Welsh Football Online | Gorau Chwarae Cyd Chwarae

The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was the twelfth European Championships and was held in Portugal between 12 June and 4 July 2004. The tournament was won by Greece who beat Portugal 1-0 at Estádio de Luz, Lisbon

1. Host selection
2. Qualifying
3. Wales and the 2004 European Championship
4. Wales players used during qualifying

Host selection

The hosting of the event was contested by Spain as well as a joint bid from Austria and Hungary but Portugal was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Aachen, Germany on 12 October 1999.

Qualifying

Fifty UEFA members entered the qualification tournament for the 2004 UEFA European Football Championship with Portugal qualifying automatically as hosts.

Wales were seeded in pot D and were drawn into Group 9 alongside Italy, FR Yugoslavia, Finland and Azerbaijan. This was the first time Wales had played Azerbaijan.

Although Wales had previously faced Yugoslavia, this was Wales' first meeting with the Yugoslav federation since the Balkan War and subsequent break up of the country. The official name of FR Yugoslavia was changed to Serbia and Montenegro on 4 February 2003, during the qualifying process.

Uefa qualifying group 9

no.	date	score	scorers (wales)	venue
507	07/09/2002	Finland 0-2 Wales	Hartson, Davies	Olympiastadion, Helsinki	ECQ
	07/09/2002	Azerbaijan 0-2 Italy		Tofik Bakhramov, Baku	ECQ
	12/10/2002	Finland 3-0 Azerbaijan		Olympiastadion, Helsinki	ECQ
	12/10/2002	Italy 1-1 FR Yugoslavia		San Paolo, Naples	ECQ
	16/10/2002	FR Yugoslavia 2-0 Finland		Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade	ECQ
508	16/10/2002	Wales 2-1 Italy	Davies, Bellamy	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	ECQ
509	20/11/2002	Azerbaijan 0-2 Wales	Speed, Hartson	Tofik Bakhramov, Baku	ECQ
	12/02/2003	Serbia & Montenegro 2-2 Azerbaijan		Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica	ECQ
511	29/03/2003	Wales 4-0 Azerbaijan	Bellamy, Speed, Hartson, Giggs	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	ECQ
513	20/08/2003	Serbia & Montenegro 1-0 Wales		Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade	ECQ
	06/09/2003	Azerbaijan 1-2 Finland		Shafa Stadium, Baku	ECQ
514	06/09/2003	Italy 4-0 Wales		Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan	ECQ
515	10/09/2003	Wales 1-1 Finland	Davies	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	ECQ
	10/09/2003	Serbia & Montenegro 1-1 Italy		Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade	ECQ
516	11/10/2003	Wales 2-3 Serbia & Montenegro	Hartson, Earnshaw	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	ECQ
	11/10/2003	Italy 4-0 Azerbaijan		Stadio Oreste Granillo, Reggio Calabria	ECQ

Group standings

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1.	Italy	8	5	2	1	17	4	17
2.	Wales	8	4	1	3	13	10	13
3.	Serbia & Montenegro	8	3	3	2	11	11	12
4.	Finland	8	3	1	4	9	10	10
5.	Azerbaijan	8	1	1	6	5	20	4

Uefa play-off match

no.	date	score	scorers (wales)	venue
517	15/11/2003	Russia 0-0 Wales		Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow	ECQ
518	19/11/2003	Wales 0-1 Russia		Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	ECQ

Wales and the 2004 European Championship

Wales were seeded in pot D and were drawn into Group 9 alongside Italy, FR Yugoslavia, Finland and Azerbaijan. This was the first time Wales had played Azerbaijan.

Wales' campaign got off to a flying start with an impressive victory away to Finland in their opening match followed by an unexpected but deserved win over group favourites, Italy, at a packed Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Goals from Simon Davies and Craig Bellamy ensured Mark Hughes' side secured a famous victory and kept Wales top of the group ahead of their visit to Azerbaijan.

Two wins against the group's bottom seeds meant Wales still had a 100% record at the halfway stage of the group but with less than a week before the visit to Belgrade Wales' group was thrown into turmoil with the assassination of Serbo-Montenegrin Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in Belgrade.

The match, scheduled to be played on 2 April, was postponed due to a state of emergency in Belgrade and by the time of the rearranged game in August, momentum had been lost.

Despite substitute Rob Earnshaw going close for Wales in the closing minutes, Dragan Mladenović's goal was enough to inflict Wales' first defeat of the campaign.

A 4-0 thrashing by Italy in Milan brought Wales crashing down to earth and saw the Italians overtake Wales at the top of the group but with two home games remaining, Welsh hopes of reaching their first major championship since 1958 were high.

An early Simon Davies goal had put Mark Hughes' men ahead against Finland but a Jason Koumas red card and a less than impressive display from 10-man Wales saw Finland secure a point.

Serbia & Montenegro's draw with Italy in Belgrade on the same night ensured Wales were now guaranteed a play-off place, however had Wales held on for the win, they would be facing Serbia & Montenegro in the final match needing victory to win Group Nine and qualify automatically for Euro 2004.

As it turned out, the lack of victory was academic as Wales had to settle for second place in the group and a play off match following a 2-3 home defeat in their final game.

Having taken a maximum 12 points in the opening four matches of the group, the final four matches had yielded a solitary point for Mark Hughes' men.

As group runners-up Wales qualified, alongside Slovenia, Norway, Netherlands, Latvia, Scotland, Spain, Turkey, Croatiaand Russia for the play off round to decide the five remaining places at Euro2004.

In an open draw Wales were drawn to play Russia with the first leg to be played in Moscow.

Wales were without Craig Bellamy, Simon Davies and Mark Pembridge for the first leg in Russia but managed to come away with a very creditable 0-0 draw but four days later in Cardiff Welsh hearts were broken by Vadim Evseev who scored the only goal of the game.

Following the defeat it transpired that Spartak Moscow captain, Yegor Titov had failed a drugs test after the first leg in Moscow, testing positive for the stimulant Bromantan. Despite Titov playing 59 minutes in the second leg in Cardiff and despite the FAW appealing to both UEFA and the Court of Arbritation for Sport the result stood.

Players used during qualifying

Wales used 23 players during the campaign with Paul Jones and Ryan Giggs playing every minute of every match. Gary Speed also played some part of every match.

Rob Edwards won the first of his 15 caps in the 4-0 home win over Azerbaijan.

Player	FIN	ITA	AZE	AZE	SMN	ITA	FIN	SMN	RUS	RUS
Darren Barnard			90					90	90	90
Craig Bellamy	13	89		70	90	90		90
Nathan Blake		1			78	8	8	4	7	17
Simon Davies	90	90	90	90	90	90	90
Mark Delaney	90	90	71		90	90		90	90	90
Robert Earnshaw			89		12	19	90	90		33
Rob Edwards				20				18
Danny Gabbidon	90	90			90			90	90	90
Ryan Giggs	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90
John Hartson	90	90	90	90		82	82	86	83	90
Andy Johnson	77					12	17		90	57
Paul Jones	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	90
Jason Koumas						71	64		90	73
Andy Melville	90	90	90	90			90		90	90
John Oster				90				2
Rob Page			90	90	90	90	90
Mark Pembridge	90	90		90	90	78	90
Neil Roberts			1
Carl Robinson			89	71				88
Robbie Savage	90	90		19	90	90			90	90
Gary Speed	90	90	90	45	90	90	90	90	90	90
Paul Trollope			1	45
Rhys Weston			19				73	72

source links:
RSSSF - 2004 european nations cup
Wikipedia - 2004 european football championship
Uefa