Greece at Euro 2004: the impossible triumph

When Greece arrived at the 2004 European Championship, almost no one gave them a thought. They had qualified rarely for major tournaments and never threatened to win one, and their squad contained none of the continent's celebrated names. The bookmakers rated their chances as remote in the extreme. Yet under the German coach Otto Rehhagel they had quietly built something the more glamorous nations lacked: total organisation, iron discipline and a shared willingness to work for one another without ego.

Rehhagel's Greece were built on defensive structure and set-piece threat. They defended deep and in numbers, closing space and frustrating opponents who expected to brush them aside, then struck on the counter or from corners and free-kicks with ruthless efficiency. It was not the football of highlight reels, but it was fiendishly hard to beat. Every player knew his job precisely, and the collective was far stronger than any individual within it — the very opposite of the star-driven sides around them.

One by one, the giants fell. Greece opened the tournament by beating the hosts, Portugal, then knocked out the holders, France, and edged the Czech Republic to reach the final. Each victory was greeted with fresh disbelief, and each time Greece simply absorbed pressure, defended with unbreakable concentration and took their rare chances. A team nobody had feared was suddenly dismantling the most fancied sides in Europe, entirely on its own terms.

In the final they met Portugal again, on the hosts' own soil and in front of an expectant home crowd. Once more Greece defended magnificently and struck from a set piece, a headed goal settling the match. When the final whistle blew they were, impossibly, champions of Europe. It remains one of the sport's greatest upsets, a triumph of teamwork and belief over reputation and talent, and enduring proof that in football the outsiders can, just occasionally, win it all.