One of the members of the Greek national team that made it all the way to the Euro 2004 title will make a rare appearance in front of Australian football fans.
Panathinaikos and Greece captain Angelos Basinas has joined the list of greats that will gather at the ANZ Stadium on Saturday 23 May to play a football game in order to raise funds for those affected by the disastrous bushfires that plagued Australia this summer.
Basinos is one of the few Greek players to have made 100 appearances with the national team, and also captained the squad during their Euro 2008 campaign where they managed to reach the quarter-finals.
He was well-known for his spot kicks, scoring crucial goals for both club and national team, such as the penalty against Barcelona in Panathinaikos’ 1-0 win during the 2000/01 Champions League quarter-finals or the second goal in Greece’s opening game in the Euro 2004 with Portugal.
His appearance is sure to attract the attention of many Greeks living in Sydney.
The announcement of his participation was made via the Tribal Sports Group official Twitter page, with the organisation being fully in charge of the charity match having also extended invitations to several other well-known former football stars.
Most notable among them are Champions League winner Didier Drogba, former world cup 1998 and Euro 2000 champion David Trezeguet and triple crown winner with Manchester United Dwight Yorke.
Additionally, a few days before Basinas’ announcement, it became known that two former Liverpool legends would also be joining the efforts to help raise funds for bushfire relief: Patrick Berger and Vladimir Smicer.
The names of the two who will be serving as coaches of yellow and red teams on the evening has also been announced, with Socceroos manager Graham Arnold sitting on the one bench and Dutch legend Guus Hiddink – who guided Australia to the round of 16 in the 2006 World Cup – on the other.