Greece hoping to qualify for fifth U21 European Championship
This week, the under 21 Greek national team take on Austria, hoping to qualify for the UEFA European Championship for the first time since 2002. AGONAsport investigates.
In testing times for the country’s football, the Ethniki Elpidon have provided Greek fans with real hope in the qualifiers for the 2019 UEFA U21 European Championship in Italy and San Marino, giving fantastic performances. Playing in Group 1, the Greeks were simply brilliant in their charge towards a place at the finals, but in the deciding match, they contrived to lose 0:2 to Croatia and had to settle for second. Greece will now play Austria in a two-legged playoff to qualify for the 2019 competition.
Let’s take a look at Greece’s previous showings in the preliminary and final phases of the U21 European Championship:
1978-1988
The Junior European Championships in 1972, 1974 and 1976 was held among under 23 teams, however, for the 1978 tournament, the age limit was reduced to 21. Greece failed to qualify for the first five U21 competitions, but in 1988, the team made the knockout phase after winning the qualifying group ahead of Hungary, Poland and Cyprus.
Incredibly, the young Greeks embarked on an historic run to the final of the 1988 U21 European Championship, beating the Czech Republic (3:3, away goals) and the Netherlands (5:2). However, in the subsequent final, the French proved too strong. The first match in Piraeus ended 0:0, but in the return, a France side inspired by Franck Sauzee managed to emerge 3:0 winners and condemn Greece to a credible silver medal. Aris Karasavvidis became the tournament’s top scorer with an impressive five goals.
1990-1998
After that final appearance in 1988, Greece missed out on the next two U21 European Championships, but the country finally qualified for the tournament again in 1994. Unlike the previous under 21 competitions, a host nation was chosen, with France receiving the right to hold the tournament on their soil. From the semi-finals onwards, single matches were used to decide the winners instead of two-legged affairs.
In the qualifiers, Greece finished in second place of Group 5 tied on 20 points with Russia, but thanks to being the best runners-up, the team earned a spot at the competition in France. Unfortunately, the Ethniki Elpidon were knocked out in the quarter-finals, losing out 2:4 on aggregate to Spain. The Spaniards won the second leg 4:2 at the Nikos Goumas Stadium in Athens after the first had ended goalless in Almeria. Antonis Nikopolidis, Theodoros Zagorakis, Zisis Vryzas, Nikos Dabizas, Vasilis Tsiartas and Michalis Kapsis were the notable figures on that particular Greek U21 side.
The 1996 qualifying campaign didn’t bear any fruit, but two years later, the Elpidon reached the final of the U21 European Championship for the second time in their history. In Group 1 of the qualifiers, Greece edged out Denmark, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, before seeing off England in a dramatic playoff on the away goals rule.
At the final tournament in Romania, the Ethniki Elpidon sent Germany (1:0) and the Netherlands (3:0) packing, however in the decisive match, the team came up short with a bitter 0:1 defeat to Spain. Nevertheless, despite that loss, silver was rightly regarded as a huge achievement. Traianos Dellas, Giorgos Karagounis, Angelos Basinas and Nikos Lyberopoulos were in that Elpidon team, with the latter netting three goals.
2000-2002
Greece came within two matches of qualifying for the U21 European Championship on the second consecutive occasion. In Group 2, the players lost just once in a combined 10 matches against Norway, Georgia, Latvia, Slovenia and Albania to finish in top spot, qualifying for the ensuing playoff round against the Czech Republic, Sadly, the damage was done in the first leg, in which Libor Sionko (2) and Milan Baros scored to grab a 3:0 Czech win. Greece won the second 1:0 with an early goal from Sotiris Konstantinidis, but it wasn’t enough to qualify for the final phase of the competition.
It was a different story for the 2002 U21 European Championship. Stuck in Group 9 of qualifying with England, Germany, Finland and Albania, no one really gave Greece a hope, but the team came up with the goods to take second place behind the English and qualify for the tournament in Switzerland.
The Elpidon consequently finished in last place of Group B after losses to Belgium and France, picking up the one point in a 1:1 draw with the Czech Republic. Giourkas Seitaridis, Konstantinos Katsouranis, Angelos Charisteas and Dimitris Salpingidis were the notable names on the Greek roster.
2004-2011
To be honest, the Ethniki Elpidon didn’t really get close to qualifying for the 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 European Championships, comprehensively beaten in the preliminary groups.
Matters improved in the qualifiers for the 2011 U21 European Championship. In ruthless fashion, a Greek team with Konstantinos Fortounis, Sotiris Ninis, Stefanos Athanasiadis, Giannis Fetfatzidis and Konstantinos Mitroglou defeated England, Portugal, Lithuania and FYROM in Group 9, in turn qualifying for the playoffs. In those two matches, the Czech Republic denied Greece a berth at the final competition, thrashing the Elpidon 5:0.
2013-2017
The barren run continued in three more unsuccessful qualifying campaigns. Whereas Greece weren’t ever seriously in the hunt to make the 2013 and 2017 U21 European Championships, the team did perform well in the preliminaries for the 2015 competition, occupying second place in Group 7 of qualifying and trailing winners Sweden by just one point. Konstantinos Stafylidis, Manolis Siopis, Andreas Bouchalakis, Anastasios Bakasetas and Apostolos Vellios played in that team and were key members.
