The Greek National Football Team (Εθνική Ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου) have announced their squad for the upcoming games in the 2018-2019 UEFA Nations League.
The Nation League tournament involves all 55 UEFA member countries and aims to replace meaningless friendlies with increased competition.
Greece are in League C, Group 2 along with Hungary, Finland and Estonia. The first game in the tournament for them will be against Estonia on September 9. They will then play Hungary on September 12.
Today is also a double celebration for the team, as two of the players apart of the 13 man squad announced today celebrate their birthdays. Carlos Zeca turns thirty-years-old and Petros Mantalos turns twenty-seven-years-old.
Carlos Zeca (born José Carlos Gonçalves Rodrigues) is a portuguese-born greek professional footballer who is currently a midfielder for Danish club F.C. Copenhagen. In 2017 he was sworn in as a Greek citizen officially making him eligible to play for the Greek National Team, while he was playing for Panathinaikos. After his swearing in as a citizen, Zeca said that he was very happy and proud that he became a Greek citizen. "It is something that I have wanted for some time now. I have been in Greece for six years and I really like Greece and its people. I feel like this is my home. That is why I had one dream, to obtain Greek citizenship and I am very happy this has come true...I will have my mind on the national team and I surely want to help out” he said.
Petros Mantalos is an attacking midfielder for Greek Super League club AEK Athens. In 2009 he started his career at SKODA Xanthin appearing 30 times and scoring 6 goals. He is now the captain of AEK FC and one of the most important players of the team. In 2017-2018, he was out for six months due to a ligament injury.
Mantalos has played for the Greek National Teams Under-19 and Under-21 and in 2014 made his debut with the Main National Team. Since then, the National Teams head choice has always chosen him to be one of the first choices in the squad's line-up.
