Hellas Football

In light of the latest incident to rock Greek Football, we ask what if anything can be done to stop these acts of on-field violence in Greece’s football stadiums? Everybody who watches Greek Football, loves it for its raw passion and emotion, but too often it can spill into violence which often sees it spill onto the pitch. Greek supporters are some of the most passionate you will find in any sport on this planet. We are of the view that fans can say what they want in a stadium and vent after a long week and let off all the flares they want. But crossing the line and engaging in on field violence is where the line must be drawn The toxic discourse of Greek football pits everybody against each other and creates victims and aggressors inflamed by rogue club directors and representatives constantly running their mouth and provoking their opposition. Here are the thoughts of some of our Hellas Football bloggers. Greg Gavalas , Today's events at Toumba once again spea...

As we come towards the conclusion of what looks to be one of the most exciting finishes to a Greek Super League season that we’ve witnessed in years, we take a look at how PAOK are going about ending Olympiakos’ run of 7 consecutive Super League titles. PAOK finished the 2016/17 season off on a positive note as they recovered from being 9th half way through the season to end up finishing in second place 6 points behind eventual winners Olympiakos. Serbian manager Vladan Ivic, guided the club to its fifth Greek Cup and the clubs first Cup in 14 years after defeating AEK Athens 2-1 in a match fuelled with controversy and violence. It was believed that Ivic had already made a decision on his future throughout the playoffs and although Chairman Ivan Savvidis and Sporting Director Lubos Michel did all they could to try and convince the Serbian manager to continue on, Ivic stated that he could not continue on because he had problems with people on the team and he could not continue to ...

OFI. O Omilos (The Club) as known to its fans, is based in Heraklion - Crete, and has been around since 1925. With the most appearances in the top leagues of Greece from all the Cretan clubs they should be used as a yard stick for success in the island.. So why do things always go wrong at the club? Formed in 1925 as a sporting club the football club has been its biggest department for a long time now. Early days for OFI were terrible. Crete as a whole was poverty stricken and with WW1 and WW2 the club could not afford to compete outside of the island thus would only play games with local clubs. Once the German occupation ended OFI were able to participate in the First Division National Championship but a variety of issues and red tape meant that even though they were the best team in Crete they would not get to play in the top league till 1957. Their time in the top division was short lived as the long trips put a financial strain on the club and in 1962 they finished last thus ...

Every now and again a young gun comes through the ranks at our club which has filled us with excitement. The possibilities for club and country have been endless but as it turns out things didn’t go the way everyone wanted them to. Here is a list of some of those players that could have been anything, but unfortunately have not hit the highs everyone expected them to. Sotiris Ninis, Sotiris burst on to the scene at Panathinaikos making his debut at the young age of 16 and had every big club in Europe was watching him. Second year syndrome hit with injuries as he was limited to a few games. The following year was a standout one that got him a new contract which included a hefty buyout clause. Besides some stunning one off games here and there, he would again get injured. A move to Italian club Parma was disastrous, the club was in a financial mess and his career stagnated there. A loan move to PAOK got him some game time but he was chasing his tail by them. After terminating his...

Ethnikos Piraeus: - Founded in 1923, they were a mainstay of the Greek top-flight from its foundation up until their first relegation in season 1988/1989. - Ethnikos were Greek Cup Winners in 1933 and twice finished as Runners-Up in the Greek Championship (1927/28 & 1955/56) - 1956/57 looked like would be the season where Ethnikos finally broke through for a League Championship, but a scandal robbed Ethnikos of the Title. - With 4 matches remaining Ethnikos looked set for the Title & were due to meet Olympiakos next, but the match would never take place. - Ethnikos was disqualified from the Championship, on the allegation of “professionalism”, as they had allegedly been in contact with Hungarian stars Ferenc Puskas and Sandor Kocsis . - Ethnikos was docked 4 points for the affair and were barred from playing the remainder of the season, Olympiakos took the Championship. - Ethnikos was based in Faliro (Karasikaki) from its inception until the end of 2001/02 season. Du...

The mid-season January transfer window is renowned for being a tricky time for clubs to make signings as players’ values tend to increase. Then there is the extra pressure of satisfying the fans as they call for additions to make a push for the title, cup, European spot, to avoid relegation, or to achieve promotion. Time will tell who proves to be a boom and who proves to be a bust, but here is a detailed analysis of the January transfer business of the big 4 clubs in the Greek Super League. AEK The Enosi are well-placed in the League for a title push, still in with a chance for Cup glory and are also in the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League with two massive games coming up against Dynamo Kiev. Consequently, they always needed to strengthen in January, however, their situation became much more complicated due to the serious injuries suffered by key players Jakub Johansson and Petros Mantalos. Bolstering the midfield now had to be the primary aim, so the club signed I...

Aris F.C, who is located in Greece’s second largest city of Thessaloniki was founded in 1914, becoming the city’s second oldest club, after Iraklis & before fierce rivals PAOK. Aris, also known as the "Kitrinomavri" (yellow & black), have always managed to hold a strong following, playing out of the beautiful Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, also known as the Harilaou (suburb in which the stadium is in). Going back in time, Aris has managed to win the domestic league on 3 occasions (1928’, 1932’, and 1946’), become the Cup Champions in 1970 & also experienced great memories in Europe, including the defeat of Atletico Madrid away in 2010. For such a proud club, winning 4 major trophies isn’t enough to replicate the support it receives from its passionate fanatics of Super 3, famous all over the world for the noise & colour they bring to games. The 2013-14 season resulted in the start of some very dark days for the club. That season, Aris finished last (18 ...