‘Greek Legends’ Against UEFA All Stars in Friendly Game Before Euro 2024 in Essen

Celebrating the 20^th anniversary since winning the Euro 2004 in Portugal, the Greek Legends 2004 team will be playing against the UEFA Allstars, a game sponsored by the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO).

The two teams will meet a few days before this year’s Euro games begin in Germany. Their friendly game will take place on July 11, in the German city of Essen and in the An der Hafenstrasse Stadium and is expected to attract the attention of soccer fans not only in Germany, but also in many other countries, including the USA, Australia and Cyprus, where it will be aired on television.

The UEFA All Stars Team boasts such soccer players as Jens Lehmann, Michael Sylvester, Marco Materazzi, William Gallas, Christian Carembeu, Gaizka Mendieta, Claude Makelele, Robbie Keane, Louis Figo, Bakary Sagna, David James, Fernando Llorente, and many others.

The Greek team will be wearing jerseys with the logo of the GNTO.

Angelos Charisteas of Greece celebrates the winning goal in the final of EURO 2004. Photo source: uefa.com

The “Greek Legends 2004” team refers to the squad of players who were part of the Greece national football team that won the UEFA Euro 2004 championship.

“This year marks the 20th anniversary of the triumph at Euro 2004, one of the biggest surprises in European football among national teams and a defining moment in Greek sports that unified the entire nation,” GNTO General Secretary Dimitris Fragakis said in an announcement.

Fragakis noted that the organization did not simply choose to sponsor the Greek Legends team to support Greek soccer and to promote Greek tourism to the Greek diaspora as well as to foreign soccer fans, but also to honor Otto Rehhagel, who was born in Essen. Rehhagel had coached the Greek national soccer team during its most glorious era, between 2001 and 2010.