• In 2004, Greece successfully won the Euro Championship.
• What were the events of that year and what caused them to be so surprising?
• Hundreds of thousands of Greek football fans block the streets to celebrate after their team wins the European Cup.

The Euro 2024 football tournament hosted by Germany will start on June 14 – July 14, 2024. 

The favorite teams in this program, whether they be England, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, etc., or the hosts like Germany, are all nations with many superstar players colliding with each other on the team.

However, in the past the Euro 2004 football competition was held in Portugal. There was one team that was a dark horse and was able to win the championship that year, namely the ” Greece national team ” which they did not have a single superstar or famous star on the ทางเข้า ufabet team. There is only fighting spirit and discipline in playing. As a result, that year they won the championship, surprising the whole world.

Today, would like to take you all back to the events of that year. Why is the country famous for fairy tales To be able to break a master’s pen and successfully won the championship that year

“ Offense will make you win. But defense makes you a champion .” This phrase is used to describe the Greek national team who won the Euro Championship in 2004.

Back in those years, Greece was a relatively small country in the world. They had only participated in two international tournaments: Euro 1980 and the 1994 World Cup, both of which they were eliminated in the first round.

But with the arrival of ” Otto Rehhagel, ” the German coach who came to change from a small national team into a small chili pepper team. The arrival of this head coach has instilled in the players the idea and attitude of being a top player.

“The first thing they taught us was The national team must come first. We are like a family. Greece is unlike any other national team which has 55 players competing for a place in the national team. We have about 20 people who are always on the team, so we are very close. We are ready to sacrifice everything for each other,” Takis Faisas said of Otto’s key idea.

With the knowledge that the potential of the team members is not that of famous stars. This manager therefore chose to use the 4-3-3 system and develop the players’ ” fitness and movement skills ” to be used as much as possible.

The first game of the Greek national team in Euro 2004 was the opening match in front of nearly fifty thousand local fans. Portugal national team But they were able to win with a score of 2-1. Next, they tied with Spain 1-1 and lost to Russia 1-2. 

In the final 8 teams, they were forced to face The French national team includes Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Lilian Thuram and Vicente Lisarazu, but the veteran coach isn’t afraid to order his players. For example, Giorcas Setaridis followed Thierry Henry throughout the game, which resulted in the Greek national team winning with a score of 1-0 and successfully advancing to the semifinals.

After entering the semi-finals They have to duel with Czech Republic But they performed well and were able to win with a score of 1-0 and advance to the finals to meet Portugal. 

But it’s like God has written history for them. Surrounded by more than 60,000 fans at the Estadio da Luz, the Greek national team was able to win. The local Portuguese national team scored 1-0 and successfully won Euro 2004.

After the game, Angelos Charisteas, who scored the winning goal in the final, said that when the players arrived home, more than 100,000 people had turned out to welcome them, causing traffic congestion. From the original schedule that required 40 minutes, it took more than 6 hours.

“When we came back to Greece after the tournament. Hundreds of thousands of people are waiting for us in the streets. We drove to the iconic Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. which hosted the first Olympic Games The journey from the airport usually takes about 40 minutes. The night took almost six hours. More than 150,000 people came to greet us.” 

“I will never forget those celebrations. Scoring that goal in the final changed my life. It’s not just one goal you scored for your country. But it was the goal that won the continental trophy for my country and my people. That is more special than anything else.”

“It will remain in history and in people’s hearts forever. Every day of my life People talk to me about those times. And they talk about pride That is a great honor for me,” said Angelos Charisteas.