Greece’s Euro 2004 win remains the biggest shock in the competition’s history.
Listed by the bookies as a 150-1 shot to win the tournament and never having won a single match at a major competition, Otto Rehhagel’s men stunned the footballing world when they progressed to the final, where they saw off hosts Portugal 1-0.
Stelios Giannakopoulos was a familiar face for English fans, having made a name for himself at Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers that season and has recalled to FourFourTwo what it was like to shock the world.
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“We didn’t go there to win the tournament, and that’s why we won it,” he tells FFT. “We weren’t big-time players; we weren’t prima donnas. We went to enjoy the tournament. The main thing for us at the time was to win a game in a major tournament for the first time.
“Game by game, we showed we could. We got stronger in each match. And we not only had great characters; we also had some very good footballers, all at the peaks of our careers. All of the ingredients were there.”
After an opening match defeat to Portugal, Greece were able to draw with Spain and then beat Russia to claim a place in the quarter-finals, where France were dispatched 1-0. It was then that Giannakopoulos says they started to believe.
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“The quarter-final was when we started to think something special was possible,” he adds. “We beat France playing good football. We hear a lot of nonsense about us only defending but this was a total football performance, defensively and offensively. We deserved to win that game.
“We were so well-organised and we weren’t afraid – their names meant nothing to us. If you beat the world and European champions, you have to believe you’re capable of achieving something.”
The victory in the final at the Estadio da Luz stunned the home fans and gave the 49-year-old a moment he will never forget.
“Yes, there was silence among the home fans,” he adds. “For us, though, it was a golden moment; a priceless moment. You lose your mind in these moments, when dreams come true. We’re not a big football nation. As a small kid you dream of achieving things in football, but this was a distant dream. I don’t think it will happen again, although I hope it does! We’re very proud and honoured to have been the ones who lifted that trophy in Lisbon.”
There will no opportunity for Greece to repeat their heroics 20 years on, as the team did not qualify for Euro 2024, with their appearance at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil the last time they reached a major tournament.
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