David and Goliath — Football Case Study

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Dispatch: a series dedicated to immersive storytelling, where our photographers and writers journey to chosen places, combining evocative imagery with long-form editorials to uncover and share unique football cultures.

David and Goliath
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY Akis Katsoudas

OCTOBER 2026

Greece’s women’s national team faced European champions England in the most important match in its history. Despite being 54 places apart in the FIFA world rankings, Greece put up a fight, and every player left the pitch with her head held high.

Goliath was a giant who terrified everyone in his path. He stood around 2 metres tall, was powerfully built, wore heavy armour and carried a sword unlike any other. Nobody dared to face him. Until David did.

Unlike Goliath, David was a young shepherd, short and seemingly weak. When he heard his brothers talking about the challenge of facing Goliath, he immediately offered to fight him. While tending his sheep, he had killed both a lion and a bear, and he was certain that God would protect him once again.

Although the others initially refused, they eventually agreed. They even gave him armour to wear. He threw it aside. Instead, he took five small stones, a sling and his shepherd’s staff into battle. When Goliath saw him, he began to laugh and mock him. He could not believe he might lose a fight to someone so small.

David then ran towards him and hurled a stone at his face. It was enough to bring the giant crashing to the ground. A miracle had happened. The small and seemingly insignificant David had defeated Goliath.

On Friday evening, however, that miracle did not happen. Greece’s women’s national team failed to pull off an upset and eventually lost to England, the team that was crowned European champions in 2025 and now sits fourth in the FIFA world rankings. Greece, meanwhile, is ranked 58th. A full 54 places separate the two sides.

The match took place at the Pankritio Stadium in Crete, an island that has become the regular home of Greece’s women’s national team in recent years. The quickest and easiest way to reach the stadium is along the coastal road. Somewhere along the way, there is a tiny bus stop whose metal shelter has rusted from the salty sea air that hits it every day. The coastline is just a stone’s throw away.

A couple are waiting at the bus stop with us. They are the parents of one of Greece’s international players, eagerly waiting to make their way to the stadium and watch their daughter wearing the blue and white shirt. Meanwhile, several England supporters are walking along the road towards the ground.

They do not seem to mind the distance or the effort it takes to get there. They want to soak up as much sunshine as possible, something they rarely get back home at this time of year. Pankritio Stadium is also just a stone’s throw from the sea. From the upper stands, you can see the beach and the waves below you, while looking in the opposite direction, you have a view of the pitch and the match itself. A dream combination.

The stadium was built to host the 2004 Olympic Games. Greece’s women’s Olympic football team played two matches here, against the formidable United States and Australia. They lost both, 0-3 and 0-1, without creating any meaningful chances. In their third match, which took place elsewhere, Greece faced Brazil and suffered another defeat, this time by a heavy 0-7 scoreline.

Those were among the most historic matches in Greek women’s football. Until Friday’s game.

Greece had enjoyed an excellent run in the group stage of the UEFA Women’s Nations League, winning all four of its matches against Georgia and the Faroe Islands.

This progress comes at a time when women’s football in Greece, and the level of the players representing the national team, is improving rapidly. Greek champions PAOK, who rely heavily on domestic talent, reached the Round of 32 in the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup, narrowly missing out on qualification. Meanwhile, several Greek internationals are finding their place in some of Europe’s strongest leagues, including those in England, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

The scale of this development becomes even more apparent when you consider that women in Greece only began playing football in a more organised way in the early 1980s, while the first official league was established a decade later.

England, meanwhile, is one of the biggest and most established forces in the history of women’s football. Women once filled football grounds across the country as early as the 1910s, only for the Football Association to ban them from using its grounds, claiming that football was “unsuitable for girls”. Today, England is at the peak of its powers.

Its squad is packed with world-class stars such as Leah Williamson, Alessia Russo, Lauren James and Hannah Hampton.

All of them were available and started in the first leg of the World Cup play-off tie in Greece. This alone showed that England had not underestimated the challenge for a single moment. Pankritio may be a vast stadium that rarely fills up, except when OFI, the city’s biggest men’s team, plays in the Europa League, as it is doing this season. Yet the main stand was already buzzing before kick-off.

Admission was free to encourage as many people as possible to attend. And it worked. The stands were filled with families and young children, many of whom shouted from behind the barriers, urging players from both Greece and England to come over and give them their shirts. Some had even made a banner that read: “Give me your shirt and I’ll buy you a souvlaki.” A very fair exchange.

In one corner of the stadium were England’s supporters, numbering, I would estimate, more than 500. They follow their team everywhere, creating a devoted travelling fanbase, much like the Soft Hooligans in Sweden.

Among them was Basil. He was dressed from head to toe in England gear: shirt, scarf, hat, the lot. He did not sit down for a single moment throughout the match. I watched him going up and down the steps, leading the chants and keeping the atmosphere alive.

I had first met him during my trip to England, outside Stamford Bridge. He is also a huge Chelsea fan. Yesterday, I saw him again in person outside the stadium, waiting for the bus back to Heraklion.

As expected, England began to apply pressure from the opening minutes. Greece, however, held firm, with Eleni Markou leading the way and fighting some tough battles against Russo. Goalkeeper Petaloti also gave everything she had.

The opening goal was not long in coming. Lauren James seized her opportunity and scored with a stunning chip from outside the box. However, the goal was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.

The Greek stands erupted in celebration. But in the 39th minute, England’s goal stood. The visitors managed to break through Greece’s defensive lines with superb technical quality, and Stanway scored from inside the box.

Half-time arrived with the score at 0-1. The fears of those expecting Greece to suffer a heavy defeat seemed increasingly far removed from reality.

The pressure continued in the second half. England scored twice more to make it 0-3. Greece, however, refused to give up, even knowing that the match and the tie were slipping away.

Papatheodorou made a superb run with the ball before passing to Brooksair, who plays in Great Britain and represents Greece through her Greek heritage. Brooksair received the ball, produced a clever feint and scored!

The players and the fans in the stands celebrated as if it were the winning goal. In a way, it was something truly special.

At the same stadium where, more than two decades earlier, Greece’s women had struggled to create even a single chance, this time the team was not only standing proudly against some of the best players in the world but also scoring against them.

After the final whistle, with the match ending 1-3, Russo praised Greece’s performance and congratulated the team for the way it had played.
The words of Greece’s head coach, Vasilis Spertos, were particularly moving. Speaking to his players, he said:

“I want you to know that you have made me proud with your effort. And we will go there and play the same way. Understood? Every single one of you is outstanding. Do not sell yourselves short for a single moment from now on. Keep working, because we have a long way to go.”

Eleni Markou, who joined Galatasaray this summer after several years playing in Germany and Switzerland, could barely hold back her tears after such an enormous effort. Now playing as a defensive midfielder, she has also featured in central midfield and up front for the national team. Anything for the badge. David may not have defeated Goliath this time, but at least he fought back.

“I was emotional because I knew we had given everything, and deep down I know that this is only a glimpse of what we can achieve in the future,” she told me afterwards.

“The match was very intense. You do not have time to feel anything; you just have to execute, without second thoughts. The rhythm you need to maintain and your mental readiness are crucial if you want to respond correctly and read the game.

“Matches like these show you how prepared you are, what it takes to perform at a high level, and that if you get the simple things right, you can see the results. You need opponents like these to become better. I wish we could play against League A teams more often. That is our goal, after all.

“This performance shows what the Greek woman footballer is capable of. But we must always be consistent. Nothing is more important than maintaining that consistency in what we do. The future is bright as long as there is hard work, enthusiasm and knowledge,” she concluded.

After writing this feature, the second leg of the aggregate between the two nations proved to be unsuccessful for the Greece Women’s National Footbll team, falling short to England 5-0 on October 13, bringing the Lionenesses one round closer to securing Women’s World Cup qualification.

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