Greece reward Rehhagel
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Article summary
Greece coach Otto Rehhagel has been handed a contract extension for guiding his team to UEFA EURO 2004™.
Article body
'Fun' job
After Greece lost their opening matches to Spain and Ukraine, the 65-year-old German led the country to six consecutive victories to win Group 6 and seal automatic qualification for next year's tournament in Portugal. "I decided to accept the offer from the Hellenic Football Federation because the job has been a lot of fun," said Rehhagel.
'Something special'
"We achieved something special with our qualification for Portugal and now we must maintain the standards with a good performance at EURO 2004™ as well," he continued. "Our future plans revolve around qualification for the 2006 [FIFA] World Cup finals, but it is too soon now to be talking about this. Our priority is the EURO 2004™ finals."
Up to 2006
Rehhagel's original contract - signed when he accepted the job 18 months ago - ran until EURO 2004™, while the new deal will take him up to the 2006 World Cup finals in his native Germany. He has also been handed a 30 per cent pay rise and the promise of a substantial bonus if Greece qualify for the World Cup.
