In the games leading up to their 1-0 defeat of Portugal on Sunday, Greece had already stunned the football world by beating the hosts in the group stage, champions France in the quarter-finals and favourites Czech Republic in the last four.

Back home millions of people took to the streets to celebrate the team's success. The state of the domestic game, however, leaves little room for celebration.

Greek football is in deep financial trouble. Violence and match-fixing allegations surface almost every Sunday. Some premier league matches attract less than 500 spectators.

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Everyone agrees the enthusiasm of fans in the streets and the lessons learned in Portugal over the past three weeks must now be channelled back into Greek football.

"This should become a shining example to get the young players back on the pitches, to get them back to football," said coach Otto Rehhagel.

"I hope now I can have some of my wishes granted about bringing the game to young people again."

FA president Vassilis Gagatsis told Reuters he hoped the national team's success would trigger a clean-up at home.

"This is a great opportunity to improve the state of soccer so there must be some continuity in this," he said.

Successive governments have vowed to root out the 'gangster' element running the game but little progress has been made.

The Greek FA has only limited powers and no control over the professional leagues, which are run by the clubs themselves through their union.

Greek soccer has been in financial turmoil since the collapse in September 2002 of satellite broadcaster Alpha Digital and many clubs are close to bankruptcy.

Most premier league clubs are facing huge tax bills and mounting debts and the national team's success in Portugal is, ironically, likely in the medium term to make the Greek league even less attractive to sponsors and fans.

The clubs are now almost certain to sell off players who made their name at Euro 2004 in order to pay off debts and avoid relegation to the fourth division, a real prospect for debt-ridden former Greek champions AEK Athens.