How Greece won the Euros 2004?

Here is how Greece pulled off one of the biggest shocks in football history.

Greece arrived at the 2004 Euros as underdogs. With just a 150-1 chance of winning the tournament, everyone expected them to be out of the competition in the group stage. However, the team went on to win the title, defeating Zidane's France, Pavel Nedved's Czech Republic, and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal along the way.

The architect of this miracle, manager Otto Rehhagel, adopted a very simple strategy. The Greeks defended with man-to-man marking, while the team was allowed to be as creative as they could during the attack. Greece played with a 5-4-1 formation when the opposition played with two strikers, shifting to a 4-5-1 setup if there was a sole striker. Centre back Traianos Dellas was always a spareman, with other centre backs marking the strikers.

Interestingly, Greece won all their knockout matches in the same pattern: a 1-0 win, with each goal scored via a header from a cross delivered from the right wing.