UEFA Euro 2004

Campeonato da Europa de Futebol 2004 (Portuguese)
180px UEFA Euro 2004 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Portugal
Dates	12 June – 4 July
Teams	16
Venue(s)	10 (in 8 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Greece (1st title)
Runners-up	Portugal
Tournament statistics
Matches played	31
Goals scored	77 (2.48 per match)
Attendance	1,156,473 (37,306 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Milan Baroš (5 goals)
Best player	Theodoros Zagorakis
← 2000 2008 →

The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, better known as Euro 2004, was the 12th European Football Championship, a quadrennial football tournament for European national teams. It was hosted in Portugal, for the first time, between 12 June and 4 July 2004, following its selection by UEFA, in 1999, over rival bids from Spain and Austria–Hungary.^[1] As in the previous tournaments in England and Netherlands–Belgium, sixteen teams contested the final tournament after going through a qualification round, which began in late 2002. The tournament took place in ten venues located in eight cities: Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Guimarães, Faro/Loulé, Leiria, Porto and Lisbon.

The tournament was rich in surprises: Germany, Spain and Italy were knocked out during the group stage; title-holders France were eliminated in the quarter-finals by underdogs Greece, and the Portuguese hosts recovered from their opening defeat to reach the final, eliminating Spain, England and Netherlands along the way. For the first time, the final featured the same teams as the opening match, with the hosts losing both of them, for the first time as well, as Portugal were beaten by Greece on both occasions.^[2] Greece's triumph was even more outstanding considering that they had only qualified for two other major tournaments – Euro 1980 and the 1994 FIFA World Cup – and their victory in the opening match was their first in a major tournament. Also, Latvia competed in their first major tournament.

During the opening ceremony, one of the tableaux depicted a ship, symbolizing the voyages of the Portuguese explorers, sailing through a sea which gave way to the flags of all competing countries.^[3] The ship caught the imagination of the Greek media and public, and the Greek team was dubbed the "Pirate Ship" (πειρατικό) for the manner in which the unfancied team "stole" the title from under the noses of the established sides.^{[citation needed]} Portuguese-Canadian pop singer Nelly Furtado performed her single and official theme song "Força", which represented Portuguese folk music and culture.

Summary[link]

Group stage[link]

Group A opened with a shock as Greece, ranked outsiders from start, defeated the hosts 2–1. Giorgos Karagounis put them ahead after only seven minutes and Angelos Basinas made it 2–0 from the penalty spot on 51 minutes. An injury time goal from Cristiano Ronaldo proved no more than a consolation. The Greeks then drew with Spain before losing to Russia in their last game. Greece finished second ahead of Spain on goals scored. Portugal, meanwhile, recovered from their opening-game defeat and took first place in Group A.

France, the holders, and England ended their Group B encounter in furious fashion as the French scored twice in injury time to go from 1–0 down to 2–1 winners; Zinedine Zidane scored in the first minute of injury time and two minutes later, an error by the English defence gave a France penalty and Zidane fired in the winner. England's other two games were memorable for the performances of their young star Wayne Rooney. Only 18 at the time, Rooney's goal-scoring ability proved instrumental in victories over Switzerland (3–0) and Croatia (4–2). England and France qualified from the group.

Group C featured a bizarre three-way tie between Sweden, Denmark, and Italy for first spot. All matches between the three sides had ended in draws and all three had beaten Bulgaria. Italy were ultimately eliminated on the number of goals scored between the three sides after Sweden and Denmark drew 2–2. The Italians went so far as to accuse Sweden and Denmark of fixing their match as both sides knew that a 2–2 result would advance them both over Italy but UEFA disregarded such an idea.^[4]

The Czech Republic were only team to finish the groups stages perfectly; they defeated Latvia, the Netherlands, and Germany. It was another disappointing European campaign for Germany, which failed to advance from the group stage once again. The Netherlands claimed the runner-up place in Group D.

Quarter-finals and semi-finals[link]

In the first quarter-final between England and Portugal, the English opened the scoring after only two minutes through Michael Owen. Portugal's constant attacking pressure from then on resulted in Hélder Postiga's 83rd minute equaliser. A controversial incident came in the dying minutes when Michael Owen hit the Portuguese crossbar, resulting in a Sol Campbell header that appeared to have given England the lead again, but was ruled out for what the referee Urs Meier deemed a foul on the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira. The sides exchanged goals in extra-time, sending the match to penalty kicks and Portugal won 6–5; Portugal's goalkeeper Ricardo saved a penalty from Darius Vassell and then scored the winning goal.

The Greeks, meanwhile, continued to stun everybody. Firm defensive play and an Angelos Charisteas goal on 65 minutes helped them defeat France 1–0 and send them through to the semi-finals. This victory made Greece the first team to defeat both the holders and the hosts in the same tournament. Sweden and the Netherlands played out an exciting encounter but neither side could find a breakthrough and the match ended goalless after extra-time. The Dutch progressed after winning the penalty shootout 5–4, their first ever victory on penalties. The last quarter-final saw the Czechs dispatch Denmark as a two-goal effort from Milan Baroš helped seal a 3–0 win.

Portugal and the Netherlands faced each other in the first semi-final. Ronaldo put the hosts into the lead from a corner kick midway through the first half and just before the hour mark a spectacular goal from Maniche made it 2–0 for Portugal. An own goal from Jorge Andrade gave the Netherlands a glimmer of hope. Portugal came close to scoring a third goal that was only stopped by Wilfred Bouma's blocking attempt. The game ended 2–1 to Portugal and the hosts, after their opening day failure, were through to the final of their European Championship. The Czech Republic looked likely candidates to face the hosts in the final but they would have to see off the upstart Greeks to do so. The Czechs had several chances, including a shot from Tomáš Rosický that struck the bar. The game remained goalless until the dying moments of the first half of extra-time when Traianos Dellas headed home the winner, the first and only silver goal in a European Championship.

Final[link]

Angelos Charisteas (first from left, white shirt) puts Greece 1–0 up in the final.

The final was a repeat of the opening game of the tournament and Portugal were hoping to avenge their opening day loss. Portugal furiously attacked and dominated the possession but once again, sturdy defending and goalkeeping from Greece kept the Portuguese hosts off the scoreboard. Just before the hour mark, Greece earned a corner kick from which Angelos Charisteas scored. Portugal continued to press after the goal but even with five minutes of injury-time added, they could not find an equaliser. Greece won the match 1–0 and were crowned as European champions, a title that they were given a 150–1 chance^[5] of winning before the tournament.

Qualifying[link]

Qualification for the tournament took place from September 2002 to November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups of five and each team played two matches against each other, on a home-and-away basis. The first-placed teams from each group qualified automatically and the runners-up took part in a two-match play-off to select the remaining five teams that would join the host nation in the final tournament.

Teams[link]

The sixteen teams that participated in the final tournament were:

Bulgaria  Croatia  Czech Republic  Denmark  England  France  Germany  Greece

Italy  Latvia (first appearance)  Netherlands  Portugal (hosts)  Russia  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland

UEFA Euro 2004 finalists.

Venues[link]

Lisbon	Lisbon	Porto
Estádio da Luz	Estádio José Alvalade	Estádio do Dragão
38°45′9.64″N 9°11′4.85″W / 38.7526778°N 9.1846806°W / 38.7526778; -9.1846806 (Estádio da Luz)	38°45′40.30″N 9°9′38.82″W / 38.761194°N 9.1607833°W / 38.761194; -9.1607833 (Estádio José Alvalade)	41°9′42.33″N 8°35′2.16″W / 41.1617583°N 8.5839333°W / 41.1617583; -8.5839333 (Estádio do Dragão)
Capacity: 65,647	Capacity: 50,466	Capacity: 50,476
Aveiro	Lisbon Porto Aveiro Coimbra Braga Guimarães Faro Loulé Leiria UEFA Euro 2004 (Portugal)	Coimbra
Estádio Municipal de Aveiro		Estádio Cidade de Coimbra
Capacity: 30,970		Capacity: 30,210
40°38′51″N 8°35′37″W / 40.6475°N 8.59361°W / 40.6475; -8.59361 (Estádio Municipal de Aveiro)		40°12′12″N 8°24′28″W / 40.20333°N 8.40778°W / 40.20333; -8.40778 (Estádio Cidade de Coimbra)
Braga		Guimarães
Estádio Municipal de Braga		Estádio D. Afonso Henriques
41°33′44.64″N 8°25′50.88″W / 41.5624°N 8.4308°W / 41.5624; -8.4308 (Estádio Municipal de Braga)		41°26′45″N 8°18′4″W / 41.44583°N 8.30111°W / 41.44583; -8.30111 (Estádio Municipal de Guimarães)
Capacity: 30,154		Capacity: 30,146
Faro/Loulé	Porto	Leiria
Estádio Algarve	Estádio do Bessa Século XXI	Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa
37°5′18″N 7°58′29″W / 37.08833°N 7.97472°W / 37.08833; -7.97472 (Estádio Algarve)	41°9′44″N 8°38′34″W / 41.16222°N 8.64278°W / 41.16222; -8.64278 (Estádio do Bessa Século XXI)	39°44′45″N 8°48′47″W / 39.74583°N 8.81306°W / 39.74583; -8.81306 (Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa)
Capacity: 30,002	Capacity: 28,263	Capacity: 23,850

Match officials[link]

Twelve referees were selected for the tournament:^[6]

Mascot[link]

The tournament's official mascot was a boy named Kinas (derived from quinas (English: inescutcheons), one of the symbols of the Portuguese national flag) who wore a Portuguese kit (red shirt and green shorts) and was constantly playing with a football.

Seeding[link]

Squads[link]

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 2004 UEFA European Football Championship squads.

Results[link]

All times are Western European Summer Time (UTC+1).

First round[link]

Tie-breaking criteria[link]

For teams that finish level on points, the following tie-breakers are used:^[7]

1. greater number of points in the matches between the teams in question;
2. greater goal difference in matches between the teams in question;
3. greater number of goals scored in matches between the teams in question;
4. greater goal difference in all group games;
5. greater number of goals scored in all group games;
6. higher coefficient derived from Euro 2004 and 2002 World Cup qualifiers (points obtained divided by number of matches played);
7. fair play conduct in Euro 2004;
8. drawing of lots.

If two teams playing in the final group game have identical records going into that match, and the match ends in a draw, then a penalty shootout would be played, rather than using the above criteria. Euro 2004 marked the introduction of this procedure, although it did not need to be used. The same procedure was also used at Euro 2008.

Group A[link]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Portugal	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Greece	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Spain	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Russia	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3

12 June 2004
Portugal	1 – 2	Greece
Spain	1 – 0	Russia
16 June 2004
Greece	1 – 1	Spain
Russia	0 – 2	Portugal
20 June 2004
Spain	0 – 1	Portugal
Russia	2 – 1	Greece

Group B[link]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	3	2	1	0	7	4	+3	7
England	3	2	0	1	8	4	+4	6
Croatia	3	0	2	1	4	6	−2	2
Switzerland	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1

13 June 2004
Switzerland	0 – 0	Croatia
France	2 – 1	England
17 June 2004
England	3 – 0	Switzerland
Croatia	2 – 2	France
21 June 2004
Croatia	2 – 4	England
Switzerland	1 – 3	France

Group C[link]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Sweden	3	1	2	0	8	3	+5	5
Denmark	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
Italy	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
Bulgaria	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

14 June 2004
Denmark	0 – 0	Italy
Sweden	5 – 0	Bulgaria
18 June 2004
Bulgaria	0 – 2	Denmark
Italy	1 – 1	Sweden
22 June 2004
Italy	2 – 1	Bulgaria
Denmark	2 – 2	Sweden

Group D[link]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Czech Republic	3	3	0	0	7	4	+3	9
Netherlands	3	1	1	1	6	4	+2	4
Germany	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
Latvia	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

15 June 2004
Czech Republic	2 – 1	Latvia
Germany	1 – 1	Netherlands
19 June 2004
Latvia	0 – 0	Germany
Netherlands	2 – 3	Czech Republic
23 June 2004
Netherlands	3 – 0	Latvia
Germany	1 – 2	Czech Republic

Knockout stage[link]

The knockout stage was a single-elimination tournament involving the eight teams that qualified from the group stage of the tournament. There were three rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round. The successive rounds were: Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, Final. For each game in the knockout stage, a draw was followed by up to thirty minutes of extra time (two fifteen minute halves); if a team scored in the first half of extra time and were still leading after 15 minutes extra time, the team leading would win on a silver goal, if no player scored in the first half of extra time, the full half-hour would be played. If scores were still level after 30 minutes extra time there would be a penalty shootout (at least five penalties each, and more if necessary) to determine who progressed to the next round.

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	24 June – Lisbon (Estádio da Luz)
	Portugal	2 (6)
					30 June – Lisbon (Estádio José Alvalade)
	England	2 (5)
					Portugal	2
	26 June – Loulé (Estádio do Algarve)
					Netherlands	1
	Sweden	0 (4)
									4 July – Lisbon (Estádio da Luz)
	Netherlands (pen.)	0 (5)
									Portugal	0
	25 June – Lisbon (Estádio José Alvalade)
									Greece	1
	France	0
					1 July – Porto (Estádio do Dragão)
	Greece	1
					Greece (a.e.t.)	1
	27 June – Porto (Estádio do Dragão)
					Czech Republic	0
	Czech Republic	3
	Denmark	0