Finland v Greece background

Finland and Greece have been paired for the fifth time in a UEFA European Championship, but have not met competitively since 2001 as they reconvene in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group F.

Match background
• Finland's record in 12 meetings with Greece is W3 D2 L7 (W3 D2 L0 at home; W0 D0 L5 in Greece). Their record in eight UEFA European Championship meetings is W2 D2 L4 (W2 D2 L0 at home, W0 D0 L4 in Greece). These games include two friendlies played on neutral territory in Cyprus, both of which Greece won.

• The last of those matches, a 2-1 win for Greece on 6 February 2008, was the sides' most recent meeting. Jari Litmanen (66) put Finland in front in their first game under coach Stuart Baxter, but Angelos Charisteas (67) and Kostas Katsouranis (72) earned a win for Otto Rehhagel's Greece.

• Their most recent competitive meetings were in 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Under Vassilis Daniel, Greece beat Finland 1-0 in Athens, Nikos Liberopoulos (59) scoring the only goal. The return fixture in Helsinki was a 5-1 win for Finland on 5 September 2001, Mikael Forssell (14, 45), Aki Riihilahti (21), Joonas Kolkka (38) and Jari Litmanen (53) on target for the Finns, and Giorgos Karagounis (30) scoring for Greece. It was a loss that prompted new Greece coach Otto Rehhagel to make major changes.

• The sides' first UEFA European Championship encounters were in the group stage ahead of the 1968 finals. Panos Markovits's Greece beat Olavi Laaksonen's Finns 2-1 at home on 16 October 1966 – Alekos Alexiadis (39, 86) striking twice either side of Pertti Mäkipää (57). Lakis Petropoulos led Greece into the return fixture on 10 May 1967; Juhani Peltonen (18) put Finland ahead, but Stathis Chaitas replied in a 1-1 draw.

• In the EURO 1980 qualifiers, Aulis Rytkönen's Finland beat Greece, under Alketas Panegoulias, 3-0 in Helsinki on 24 May 1978, with goals from Atik Ismail (35 and 82) and Jyrki Nieminen (80). However, Panegoulias's side won the return leg 8-1 on 11 October 1978 – 36 years to the day before the sides' latest meeting. Thomas Mavros (38, 44 and 75) scored a hat-trick, with Dimitrios Nikoloudis (15 and 25), Giorgios Delikaris (23 and 47) and Maik Galakos (81) completing the Greek rout. Aki Heiskanen (61) scored Finland's goal.

• The 1992 UEFA European Championship meetings ended in Antonis Georgiadis's side earning a 1-1 draw in Finland (9 October 1991, Kari Ukkonen 50; Panagiotis Tsalouchidis 74), Jukka Vakkila's side then losing 2-0 in Athens on 30 October (Dimitris Saravakos 49, Stefanos Borbokis 51).

• On 12 October 1994, Konstantinos Polychroniou's Greece beat Tommy Lindholm's Finland 4-0 in Athens in their first EURO '96 qualifying meeting, Dimitros Markos (22), Daniel Batista (69) and Nikos Machlas (76 and 89) the scorers. Finland won 2-1 in the reciprocal game on 11 June 1995 – Demis Nikolaidis (6) gave the visitors an early lead, but Jari Litmanen (44) and Ari Hjelm (54) struck back.

• The nations' nine encounters in UEFA's age-group tournaments have favoured Greece: W6 D0 L3.

• The nations' clubs have met just four times in UEFA competiton, with the Greek sides unbeaten (W3 D1).