The inaugural ceremony in Portugal on 12th of June marked the beginning of the
Euro Cup 2004 schedule. The tournament started with the match between Portugal and Greece on the first day. The Euro Cup continued for nearly a month before coming to an end with the final on 4th of July.
The matches of the first round were played from 12th to 24th June. The first round featured 16 teams. These teams were divided into four groups - A, B, C and D, with four teams in each group. Group A consisted of Portugal, Spain, Greece and Russia. Group B had France, Croatia, England and Switzerland. Group C was formed with Sweden, Italy, Denmark and Bulgaria and Group D consisted of Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands and Latvia.
The winner and the runner up of each group advanced to the knock out stages. The match between Portugal and England in Lisbon on 24th of June marked the beginning of the knock out stages of
Euro Cup 2004 schedule. The quarter finals had eight teams, which advanced from four groups of sixteen countries. The 8 teams that made it to the quarter finals were Portugal, England, Sweden, Netherlands, Greece, France, Denmark and Czech Republic.
In the quarter finals of 2004 Euro Cup, Portugal edged past England on 24th June in Lisbon and Netherlands defeated Sweden via tie breaker on 26th June to meet in the semi finals. The other quarter final on 25th June had Greece advancing to the semi finals as surprise winners by defeating France by one goal to nil. Czech Republic defeated Denmark convincingly on 27th of June to set up clash with Greece in the semi finals.
Portugal defeated Netherlands, and Greece defeated Czech Republic in the semi finals on 30th of June and 1st of July respectively. The final was played in Lisbon on 4th of July. To the disappointment of the home crowd, Greece emerged as the champions defeating host Portugal.
