Greece at the FIFA World Cup

The Greece national football team have appeared in the FIFA World Cup on three occasions, in 1994, 2010 and 2014. They were the reigning European champions when they failed to qualify for the 2006 tournament.

Overview

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter									Did not enter
1934	Did not qualify									1	0	0	1	0	4
1938										3	2	0	1	5	12
1950	Did not enter									Did not enter
1954	Did not qualify									4	2	0	2	3	2
1958										4	0	1	3	2	9
1962										4	1	0	3	3	8
1966										6	2	1	3	10	14
1970										6	2	3	1	13	9
1974										4	0	0	4	5	11
1978										4	1	1	2	2	6
1982										8	3	1	4	10	13
1986										6	1	2	3	5	10
1990										6	1	2	3	3	15
1994	Group stage	24th	3	0	0	3	0	10		8	6	2	0	10	2
1998	Did not qualify									8	4	2	2	11	4
2002										8	2	1	5	7	17
2006										12	6	3	3	15	9
2010	Group stage	25th	3	1	0	2	2	5		12	7	3	2	21	10
2014	Round of 16	13th	4	1	2	1	3	5		12	9	2	1	16	6
2018	Did not qualify									9	4	4	1	13	6
2022										8	2	4	2	8	8
2026	To be determined									To be determined
2030
2034
Total	Best: Round of 16	3/22	10	2	2	6	5	20		136	56	33	47	167	179

^*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

Greece's World Cup record
First match	Argentina 4–0 Greece   (Foxborough, United States; 21 June 1994)
Biggest win	Greece 2–1 Nigeria   (Bloemfontein, South Africa; 17 June 2010)   Greece 2–1 Ivory Coast   (Fortaleza, Brazil; 24 June 2014)
Biggest defeat	Argentina 4–0 Greece   (Foxborough, United States; 21 June 1994)   Bulgaria 4–0 Greece   (Chicago, United States; 26 June 1994)
Best result	Round of 16 at the 2014 FIFA World Cup
Worst result	Group Stage at the 1994 and 2010 FIFA World Cup

1994 United States

Group stage

Main article: 1994 FIFA World Cup Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Bulgaria	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
3	Argentina	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
4	Greece	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

Source: FIFA

  Win  Tie  Loss

Argentina   v   Greece

21 June 1994	Argentina	4–0	Greece	Boston, United States
12:30	Batistuta 2', 44', 89' (pen.) Maradona 60'	Report		Stadium: Foxboro Stadium Attendance: 54,456 Referee: Arturo Angeles (United States)

Bulgaria   v   Greece

26 June 1994	Bulgaria	4–0	Greece	Chicago, United States
12:30	Stoichkov 5' (pen.), 55' (pen.) Letchkov 65' Borimirov 90'	Report		Stadium: Soldier Field Attendance: 63,160 Referee: Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)

Greece   v   Nigeria

30 June 1994	Greece	0–2	Nigeria	Boston, United States
19:30		Report	George 45' Amokachi 90'	Stadium: Foxboro Stadium Attendance: 53,001 Referee: Leslie Mottram (Scotland)

2010 South Africa

Round 1

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Argentina	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	South Korea	3	1	1	1	5	6	−1	4
3	Greece	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3
4	Nigeria	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tie-breaking criteria

  Win  Tie  Loss

South Korea   v   Greece

12 June 2010	South Korea	2–0	Greece	Port Elizabeth, South Africa
13:30	Lee Jung-soo 7' Park Ji-sung 52'	Report		Stadium: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium Attendance: 31,513 Referee: Michael Hester (New Zealand)

Greece   v   Nigeria

17 June 2010	Greece	2–1	Nigeria	Bloemfontein, South Africa
16:00	Salpingidis 44' Torosidis 71'	Report	Uche 16'	Stadium: Free State Stadium Attendance: 31,593 Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)

Greece   v   Argentina

22 June 2010	Greece	0–2	Argentina	Polokwane, South Africa
20:30		Report	Demichelis 77' Palermo 89'	Stadium: Peter Mokaba Stadium Attendance: 38,891 Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan

2014 Brazil

Group stage

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Colombia	3	3	0	0	9	2	+7	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Greece	3	1	1	1	2	4	−2	4
3	Ivory Coast	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Japan	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tie-breaking criteria

  Win  Tie  Loss

Colombia   v   Greece

14 June 2014	Colombia	3–0	Greece	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
13:00	Armero 5' Gutiérrez 58' Rodríguez 90+3'	Report		Stadium: Estádio Mineirão Attendance: 57,174 Referee: Mark Geiger (United States)

Japan   v   Greece

19 June 2014	Japan	0–0	Greece	Natal, Brazil
19:00		Report		Stadium: Arena das Dunas Attendance: 39,485 Referee: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)

Greece   v   Ivory Coast

24 June 2014	Greece	2–1	Ivory Coast	Fortaleza, Brazil
17:00	Samaris 42' Samaras 90+3' (pen.)	Report	Bony 74'	Stadium: Estádio Castelão Attendance: 59,095 Referee: Carlos Vera (Ecuador)

Knockout stage

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup knockout stage

  Win  Tie  Loss

Costa Rica   v   Greece

29 June 2014Round of 16	Costa Rica	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p)	Greece	Recife, Brazil
17:00	Ruiz 52'	Report	Papastathopoulos 90+1'	Stadium: Arena Pernambuco Attendance: 41,242 Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)
	Penalties
	Borges Ruiz González Campbell Umaña		Mitroglou Christodoulopoulos Holebas Gekas

Record players

Rank	Player	Matches	World Cups
1	Giorgos Karagounis	7	2010 and 2014
	Georgios Samaras	7	2010 and 2014
	Vasilis Torosidis	7	2010 and 2014
4	Theofanis Gekas	6	2010 and 2014
	Kostas Katsouranis	6	2010 and 2014
	Sokratis Papastathopoulos	6	2010 and 2014
	Dimitris Salpingidis	6	2010 and 2014
8	José Holebas	4	2014
	Orestis Karnezis	4	2014
	Giannis Maniatis	4	2014
	Kostas Manolas	4	2014

Top goalscorers

Five players scored one goal each for Greece at a FIFA World Cup:

Rank	Player	Goals	World Cup
1	Dimitris Salpingidis	1	2010
	Vasilis Torosidis	1	2010
	Sokratis Papastathopoulos	1	2014
	Georgios Samaras	1	2014
	Andreas Samaris	1	2014

See also

• Greece at the FIFA Confederations Cup
• Greece at the UEFA European Championship

External links

• Greece at FIFA.com

Head-to-head record

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Argentina	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	000.00
Bulgaria	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	000.00
Colombia	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3	000.00
Nigeria	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	050.00
Costa Rica	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
Ivory Coast	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Japan	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	000.00
South Korea	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	000.00
Total	10	2	2	6	5	20	−15	020.00