Sporting Bygones: Triumphs of Greece and Denmark give Euro minnows hope

The South American triumvirate of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have shared multiple successes in the planet’s biggest tournament with the two traditional power bases of central European football, West Germany (as they were up until their last victory in 1990) and Italy being equally as successful. France, Spain and England have each lifted the World Cup once.

The European Championships, however, has been the tournament for the underdog in its 52-year history.

The Soviet Union set the pattern for what was to follow by winning the inaugural European Championship of 1960, when they defeated Yugoslavia 2-1 in the final in Paris.

In the Sixtiess, only the semi-finals and final were held in a designated host country, and it was not until 1980 that the tournament embraced an eight-team format.

By then, the first five tournaments had been won by five different countries, with Czechoslovakia’s triumph on penalties over West Germany in 1976 perhaps the most memorable. In all, nine different nations across the whole expanse of Europe have won the European title, from the Soviet Union in the east to France in the west, Greece in the south, and Denmark in the north.

Geography boffins will rightly point out that you can go further west than France, but England – as is well versed – have never won anything other than the 1966 World Cup. The closest they came to glory in the Euros was as twice beaten semi-finalists. They lost to Yugoslavia in 1968 as world champions, and to Germany in 1996 as hosts.

Thirteen European Championships have thrown up plenty of stories that turned the footballing establishment on its head, but none as unscriptable as two in recent times.

In 1992, Denmark’s players were preparing for their summer holidays when the late call came to replace Yugoslavia, who were expelled by UEFA because of the Balkans conflict. Richard Moller Nielsen’s men had nothing to lose and that fearlessness – allied to the breathtaking saves of goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel – carried them to glory in Sweden.

Greece’s triumph eight years ago was far less romantic, as Otto Rehhagel’s ultra-defensive unit wrung the absolute maximum out of their limited ability to start and end the tournament with 1-0 victories over hosts Portugal.

Thirty years ago, Denmark did at least possess some attacking flair to inspire neutral fans, in the gifted Michael Laudrup and the lethal Preben Elkjaer.

But by the time they arrived late in neighbouring Sweden for Euro 92, Michael Laudrup had quit and his younger brother Brian shouldered their seemingly faint hopes. A late win over France in their final group game was their only win inside 90 minutes, as they stumbled out of the group and then defeated the Netherlands on penalties.

How they counter-attacked and stifled West Germany in the final is legendary, with John Jensen scoring a rare goal.

Greece’s triumph of 2004 was even more improbable. They had never won a match in a major tournament before shocking Portugal in the opening game and scraped through to the last eight having out-qualified Spain on goals scored.

From there Greece became ultra defensive. Angelos Charisteas headed the winner against France before former Sheffield United defender Traianos Dellas scored the winner in extra-time to knock out the exciting Czech Republic.

Charisteas broke home hearts in Lisbon, spreading elation through the streets of Athens, and proving that nothing in the European Championships can be taken for granted.