Greece

Greece national football team

The Greek national football team (Greek: Εθνική Ελλάδος, Ethniki Ellados) represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece's home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus and their head coach is Sergio Markarián. Greece is a competitive national team in European football, being one of only nine national teams to have won the UEFA European Championship.

At the UEFA Euro 1980 Greece made their first appearance in a major tournament and although they did not make it through the group stage, their qualification to the then eight-team UEFA European Championship gave them a position in the top eight European football nations that year. Greece had to wait until 1994 to experience their first FIFA World Cup participation, but after an undefeated qualifying run they produced a poor performance in the final tournament.

The UEFA Euro 2004 marked Greece's history, when they were crowned European champions in their only second participation in the tournament. The Greeks, dismissed as rank outsiders before the tournament, defeated some of the favourites in the competition including defending European champions France and hosts Portugal, with Greece beating the latter in both the opening game of the tournament and again in the final. Their triumph also gave them a qualification for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Since that victory Greece have qualified for the final tournament of all but one major competitions reaching the quarter-finals at the UEFA Euro 2012 and the round of 16 at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Moreover, they have occupied a place in the top 20 of the FIFA World Rankings for all but four months since the 2004 triumph, and reached a high of eighth from April to June 2008, as well as in October 2011.