Greece national football team: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Team colours
Home 　 Away
Association
Hellenic Football Federation
Current coach
Otto Rehhagel, 2001-
Most capped player
Efstratos Apostolakis, Theodoros Zagorakis: 95
Highest goalscorer
Nikolaos Anastopoulos: 29
First International
Greece 1 - 4 Italy (Athens, Greece; 7 April, 1929)
Largest win
Greece 8 - 0 Syria (Athens, Greece; 25 November, 1949)
Largest defeat
Greece 1 - 11 Hungary (Budapest, Hungary; 25 March, 1938)
World Cup
Finals appearances: 1 (First: 1994) Best result: Round 1, 1994
European Championship
Finals appearances: 2 (First: 1980) Best result: Winners, 2004

Greece'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 farther down the table than the Greeks were going into Euro 2004.

FIFA World Cup record

• 1930 - Did not enter
• 1934 - Did not qualify
• 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
• 1998 - Did not qualify
• 2002 - Did not qualify

• 1960 - Did not qualify
• 1964 - Withdrew from qualifying
• 1968 - Did not qualify
• 1972 - Did not qualify
• 1976 - Did not qualify
• 1980 - Round 1
• 1984 - Did not qualify
• 1988 - Did not qualify
• 1992 - Did not qualify
• 1996 - Did not qualify
• 2000 - Did not qualify
• 2004 - Winners