decisive factor was the 1: 2 opening defeat against Albania.

2010 in South Africa

The qualification for the first World Cup in Africa was then successful. In a group with Switzerland , Latvia , Israel , Luxembourg and Moldova , one point was missing in the end to qualify directly, but after a goalless draw at home they won 1-0 in Kiev in the playoffs of the runners-up against Ukraine the re-qualification.

In South Africa, the Greeks faced South Korea in their first game and lost 2-0. In the second game against Nigeria , after a 1-0 deficit, they achieved their first World Cup victory with a 2-1 win, with Dimitrios Salpingidis scoring the Greeks' first World Cup goal. In the last group game they lost 2-0 to ex-world champions Argentina , which meant that the Greeks were eliminated as third party. After the World Cup, Otto Rehhagel ended his job as national coach.

2014 in Brazil

For the second World Cup in Brazil , the Greeks were drawn as qualifying opponents Bosnia-Herzegovina , Slovakia , Lithuania , Latvia and Liechtenstein . In the end, the Greeks were level on points behind Bosnia-Herzegovina, but the far worse goal difference was second in the group, but had conceded the fewest goals with four goals and were the best second in the group. In the playoff games of the group runners-up, they faced Romania and won the home game 3-1. Since the second leg ended 1: 1, the Greeks had qualified for the World Cup finals.

In Brazil they met Colombia in their first game and lost 3-0. Also in the second game against Japan they did not score a goal, but since the Japanese did not succeed either, the two parted ways. In the last game against Ivory Coast it was up to the 90th minute 1: 1 with which the Ivory Coast would have reached the second round and the Greeks would have been eliminated. In stoppage time, however, the Greeks received a penalty that Giorgos Samaras was able to convert, with which the Greeks reached the round of 16 for the first time. In this they met the surprise team from Costa Rica , which had prevailed against three former world champions. Again, the Greeks were up to the 90th minute before the end, then succeeded in stoppage time to equalize 1: 1, which meant that extra time was due. Since both teams failed to score in extra time, the penalty shoot-out had to decide. After the first three shooters from both teams were successful and also the fourth from the Central Americans, the Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas stopped the shot of the former Bundesliga top scorer Theofanis Gekas . After the fifth Costa Rican was able to convert, the last Greek didn't have to compete. The Greeks were eliminated.

2018 in Russia

In October 2015, Michael Skibbe became the new national coach in Greece after the Greeks missed the 2016 European Championship finals. In the qualification , which started in September 2016, the Greeks faced Bosnia and Herzegovina , Belgium , Estonia and Cyprus . Halfway through the games, in which the Greeks won three times and drew twice, they were in second place, two points behind leaders Belgium. They then started the second half of the season with two goalless draws and then lost the home game against Belgium 2-1, which made the Belgians the first European team to qualify for the World Cup and the Greeks fell back to third place behind Bosnia & Herzegovina. But since the Belgians also won in Sarajevo , while the Greeks won the last two games in Cyprus and against Gibraltar, they were able to recapture second place and met Croatia as seventh-best group runner-up in the playoff games of the group runners-up. After a 1: 4 away defeat they could not turn the tide in the home game and only came to a goalless draw.

player

Ranking of the Greek World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Georgios Karagounis , Georgios Samaras and Vasilios Torosidis : 7 appearances in 2 tournaments

04. Theofanis Gekas , Konstantinos Katsouranis , Sokratis and Dimitrios Salpingidis : 6 appearances in 2 tournaments

Ranking of the Greek World Cup players with the most goals

01. Sokratis , Dimitrios Salpingidis , Giorgos Samaras , Andreas Samaris , Vasilios Torosidis - all 1 goal each

World Cup captains

• 1994: Dimitris Saravakos (1st game), Efstratios Apostolakis (2nd game), Tassos Mitropoulos (3rd game)
• 2010: Giorgos Karagounis
• 2014: Kostas Katsouranis

Players banned from World Championships

• 1994: Tassos Mitropoulos received the second yellow card in the last group match against Nigeria , as Greece was eliminated this had no effect.
• 2014: Kostas Katsouranis received the yellow-red card in the second group match against Japan and was suspended for the last group match against Ivory Coast.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

There were no legionnaires in the first Greek World Cup squad . Thereafter, initially fewer and then more than half of the squad were legionaries.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1994 (3)	0
2010 (3)	9 (2 in Germany, 1 in England, 3 in Italy, 1 in Romania, 1 in Scotland, 1 in Cyprus)	Angelos Charisteas (1), Theofanis Gekas (2); Sotirios Kyrgiakos (2); Evangelos Moras (1), Socratis (2); Alexandros Tziolis (3); Pantelis Kapetanos (1); Giorgos Samaras (3); Christos Patsatzoglou (2)
2014 (4)	14 (1 in Germany, 2 in England, 6 in Italy, 1 in Scotland, 2 in Spain, 2 in Turkey)	Socratis (4); Giorgos Karagounis (4), Konstantinos Mitroglou (3); Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (2), Ioannis Fetfatzidis (2), Panagiotis Kone (3), Evangelos Moras (0), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (0), Vasilios Torosidis (4); Giorgos Samaras (4); Orestis Karnezis (4), Loukas Vyntra (0); Theofanis Gekas (4), Alexandros Tziolis (0)

Games

Greece has played 10 World Cup games so far, two of which have been won (both against African teams), six have lost and two have ended in a draw. Once a draw game had to be extended because a winner had to be determined and the game was lost to a penalty shoot-out.

Greece never took part in the opening game and never played against the defending champions, hosts and eventual world champions. Once, when you were a newcomer yourself, you met a newcomer to the World Cup: 1994 / Nigeria

Greece only played twice against Argentina and Nigeria.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1.	June 21, 1994	0: 4	Argentina	*	Boston ( USA )	Group game	First game against Argentina
2.	June 26, 1994	0: 4	Bulgaria	*	Chicago ( USA )	Group game
3.	June 30, 1994	0: 2	Nigeria	*	Boston ( USA )	Group game	First game against Nigeria
4th	June 12, 2010	0: 2	South Korea	*	Nelson Mandela Bay / Port Elizabeth ( ZAF )	Group game
5.	June 17, 2010	2: 1	Nigeria	*	Mangaung / Bloemfontein ( ZAF )	Group game	Dimitrios Salpingidis scores the first World Cup goal Greece's first victory in a World Cup game
6th	June 22, 2010	0: 2	Argentina	*	Polokwane ( ZAF )	Group game	106th and last international match under Otto Rehhagel
7th	June 14, 2014	0: 3	Colombia	*	Belo Horizonte ( BRA )	Group game
8th.	19th June 2014	0-0	Japan	*	Natal ( BRA )	Group game
9.	June 24, 2014	2: 1	Ivory Coast	*	Fortaleza ( BRA )	Group game	First international match against Ivory Coast
10.	June 29, 2014	1: 1 a.d.	Costa Rica	*	Recife ( BRA )	Round of 16	First international match against Costa Rica 3-5 on penalties

Highest victories and defeats

The Greek team achieved only one of their highest wins in a World Cup tournament:

•  Ivory Coast : Preliminary round 2014 - 2-1 (only game against Ivory Coast)

The Greek team suffered their biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Argentina : preliminary round 1994 - 0-4
•  Bulgaria  : preliminary round 1994 - 4-0 (also a 0-4 in a World Cup qualifier)
•  Colombia : Preliminary round 2014 - 0-3
•  Nigeria : Preliminary round 1994 - 2-0 (only loss to Nigeria)
•  South Korea : Preliminary round 2010 - 0: 2 (also a 0: 2 in a friendly game)

Records

• Greece was looked after by the oldest coach at a World Cup in 2010, the German Otto Rehhagel (71 years old).

Negative records

• Worst team in the 1994 World Cup finals (ranked 24th by FIFA)
• Greece is one of three European champions who did not qualify for the World Cup finals (2006), as well as Czechoslovakia / 1978 and Denmark / 1994

See also

• Greek national football team / European championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Greece on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Lost one game on penalties .
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2014 (PDF; 200 kB)
3. ↑ IFFHS World Football Magazine No. 28, IV. Quarter 1995: World Championship qualification 1933/34 (Part I), p. 39
4. ↑ eu-football.info: Israel - Greece 1: 3
5. ↑ kurier.at: "Michael Skibbe new team boss of Greece"