The Great Stadium Debate

Amidst the plethora of other issues that seem to surround Greek Football on a daily basis, sits the issue of stadia and facilities.

Where do we currently sit? And what can be done to improve the situation?

For years now, Olympiakos has reaped the benefits of having the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium. Although it is nominally owned by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Olympiakos essentially operate it and run it themselves.

When it was built in 2003, Olympiakos received an exclusive 50-year lease for its use, until 2052. Olympiakos would cover all costs surrounding the operating and maintenance of the facility and in return, Olympiakos would pay somewhere around 10% of all revenue generated, back to the Hellenic Olympic Committee.

The Georgios Kariaskakis Stadium cost around €60 million to build by the time it was finished in 2004, this roughly comes to €75 million in today’s money. In relative terms we are not talking about that much money and you won't find very many people saying, that the 32,000 capacity Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium isn’t a first-class venue.

Of course over the last few years we have seen the strides AEK have made and within the next 18 months, their 30,000 capacity Agia Sophia stadium, should be completed and ready for use.  

The AEK administration has also invested in a new training centre/complex, so in this respect, AEK look to have a stable home and promising future, in terms of facilities.

Great news for Olympiakos and AEK then, but what about the rest?

Panathinaikos sadly lags way behind. Over the years the Greens have come out with several plans and designs as well as various locations for a potential stadium, but it has all come to nothing.

The 16,000 capacity Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, while revered by all Panathinaikos supporters, has passed its use-by date. It may have historical significance, but it is a relic and is simply not big enough nor good enough of a facility, to cater for and befitting of a club, the size of and with the stature and history of Panathinaikos F.C. Many Panathinaikos fans with their green glasses on, will no doubt disagree with those negative characteristics of the venue.

More plans have been doing the rounds in the media in recent times, but nothing has come of those as of yet and Panathinaikos remains in limbo, currently using the Olympic Stadium.

PAOK which currently owns and operates its Toumba Stadium, have also in the past released plans to either modernise the venue or completely rebuild it from scratch.

Recently, the Greek Government gave its support for a new stadium for PAOK, allocating land to PAOK to build a new stadium at a different location. With the likes of Ivan Savvidis in charge, you would put your money on PAOK having a new stadium in the near future.

Another development is the recent announcement of OFI, which plans to build a new arena in Skafidaras, west of Heraklion.

This can only be a good thing for Greek Football.

Some more food for thought is this. Between 2004-2014, The National Team Qualified for 5 Major Tournaments, winning EURO 2004, making it to the Quarter-Finals of EURO 2008 as well as making the Last 16 at the 2014 World Cup.

That, one would assume, be quite a bit of prize-money, not to mention other money earned by the Federation in that time. Where did it go? What was it used on? Did the people at the Federation just share it among themselves?

A portion of this money could have been used to create a “stadium fund” to build new arenas or renovate old ones, focusing on strategic geographic locations around the country, those with considerable populations. Helping clubs throughout Athens and Thessaloniki, but also in places such as: Patra, Kalamata, Kavala, Trikala, Ioannina, Alexandroupoli, Drama, Agrinio, Lamia etc. 12-15k sized stadia would be perfect.

Does a stadium plan exist?

Of course, there will be those reading this who would be opposed to this type of centralisation of funds and decisions.

Which area or club would or should get priority? Some may even argue that clubs should be left to their own devices and work to find investors, raise the funds and complete this type of work themselves.

Whatever anyone’s allegiances or opinions, most can agree that these types of projects would be a good thing for Football in Greece.

By Hellas Football