The Greece–Turkey football rivalry (; ) is one of Europe's major rivalries between two national teams, Greece and Turkey.

History

Greece and Turkey have long-standing tensions throughout history. The Ottoman Empire conquered most of Greece gradually in the 15th century. The

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

broke out in 1821, overthrowing the Ottoman rule and became the first Balkan and European nation to set free themselves from the Turks. By that time, the Greek identity was soon strengthened and a number of conflicts occurred between Turkey and Greece existed from the 1830s onward. In 1919, with the collapse of the Ottoman state, Greece attempted to conquer Western Turkey, in their accordance to the Megali Idea, and both the Greeks and Turks caused atrocities on each other. Greeks ended up defeated by the Turks and were expelled back to Greece. Efforts from

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

and

Eleftherios Venizelos Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos ( el, Ελευθέριος Κυριάκου Βενιζέλος, translit=Elefthérios Kyriákou Venizélos, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movem ...

helped establish official relations between Greece and Turkey. The grievance, however, returned with the

Cyprus dispute The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus dispute, Cyprus issue, Cyprus question or Cyprus conflict, is an ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. Initially, with the Modern history of Cyprus#In ...

. Due to historical grievances, Greece and Turkey have a heated rivalry, though less violent than Greece or Turkey's other rivalries. Both teams are also described as "punching above their weights", due to their successes despite lack of competitive history in football. Despite up-and-down in relations, so far, both Turkey and Greece only played one match in a neutral ground.

List of matches

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greece-Turkey Football Rivalry Turkey national football team Greece national football team International association football rivalries Greece–Turkey relations

History

List of matches

See also

References