Otto Rehhagel, the grandfather of the benches

German Otto Rehhagel made history as coach of Greece. Even if he decided to leave office after the disappointing elimination in the group stage of the World Cup in South Africa, he will be remembered for the surprising conquest of Euro 2004. With 100-1 bets that Greece could win the competition, the team led by “King Otto” achieved the unimaginable and defeated the host team, Portugal, 1-0 in the final to reach their first title.

When the German took over the national team in August 2001, it was a distant dream to achieve something like this. The only experience of Greece in a final phase of an international tournament up to that point was at Euro 1980 and World Cup 1994, with a history of a draw and five defeats.

An achievement that kept him in office until South Africa 2010, but with a squad that had 2004 as a base and that reached the World Cup with a average age of 27.9 years, the highest in the tournament. A team that accumulated years even on the bench: Rehhagel was 71 years old and became the oldest veteran coach in World Cup history. The German broke the record for Césare Maldini in South Africa, who led Paraguay in 2002 at the age of 70. As for the youngest coach in the history of the World Cups, it is the Argentine Juan José Tramutola, who with 27 years commanded the albiceleste in 1930 and he was younger than seven of his players in that tournament.