Whisper it softly, but the Greek national team might just be finally waking up from its 12-year slumber.
After group-stage exits in their first two major tournaments – 1980 Euros and 1994 World Cup – third time proved the charm for Greece, who pulled off one of the greatest shocks in football history by defeating Portugal in the final of the 2004 Euros. They built on that by reaching the next two Euros and two of the next three World Cups, culminating in a Round of 16 penalty shootout defeat to Costa Rica in the 2014 World Cup. Since then, however, the Ethniki have been absent from every major tournament.
Euro 2004 papered over the cracks in their domestic game, caused by economic turmoil, systemic corruption, fan hooliganism, and structural mismanagement. Unlike many European leagues with balanced ownership models, Greek clubs are heavily privatized, and the power struggle over the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) and refereeing appointments created an uneven playing field and eroded public trust. Scandals involving match-fixing, leaked audio tapes, and political interventions to rescue favoured clubs from relegation would turn domestic competitions into an arena of continuous controversy, alienating a generation of fans.
Greece’s financial crisis saw historic clubs like AEK Athens suffer relegation in order to clear massive debts, and it also saw the Greek league go from sixth in the UEFA coefficients in 2002/03 to an all-time low of 20th in 2020/21. Numerous lower-tier clubs left players unpaid for months, in addition to being without proper training facilities and basic infrastructure. And as the heroes of Portugal ‘04 retired, Greece struggled to find adequate replacements and finished bottom of their Euro 2016 qualifying group (including not one but two defeats to the Faroe Islands).
As it turned out, it was merely darkest before the dawn. With budgets slashed, Greek clubs pivoted from signing big-name veterans and focused on shoehorning teenage talents into the first team. Teams like PAOK overhauled their youth setup, hiring elite European coaching and sports science staff and constructing state-of-the-art training facilities. PAOK’s refurbished academy gave rise to future internationals like Christos Tzolis, Giannis Konstantelias, Konstantinos Koulierakis, and Stefanos Tzimas, all of whom are playing in Europe’s top five leagues. This youth investment has been mirrored throughout the nation, with the number of UEFA-licensed youth coaches nearly tripling from 665 in 2020 to 1,886 in 2023. Top-tier clubs have established an extensive network of 13 regional scouting centers across the country to provide room, board, and education for elite teenage players.
After years of being defined by conservative, gritty tactics, Greece have shifted to a more modern, attack-minded style of play across all youth levels. They’re no longer focused on which players will be able to win the most U15 tournaments, but which players will be able to excel in a high-intensity, possession-based setup at the professional level several years down the line. They’re prioritizing individual creativity over immediate team results, with U6 players playing 2v2 in order to get as many touches as possible and fine-tune their dribbling, before moving up to 3v3, 5v5, 8v8, and only reaching 11v11 at U14 level. The HFF has ensured that these youngsters get early exposure by forcing third-tier clubs to field at least two U18 players in every single XI, as well as mandating at least one homegrown Under-21 player on the pitch at all times in the Greek Cup.
Slowly but surely, these seeds have started to bear fruit, with Olympiacos winning the 2023/24 UEFA Youth League (the same year that their first team won the Conference League). Greece earned promotion to League B in the UEFA Nations League but missed out on a spot in Euro 2024 following their penalty shootout defeat to Georgia, but they responded by earning promotion to League A. This season, however, there is a brand-new aroma to Greek football. After a summer that saw Konstantinos Tzolakis, Christos Mouzakitis, Tzolis, Konstantelias and Karetsas earn lucrative transfers, Greece’s squad is filled with players who are flourishing in Europe’s top five leagues.
This talent was on full display in Belgrade as Greece erased an early deficit and prevailed 2-1 against Serbia via late goals from Tzolis and substitute Anastasios Douvikas (the second-top scorer in Serie A last season). They did even better in their second Nations League match, winning 1-0 in Augsburg via a late goal from substitute Dimitris Kourbelis, the first time that Greece had beaten Germany in 11 attempts. Greece sit atop League A, and if they can continue their winning streak at home against the Netherlands and Germany, they will be all but guaranteed to qualify for the Nations League quarterfinals in March.
“It’s exciting with all of these players going to these big, big leagues and big teams,” stated Hellas Footy host Stephen Kountourou. “It gives us hope that, if they play at a higher level, the national team can be elevated to a higher level, and they’ll have that experience to then take us, finally, to a major tournament. A lot of people are saying ‘This is Greece’s golden generation,’ but we can’t start calling them a golden generation until they’ve actually reached a tournament. That’s the aim: we’re not expecting them to go and win the World Cup or Euros, but if they could start competing again in these major tournaments, I think that would be success for Greece. I don’t see the success of this national team depending on what they win: if they can get there first, then we’ll see what happens. It’s baby steps.”
It’s taken a while, but Greek football is thriving both in terms of domestic competitiveness and youth production. After winning 19 of 21 championships, Olympiacos have since won the title in four of the last nine seasons, with AEK Athens and PAOK laying claim to top honours. Whereas players like Vangelis Pavlidis used to have to leave home for Germany in order to receive a world-class football education, that’s no longer the case: elite talents like Charalampos Kostoulas and Christos Zafeiris are popping up wherever you look in Greece. And six years after ranking 20th, Super League Greece ranks 12th in the UEFA coefficient.
Greece have been here before: they kicked off their 2026 World Cup qualifying with a 5-1 demolition of Belarus before losing their next three and falling short of qualification. It’s one thing to start solid, but now, can they find some consistency and finally reemerge on the world’s biggest stage?
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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