Hellas Football

What could have been of Mexico 1970 By Greg Gavalas As most know too well, Greece qualified for their first FIFA World Cup at the 1994 World Cup which was held in the United States, despite an amazing World Cup that was, Greece endured a nightmare campaign that many don’t like revisiting however it’s incredible to note how poorly Greece’s qualifications campaigns in past campaigns had been so getting to that World Cup alone was an achievement. Truth be told, previous World Cups were hard campaigns to get into for team’s outside the established regulars, until modern times, it would be just the team that finished first that would qualify and World Cups, from 1934 to 1978 had 16 participants, it was only in 1982 that it became a 24 team tournament before it expanded to 32 in 1998 and the current format. Sadly FIFA have announced the tournament to grow to 48 participates in 2026, a disgraceful decision but that’s a story for another time. Back to the Ethniki, after a few failed attempts t...

Olympiakos - Europa League Group Stage Review: By Stephen Kountourou  With that, it’s a wrap on the group stage of European football for another season. Sides have already learnt their fate as to who they will face in the knockout stages of all three UEFA competitions and there are certainly some tasty ties that await us in the new year. Supporters of Olympiakos, in particular, had a tough task awaiting their team regardless of who they were to be drawn against in the Europa League Playoff Round.  But before I briefly go into Thrylos upcoming opponent and my thoughts early doors, I want to take a look back at the Greek champions group stage campaign just gone. The highs, the lows and how the Piraeus side reached the knockout stages of a major UEFA tournament for the 9th time in 10 seasons.  Flying High with Two Wins in Two   Upon drawing Antwerp, Fenerbahce Frankfurt there was hope from many supporters that this was a group that Olympiakos could certainly compet...

Antwerp vs Olympiakos:   Europa League Match Day 6 Preview Top Spot Still an Unlikely Possibility  By Stephen Kountourou  Just like that, the group stages of every major UEFA Competition is about to come to an end for another season. Teams competing in these major tournaments have more or less secured their destinies, whether that be securing qualification to the knockout stages, dropping into a secondary or tertiary knockout phase, or waving goodbye to continental football altogether.  In Group D of the Europa League, there are still a few places up for grabs despite the top two and bottom two now separated mathematically. After a famous victory in Piraeus over Fenerbahce, Olympiakos were able to secure a place in at least the Europa League playoff place for the new year. Even with this success, there is still the small possibility of finishing top but it is out of Thrylos hands.  To secure 1st and a place in the Round of 16, the Greek champions would have to n...

Conference League: PAOK vs Lincoln Red Imps Preview By Michael Vissini, Matchday 6 of the Conference League has arrived with PAOK back at Toumba for the final fixture welcoming Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar where qualification is at stake. Prior to this fixture, Razvan Lucescu’s PAOK have been in abysmal form since club football returned in mid-November with a record of zero wins, two draws and three losses in all competitions. Since the 0-0 draw with Slovan Bratislava on Matchday 5 of the Conference League, PAOK lost bragging rights in the Macedonian Derby to arch-rivals Aris, handing their first win at Toumba in 11 years – a match overshadowed by a minority of PAOK fans from GATE 4 throwing flares and invading the pitch, forcing the match to stop for 42 minutes then resumed without fans for the last 3 minutes. Yes, a common theme reoccurred in Greek Football - or shalI say, Sfinaki-ball! Afterwards, PAOK were unsurprisingly penalised by EPO with a heavy fine of €193,500 plus four gam...