UEFA Euro 2004

UEFA Euro 2004 was the 12th European Championship and was hosted by Portugal. To date, this was Latvia's only major tournament.

Many people predicted either France, Italy, England, Portugal, Germany or Spain as the Euro 2004 champion. A shocker happened when Greece, expected by many to not win the title, won over Portugal in the final. Germany and Italy exiting the tournament in the group stage was unexpected; as both of the teams were favourites to make quarterfinals.

Qualified teams

Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Denmark England France Germany Greece

Italy Latvia Netherlands Portugal Russia Spain Sweden Switzerland

Trivia

• This win over Portugal in the final allowed Greece to qualify for their first Confederations Cup, in 2005, in Germany.
• This is, to date, the only major football tournament for Latvia.
• This was the first ever major football tournament held in Portugal (World Cup or Euro).
• Euro 2004 winners Greece failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.
• Portugal and Spain were expected by many to advance from Group A containing of Greece.
• The group stage match between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands ended 3-2, the same scoreline as the Euro 2016 qualifying match in October 2015 that led the failure to qualify for the Netherlands.
• 11 of the 13 UEFA teams qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup participated in the tournament. The only ones that didn't qualify were Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina.