Hellas Football

HELLAS FOOTBALL REWIND: 1998 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING By Maik, Given the predicament the World finds itself in. We thought we’d look back at one of the most exciting yet infuriating qualifying campaigns of the Ethniki, as we retrace Greece’s road to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The euphoria of Greece qualifying for its 1 st ever World Cup at USA 94, was followed by the embarrassment of losing all 3 group matches quite convincingly, without scoring a goal in the process. All be it, it must be said, to some very good teams at the time in Argentina, Bulgaria and Nigeria. USA 94 was a major letdown for all Greek fans. To those who bought tickets and travelled from Greece, to the Greeks in the USA and Canada who did the same, to those waking up at ungodly hours down in Australia eager to watch Greece at its first World Cup. Immediately following the tournament, the recriminations had begun and questions of why so many older players were chosen ahead of some of the younger talent wer

PANATHINAIKOS FINALLY ON THE RIGHT TRACK TO BRING FUTURE SUCCESS By Nick Tsambouniaris Despite several painful seasons, normality is closer than ever to becoming the new reality for Panathinaikos. The powerhouse club became a fallen giant in late 2017 when Giannis Alafouzos infamously announced that he would no longer be investing in the club. As a result, the debt increased, players (past and present) and staff went unpaid for months, a ban was handed down by UEFA from participating in European competitions, and the team even flirted with relegation. Giorgos Donis has done an amazing job, mostly focusing on developing youth players. This has led to the club not needing to send big money on foreigners. Panathinaikos can later sell these players and make a profit in the future and become self-sustainable. This also lowered the budget and in turn, the debt as there are less expenses. Alafouzos has also back flipped on his word - he has made significant investments into the

AEK’s Rollercoaster: From Champions to Rebuilding By Greg Gavalas It has been a real rollercoaster ride for AEK since winning the Championships for the first time in 24 years in season 2017/18. AEK won the Championship that year from PAOK by 6 points with an impressive 21 wins from 30 games and conceded just 12 goals, proving that a great defence wins you trophies. Under the guidance of Manolo Jimenez the Athens club built a very good team all round, with Vasilis Barkas in goals, Ognjen Vranjes leading the defence with very good partners next to him in Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Kostas Lambropoulos. Also in defence Rodrigo Galo was a great right back but also proved his worth with great performances higher up at as a right midfielder. What worked well with that was Lazaros Christodoulopoulos on the left, the Salonika born midfielder had, arguably his best season to date, scoring great goals but also very important goals, it gave AEK a dimension we have not seen s

Forgive but not forget? Written by  George Our Euro 2020 campaign ended with us winning 2-1 against Finland at home with a spirited second half comeback sealing the deal. 3 wins on the bounce. who'd of though that was possible when we lost the plot and had a draw with Liechtenstein.  Van't Schip saw enough to know that the toxic environment had engulfed all and sundry and a huge kick in the arse was needed to show this team, now his team, shit like that is unacceptable. Sokratis and Manolas were told to have a break, long term incumbents were told to go back and play regular club football, whilst inform Fetfatzidis was dropped for running late to a scheduled session.  The line was well and truly drawn.  We all have different opinions, but what we can all agree on is the huge 180 the team did. Young hungry players eager to show the new boss that they too deserve to be playing.  The loss to Italy wasn't a shock but we saw enough in that game to se

A Battling Performance Amidst Peculiar Circumstances By Gavin Waymire, Following the Kokkinoi’s creditable 1-1 home draw with Wolves, lets take a look at how each player performed individually. Goalkeeper, José Sá- 7/10: A solid performance from Olympiakos’ reliable Portuguese stopper, he did well throughout, and was unlucky not to keep the clean sheet, conceding from a deflection. Right Back, Omar Elabdellaoui- 6/10: Solid throughout, although he did look troubled by Ruben Vinagre from time to time. Overall decent performance. Center Back, Ruben Semedo- 3/10: For as talented as he is, he is beginning to show that like Yassine Meriah, he has a few shocking mistakes in him. He looked superb while he was on the pitch, but his sending off after only 30’ minutes put the Reds on a dangerous lurch. Luckily for him, his teammates found a way. Cissé should be starting over Semedo going forward. Center Back, Ousseynou Ba- 8/10: The Senegalese mountain has been incredible in recent

Watering Down The Ethniki. Is There Such A Thing? By George John van't Schip and his team have been a positive influence for the Ethniki from top to bottom and team selection by far and large has been based on club form rather that the players name or status in the game. A breathe of fresh air. Along the way the coaching staff have been open about the possibility of capping players who have Greek heritage even if they don't speak the language or have played in the Greek League. Players like Sebasian Vasiliadis who came in to the squad recently,    George Baldock who has been rumoured to have agreed to be part of the upcoming squad and players like Kaj Sierhuis, Leonidas Stergiou and Orestis Kiomortzoglou who are in ongoing discussions to play for us.  This isn't an entirely new thing, players with Greek heritage in Holebas, Vlachodimos and Zeca who after spending a large part pf his life in Greece became an citizen all chose to represent Greece in recent

CYPRIOT FIRST LEAGUE FIRST PLAYOFFS REVIEW By Chrisos Mavromoustakos The perilous play-off berth is amongst us in Cypriot football, providing goals, upsets and plenty of stalemates.  The Cypriot First League Play-Offs are divided into two main groups, the Championship Group and the Relegation Group. The Championship Group consists of the top 6 teams, who battle it out for European spots and league titles, whilst the relegation group consists of the bottom 6 teams who look to not get relegated and finishing in the bottom two.  Championship Group AEL Lemesos (6) v Omonia (1) Omonia went into this match with an undefeated 5 matches, with their last loss coming at the hands of Achnas on the 10 th of March. They are booming in confidence after snatching that first spot from Anorthosis and were ready for a fight against AEL, who are looking to bounce further into those European spots. However, this wasn’t meant to be, and Omonia pulled away with three points, although AEL