Greece national football team's first appearance in a major tournament was the 1980 European Championship. Their first win in a major tournament came on the first match of Euro 2004, a 2-1 win over the hosts Portugal. The Greeks 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 a second time, 1-0, in the finals.
Bookmakers were giving odds of about 80-1 to 150-1 for the Greeks before the tournament.
The Greeks' victory in Euro 2004 sent them skyrocketing up the FIFA World Rankings from 35th before the event to 14th in the July 2004 rankings. This is believed to be the largest upward move ever by a team in a single month within the top echelon of the rankings; there have been larger month-to-month moves, but by teams considerably further down the table.
World Cup record
- 1930 - Did not enter
- 1934 - Withdrew during qualifying
- 1938 - Did not qualify
- 1950 - Did not enter
- 1954 to 1990 - Did not qualify
- 1994 - Round 1
- 1998 - Did not qualify
- 2002 - Did not qualify
European Championship record
Euro 2004 Winning Squad
External links
