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Completion of the Events Celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Euro 2004 Championship

Jul 08, 2019
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the NGO “Champions for Life” collaborated for a series of events that took place for the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Euro 2004 Championship.

All Greeks remember exactly where we were and how we felt when the header by Angelos Charisteas brought the Euro 2004 silverware to Greece. Anxiety gave way to happiness, which turned into exuberant celebrations for what, at first, seemed impossible. Euro 2004 is one of the moments that have been recorded in our collective memory.

15 years later, the Euro 2004 Champions returned. With the exclusive support of the SNF, the Legends 2004, shared the memories, thrills, and joy of their achievement with their fans through a series of events, culminating with a game between Legends 2004 and Portugal Legends, in a revival of the memorable Final.

A significant part of the activities will take place in the context organized by the SNF from June 23rd to June 30th at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC).

The champions, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Seitaridis, Zagorakis, Dellas and Nikopolidis along with their teammates, participated in a series of events that took place as part of the Summer Nostos Festival, including the SNF Conference, the SNF’s evening race, SNF RUN: Running into the Future, sports activities for children with disabilities, as well as a match as part of the Special Olympics program “Play Unified, Learn Unified.” Moreover, they acted as mentors for children’s football academies as part of the Legends 2004 Youth Cup, and attempted to break two separate Guinness World Records titles together with fans at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.

The events culminating with a game between Legends 2004 and Portugal Legends, in a revival of the memorable Final, where the Greek team scored one more victory against their Portuguese counterparts.

The day before the big game, Otto Rehhagel, former coach of the Greek National Team that won the Euro 2004, and Fernando Santos, former coach of the Greek National Team and current coach of the Portuguese National Team, participated in a discussion at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center with SNF co-President, Mr. Andreas Dracopoulos and sports journalists Christos Sotirakopoulos and Vasilis Sambrakos.

These were the inaugural activities of the NGO “Champions for Life.” With the support of the SNF, the organization looks forward to strengthening vulnerable social groups and promoting the values of sports, cooperation, fair play, and the joy of participation.