2004 European Football Championship

The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly called EURO 2004, was held in Portugal between June 12 and July 4 2004. The UEFA European Championship is a quadrennial football competition between national teams organised by UEFA, the governing body in Europe. This was the first time that the competition was held in Portugal, and UEFA considered the tournament "the best ever". This was mostly due to the high level of football played, big surprises (Germany, Italy and Spain were knocked out during the group stage, title-holders France were sent home by unfancied Greece, and hosts Portugal managed a winning streak towards the final following their opening defeat, beating England and Netherlands) and the party feeling present in all host cities and throughout the country.

For the first time, the final featured the same teams as the opening match, with the hosts losing both of them, also for the first time.

The final was almost a replay of the opening game: the hosts Portugal versus Greece. Greece won 1-0 with a single goal from a corner via Angelos Charisteas' head in the 57th minute. The success of Greece, who had never won a single match in their previous appearances in any finals tournament, was totally unexpected (Bloomberg reports that UK bookmakers gave them 100-1 odds at winning prior to the tournament), but their organisation, passing ability and solid defensive play took their opponents and the rest of the football world by surprise.

During the opening ceremony, the Portuguese portrayed a ship, symbolizing the voyages of the Portuguese explorers, sailing through a sea which gave place to to the flags of all competing countries. Such was the enthusiasm that overtook the Greek fans that the ship became the symbol of the Greek victory, as Greeks chanted for the "Pirate Ship" (πειρατικό), as the Greek National Team was instantly named, into the early morning hours.

The Road to Victory for Greece

Greece made it to Euro 2004 after surpassing Spain in their qualifying group. In the final tournament Greece were drawn in to Group A with Spain, Portugal, and Russia. Greece were one of the lowest ranked teams in the tournament and were not expected to even make an impact. In the opening match against Portugal, Greece achieved a surprise victory by beating Portugal 2-1. After this win, the team was nicknamed "the pirate ship" by Greek sportscaster George Helakis. The nickname was inspired by the opening ceremony, which was held just before the game, and involved a ship floating on the football field (a homage to Portugal's history of exploration). Greece were portayed as the pirates who surprised the opponents and "stole" the win from their hands, a theme that would repeat itself throughout the tournament. Four days later, Greece stunned Spain in front of a majority Spanish crowd to a 1-1 draw after being down 1-0 at the half. Charisteas scored on a beautiful goal that went between the legs of Casillas, the Spanish goalkeeper. In the last group game, Greece went down quickly 2-0 to Russia (who were already eliminated). Greece pulled one back on a goal by Vryzas which was wonderfully set up by a Papadopoulos header. Without that goal, Greece would have been eliminated. Because Greece and Spain both had a 0 goal differential, Greece took second place in the group over Spain on goals scored (4 for Greece, while only 2 for Spain). In the quarterfinals Greece faced off with the reigning champions France. At 65 minutes, Greece took the lead when captain Zagorakis flicked the ball high in the air as a French defender flew by, retained possession and then sent a perfect cross to Charisteas for the header. Greece held on to win, knocking France out of the Euro 2004 and becoming the first team ever to defeat both the hosts and defending champions in the same tournament. Greece reached the semifinals for the first time to face the Czech Republic, who were the only team to defeat all their opponents to this point, including a convincing 3-0 win over Denmark in the Quarterfinals. After 90 minutes the game ended 0-0. In the first half of extra time, a close range header from Dellas off a corner ended the Czech campaign, putting Greece in the final of Euro 2004. For the first time in history (a recurring theme in this tournament), the final was a repeat of the opening game with Greece and hosts Portugal facing off in a rematch. In the 57th minute Angelos Charisteas gave Greece the lead with a header off of a corner by Basinas. Greece held on to win Euro 2004, definitely one of the biggest shocks in football history. Captain Zagorakis was named the man of the tournament.

Qualifying

Qualification for the tournament took place from September 2002 to November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups of five teams and each played the others in their group, on a home-and-away basis. The 1st placed teams automatically qualified, and the ten group runners-up took part in play-offs to select another five teams. Including the host nation, Portugal - who qualified automatically - 16 nations competed in the tournament.

For details of qualifying matches see 2004 UEFA European Championship (qualifying).

Teams

The participants in the Euro 2004 final tournament were:

Squads

For a list of all the squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 2004 European Football Championship (squads).

Venues


Estádio Municipal de Braga Location: Braga Capacity: 30,000 Club: SC Braga	Estádio D. Afonso Henriques Location: Guimarães Capacity: 30,000 Club: Vitória SC

Estádio do Dragão Location: Porto Capacity: 52,000 Club: FC Porto	Estádio do Bessa Século XXI Location: Porto Capacity: 30,000 Club: Boavista FC

Estádio Municipal de Aveiro Location: Aveiro Capacity: 30,000 Club: Beira-Mar	Estádio Cidade de Coimbra Location: Coimbra Capacity: 30,000 Club: Académica	Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa Location: Leiria Capacity: 30,000 Club: UD Leiria
Estádio da Luz Location: Lisbon Capacity: 65,000 Club: SL Benfica	Estádio José Alvalade Location: Lisbon Capacity: 52,000 Club: Sporting CP	Estádio Algarve Location: Faro/Loulé Capacity: 30,000 Club: N/D

First round

Notes

All times local (UTC + 01:00)
Half-time scores are in brackets
Abbreviations:
- Pld: games played
- W: won
- D: drawn
- L: lost
- GF: goals for
- GA: goals against
- GD: goal difference
- Pts: points
Tie-breakers
- For teams which finish level on points, the following tie-breakers are used:
1. greater number of points in the matches between the teams in question;
2. greater goal difference in matches between the teams in question;
3. greater number of goals scored in matches between the teams in question;
4. greater goal difference in all group games;
5. greater number of goals scored in all group games;
6. higher coefficient derived from EURO 2004 and 2002 World Cup qualifiers (points obtained divided by number of matches played);
7. fair play conduct in EURO 2004;
8. drawing of lots.

Group A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1.	6	3	2		1	4	2	+2
2.	4	3	1	1	1	4	4	0
3.	4	3	1	1	1	2	2	0
4.	3	3	1		2	2	4	-2


June 12, 2004
Portugal	1 – 2 (0-1)	Greece	17:00	Estádio do Dragão
Spain	1 – 0 (0-0)	Russia	19:45	Estádio do Algarve
June 16, 2004
Greece	1 – 1 (0-1)	Spain	17:00	Estádio do Bessa Século XXI
Russia	0 – 2 (0-1)	Portugal	19:45	Estádio da Luz
June 20, 2004
Spain	0 – 1 (0-0)	Portugal	19:45	Estádio José Alvalade
Russia	2 – 1 (2-1)	Greece	19:45	Estádio do Algarve

Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1.	7	3	2	1		7	4	+3
2.	6	3	2		1	8	4	+4
3.	2	3		2	1	4	6	-2
4.	1	3		1	2	1	6	-5


June 13, 2004
Switzerland	0 – 0 (0-0)	Croatia	17:00	Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa
France	2 – 1 (0-1)	England	19:45	Estádio da Luz
June 17, 2004
England	3 – 0 (1-0)	Switzerland	17:00	Estádio Cidade de Coimbra
Croatia	2 – 2 (0-1)	France	19:45	Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa
June 21, 2004
Croatia	2 – 4 (1-2)	England	19:45	Estádio da Luz
Switzerland	1 – 3 (1-1)	France	19:45	Estádio Cidade de Coimbra

Group C

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1.	5	3	1	2		8	3	+5
2.	5	3	1	2		4	2	+2
3.	5	3	1	2		3	2	+1
4.	0	3			3	1	9	-8


June 14, 2004
Denmark	0 – 0 (0-0)	Italy	17:00	Estádio D. Afonso Henriques
Sweden	5 – 0 (1-0)	Bulgaria	19:45	Estádio José Alvalade
June 18, 2004
Bulgaria	0 – 2 (0-1)	Denmark	17:00	Estádio Municipal de Braga
Italy	1 – 1 (1-0)	Sweden	19:45	Estádio do Dragão
June 22, 2004
Italy	2 – 1 (0-1)	Bulgaria	19:45	Estádio D. Afonso Henriques
Denmark	2 – 2 (1-0)	Sweden	19:45	Estádio do Bessa Século XXI

Group D

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1.	9	3	3			7	4	+3
2.	4	3	1	1	1	6	4	+2
3.	2	3		2	1	2	3	-1
4.	1	3		1	2	1	5	-4


June 15, 2004
Czech Republic	2 – 1 (0-1)	Latvia	17:00	Estádio Municipal de Aveiro
Germany	1 – 1 (1-0)	Netherlands	19:45	Estádio do Dragão
June 19, 2004
Latvia	0 – 0 (0-0)	Germany	17:00	Estádio do Bessa Século XXI
Netherlands	2 – 3 (2-1)	Czech Republic	19:45	Estádio Municipal de Aveiro
June 23, 2004
Netherlands	3 – 0 (2-0)	Latvia	19:45	Estádio Municipal de Braga
Germany	1 – 2 (1-1)	Czech Republic	19:45	Estádio José Alvalade

Knockout stages

For details on each of the knockout stage matches, check 2004 UEFA European Championship (knockout stage matches)

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Statistics

Top scoring players

5 goals

Milan Baroš

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

Top scoring teams

10 goals

8 goals

7 goals

UEFA Team of the Tournament

Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Petr Čech	Sol Campbell	Michael Ballack	Milan Baroš
Antonios Nikopolidis	Ashley Cole	Theodoros Zagorakis	Angelos Charisteas
	Traianos Dellas	Pavel Nedved	Henrik Larsson
	Olof Mellberg	Maniche	Wayne Rooney
	Ricardo Carvalho	Frank Lampard	Jon Dahl Tomasson
	Yourkas Seitaridis	Zinedine Zidane	Ruud van Nistelrooy
	Gianluca Zambrotta	Luis Figo	Cristiano Ronaldo

UEFA MVP of the Tournament

Milan Baroš

UEFA Player of the Tournament

Theodoros Zagorakis

External links

2004 European Football Championship | 2004 in football (soccer) | Football in Portugal

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