Antonios Nikopolidis arguably became the 13th Greek God in his EURO-winning exploits in 2004.
Header image: UEFA EURO 2024 via Twitter.
In Greek mythology, the gods embodied perfection. They were a revered and exalted group, whose great deeds have stood the test of time and are still studied today. However, even within that group of perfect beings, there was an outcast. A god so ugly that they were cast from Mount Olympus and rejected by the other gods.
This was Hephaestus, the god of fire, forge, craft and creation. In many ways, his gifts surpassed those of the other gods. He made Zeus’ lightning bolt, Athena’s spear and Hermes’ winged helmet and sandals.
Perhaps, in 2004, he also made Antonios Nikopolidis’ goalkeeper gloves.
In many ways, at Euro 2004, Greece were similar to Hephaestus. This was one of the most star-studded tournaments in history; the tournament of Zinedine Zidane, David Trezeguet, Pavel Nedved, David Beckam, and Luis Figo. It was the tournament that introduced Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo to the international stage. Greece were meant to graciously bow out early, to let the big boys battle it out for the main prize.
In the modern world, it is much harder for teams to spring a genuine surprise. If you log onto social media and search a player’s name, there will be hundreds of people ready to tell you they know infinitely more about that player than you, and all the reasons they are a future GOAT or finished. That wasn’t the case in 2004.
For most football fans, Nikopolidis may have triggered a vague memory as the goalkeeper who watched Beckham’s famous free-kick fly past him in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup. But for most outside of Greece, he would have been more or less unknown.
Nikopolidis played his entire career in the Greek leagues and was a regular for Panathinaikos at the time. He helped them to the 2002 Champions League quarter finals in 2002 but was far from a household name across Europe. By the end of the Euros in 2004, this would all change.
Greece had qualified for the tournament but were seen as rank outsiders. Their only previous appearance at the Euros came in 1980, with only Latvia having made fewer appearances in the finals. The usual suspects were all expected to battle it out for the trophy, with France, Portugal, England, Italy and Germany all expected to go deep.
The group stage draw was not kind to Greece, pairing them with Portugal, Spain and Russia in, arguably, the strongest group of the lot. There would have been no shame in a tame group stage exit. However, the Greek side had not come to make up the numbers. They shocked the world in the first game, beating hosts Portugal 2-1.
Nikopolidis made a crucial save after half an hour, with Greece 1-0 up, diving at the feet of Sabrosa Simao to keep them in the lead. After the game, Figo claimed Greece had not deserved the win, stating that they had two chances and scored both times. I’m afraid, that’s how the game works, Luis, old son.
In the next group game, Greece proved their resilience in grinding out a draw against group favourites, Spain. Nikopolidis’ influence started to grow, as he denied Raul and Ivan Helguera to keep the Spaniards at bay. The second was a particularly impressive save from point blank range to save the point late on. With four points from their opening two games, Greece had a great chance to make the knock-out stages, but they would make their fans sweat.
Greece lost their final group game against Russia 2-1. Remarkably, they finished level on points with Spain and had an identical goal difference. As the two sides had drawn 1-1, head-to-head could not be used to separate them, so goals scored was the deciding metric which saw Greece through. Suddenly, those Nikopolidis saves looked even more important.
France were up next for the Greeks, with the match surely signalling the end of the road. France were the defending champions, blessed with stars across the pitch, including Zidane at the height of his powers. But that is to underestimate what this Greek side was building. Nikopolidis had little to do in the first half, with just one Thierry Henry shot to deal with.
In the second half, the Greek defence held firm once again, with Nikopolidis diving at the feet of Robert Pires with the Arsenal man in on goal. He then stopped another long-range Henry effort, to keep the score at 0-0.
After 65 minutes, Charisteas scored a bullet header to give the Greeks a shock lead. With France pushing for an equaliser, Nikopolidis denied Henry and Saha to keep a clean sheet and give Greece the most unexpected victory of the tournament so far.
Their subsequent semi-final against pre-tournament favourites, the Czech Republic, was a tense affair. Settled by an extra-time goal from Traianos Dellas, with Nikopolidis producing one of the biggest moments of the night, diving full stretch to palm away a shot from Marek Jankulovski after 30 minutes, having already denied the Czech forward once already. Nikopolidis had two clean sheets in two knock out games, and Greece had an unexpected place in the finals.
In a perfect resolution of the narrative arc, Greece met Portugal in the final for a rematch of the opening game. But this was a different Portugal side, who had found their groove across the tournament. Charisteas again scored the winner, but that would have counted for nothing without Nikopolidis’ interventions. He produced important saves from Miguel and Ronaldo as the Greek defence stood firm to lift the trophy.
One of the defining images of the tournament came in the aftermath of the final.
It showed Nikopolidis, with his George Clooney-esque silver hair, holding the trophy aloft, tears streaming down his face. Greece were the unfancied side of the tournament, and the goalkeeper is often the least glamourous position on the pitch. However, without Nikopolidis this side of modern-day Greek gods would have never claimed their place on football’s Mount Olympus.
