Hellas Football

Struggling teams in dire need of finding some footing in 2020 By Nick Gargano   The brand new format of the Super League will see the clubs who finish in spots 7-14 of the table compete in a series of relegation playoff rounds.  As it stands going into 2020, Panathinaikos, Xanthi, Atromitos, Lamia, Volos, Asteras, Panaitolikos and Panionios would all be competing in the relegation playoffs.  And just as there are two runaway clubs at the top of the table (PAOK and Olympiakos), there are already two bottom dwelling clubs in Panaitolikos and Panionios who only have 8 and 6 points, respectively.  It should be noted that Panionios started the season on -6 points due to their failure to secure the proper licensing required to compete in the Super League this year.   The clubs in the middle of the table don’t have much room for error either, with only 3 points separating the 5th placed team and the 10th placed team.  AEL, Aris and Panathinaikos oc...

OFI mid season review 2019/2020 By Greg Gavalas The biggest club in Crete is enjoying a great season, not only is OFI sitting pretty in 4th place, but the black and white islanders are playing wonderful football and their matches are a pleasure to watch, giving locals a great reason to pack the boutique Theodoris Vardinogiannis stadium. Young Greek Coach, 41 year old, Giorgos Simos has done a great job with the team, OFI has scored 25 goals, the 3rd most in the league, only highflyers, Olympiakos and PAOK have scored more. Although preseason didn’t bring great results, it proved a valuable time to see what worked and what didn’t work and as such OFI hit the ground running, a 3-1 win in Athens against Panathinaikos had everyone stand up and notice, not only because of the score line but the way OFI played, with excellent passing between the lines and smart runs into space which the team have carried on with. OFI has been unlucky in most matches lost, especially agai...

Resilient PAOK overcome Olympiakos challenge By Athan , PAOK extended their unbeaten run to a remarkable 47 matches following a gutsy 1:1 away draw in Piraeus.  The Champions absorbed pressure early but slowly worked themselves into the game mainly playing on the counter attack. Olympiakos created a few chances early, however, PAOK’s defence ensured that they were in offside positions. PAOK did well to win free kicks in positions where Olympiakos players were committing unnecessary fouls, which would give the visitors breathing space and allow them to set up further up the field and prevent Olympiakos’ momentum.   This was led by PAOK’s midfielders in Diego Biseswar and Dimitris Limnios who won key fouls in good positions for the team in black and white.  PAOK’s goal came in the 29th minute from a set piece. Croatian midfielder Josip Misic proved why he has been PAOK’s most improved and important player throughout this campaign thus far. He has ...