It was the tournament of surprises – and in the end, Greece won a team that nobody had expected before. But Otto Rehhagel managed to form a team that, although not “modern”, played a successful football.
“Rehakles I, King of Europe” was the headline after this memorable July 4th, 2004 in a major German tabloid. Greece had actually made the sensation perfect and had become European champions in the final of Portugal against the hosts. There has never been a bigger surprise winner at an EM – despite the Danes’ beer and burger triumph in 1992. And the father of the success was without a doubt a German: Otto “König Rehakles” Rehhagel.
The morning after the Greek victory, the “Berliner Zeitung” wrote the corresponding homage to the trained master painter from Essen, who was already 65 years old at the time he won the title: “Ancient Greece had twelve gods, modern one had eleven,” they had Portuguese painted the Greeks on the team bus. A nice compliment, but unfortunately it’s wrong. Modern Hellas can also rely on twelve gods, eleven football players plus national coach Otto Rehhagel. The Greeks would never have got there without their trainer, who was born in the Ruhr area has been.”
“Modern is whoever wins”
Rehhagel had worked bit by bit for the “Miracle of Portugal” – since he took office three years earlier – and in the process changed fundamental things: “The Greeks invented democracy. I introduced a democratic dictatorship.” And that meant specifically for the team: “In the past, everyone did what they wanted. Now everyone does what they can.”
The closer the team got to the surprise victory at this “tournament of surprises” in summer 2004, the more poetic the talkative and eloquent German coach of the Greeks became: “I opened my treasure trove of life experiences for my players a little.” Rehhagel also put his team’s biggest problem – the passionate emotionality – into fine words: “If we win twice, they want to become European champions right away. If we lose twice, they want to plunge into the sea right away.”
But there shouldn’t be two defeats in a row at this tournament. And that was mainly due to the system in Greece, “which explicitly did not play modern football with Libero and man deckers,” as the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” wrote after the final, still astonished and slightly piqued. But Rehhagel also responded to this accusation with one of his little bon mots: “He who wins is modern.”
Ben Redelings is a passionate “chronicler of football madness” and a supporter of the glorious VfL Bochum. The bestselling author and comedian lives in the Ruhr area and maintains his legendary treasure trove of anecdotes. For ntv.de he writes down the most exciting and funniest stories on Tuesdays and Saturdays. More information about Ben Redelings, his current dates and his book with the best columns (“Between Puff and Barcelona”) can be found on his website www.scudetto.de.
However, with all due respect for Greece’s performance, a bit of tournament luck always played a role in progressing and the game of the Greeks was not always as nice to watch as the results, as shown by a quote from the European Championship four years later, when Günter Netzer in During the half-time break between Greece and Sweden, Gerhard Delling said a sentence that could well have been made in Portugal: “I have to speak as slowly as they play.”
Portugal coach Luis Felipe Scolari, who had to surrender to the Greeks after the decisive goal by Angelos Charisteas in the final, expressed what Netzer said in a more diplomatic way than he said after the final: “You always have mistakes at this European Championship waited for the opponent. ” As you can imagine, the new King of Europe, Otto Rehhagel, had an appropriate answer to this objection: “The opponent was technically better, but he has to score goals himself.”
“I can now drive in the bus lane”
Since the German national team had already been eliminated in the preliminary round at a European championship for the second time in a row, the biggest domestic tabloid called desperately after the successful Greek national coach: “But now he has to come home and save German football!” But the Greeks, who were still drunk with joy, wanted to avoid that at all costs, as the deputy minister of culture put it so beautifully: “If necessary, we will tie you to the roof of the Olympic Stadium so that you don’t go away.” But Rehhagel himself saw no reason to leave the country now, of all times, which adored him and which immediately granted special rights: “I can now drive on the bus lane.”
How much the Greeks enjoyed this triumph can be gauged from the first sentences of an homage in the Athens newspaper “Eleftherotypia”: “An absolute miracle. Can you believe it? Follow our lips, which taste of sparkling wine and sweet Greek wine: Greece is European champion! ” The new King of Europe, Rehakles, was already thinking ahead at these moments and, already completely caught up in his new role, spoke a corresponding statesmanlike conclusion on the night of winning the title: “What politics tries, football can do. It is in. It is in.” able to unite. All men become brothers. ” What a surprise victory at a European Championship can do!
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