Atromitos Season Preview

Atromitos Season Preview

By Michael Vissini,



Atromitos and fans will want to forget last season, missing out on the playoffs and finishing second best behind Volos in the relegation group. 


That on paper looks okay, but overall underwhelming considering their form throughout the 20/21 season was nothing but inconsistent. Of course, it also happened to be Javier Umbides final season and hung up his boots, losing a big voice in the team ahead of the 21/22 Super League season. With the abrupt development all the way back in winter that club owner Giorgos Spanos was set to walk away in summer as well as leave the club on good financial terms, this never eventuated and Spanos conducted a huge overhaul over the summer.


Half of last season’s roster was surplus to requirements, most notably prolific goal-scorer Giorgos Manousos who joined Lamia, defenders Dimitris Goutas and Rodrigo Galo, and the well-known Lazaros Christodoulopoulos now plying his trade in Cyprus for Anorthosis. Of course, Savvas Pantelidis was not retained and rightfully so after his second term with Atromitos resulted in failure.


So, witnessing Atromitos activity over the summer period, the club appointed former Volos coach Angel Lopez who reportedly was destined to return to Spain. If you recall, he was fired last season with three rounds to spare in the relegation group for unknown reasons despite propelling them to top of the standings.


The 38 year old Spanish coach may seem inexperienced but after what he managed to do with Volos, it is the right one. On the other hand, his Volos side last season did perform reasonably well but unfortunate to not qualify for the play-offs after an injury rampant season for the Thessalian outfit. Only problem with Lopez are his utilisation of substitutions, perfect case was the 2-0 home loss to Panathinaikos where he made two changes only at the right-back position, leaving 9 players bar the goalkeeper play the full 90 minutes which played a factor into the result. Hopefully he has learned from this mistake because I believe he has the potential to become a good coach in the years to come.


Continuing on Atromitos summer activity, the club completed a total of 12 acquisitions with the repatriations of former star striker Efthymis Koulouris to lead the front line, the 25 year old 18/19 Super League Golden boot winner is looking to resurrect his career in Greece after not adapting to the French environment with Toulouse, and Dimitris Chatziisaias back in the side after stints in Turkey and Belgium. 


The club even snapped up Apollon Smyrnis number 10 Bedinelli, and former AEK and Panathinaikos winger Viktor Klonaridis who most recently played in Cyprus with APOEL. The under-utilised AEK right-back Stavros Vasilantonopoulos is another great reinforcement for the defence, while Kartalis from PAS Giannina as well as Serbian contingent Djordje Denic and Srdjan Spiridonovic strengthen the midfield - the latter is most notable for a successful stint with Panionios few seasons back and was linked with Panathinaikos. You will be seeing Argentinean winger Matias Pisano out on the wings, and the experienced 33 year old Spaniard Dani Castellano from Las Palmas at left-back. In between the sticks is Bosnian international Kenan Piric, who Lopez has favoured over 21 year old rising talent Giorgos Mandas. 


Finally, what we have all wished for to happen has come true, but so unexpectedly, with Greek international Kyriakos Papadopoulos back in Greece with the 29 year old set to lead the backline for Atromitos this season.

Pre-season has not been Atromitos strong forte, much like Panathinaikos, with poor results against relatively well known Spanish sides like Elche, Valencia, Getafe, Levante and Real Zaragoza, then afterwards faced fellow Super League clubs. Poor results, but Angel Lopez should have been able to grasp an understanding of where the team currently stood quality wise, adjust tactics and the style of football, and certainly hope this quality is clicking with the new arrivals understanding each other’s game translating that over the 21/22 Super League season.


For sure, one of the best Atromitos teams ever assembled and I am expecting Top 6 for Lopez side, but with four European spots up for grabs, it will make for an interesting season for the Peristeri-based club as they aim to challenge the big guns Olympiakos, PAOK, Panathinaikos, AEK and Aris, who start on -6 points due to a controversial decision by EPO which caused huge uproar amongst Aris fans, even Theo Zagorakis disagreed by docking Aris points but that didn’t ultimately lead to him resigning as EPO President.


Anyways, speaking of the big guns, Atromitos first test is against Olympiakos in Piraeus on matchday one.


Predicted finish: 6th


Hellas Football 


Follow @michael_vissini

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