Greece’s new generation grows around Tzolis and Pavlidis

Greece are building a new national-team cycle around a group of young players developed by an improving domestic system and established abroad. Christos Tzolis, Vangelis Pavlidis and 18-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas are among the leading names in a squad showing signs of recovery after years of missed tournaments and qualifying failures.

The country’s last major triumph came at Euro 2004, when Otto Rehhagel’s side defeated hosts Portugal twice and eliminated Spain, France and the Czech Republic. Greece later appeared at the 2008 and 2012 European Championships and the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, but its decline included a last-place finish in Euro 2016 qualifying and failed play-offs against Croatia for the 2018 World Cup and Georgia for Euro 2024.

Club football has helped change the outlook. Olympiakos won the 2024 Europa Conference League and its under-19 team claimed the Youth League in the same year. PAOK Salonika and Panathinaikos have also produced players who moved into leading European leagues. Tzolis is now at Arsenal, Pavlidis at Benfica and Karetsas at Borussia Dortmund, while other Greece internationals include Kostas Tsimikas of Liverpool, Konstantinos Mavropanos of West Ham and Fotis Ioannidis of Sporting CP.

Greece have earned successive promotions from Nations League League C to League A, with victories over Serbia and Germany strengthening that progress. The team still finished third behind Scotland and Denmark in 2026 World Cup qualifying, underlining the distance still to cover, but its form and expanding talent pool point to a more competitive future.