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The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship (or just Euro 2004) was the twelfth tournament of the UEFA European Football Championship, a quadrennial football tournament for European nations, and was held in Portugal, for the first time, between 12 June and 4 July 2004. As in the previous two tournaments, in England and Netherlands/Belgium, sixteen teams contested the final tournament after going through a qualification round which began in 2002. The tournament took place in ten venues located in eight cities — Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Guimarães, Faro/Loulé, Leiria, Porto and Lisbon.
During the tournament there were several surprises: Germany, Italy and Spain were knocked out during the group stage; the title-holders France were eliminated in the quarter-finals by unfancied Greece, and the Portuguese hosts recovered from their opening defeat to reach the final, eliminating Spain, England and Netherlands along the way. For the first time, the final featured the same teams as the opening match, with the hosts losing both of them also for the first time, as Portugal were beaten by Greece on both occasions. Greece's triumph was even more outstanding considering that they had only qualified for two other major tournaments, in 1980 and 1994 and their win in the opening match in 2004 was the first time they had even won a game in a major tournament.
During the opening ceremony, the Portuguese portrayed a ship, symbolizing the voyages of the Portuguese explorers, sailing through a sea which gave place to the flags of all competing countries.[1] Such was the enthusiasm that overtook the Greek fans that the ship became the symbol of the Greek victory, as Greeks chanted for the "Pirate Ship" (πειρατικό), as the Greek National Team was instantly named.[citation needed] Also, Portuguese-Canadian pop singer Nelly Furtado performed her single Força, which represents Portuguese culture.
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