1.
Marousi
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Marousi or Maroussi is a suburban city in the northeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Amarousio dates back to the era of the ancient Athenian Republic, its ancient name was Athmonon, Marousi is situated 13 km northeast of Athens city centre. The municipality has an area of 12.938 km2, the built-up area of Marousi is continuous with those of the neighbouring suburbs Pefki, Kifisia, Vrilissia and Halandri. Within Marousi lies the biggest forest in urban Athens, Dasos Syngrou, the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, the largest sports complex in Greece, built for the 2004 Summer Olympics, is located in the southwestern part of the municipality. The main thoroughfare is Kifisias Avenue, which connects Marousi with central Athens, Marousi has 4 stations on Athens Metro Line 1, and two suburban commuter railway stations, Nerantziotissa station and Kifisias railway station. Marousi is also home to a number of public and private educational institutions. Marousis favourable infrastructure has led to economic growth. The managing office of Consolidated Contractors Company, a large Middle Eastern, the Mall Athens, one of the largest shopping centres in southeastern Europe, is situated in the southwestern part of Marousi. Vivartia has its office in Marousi. Google Athens is headquartered in Marousi, the new building of Greek Ministry of Education is located in Marousi, in the district Neratziotissa. In the same district is located the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education, the German School of Athens is also located in Marousi. Maroussi is the place of Greek Olympic Sport Center and it is located in the southwest of the suburb, in an area that is named Kalogreza. Maroussi has also some sport such as Dais Indoor Hall. Local teams are Maroussi B. C. with long-time presence in A1 Ethniki Basketball and A. C. Doukas with many titles in Handball and Futsal. The Olympic Stadium is used as home stadium by famous clubs of Greek football, currently by AEK, prince Michael lived in Marousi from his marriage to Marina Karella in 1965, since late 1970s
2.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
3.
2004 Summer Olympics
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10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries. There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports, Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. 2004 marked the return of the games to the city where they began, a new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since the 1928 Games. This rectified the long lasting mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue, the new design features the Panathenaic Stadium. The cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games has been cited as a contributor to the Greek government-debt crisis, some of the venues lie vacant and rotting, while others are in use, the Independent newspaper reports as many as 21 out of 22 are unused. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several World and Olympics records were broken during the games. Several concerns were raised over the preparations of the Games and these included excessive budget overruns, infrastructural compromise, the games were deemed generally successful with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997, Athens had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo. 1996 coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the first modern Olympics, under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. After leading all voting rounds, Athens easily defeated Rome in the 5th, cape Town, Stockholm, and Buenos Aires, the three other cities that made the IOC shortlist, were eliminated in prior rounds of voting. Six other cities submitted applications, but their bids were dropped by the IOC in 1996 and these cities were Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville, Saint Petersburg and Cali. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games cost the Government of Greece €8.954 billion to stage, the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, responsible for the preparation and organisation of the games, concluded its operations as a company in 2005 with a surplus of €130.6 million. ATHOC contributed €123.6 million of the surplus to the Greek State to cover other related expenditures of the Greek State in organizing of the games, as a result, ATHOC reported in its official published accounts a net profit of €7 million. The State’s contribution to the total ATHOC budget was 8% of its expenditure against an originally anticipated 14%, the overall revenue of ATHOC, including income from tickets, sponsors, broadcasting rights, merchandise sales etc. totalled €2,098.4 million. The largest percentage of income came from broadcasting rights. The overall expenditure of ATHOC was €1,967.8 million. e, the large projects required for the upgrade of the country’s infrastructure, including sports infrastructure, roads, airports, hospitals, power grid etc. This cost, however, is not directly attributable to the organisation of the Games. Such infrastructure projects are considered by all standards as fixed asset investments that stay with the hosting country for decades after the Games
4.
Santiago Calatrava
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His best-known works include the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Turning Torso tower in Malmö, Sweden, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas, and the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His architectural firm has offices in New York City, Doha, Calatrava was born on July 28,1951, in Benimàmet, an old municipality now part of Valencia, Spain. His mothers family were of Jewish heritage, but had converted during the Spanish Inquisition of the fifteenth century. His Calatrava surname was an old one from medieval times. He had his primary and secondary schooling in Valencia, and, beginning in 1957, in 1964, as the regime of General Francisco Franco ended and Spain became more open to rest of Europe, he went to France as an exchange student. In 1968, after completing school, he went to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, but he arrived in the midst of student uprisings and turmoil in Paris. He received his diploma as an architect and then did higher studies in urbanism, at the University he completed independent projects with fellow students, publishing two books on the vernacular architecture of Valencia and Ibiza. In 1975 he enrolled in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, in 1981 he was awarded a doctorate in the department of architecture, after completing his thesis on The Pliability of three-dimensional structures. Speaking of this period, Calatrava told biographer Philip Jodidio, The desire to start all over at zero was very strong in me. I was determined to put to one side all that I had learned in architecture school, I was fascinated by the concept of gravity and convinced that it was necessary to begin work with simple forms. As soon as Calatrava completed his doctorate in 1981, he opened his own office in Zurich, the train station has several of the features that became signatures of his work, straight lines and right angles are rare. In 1984–87, he built his first bridge, the Bac de Roda Bridge in Barcelona, Spain, the bridge, designed for cyclists and pedestrians, connects two parts of the city by crossing a wasteland of railway tracks. It is 128 meters long, with arches which lean at an angle of thirty degrees. The upper portion of the bridge, composed of arches and cables, is light and airy, like a network of lace, anchored to the massive concrete supports. His next bridge, the Puente del Alamillo, in Seville, Spain, was more spectacular. Built as part of the 1992 Expo 92, it is 200 meters long, crossing the Meandro San Jeronimo River and its main feature is a single pylon 142 meters high, leaning to 58 degrees, the same angle as the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The weight of the concrete of the pylon is sufficient to hold up the bridge with just thirteen pairs of cables, and his first building in the United States, the new structure of the Milwaukee Art Museum. The concrete pylon leans backwards, and seems to grasp the vertical broadcast antennas and its form suggests an athlete about to throw a javelin
5.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
6.
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
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The Olympic Stadium of Athens Spyros Louis is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. It is named after the first modern Olympic marathon race winner in 1896, the stadium hosts one of the biggest sport clubs in Greece, AEK Athens. Located in the area of Marousi in Athens, the stadium was designed in 1979. It was completed in time to host the 1982 European Championships in Athletics and it was inaugurated by the President of Greece, at the time Konstantinos Karamanlis, on 8 September 1982. It was extensively renovated in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics, including a roof designed by Santiago Calatrava, the roof was added atop the sidelines and completed just in time for the opening of the Games. The two giant arcs have a span of 304m and a maximum height of 72m. Also, it has a weight of 19,000 tons with 5,000 polycarbonate panels. The west arc was assembled 72m from its position and the east 65m - both later slid into place. The roof is designed to withstand winds up to 120 km/h, the stadium was then officially re-opened on 30 July 2004. It hosted the events and the football final at the 2004 Summer Olympics. It also hosted the ceremony on 13 August 2004. The turf system consists of grass in modular containers which incorporate irrigation. The Olympic Stadium has been used as home ground in various times by the three big clubs of Athens, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens. The stadium played host to Amnesty Internationals Human Rights Now, benefit Concert on 3 October 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featured Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tracy Chapman, Youssou NDour, and George Dalaras. Madonna performed before a crowd of 75,637 at the stadium on 27 September 2008. U2 performed in front of a crowd of 82,662 during their 360° Tour on 3 September 2010, pyx Lax performed also in front of a crowd of about 80,000, during their reunion tour on 13 July 2011. It was the highest attended Greek-band-concert, Bon Jovi performed during their Bon Jovi Live Tour on 20 July 2011
7.
AEK Athens F.C.
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AEK F. C. abbreviated as AEK, known in European competitions as AEK Athens F. C. is a Greek association football club based in Nea Filadelfeia suburb of Athens. Established in Athens, in 1924, by Greek refugees from Constantinople, in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War, its name is a direct reference to the origins of the founders. The clubs emblem is the eagle, used by the Palaiologos dynasty and traditionally by the Byzantine Empire, as a remembrance of the Byzantine legacy. AEK is one of the three most successful teams in Greek football, winning 30 national titles and the only to have won all the competitions organised by the Hellenic Football Federation. They are one of the most popular Greek clubs with millions of fans in Greece and Cyprus, and in Greek communities worldwide, mainly in Australia, United Kingdom, and North America. The club has appeared several times in European competitions, in which they are the second most successful Greek football club in terms of achievements and they have also reached once the quarter-finals of the European Cup and twice the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. AEK is a member of the European Club Association, traditional rivalries of AEK are considered the matches against Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, the other two major clubs of the capital. PAOK is another of the clubs rivalries, the large Greek population of Constantinople, not unlike those of the other Ottoman urban centres, continued its athletic traditions in the form of numerous athletic clubs. Clubs such as Enosis Tataoulon and Iraklis from the Tatavla district, Megas Alexandros and Hermes of Galata and Olympias of Therapia existed to promote the Hellenic athletic and these were amongst a dozen Greek-backed clubs that dominated the sporting landscape of the city in the years preceding World War I. After the war, with the influx of mainly French and English soldiers to Constantinople, taxim, Pera, and Tatavla became the scene of weekly competitions in not only football, but of athletics, cycling, boxing, and tennis. Of the clubs in the city, though, football was dominated by Enosis Tataoulon, Hermes, one of the most popular clubs, was formed in 1875 by the Greek community of Pera. In 1920, a group of Constantinopolitan refugees met at the athletic shop Lux of Emilios Ionas and Konstantinos Dimopoulos on Veranzerou Street, in the center of Athens, and created AEK. GK, Kitsos, DF, Ieremiades, DF, Asderis, MF, Kechagias, MF, Paraskevas, MF, Dimopoulos, MF, Karagiannides, FW, Baltas, FW, Milas, FW, Iliades, FW, Georgiades. AEK played its first match against Aias Athinon in November 1924, not possessing a football ground, AEK played most of its early matches at various locations around Athens, including the grounds of the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Leoforos Alexandras Stadium. In 1926, land in Nea Filadelfeia that was set aside for refugee housing, was donated as a training ground for the refugees sports activities. AEK began using the ground for training and by 1930, the property was signed over to the club, venizelos soon approved the plans to build what was to become AEKs home ground for the next 70 years, the Nikos Goumas Stadium. The first home game, in November 1930, was a match against Olympiakos that ended in a 2–2 draw. In 1928, Panathinaikos, Olympiakos, and AEK, began a dispute with the fledgling Hellenic Football Federation, decided to break away from the Athens regional league, during the dispute, POK organised friendly matches against each other and several continental European clubs
8.
O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall
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It is located in the Athens suburb of Marousi. It is considered to be one of the biggest and most modern sports arenas in all of Europe. The arena also contains a training facility, since 2016, it is named after the well-known Greek basketball player Nikos Galis. Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall is notable for its distinctive A-frame roof that features four huge pillars, each of which is 35 meters tall, according to the Greek Ministry of Sports, it is the largest indoor sporting arena of its kind in the world. The arena is constructed in a unique way so that an abundant amount of natural light comes into the arena during the day. The arena seats up to 17,600 for gymnastics events and it seats up to 18,989 for basketball games, which includes 18,500 regular seats for the fans,300 seats for the media members, and 189 seats for VIPs. A large scale arena renovation was completed in 2004, for the 2004 Summer Olympics, the arena was then renovated again in 2016. The arena was used for gymnastics and trampolining, and also hosted the finals of the basketball matches at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Renovation of the building for the Olympics was completed on June 30,2004, the Indoor Hall is the regular home court for the Greek Basket League professional basketball clubs Panathinaikos Athens and AEK Athens. It is also the home court of the Greek National Basketball Team. On December 9,2007, FIBA announced that the Olympic Indoor Hall was selected as the host of the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for the 2008 Olympics Basketball Tournament. At the qualifying tournament, hosts and favorites Greece, along with the German and Croatian national basketball teams, qualified for the final 2008 Olympic Basketball Tournament. On May 18 and 20,2006, the Hall hosted the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, there were 15,000 seats available for spectators, both for the semifinal and the grand final. gr
9.
Athens Metro
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The Athens Metro is a rapid-transit system in Greece which serves the Athens conurbation and parts of East Attica. It incorporates the former Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways, which opened as a steam railway in 1869. Beginning in 1991, Attiko Metro constructed and extended Lines 2 and 3, the metro network merged in 2011 when the Greek government created the Urban Rail Transport Company, a subsidiary of the Athens Urban Transport Organisation. First Chairman and CEO of the company became Kostas Vassiliadis. The system is noted for being modern and efficient, in its own right and it has drastically changed Athens by providing a much-needed solution to the citys traffic and air pollution problem, as well as revitalising many of the areas it serves. An extension of Line 3 is under construction towards Piraeus and also extensions of existing lines. The Athens Metro is actively connected with the means of public transport, such as buses, trolleys, the Athens Tram. The Athens Metro is hailed for its modernity and many of its stations feature works of art, exhibitions, until 28 January 2000, Line 1 was the only rapid-transit line in Athens and Piraeus. The Athens and Piraeus Railway Company opened the line on 27 February 1869 as a railway between Piraeus and Thiseio. It was electrified in 1904, and extended in stages to Kifisia in 1957, from 1976 to 16 June 2011, the Athens-Piraeus Electric Railway Company operated Line 1 independently from the rest of the metro and tram networks. Unlike Lines 2 and 3, it runs almost entirely above ground, since the current Line 1 opened the government has proposed many expansions to the subway network, including a 1963 plan for a fourteen-line subway network. Construction of Lines 2 and 3 began in November 1992 to decrease traffic congestion, Lines 2 and 3, built by Attiko Metro and operated until 2011 by Attiko Metro Operations Company, are known respectively as the red and blue lines and were inaugurated in January 2000. Line 3 was extended to the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in summer 2004, the Greek government attempted to absorb ISAP into Attiko Metro under Law 2669/1998 so the latter would be responsible for the whole network, but this initiative failed. Athens Metro operations were consolidated when the Greek government enacted Law 3920/2011, replacing AMEL, ISAP and Athens Tram with Urban Rail Transport, the modern incarnation of Line 1 is 25. 6-kilometre long, and serves 24 stations. Together, Lines 2 and 3 are 58. 9-kilometre long, the three-line Athens Metro network serves 61 stations. It owns and operates 57 of them, and OSE owns the remainder on the airport section, the network has four metro interchanges, enabling the lines to interchange with each other at least once. Line 2 and the Attiko Metro portion of Line 3 is entirely underground, Line 1 is primarily in the open, with a tunnel section in central Athens. The airport section of Line 3, east of the tunnel portal near Doukissis Plakentias, is open, in the tunnel sections up and down lines share a common tunnel, except for approaches to stations with an island platform
10.
UEFA Champions League
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The UEFA Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations and contested by top-division European clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, the UEFA Champions League final is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. The final of the 2012–13 tournament had the highest TV ratings to date, the pre-1992 competition was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s, the format was expanded, incorporating a round-robin group stage to include clubs that finished runner-up of some nations top-level league. Clubs that finish next-in-line in each top level league, having not qualified for the UEFA Champions League competition. In its present format, the UEFA Champions League begins in mid-July with three qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams enter the stage, joining 22 other teams qualified in advance. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams, the eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match in May. The winner of the UEFA Champions League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup, Real Madrid is the most successful club in the competitions history, having won the tournament 11 times, including its first five seasons. Spanish clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories, followed by England, the competition has been won by 22 different clubs,12 of which have won it more than once. Since the tournament changed name and structure in 1992, no club has managed consecutive wins, Milan were the last holders to defend their title. The reigning champions are Real Madrid, who secured their title in the competition after defeating Atlético Madrid on penalties following a 1–1 draw in the 2016 final. The first pan-European tournament was the Challenge Cup, a competition between clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Mitropa Cup, a competition modelled after the Challenge Cup, was created in 1927, an idea of Austrian Hugo Meisl, and played between Central European clubs. In 1930, the Coupe des Nations, the first attempt to create a cup for national clubs of Europe, was played and organised by Swiss club Servette. Held in Geneva, it brought together ten champions from across the continent, the tournament was won by Újpest of Hungary. Latin European nations came together to form the Latin Cup in 1949 and it was conceived in Paris in 1955 as the European Champion Clubs Cup. The first edition of the European Cup took place during the 1955–56 season, the first European Cup match took place on 4 September 1955, and ended in a 3–3 draw between Sporting CP and Partizan. The first goal in European Cup history was scored by João Baptista Martins of Sporting CP, the inaugural final took place at the Parc des Princes between Stade de Reims and Real Madrid
11.
Greece national football team
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The Greek national football team represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greeces home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece is one of only ten national teams to have been crowned UEFA European Champions. The UEFA Euro 2004 marked a point in Greeces football history when they were crowned European champions, in only their second participation in the tournament. Their triumph also gave them a qualification for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, the first appearance of a Greek national football team was at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens. Later, the Greek team participated in the Inter-Allied Games in Paris, following the end of World War I, a notable figure during these years was Giorgos Kalafatis, player and later manager of the team. During the next decades, the Greek team did not manage to have any success, the countrys economical and social problems, before and after World War II, did not allow successful preparation of the national team. In the final tournament, Greece was drawn into group A with West Germany, the Netherlands, in their first game, Greece held the Dutch until the only goal of the game was scored with a penalty kick by Kist, in the 65th minute. Three days later Greece played Czechoslovakia in Rome, after holding the Czechoslovakians 1–1 at the end the first half, Greece eventually lost 3–1. The teams success in qualifying for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Greece finished first and undefeated in their qualifying group, surpassing Russia in the final game. In the final tournament Greece were drawn into Group D with Nigeria, Bulgaria, after the successful qualifying campaign, expectations back in Greece were high as no one could imagine the oncoming astounding failure. It is worth mentioning that all players of the squad, including the three goalkeepers, took part in three games, something very rare. This tournament was humiliating for the Greek squad, in their first game against Argentina at Foxboro Stadium just outside Boston, they lost 4–0. Four days later Greece suffered another 4–0 blow from Bulgaria at Soldier Field in Chicago, in the end, Greece were eliminated in the first round by losing all three games, scoring no goals and conceding ten. Greece failed to qualify for the Euro 1996 finishing third in the group behind Russia, in their 1998 World Cup qualifying tournament the team finished only one point shy of second-placed Croatia after a 0–0 draw by the eventual Group winners, the Danish. Greece started the process for the Euro 2004 in poor fashion losing at home to Spain and away to Ukraine. Greece were the second-least favorite in the competition to win, with Latvia being the least favorite, Greece were also considered as outsiders and underdogs and were given odds of 150–1 of winning before the tournament. Very few people expected Greece to proceed to the quarter-finals, let alone win the tournament, Greece won with a 25-yard strike from Giorgos Karagounis and a penalty from Angelos Basinas. Four days later, Greece stunned Spain in front of a largely Spanish crowd with a 1–1 draw after being down 1–0 at half time, Greece fell behind from a defensive lapse, which allowed Fernando Morientes to score
12.
2007 UEFA Champions League Final
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The 2007 UEFA Champions League Final was an association football match between A. C. Milan of Italy and Liverpool F. C. of England on 23 May 2007 at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece. The showpiece event was the match of the 2006–07 season of Europes premier cup competition. The teams were appearing in the final, two years after facing each other in the 2005 final which Liverpool won 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the match finished 3–3, both teams had to pass through five rounds before they reached the final. Milans victories varied from close affairs to comfortable victories and they defeated Celtic by a single goal over two legs, while they beat Manchester United 5–3 on aggregate in the semi-final. Before the match there were ticketing problems because a number of fans gained entry to the stadium without valid tickets. After the match, a UEFA spokesman accused Liverpool of having the worst fans in Europe, watched by a crowd of 74,000, Milan took the lead when Andrea Pirlos free-kick deflected off Filippo Inzaghi in the first half. Milan extended their lead in the half when Inzaghi scored a second goal. Liverpool scored a goal through Dirk Kuyt, but were unable to equalise before the end of the match. Milan won the match 2–1 to win their seventh Champions League, Milan gained entry to the competition by finishing third in the 2005–06 Serie A. Milan had originally finished second in Serie A, but were docked 30 points for their part in a match-fixing scandal, the original punishment, reduced on appeal, would have barred them from the Champions League altogether. Their opponents in the qualifying round were Serbian team Red Star Belgrade. Two victories, 1–0 at home and 2–1 away, ensured Milans passage to the stage of the Champions League. They were drawn in Group H alongside AEK Athens of Greece, Anderlecht of Belgium, Milan won three matches, drew one and lost two to finish top of the group with 10 points and progress to the knockout stage. They were drawn against Scottish team Celtic, the first leg at Celtics home ground Celtic Park finished 0–0. The return leg at Milans home ground the San Siro also finished 0–0 after 90 minutes with Celtic managing to limit the goalscoring opportunities Milan had, however, three minutes into extra time Milan scored when Kaká curled a shot past Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc. Celtic were unable to score the goal they needed to beat Milan. Milan were drawn against German team Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, the first leg at the San Siro ended in a 2–2 draw after Bayern had scored an equaliser three minutes into stoppage time. The second leg at Bayerns home ground the Allianz Arena was more comfortable for Milan, Milan were drawn against English team Manchester United in the semi-finals
Media related to Athens Olympic Sports Complex at Wikimedia Commons