Еуро-2004: Португалиядағы футбол турнирінің тарихы

12th European football championship
the sporting event

The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The final tournament was hosted for the first time in Portugal, from 12 June to 4 July 2004. A total of 31 matches were played in ten venues across eight cities – Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Guimarães, Faro/Loulé, Leiria, Lisbon, and Porto. As in 1996 and 2000, the final tournament was contested by 16 teams: the hosts plus the 15 teams that came through the qualifying tournament, which began in September 2002. Latvia secured their first participation in a major tournament after overcoming Turkey in the play offs, while Greece returned to the European Championship after 24 years. The tournament was rich in surprises and upsets: Traditional powerhouses Germany, Spain, and Italy were eliminated in the group stage, while defending champions France were knocked out in the quarter finals by Greece. Portugal recovered from an opening defeat against Greece to reach the final, eliminating England and the Netherlands along the way. For the first time in a major European football tournament, the last match featured the same teams as the opening match. Portugal were again defeated by Greece with a goal from Angelos Charisteas. Greece's triumph was unexpected, considering that they had only qualified for two other major tournaments: UEFA Euro 1980, at which they managed just one point, and the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where they lost all three matches. As winners, Greece earned the right to represent Europe at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. During the opening ceremony, one of the tableaux depicted a ship – symbolising the voyages of the Portuguese explorers – sailing through a sea that transformed into the flags of all competing countries. In the closing ceremony, Portuguese Canadian singer Nelly Furtado performed her single and official tournament theme song, "Força".

Portugal were announced as hosts for UEFA Euro 2004 on 12 October 1999, in Aachen, Germany, beating Spain and the joint bid of Austria and Hungary. Greece then drew with Spain before losing to Russia in their last group stage game. Portugal recovered from their opening defeat by defeating Russia 2–0, who had their keeper Sergei Ovchinnikov sent off. Nuno Gomes scored the winning goal against Spain, which ensured Portugal finished top of Group A. Greece advanced to the quarter finals as runners up, ahead of Spain on goals scored. Defending champions France scored twice in stoppage time to go from 1–0 down to beat England 2–1. Zinedine Zidane scored both goals; the second from the penalty spot. England's other two games were memorable for the performances of their young star Wayne Rooney. Only 18 at the time, Rooney's goal scoring ability proved instrumental in victories over Switzerland (3–0) and Croatia (4–2). France and England qualified from the group as winners and runners up respectively. Group C featured a three way tie between Sweden, Denmark and Italy. All matches between the three sides had ended in draws and all three had beaten Bulgaria. Italy were ultimately eliminated on the number of goals scored after Sweden and Denmark drew 2–2 and qualified as group winners and runners up. The Italians accused Sweden and Denmark of fixing their match, as both sides knew that a 2–2 result would advance them both over Italy, but UEFA dismissed the complaint. The Czech Republic won Group D as the only team to win all three of their group matches. They defeated Latvia 2–1, the Netherlands 3–2, and Germany 2–1. It was another disappointing European campaign for the Germans, who failed to advance from the group stage for the second consecutive time. The Netherlands claimed a quarter final berth as runners up. In the first quarter final between England and Portugal, the English opened the score after only two minutes through Michael Owen. Portugal's constant attacking pressure from then on resulted in Hélder Postiga's 83rd minute equaliser. In the dying minutes, Owen hit the Portuguese crossbar and Sol Campbell headed in the rebound, but the goal was ruled out by referee Urs Meier for a foul on the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo. The sides exchanged goals in extra time, sending the match to a penalty shoot out. Portugal won 6–5, as Ricardo saved from Darius Vassell and then scored the winning goal himself. The Greeks, meanwhile, continued to stun everybody. Firm defensive play and an Angelos Charisteas goal on 65 minutes helped Greece defeat France 1–0 and progress to the semi finals. This victory made Greece the first team to defeat both the hosts and defending champions in the same tournament. Sweden and the Netherlands played out an exciting but goalless encounter, even after a dramatic period of extra time in which Freddie Ljungberg hit the inside of the Dutch goalpost. The Dutch progressed after winning the penalty shoot out 5–4, their first victory on penalties in a major tournament. The last quarter final match saw the Czechs dispatch Denmark, as a two goal effort from Milan Baroš helped seal a 3–0 win. Portugal and the Netherlands faced each other in the first semi final. Cristiano Ronaldo put the hosts in the lead from a corner kick midway through the first half, and just before the hour mark Maniche made it 2–0 with a spectacular goal from the corner of the penalty area. An own goal from Jorge Andrade gave the Netherlands a glimmer of hope. The game ended 2–1 to Portugal and the hosts, after their opening day failure, were through to the final of the European Championship for the first time. The Czech Republic looked likely candidates to face the hosts in the final. They were favourites to take the trophy, having won all four of their games. However, they would have to see off the upstart Greeks to do so. The Czechs had several chances, including a shot from Tomáš Rosický that struck the bar. The game remained goalless until the dying moments of the first half of extra time, when Traianos Dellas headed home the winner, the first and only silver goal in a European Championship. The final was a repeat of the opening game of the tournament and Portugal were hoping to avenge their defeat. Portugal attacked and dominated possession but once again, sturdy defending and goalkeeping from Greece kept the hosts off the scoreboard. Just before the hour mark, Greece earned a corner kick from which Angelos Charisteas scored. Portugal continued to press after the goal but even with five minutes of stoppage time, they could not find an equaliser. Greece won the match 1–0 and were crowned European champions, a title that they were given a 150–1 chance of winning before the tournament. All of Greece's wins in the knockout stage came in an identical manner: a 1–0 win, with the goal being a header off a cross from the right wing. Portugal became the first host nation to lose in a European Championship final.

The draw for the qualifying round was held on 25 January 2002 at the Europarque Congress Centre, in Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups of five and each team played two matches against all its opponents, on a home and away basis. Qualification matches took place from September 2002 to November 2003. The first placed teams from each group qualified automatically to the final tournament, whereas the ten runners up took part in a two legged play off to select the remaining five teams that would join the host nation in the final tournament.

Ten of the sixteen finalists participated in the previous tournament in 2000. Latvia made its first appearance in a major football competition, while Greece returned to the European Championship finals after a 24 year absence. Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia and Switzerland also took part in their second tournament finals since their debut in 1996. As of 2024, this was the last time that Bulgaria qualified for the European Championship finals and also the last time Bulgaria qualified to a major tournament, the only time that Latvia qualified, as well as the last time that Poland failed to qualify.

Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers, at least ten days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player became injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he would be replaced by another player.

UEFA announced the match schedule for the final tournament on 10 March 2003, in Porto, Portugal. In a change from the previous tournament schedule, where two quarter final matches were played per day, over two days, the quarter finals at the Euro 2004 were to be played over four consecutive days, with one match per day. All times are local, WEST (UTC+1).

The official tournament logo was created by Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper agency and unveiled on 13 May 2002 at a ceremony held in Lisbon's Belém Cultural Center. It represents a football in the centre of a heart, surrounded by seven green dots. The football – displaying typical Portuguese folk artistic motifs on its panels – and the heart – shaped in the traditional style of the filigree art from Viana do Castelo – conveyed the football passion of the host country. The seven dots represent significant Portuguese elements and achievements, such as the number of castles in the national coat of arms or the conquest of the seven seas during the Age of Discoveries. The logo's colour palette was based on the Portuguese flag and its warm tones recall the light and sun associated with the Portuguese landscape and climate. The competition slogan used was "Vive O 2004!" The official mascot was a boy named Kinas – derived from quinas ([[Escutcheon (heraldry)#I), one of the symbols of the Portuguese coat of arms – who wore a football kit with the Portuguese colours (red shirt and green shorts) and was constantly playing with a football. He possessed the knowledge and talent of generations of highly gifted football players, and embodied the energy and passion of football. Created by Warner Bros., Kinas was officially unveiled on 29 March 2003 at the Casa de Serralves, in Porto, Portugal. The song was taken from her second studio album, Folklore, and released as its third single, soon after the start of the tournament. Furtado was selected to sing the official song of the tournament, because of her familial connection to the host country (her parents are both Portuguese from the Azores). The song was played at every match, and performed live by Furtado at the closing ceremony prior to the final.

The official match ball was presented during the final draw ceremony on 30 November 2003 in Lisbon. It was produced by Adidas and named Adidas Roteiro, after the logbook (roteiro) used by Portuguese maritime explorers such as Vasco da Gama. and during the mid season of the 2004–05 German Bundesliga. The new ball received mixed reactions from players and technical staffs. England midfielder David Beckham, who was asked by Adidas to test it, was pleased with Roteiro's performance, particularly in free kicks. Notable players of the Italy national team, such as Francesco Totti, Andrea Pirlo and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon also voiced criticisms.

In November 2002, UEFA appointed Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) as the tournament's exclusive worldwide licensing agent. As the global licensing rights owner, WBCP was responsible for negotiating product licence contracts with third parties on the behalf of UEFA and delineate product sales strategies across the host country. Other tasks included setting up and managing marketing plans, product distribution and prices, and prevent illegal use of trademarks and product sales. Over 2,000 merchandise items were developed by the 28 licencees chosen by WBCP, and were distributed not only within Portugal but also in major European and Asian markets. To celebrate Portugal's hosting of the Euro 2004 finals, commemorative coin and stamp collections were issued by the Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, the Portuguese national mint and printing house, and CTT, the national postal service.

Nineteen cameras were used in each of the ten venues to broadcast the live matches, with three additional cameras in the opening and knockout stage matches.