Foreign touch of class
Sunday, July 4, 2004
Article summary
History was made at the Estádio da Luz as Greece's Otto Rehhagel became the first foreign coach to lead a country to victory in the UEFA European Championship.
Article body
Record maker
Both sides were making their first appearance in a major final, meaning either German Rehhagel or Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari was guaranteed a place in the record books. In the event, Angelos Charisteas's 57th-minute header proved enough for Greece.
Foreign roll-call
Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson had hoped to become the first to achieve the feat, but his England team lost to Scolari's Portugal in the quarter-finals. The three are by no means the first foreign coaches to make an impact in a European Championship, with Englishman Roy Hodgson masterminding Switzerland's EURO '96™ campaign.
Overcoming barriers
In addition, ten of the 32 sides at the 2002 FIFA World Cup were coached by men from another nation. Dutchman Guus Hiddink guided South Korea to the semi-finals in Korea/Japan, but it is Rehhagel who can now boast that he has overcome cultural barriers sufficiently to mould another country's team into winners.
Schön record
Scolari, who took Brazil to World Cup success two years ago, was aiming to become the first coach to emulate the achievement of West Germany's Helmut Schön, who won the 1972 European Championship and 1974 World Cup. But in the event it was Rehhagel who was celebrating.
