Greece arrived in Portugal for the 2004 European Championship as 150-1 outsiders who had never won a match at a major tournament. Four weeks later the Greece national team, and in particular Otto Rehhagel and Angelos Charisteas had become legendary figures in Greek football history.
Greece were surprise winners of a surprise European Championship which saw top teams France, Italy and Germany eliminated early. Angelos Charisteas scored the winning goal in the 1-0 Euro 2004 final victory against hosts Portugal, while German Otto Rehhagel, aged 65, proved a tactical genius as Greek coach.
The Greeks played with strong defence, confidence in each other and with shrewd strategy. Rehhagel is the first foreign coach and the oldest coach in football history to lead a team to victory in the European Championship. As an exercise in working with the resources at your disposal and getting the best out of them, Rehhagel provided a mastermind.
Greece's new gods on the field were Traianos Dellas and Charisteas, two men barely able to get a game for Roma and Werder Bremen, and yet the talismen for the values of brilliant coaching, organisation and honesty.
