Rehhagel's historic reign

Otto Rehhagel's time as Greece coach is over, bringing to an end a spell that will not be forgotten in his adopted home.

The departure of the man known as 'King Otto' ends almost nine years in charge of Greece, guiding the team to unprecedented success. Ranked 100-1 outsiders going into UEFA EURO 2004, Greece sensationally defeated hosts Portugal 1-0 in the final to claim their first major honours. "It was a great achievement for us to qualify," Rehhagel said at the time. "We were only interested in the first game but we carried on, had a terrific tournament and ended as champions."

When Rehhagel took over in August 2001, that was a distant dream. Greece's sole final tournament experience to that point was the 1980 UEFA European Championship and 1994 FIFA World Cup, losing five of their six games and drawing the other. But in Rehhagel they had appointed the only man to either play or coach in 1,000 Bundesliga games. He has also led Werder Bremen for 14 years, lifting the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and two German championships before winning a third with 1. FC Kaiserslautern, also having a hand in FC Bayern München's 1995/96 UEFA Cup victory.

With the German at the helm, a talented generation of Greek players gained an incredible team spirit and managed to defy all odds and win the European crown in 2004. Expectations rose and Greece gained respectability, though staying loyal to the cautious style that had paid dividends in Portugal.

While the 2004 feat has gone unrepeated, Greece are now established as regular participants in major tournaments with a seeding to match. Although their UEFA EURO 2008 defence ended with three losses, they qualified with more points than any other nation and then made it to South Africa, recording their first World Cup finals goals through Dimitris Salpingidis and Vassilis Torosidis in the maiden 2-1 win against Nigeria.

During Rehhagel's reign, Greece played 106 matches and won exactly half of them, with 53 victories, 23 draws and 30 defeats. His true legacy is the new-found love of the football-crazy Greek public for their national team – an audience that usually put the club game first.

Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) president Sofoklis Pilavios, before boarding the plane in Johannesburg that brought the Greek team back to Athens, told reporters: "Mr Rehhagel has done a great deal for the team and we thank him. It's a difficult time [to have to say goodbye] for both parties now."

His mood was echoed by the press on the following day. SportDay, under the headline 'Danke Otto' and a huge photo of the German head coach, wrote on their front page: "With you, our wildest dream became reality in 2004. With your help, we Greeks learned what we are able to achieve. Today a whole nation is grateful to you for what you gave us and we bid you farewell with a big 'thank you' from the bottom of our hearts."