Greek Super League: 2022/23 Regular Season Review

By Stephen Kountourou

From a neutral perspective, it has been one of the most enthralling Greek Super League seasons for a generation. Not only have we had a title race where any of the big four titans of the Greek game could still win the title, but it will also be the first time since the playoffs were introduced that the champions will be decided in the latter stages of the season.

But before the playoffs commence, there is still time to reflect on what has been a highly entertaining, and at times controversial regular season, as is the norm with Greek football, the gift that keeps on giving.

Panathinaikos 

After a very shrewd summer transfer window, Panathinaikos had an excellent first half of the season, winning their first 11 games in a row and going into the World Cup break undefeated and top of the Super League table, looking set to cruise towards their first league title since 2009/10. However, the break seemed to slow PAO’s momentum and by the time club football was recommended they looked out of sorts. 

They would eventually suffer their first loss of the season against AEK and with other results not going the Prasini’s way, the other big three clubs finally caught up on points. Ivan Jovanovic’s men after rediscovering their form, find themselves battling with AEK for the top spot at the end of the regular season with Olympiakos and PAOK not far behind.

AEK Athens

Barring a mixed first few games at the start of the season, AEK Athens has gone from strength to strength. Their new Agia Sofia stadium has been a fortress for the current league leaders and has been the driving force behind Matías Almeyda’s team's title charge. Even with the World Cup break, AEK used that time constructively to properly prepare for the second half of the regular season.

Since the restart, they have only continued their impressive form, particularly at home to challenge Panathniakos for the top spot. The only hiccup of the season came with the controversial goalpost gate, in which AEK refused to play against Atromitos in Peristeri. This was due to AEK finding Atromitos goalposts to be shorter than UEFA standards. 

After weeks of speculation and with the possibility of an automatic 3-0 victory in favour of Enosis, their appeal was rejected and the match was instead played at a later date, which AEK eventually won anyway. At the end of the regular season, they find themselves second and despite losing 1-3 to Olympiakos in the final game of the regular season are still with a strong chance of claiming their first title in five years.

Olympiakos

It's certainly been a rollercoaster season for Olympiakos. After the departure of Pedro Martins during their European campaign, Thrylos hired Carlos Corberan who intended to implement a long-term project and take the champions in a new direction. This however did not last long. 

After a slow start to the season and a 2-1 loss to Aris, the board lost their patience with Corberan after just six weeks and sacked the Spanish coach. Michel was brought in for his second stint in charge to shave down a bloated squad, improve the style of play and mentality of the players on and off the pitch and steer Olympiakos to a fourth league title in a row.

With signs of improvement and Michel’s cutthroat downsizing of the squad, Olympiakos used the midseason break to great effect and returned to the season looking much more cohesive as a team. The biggest enemy of Thrylos however has been their derby performances. 

Other than against Aris, Olympiakos has struggled in derby matches all season. But that changed on the final match day of the regular season with Thrylos running out 1-3 winners of AEK in Agia Sofia. With an undefeated streak in the league since October and this huge derby win, Olympiakos have the momentum to finish strong this season, and maybe, an outside shot at retaining the title.

PAOK

The side from Thessaloniki, much like Olympiakos, had a patchy start to the season. With the abject football, a lack of cohesiveness and squad identity, there were calls for Răzvan Lucescu to be sacked by fans. But with a confidence-building win over Olympiakos at Karaiskakis, PAOK picked up momentum and started to find some more rhythm throughout the regular season. 

The greatest strength of the Aspromavro this season has undoubtedly been their youth players given the opportunity to shine. Prospects like Giannis Konstantelias, Konstantinos Koulierakis, and Stefanos Tzimas have all shown the strength of PAOK academy and are a great example of what other Greek clubs coil and should be doing to promote Greek talent.  

Having defeated both AEK and Panathinaikos in the run-up to the playoffs, PAOK has shown why they too are very much still in the title conversation. 

Aris

Early doors of the season Aris looked like they meant business. They signed former Watford and Premier League striker Andre Gray and former Arsenal winger Gervinho and looked excellent during their brief stint in the Europa Conference League qualifiers. After that, however, the club's decision-making became rather erratic. They sacked then-manager Germán Burgos and replaced him with former Newcastle and Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew. 

Despite an encouraging start with a 2-1 win over Olympiakos, results started to become inconsistent and after a win of multiple losses on the bounce, Pardew was to show the door with Aris looking threatened to drop out of the top six altogether. Eventually, caretaker Apostolos Terzis steadied the ship enough for Aris to take 5th place. 

Volos

The last of the top six, Volos started the season the same way they have ever since they were promoted to the Super League, by looking as though they could break the cycle of the traditional big teams at the top of the table. That was after they surprisingly sacked their manager Oswald Tanchot after the first game of the season and replaced him with assistant coach Kostas Bratsos.

But as is customary with Volos, where there’s a rise, there’s also a fall. After the World Cup break, Volos went on a nine-game winless run which saw them plummet down the table. It looked like another season of Volos missing out on the top six and being the best of the rest. However, this season was different. The club managed to steady itself enough to comfortably take 6th place. 

Panetolikos

Starting with the best of the rest, Panetolikos played some really exciting football at times during the regular season which made many believe they could be an outside shot at the top six with Nikos Karelis starting up front at the Canaries consistently delivering. 

Another victim of the World Cup break killing their momentum, the side from Agrino sadly could not capitalise on Volos drop in form and missed out on 6th with a few games to spare. However, they can be proud of their achievement. With American businessman Miciek Kaminski buying the club at the end of 2022, the future of Panetolikos could be an intriguing one.

Atromitos

The side from Peristeri had a strange season even by their standards. They were pretty inconsistent results-wise, at times playing both great and subpar football under former Wales manager Chris Coleman. They tended to play much better against the bigger sides in the league but would falter against sides below them. Atromitos most notably was part of what was christened, goalpost gate, after AEK walked off their pitch due to the goalposts being shorter than UEFA regulations decreed. 

After weeks of uncertainty and with the threat of receiving an automatic 0-3 loss, the match was played just before the final week before the end of the regular season which Atromitos lost 0-1 at home anyway. They, like Panetolikos, had their moments but were forced to settle for the playouts.

OFI Crete

The Cretan side continued the same trend as they had for the past couple of seasons. OFI struggled during the first half of the season and looked as though they could be relegation candidates. This resulted in Nikos Nioplias being shown the door with Lithuanian coach Valdas Dambrauskas replacing him. 

After that OFI’s fortunes improved and they managed to claw themselves out of the relegation conversation. But as is the trend of the last few seasons, their poor start was costly and they could not mount a charge to try and take 6th place from Volos.

Asteras Tripolis

After a few seasons of playing some attractive football and scouting Spanish players, Asteras had a bit of a disappointing campaign by their standards. They failed to win a match until the beginning of October and heading into the World Cup break they had only one twice resulting in German Greek Iraklis Metaxas losing his job. They are also the side with the most draws this season with 13 in 26 games.

The Arcadians did make a shrewd appointment in former Aris coach Akis Mantzios. The high points were their results against the big four in Greece with draws against Olympiakos, AEK, twice against PAOK and a victory over Panathinaikos. 

PAS Giannina

After looking so impressive last season and reaching the playoffs it was a far cry from that in 2022/23 for PAS Giannina. PAS has spent the vast majority of the season attempting to avoid being sucked into a relegation battle and didn't record their first win until the 31st of October. The side that had played some attractive football last campaign looked like a shadow of their former selves. 

The new year saw a slight improvement, with a comeback 2-2 draw against Olympiakos and a 2-1 win over AEK. While they now have a healthy enough points gap between them and the bottom two, they need to be careful not to get pulled back into a relegation scrap. 

Ionikos

The term hangover season comes to mind when talking about Ionikos campaign. After playing some functional football in 2021/22, the Piraeus side has endured a torrid time throughout the regular season mostly struggling at the foot of the Super League table after waiting till November for their first win of the season. 

The style of football changed too with the players resorting to more crunching tackles and committing dangerous challenges on their opponents. Towards the latter stages of the regular season and under new manager Michalis Grigoriou, Ionikos picked up results more consistently including a 1-0 win over Aris and hauling themselves out of the bottom two. Going into the playouts, Ionikos are not out of the woods yet.

Lamia

With only two wins, the least of any club in the Super League at the end of the regular season, Lamia was one of the favourites to go down by many after narrowly escaping the drop last season via the relegation playoffs. They also went through two managers in Gianluca Festa and Savvas Pantelidis being sacked and  Leonidas Vokolo taking the helm up till now.

As the regular season drew to a close Lamia picked up some vital points in their last three games, including a 2-1 win over Aris. Despite a poor season, even Lamia has a chance of staying up with one point separating the bottom three.

Levadiakos

The only promoted side and relegation favourites, Levadiakos found themselves unsurprisingly at the foot of the table at the end of the regular season. Much like the two sides above them, they have struggled constantly for points. Despite this even if they are not dead and buried and could very easily, with a good run, perform the unlikely achievement of staying up for another season with the relegation battle in Greece almost as intriguing as the title race.

@SteveKountourou

Hellas Football