Greek Football History :
The Greek national football team nicknamed “The Pirate Ship” is governed by the Hellenic Football Federation and represents the country in international football competitions. Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium is the home ground of the Greek national football team and is located in the Neo Faliro area of Piraeus in Athens, Greece.
It is named after Georgios Karaiskakis who was a hero of the Greek war of independence and was mortally injured near this location. The team participated in the World Football Cup twice in its career; once in 1994 and another time in 2010. In the UEFA European Football Championship, the team started playing from the year 1980 and has appeared four times till date. In the Confederations Cup, it was able to enter only once in 2005.
Currently the team holds 12th position in World Rankings and the best rank it earned was in the year 2008 in which it was placed at 8th position. As per World Elo Ratings, the team currently stands at 17th position and the highest rank earned in this category was 7th position in August 2004. Besides this, the team faced near misses in the fight for qualifying for the World Football Cup two times in 1998 and 2002. In the Olympics the team hasn’t got any significant achievement up until now. The Greek national team has also participated in other competitions like Mediterranean Games, Cyprus International Tournaments, Balkan Cup, Stanley Matthews Cup, etc.
Greek Success Story :
As participation in the World Football Cup is minimal, so is the achievement. The team was not able to cross even the group stage. But in the UEFA European Football Championship, the national football team of Greece won the title in 2004 which is considered its only significant achievement in its overall football career history. The team was also able to enter the quarter-finals of the same tournament in 2012. Besides this, the team has earned several honors like “World Team of the Year 2004”, “Fair Play Trophy 2005” and “Team of the Year” honor in Laureus World Sports Awards in 2005. Despite the ups and downs in their football career, the team has been improving significantly and has qualified for the upcoming World Football Cup win Brazil.
Greece squad |
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| Goalkeepers: | Alexandros Tzorvas (Apollon Smyrnis) Orestis Karnezis (Granada) Panaglotis Glykos (PAOK) Stefanos Kapino (Panathinaikos) |
Defenders: | Avraam Papadopoulos Kostas Manolas Giannis Maniatis Jose Holebas (all Olympiakos) Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund) Giorgios Tzavellas (PAOK) Loukas Vyntra (Levante) Vasilis Torosidis (Roma) Vangelis Moras (Verona) Nikolaos Karabelas (Levante) |
| Midfielders: | Alexandros Tziolis (Kayserispor) Andreas Samaris (Olympiakos) Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK) Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham) Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Torino) Ioannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa) Kostas Fortounis (Kaiserslautern) Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna) Panagiotis Kone (Bologna) |
Forwards: | Dimitris Papadopoulos (Atromitos) Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK) Giorgios Samaras (Celtic) Konstantinos Mitroglou (Fulham) Theofanis Gekas (Konyaspor) Stefanos Athanasiadis (PAOK) Nikos Karelis (Panathinaikos) |
Greek’s Performance in all World Football Cups :
| World Football Cup Year | World Football Cup Hosting Nation | World Football Cup Qualification | Quarter Final Birth | Semi Final Birth | Third Place Secured | Reached Final | Title Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | South Africa | Yes | No | – | – | – | – |
| 2006 | Germany | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2002 | South Korea | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1998 | France | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1994 | United States | Yes | No | – | – | – | – |
| 1990 | Italy | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1986 | Mexico | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1982 | Spain | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1978 | Argentina | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1974 | West Germany | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1970 | Mexico | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1966 | England | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1962 | Chile | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1958 | Sweden | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1954 | Switzerland | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1950 | Brazil | Did Not Enter | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1938 | France | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1934 | Italy | No | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1930 | Uruguay | Did Not Enter | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 19 World Football Cups | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |