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Greece
Nickname(s)	"The Pirate Ship"
Association	Hellenic Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Otto Rehhagel
Captain	Angelos Basinas
Top scorer	Nikos Anastopoulos (29)
Home stadium	Karaiskákis Stadium
FIFA code	GRE
FIFA ranking	11 [1]
Highest FIFA ranking	11 (November 2007)
Lowest FIFA ranking	66 (September 1998)
Elo ranking	16
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. They are the reigning European Champions and the current Unofficial Football World Champions.

Greece's first appearance in a major tournament was Euro 1980, but their first win did not come until the first match of Euro 2004, a 2-1 win over the hosts Portugal. Greece went on to win the tournament, stunning defending champions France in the quarterfinals and the heavily favored Czech Republic in the semifinals before beating Portugal for a second time, 1-0, in the final. Bookmakers were giving odds of about 80-1 to 150-1 for the Greeks before the tournament.

Contents 1 History 1.1 1980 European Football Championship 1.2 World Cup 1994 1.3 Near misses 1.4 Euro 2004 triumph 1.4.1 Recognition 1.5 2005 Confederation Cup 1.6 World Cup 2006 1.7 Euro 2008 1.8 Group D 2 World Cup 2010 3 Last Match 4 Stadium 5 Kits 6 World Cup record 7 European Championship record 8 Confederations Cup record 9 Honours 10 Squad 10.1 Goalkeepers 10.2 Defenders 10.3 Midfielders 10.4 Strikers 11 Past Coaches 11.1 Player records 11.2 Most capped Greece players 11.3 Top Greece goalscorers 12 Noted players (in alphabetical order) 13 Memorable matches 14 Squads 15 Trivia 15.1 Nickname 16 External links 17 Titles

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.

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.

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 Greek national team.

Greece started the qualification process for the Euro 2004 in a bad fashion losing home to Spain and away to Ukraine both with a 2-0 scoreline. Astonishingly enough the team went on to win the rest of their 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 as no one wanted a repeat of the bitter 1994 FIFA World Cup experience.

In the opening match against hosts Portugal, Greece achieved a surprise 2-1 victory inspiring the nickname "pirate ship" by Greek sportscasters due to the floating ship that the opening ceremony included. Four days later, Greece stunned Spain in front of a majority Spanish crowd with a 1-1 draw after being down 1-0 at half time. In the last group game, Greece went down 2-0 to Russia (who were already eliminated) but managed to pull one back and thus progressed to the next round at the expense of Spain on goals scored.

In the quarterfinals Greece faced off with the undefeated in the tournament, reigning champions France. At 65', Greece took the lead when captain Theodoros Zagorakis flicked the ball high in the air, defeated veteran French defender Bixente Lizarazu, and sent a perfect cross to Angelos Charisteas for the header. Greece held on to win, knocking France out of the 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 their opponents to this point, including a convincing 3-2 win over the Netherlands, a 2-1 win over Germany, and a 3-0 win over Denmark in the quarterfinals. After 90 minutes the game ended 0-0, despite Czechs having the 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.

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 off of a corner by Angelos Basinas. Greece held on 1-0 to win the tournament, an achievement considered by many to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, football upset in history. Captain Theodoris Zagorakis was named the man of the tournament.

Greece's victory shot them up in the FIFA World Rankings from 35th in June 2004 to 14th in July 2004. This is believed to be the largest upward move 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.

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.

After winning the Euro 2004, Greece were considered favorites 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 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, was followed with wins against Georgia and Albania and an away draw with Turkey. However, although dominating the game, Greece lost at home to Ukraine 1-0 having two goals disallowed controversially and barely escaped embarrassment as scraped to a 2-1 away win against minows 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 already advanced 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 weren't even having 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 most of them Greek Australians.

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. This was seen as a revival of the Greek team after nearly two years of poor results. On March 24, 2007 Greece lost their fourth game, a heavy 4-1 loss, against Turkey in Athens shaking the squad amidst of national outrage. Nevertheless the team went on to win Malta away, 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, in a game that Greek team completely outclassed its opponents, securing its presence to the Euro 2008 finals in their old rivals home ground. At 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 and on top of the whole Euro 2008 qualifying with a total of 31 points, the most points gained among any group. In the draw for the final tournament, Greece is 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, for a first time as well. 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.

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 - Group D

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Greece	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sweden	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Spain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Russia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

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.

November 21, 2007 20:15 CET
	Hungary	1 – 2	Greece	Puskás Ferenc Stadium, Budapest Attendance: 32,300 Referee: Styles (England)
	Buzsáky  7'	Report	Vanczák  22' (o.g) Basinas  59' (pen)

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.

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 shirtsupplier is Adidas which has signed a long-term agreement with the Greek Federation until 2012.

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	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1/18	3	0	0	3	0	10

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	Qualified	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	3/13	9	4	2	3	8	8

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

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
Total	1/7	3	0	1	2	0	4

• European Championship: 1
  

2004

• Laureus World Sports Awards: 1
  

2005

As of November 21, 2007

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Goals Club 1 GK Antonios Nikopolidis January 14, 1971 83 0 Olympiacos 12 GK Konstantinos Chalkias May 30, 1974 12 0 Aris 36 GK Michalis Sifakis September 9, 1984 0 0 Olympiacos

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Goals Club 2 DF Giourkas Seitaridis 4 June 1981 53 1 Atlético Madrid 3 DF Christos Patsatzoglou 19 March 1979 25 1 Olympiacos 5 DF Traianos Dellas 31 January 1976 39 1 AEK Athens 15 DF Vasilis Torosidis 10 June 1985 9 0 Olympiacos 18 DF Yannis Goumas 24 May 1975 42 0 Panathinaikos 19 DF Michalis Kapsis 18 October 1973 36 1 APOEL 23 DF Nikos Spiropoulos 10 October 1983 1 0 Panionios 24 DF Loukas Vyntra 5 February 1981 14 0 Panathinaikos 25 DF Sotirios Kyrgiakos 23 July 1979 34 4 Frankfurt 28 DF Paraskevas Antzas 18 August 1976 20 0 Olympiakos

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Goals Club 6 MF Angelos Basinas 3 January 1976 84 7 Mallorca 8 MF Stelios Giannakopoulos 12 July 1974 70 12 Bolton 10 MF Giorgos Karagounis 6 March 1977 69 4 Panathinaikos 16 MF Pantelis Kafes 24 June 1978 30 3 AEK Athens 21 MF Kostas Katsouranis 21 June 1979 44 4 Benfica 29 MF Panagiotis Lagos 18 July 1985 6 0 AEK Athens 30 MF Alexandros Tziolis 13 February 1985 5 0 Panathinaikos

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Goals Club 4 FW Georgios Samaras 21 February 1985 14 3 Manchester City 9 FW Angelos Charisteas 9 February 1980 61 17 Nürnberg 11 FW Dimitrios Papadopoulos 20 October 1981 20 2 Panathinaikos 17 FW Theofanis Gekas 23 May 1980 22 6 Leverkusen 20 FW Ioannis Amanatidis 3 December 1981 22 2 Eintracht Frankfurt 22 FW Dimitrios Salpigidis 10 August 1981 15 0 Panathinaikos 26 FW Vangelis Mantzios 22 April 1983 6 0 Panathinaikos 33 FW Nikolaos Lyberopoulos 4 September 1975 55 12 AEK Athens

Name	Career
Otto Rehhagel	2001 - current
Vassilis Daniill	1999 - 2001
Anghel Iordănescu	1998 - 1999
Kostas Polychroniou	1994 - 1998
Alketas Panagoulias	1992 - 1994
Antonis Georgiadis	1989 - 1992
Alekos Sofianidis	1988 - 1989
Miltos Papapostolou	1984 - 1988
Christos Archontidis	1982 - 1984
Alketas Panagoulias	1977 - 1982
Lakis Petropoulos	1976 - 1977
Alketas Panagoulias	1973 - 1976
Billy Bingham	1971 - 1973
Lakis Petropoulos	1969 - 1971
Dan Georgiadis	1968 - 1969
Panos Markovits	1966 - 1968
Lakis Petropoulos	1964 - 1966
Tryfon Tzanetis	1960 - 1964
Paul Baron	1959 - 1960
Rino Martini	1957 - 1959
Kostas Andritsos	1956 - 1957
Ioannis Chelmis	1955 - 1956
Antonis Migiakis	1954 - 1955
Kostas Negrepontis	1953 - 1954
Antonis Migiakis	1951 - 1953
Kostas Negrepontis	1938 - 1951
Kostas Konstantaras	1935 - 1938
Apostolos Nikolaidis	1934 - 1935
Kostas Negrepontis	1933 - 1934
Lefteris Panourgias	1932 - 1933
Jan Kopsiva	1930 - 1932
Apostolos Nikolaidis	1929 - 1930

As of November 21, 2007

#	Name	Debut	Caps	Goals	Active?
1	Theodoros Zagorakis	1994	120	3	No
2	Stratos Apostolakis	1986	96	5	No
3	Angelos Basinas	1999	84	7	Yes
4	Antonios Nikopolidis	1997	83	0	Yes
5	Dimitris Saravakos	1982	78	22	No

#	Player	Debut	Goals	Caps	Active?
1	Nikos Anastopoulos	1977	29	75	No
2	Dimitris Saravakos	1982	22	78	No
3	Mimis Papaioannou	1963	21	61	No
4	Nikos Machlas	1993	18	61	Yes
5	Demis Nikolaidis	1995	17	54	No
5	Angelos Charisteas	2001	17	61	Yes

See here for top goal scorers per country.

#	Name	Debut	Caps	Goals
1	Alexandros Alexandris	1991	42	10
2	Nikos Anastopoulos	1977	75	29
3	Antonis Antoniadis	1970	21	6
4	Stratos Apostolakis	1986	96	5
5	Christos Ardizoglou	1975	43	2
6	Nikos Dabizas	1994	70	0
7	Georgios Delikaris	1971	32	7
8	Giorgos Dedes	1966	20	7
9	Mimis Domazos	1959	50	4
10	Giorgos Foiros	1974	52	0
11	Grigoris Georgatos	1996	35	3
12	Georgios Georgiadis	1994	61	11
13	Kostas Iosifidis	1974	51	2
14	Savvas Kofidis	1982	67	1
15	Yiorgos Kostikos	1977	35	3
16	Giorgos Koudas	1967	43	4
17	Dinos Kouis	1979	33	7
18	Takis Loukanidis	1958	23	3
19	Nikos Machlas	1993	61	18
20	Stelios Manolas	1982	71	6
21	Thomas Mavros	1972	36	11
22	Tasos Mitropoulos	1978	76	8
23	Kostas Nestoridis	1951	17	3
24	Demis Nikolaidis	1995	54	17
25	Nikos Nioplias	1988	44	1
26	Mimis Papaioannou	1963	61	21
27	Dimitris Saravakos	1982	78	22
28	Nikos Sarganis	1980	58	0
29	Giorgos Sideris	1958	28	14
30	Giotis Tsalouchidis	1987	76	16
31	Vassilis Tsiartas	1994	70	12
32	Kleanthis Vikelides	1936	7	4
33	Thodoris Zagorakis	1994	120	3

Date			Tournament			Place			Match	Score
December 9, 1964			1966 FIFA World Cup qualification			Athens, Greece			Greece -  Denmark	4 - 2
October 4, 1967			UEFA EURO 1968 qualifying			Athens, Greece			Greece -  Austria	4 - 1
December 11, 1968			1970 FIFA World Cup qualification			Athens, Greece			Greece -  Portugal	4 - 2
May 4, 1969			1970 FIFA World Cup qualification			Porto, Portugal			Portugal -  Greece	2 - 2
October 15, 1969			1970 FIFA World Cup qualification			Thessaloniki, Greece