# Greece–Turkey football rivalry

The Greece–Turkey football rivalry (Greek: Ποδοσφαιρική αντιπαλότητα Ελλάδας-Τουρκίας; Turkish: Türkiye-Yunanistan futbol rekabeti) 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 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 and Eleftherios Venizelos helped establish official relations between Greece and Turkey. The grievance, however, returned with the Cyprus dispute .
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

| Number | Date | Location | Competition | Results | Home scorers | Away scorers |
| 1 | 23 April 1948 | Athens | Friendly | Greece 1–3 Turkey | Kleanthis Vikelidis 70' | Fikret Kırcan 9' Lefter Küçükandonyadis 30' Şükrü Gülesin 74' |
| 2 | 27 November 1948 | Istanbul | Friendly | Turkey 2-1 Greece | Reha Eken 3', 19' | Haralambos Filaktos 44' |
| 3 | 16 May 1949 | Athens | Mediterranean Cup | Greece 1–2 Turkey | Xenofon Markopoulos 11' | Gündüz Kılıç 33' Bülent Esel 44' |
| 4 | 29 February 1952 | Athens | Mediterranean Cup | Greece 3–1 Turkey | Georgios Darivas 15', 44', 80' | Şevket Yorulmaz -' |
| 5 | 16 May 1952 | Istanbul | Mediterranean Cup | Turkey 0–1 Greece | None | Ilias Papageorgiou -' |
| 6 | 24 September 1987 | Latakia | Mediterranean Games | Turkey 1–0 Greece (a.e.t.) | Orhan Görsen 94' | None |
| 7 | 21 September 1988 | Istanbul | Friendly | Turkey 3–1 Greece | Tanju Çolak 9' (pen.) Oğuz Çetin 41' Rıdvan Dilmen 68' | Nikos Anastopoulos 39' |
| 8 | 29 March 1989 | Athens | Friendly | Greece 0–1 Turkey | None | Rıdvan Dilmen 38' |
| 9 | 8 September 2004 | Piraeus | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | Greece 0–0 Turkey | None | None |
| 10 | 4 June 2005 | Istanbul | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | Turkey 0–0 Greece | None | None |
| 11 | 24 March 2007 | Athens | UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying | Greece 1–4 Turkey | Sotiris Kyrgiakos 5' | Tuncay Şanlı 27' Gökhan Ünal 55' Tümer Metin 70' Gökdeniz Karadeniz 81' |
| 12 | 17 October 2007 | Istanbul | UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying | Turkey 0–1 Greece | None | Ioannis Amanatidis 79' |
| 13 | 17 November 2015 | Istanbul | Friendly | Turkey 0–0 Greece | None | None |
| 14 | 30 May 2019 | Antalya | Friendly | Turkey 2–1 Greece | Cengiz Ünder 11' Kenan Karaman 17' | Dimitris Kourbelis 90+3' |