page_title: Greece national football team
section_title: Euro 2008
hierarchical_section_title: Greece national football team / History / Euro 2008
caption_attribution_description: English: EM-Stadion Wals-Siezenheim in Salzburg during UEFA Euro 2008 Deutsch: EM-Stadion Wals-Siezenheim während der UEFA Euro 2008
context_page_description: The Greece national football team represents Greece in men's international football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play most of their home matches in or near Athens, either in Athens at the Olympic Stadium in the Maroussi section of the city or in the port city of Piraeus at the Karaiskakis Stadium just outside Athens. Greece is one of only ten national teams to have been crowned UEFA European Champions.
  Greece had been mostly a small name in international football, and only from 1980s that experienced the first taste of football achievement, made their first appearance in a major tournament at UEFA Euro 1980 and although they did not make it through the group stage, their qualification to the then eight-team tournament gave them a position in the top eight European football nations that year. Greece did not qualify for another major tournament until the 1994 FIFA World Cup and after an undefeated qualifying campaign, they produced a poor performance in the final tournament, losing all three group matches without scoring.
context_section_description: Greece was the highest-ranked seed for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying tournament and was drawn with Turkey, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova and Malta.
  They began their Euro 2008 qualification campaign with victories over Moldova, Norway and Bosnia and Herzegovina before suffering a 4–1 home loss against Turkey in Athens. Greece went on to win away to Malta, with the only goal coming in the 66th minute from an Angelos Basinas penalty, beat Hungary and Moldova at home and drew 2–2 away to Norway despite having hit the goalpost three times in this match. The draw in Oslo was followed by a 3–2 home win against Bosnia-Herzegovina and a 1–0 away win to Turkey, securing its presence to the Euro 2008 finals at their old rival's home ground. In the last two matches, Greece overcame Malta 5–0 in Athens and defeated Hungary with an away 2–1 win, finishing first in their group with a total of 31 points, the most points gained among any team in qualifying.
  As defending European champions, Greece were top seed for the final tournament and were drawn with Sweden, Spain, and Russia in Group D.
  In the tournament finals, however, the Greek team lost all three games and scored only one goal. Greece underperformed in the opening match against Sweden and lost 2–0 before losing 1-0 to Russia. Having already been eliminated, Angelos Charisteas opened the scoring for Greece against Spain, but lost 2–1, becoming the first defending champion not to earn a single point in the next European Championship.
caption: Greece vs Spain in Red Bull Arena during UEFA Euro 2008.
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