In the past few decades, it appears that Ireland has been continually perplexed when it comes to international football, particularly when opposing Greece. With Greece’s tallied score of four wins and one draw in their five games against Ireland, and the latter only managing to score one goal, the disparity is abundantly clear. Just last year, Greece doubled down with triumphs in both Athens and Aviva Stadium, with scores of 2-1 and 2-0 respectively, earning them a slot in the playoffs for Euro 2024.
The gap further widens at the club level, as shown in August when PAOK handily defeated the Shamrock Rovers with an aggregate score of 6-0, propelling them to the Europa League group stage. An earlier encounter in the 2021 Europa Conference League saw Bohemians suffer a close loss to PAOK with a final score of 3-2 on aggregate.
Recently in Dublin, Dimitrios Pelkas, previously of Hull City, was seen playing for Istanbul Başakşehir in a goalless match against St. Patrick’s Athletic at the Tallaght Stadium, in the Europa Conference qualifier.
Established in 1925, Olympiacos’ dominance in Greek football is unrivalled, having clinched the Super League title 22 times in the past 28 years and seizing their inaugural continental honour in May when they edged Fiorentina 1-0 in the Uefa Conference League final. This marked the first ever European win by a Greek club.
This triumph was made even more special as it took place at the Agia Sophia Stadium, the turf of local rivals AEK Athens, which meant Olympiacos joined Feyenoord as the only clubs to win a European title on home soil since Feyenoord’s 2002 Europa League win in Rotterdam.
Previously, Panathinaikos, under the guidance of Ferenc Puskás, was the sole Greek team to have reached a European final, but fell 2-0 to Johan Cruyff’s Ajax at Wembley Stadium in the 1971 European Cup Final.
However, the crowning achievement in Greek football transpired at the international level when they claimed the European Championships in 2004, a feat made more remarkable given that they had never won a game at a major tournament.
Greek football experienced a rebirth at the Stadium of Light, when Greece tackled Portugal and emerged victorious with a 1-0 win in the final, after having bested them in the opening game as well. The triumphant Greeks, devoid of individual stars, saw Theo Zagorakis of Leicester City hailed as the Player of the Tournament. Despite his German roots, the adoration for manager Otto Rehhagel was so vast that he was crowned Greek Person of the Year. His influence is immortalised in a BBC documentary, ‘King Otto and Football’s Greek Gods’, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the victory.
Looking to replicate these victories is incumbent manager Ivan Jovanović, whose professional life has been closely entwined with Greece as both a player and a coach. His most noteworthy achievements occurred in Cyprus, where he successfully led Apoel into the quarter-finals of the 2012 Champions League, before they fell to Real Madrid.
Numerous members from the Greek team hail from the Premier League, including the likes of goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos (Newcastle), and defenders Konstantinos Tsimikas (Liverpool), and Konstantinos Mavropanos (West Ham). However, the rising star in the Greek team’s defensive lineup is 20-year-old wonderkid Konstantinos Koulierakis, whose impending transfer from PAOK to Wolfsburg for a record €15 million was postponed until they secured victory against Shamrock Rovers the previous month.
Moreover, Greece boasts of abundant talents in their offensive line as well. Recently, Evangelos Pavlídis made a €20 million transfer to Benfica, but Panathinaikos’s in-shape striker, Fotis Ioannidis, stole the show with his brilliant performance, scoring twice in the 3-0 victory over Finland in the Nations League, which led to speculations about his potential €30 million transfer to Leicester City.
In a surprising move, the Greek assembly has also drafted in midfielder Christos Zafeiris, who has an impressive record of 47 age-group caps for Norway, including captaining the under-21 team to a 3-2 triumph over Ireland in a critical European Championship qualifier. This record is noteworthy as, just last month, he dramatically pledged his allegiance to Greece.
Since their penalty shoot-out defeat to Costa Rica in the 2014 World Cup round of 16, Greece has not made it to a major tournament. Gus Poyet nearly ended this dry spell by guiding Greece to a Euro 2024 play-off, however, they were once again defeated in penalties, this instance by Georgia, a team that had not qualified for a major championship before.
Interestingly, in the Nations League, Greece’s track record is even poorer than Ireland’s; a rarity. It took Greece three attempts to climb from the third tier, making it to League B for the first time. Their successful promotion in 2022 saw them win a group that included Northern Ireland.
In an Aegean Cup match in Turkey, Greece’s under-16 team lost 6-0 to their Irish contemporaries in January.
On the upside, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is confident there will not be a repeat of the fiasco involving interim England boss Lee Carsley’s refusal to sing, as Greece head coach Jovanović has said that it makes sense to sing the national anthem.
However, Greece can potentially lay claim to the longest national anthem globally. It’s a 158-verse poem called “Hymn to Liberty”, but Jovanović should breathe a sigh of relief as only the first two verses are typically played.