The federation dates the side's official history to 1929, when a match against Italy's reserve team in that same city ended in a 1–4 defeat, though Greek players had already taken the field in exhibition games decades earlier.
One result outweighs everything else the team has done: Portugal, 2004, a 1–0 win in the final against the tournament's host. Otto Rehhagel managed that run, built on a defence that gave almost nothing away. Gold at the Mediterranean Games came twice, in 1951 and 1991, but neither carries the weight of what happened in Portugal.
Turkey remains the fixture that means more than the football itself, the animosity older than either federation, shaped by war and by Cyprus rather than by anything settled on a pitch.
Since a World Cup appearance in 2014, qualification has gone the other way — Euro 2016, two World Cups, Euro 2020 all missed in turn.
Theodoros Zagorakis captained the side through that 2004 final and was named the tournament's outstanding player, the one name from that squad still raised before any other.