Interview With Gianna Douka - Coach Of Ergotelis WFC

Interview With Gianna Douka - Coach Of Ergotelis WFC

By Alexander Koutakos

For many of us in the diaspora, Greek women’s football is quite unknown. Overall, Greek women’s football receives barely any coverage in the mainstream media and in society. 

This has to change. And thus, I decided to do something about it. Recently, I went on Instagram and I requested to do an interview with the coaches of multiple teams in the women’s first division. Gladly, some of them said yes. As the title states, this blog will solely focus on my interview with Gianna Douka-the coach of Ergotelis WFC.

Ergotelis WFC has so far started their season well with a total of 4 points from 2 games. They recently won 6-2 against AEK Missolonghi. 

It was a phenomenal result that depicted the strength and the class of Ergotelis WFC. 

A lot of that strength comes from Ergotelis WFC’s coach (Gianna Douka). I had the pleasure to ask Gianna Douka some questions and the answers that I got were quite interesting, to say the least! 

Let’s dive right into it!

First off, what is your role with Ergotelis WFC?

-Gianna Douka: “I am the coach of Ergotelis’ women's soccer team”.

What are Ergotelis WFC’s ambitions for this season?

-Gianna Douka: “Our ambitions for this season and for the team is definitely to maintain the team’s position in the first category and also to achieve as many points as possible.”

If Ergotelis WFC does not meet its ambitions for the season, what will you and the club look for and want to see instead?

-Gianna Douka: “Whether the goal of the club is accomplished or not, the ambition of the team remains the same. In case it is not achieved, we will detect the reasons why the target was not achieved and by working hard we will improve the potential weaknesses.”

How has the delay of the season and Covid-19 affected Ergotelis WFC?

-Gianna Douka: “Definitely the current situation got us out of our competitive pace. I believe that the same things stand for all the Greek women football teams. Unfortunately, we are called as a team, to face another difficulty similar to the ones all the Greek football teams in the championship face. Nevertheless, our team throughout this period of covid 19, didn’t stay inactive, and all of our football players continued training individually under my strict orders.”

What has Ergotelis WFC done to limit the effect of Covid-19 and the delay of the season?

-Gianna Douka: “For the first part, as mentioned, our team has been working on both an individual level and as well as a team program taking all the necessary precautions, tests and measures to protect the athletes. 

For the second part, the administration and the coaching team in cooperation with the Greek football federation and the government took action by organizing concrete and massive actions in order to have a quick restart of the championship in our country. And of course we managed to get it going.”

Ergotelis WFC is a historic club in Greece, what would you say are the club’s biggest achievements in its history?

-Gianna Douka: “Ergotelis women’s football team is a team which has a total of 20 years of presence in the Greek championships. 

For me personally, the biggest achievement of our team is that it has catered all of the categories of the national team with a total of 86 players in all its categories (U16,U19 and women). 

Another great achievement was that during its second year of life we won the championship (second division), and then we went up to the first category of the Greek national women’s league. A year later we went to the finals competing for the Greek championship and in the period 2015-2016 we competed for the cup.”

Does Ergotelis WFC have a strong academy?

-Gianna Douka: “A team such as this, whose philosophy is very close to the European philosophy regarding football undoubtedly has infrastructure departments. 

Our team has two academies at the moment. One department trains kids under 12 and another one trains kids under 16, the latter of which competes for the Greek C’ category nationally, being the basic source of athletes for the first team.”

Are there players who used to play in Ergotelis’ academy who currently play for Ergotelis WFC?

-Gianna Douka: “The roster of our first team consists of 22 athletes.

Out of those 22, 20 athletes come from our academy.”

Does Ergotelis WFC have any teams that are considered “rivals”? If so, which teams are those “rival” teams?

-Gianna Douka: “For us, throughout the years the only rival we had to deal with has been without doubt our very self. Our kids from a young age learn to have personal goals and to have a vision. We work on these points on a daily basis so that the kids learn from a young age to compete themselves in order to improve themselves and reach the goals they have set.”

Does Ergotelis WFC currently have a captain? If so, who is the captain?

-Gianna Douka: “Our team has three captains -kids that have been raised with the idea called Ergotelis, working according to the principles and the ethics of the team.

The First captain of the team is Efi Xera whose credentials are known all over the Greek and European spectrum; having 12 consecutive years of participation in the Ergotelis team. Furthermore, she has 35 participations in the national team.

The Second captain is Stella Simeaki who counts 18 years in the team and over 15 years of participation in the national assemblies. The Third captain is Dania Sidira who has been wearing the Ergotelis football shirt for over 12 years. She is a football player who has been a role model for the generations of the Ergotelis girls since the age of 18 when she became a professional football player in the Cypriot championship. She has also had a lot of participations in the Women's Champions League and in many championship conquests. In addition, she has over 50 participations with the Greek national team.”

Has Ergotelis WFC ever played in the Women’s Champions League?

-Gianna Douka: “In the course of the operation of the team there has never been an entrance in Europe. However, I can say that this team is not jealous of any other team that participates in the Women's Champions League. Hopefully, in the following years, we will be able to represent our country in European competitions.”

Where can people find Ergotelis WFC’s games and follow Ergotelis WFC on social media?

-Gianna Douka: “Ergotelis' Women soccer team has set up its own channel on YouTube called Ergotelisws.tv this year that shows our games. People can also find us on Facebook as Ergotelis Women Soccer and on Instagram as ergotelis_ws.”

I would like to conclude this blog by saying that it was a pleasure and an honor of mine to ask Gianna Douka those questions. The answers that she gave me were very interesting and at the same time, I learned a lot about Ergotelis WFC. 

Hellas Football 

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