The black and white academy success

The black and white academy success.

By Andreas Mitsis,

PAOK's Giannis Konstantelias and Dinos Koulieriakis are two names on many people's lips in Greece but also increasingly in the rest of Europe.  Both players were born in 2003 and come from the Thessaloniki club's distinguished academy.

In places around Greece, suitable circumstances and good guidance can be lacking for many young talented players. The absence of basic prerequisites means that promising players unfortunately fall through the cracks.  

At PAOK, on ​​the other hand, it is the opposite. There is neither a lack of talent nor the basis for success. In the Thessaloniki club, development has moved steadily in the right direction ever since Ivan Savvidis took over the club in the summer of 2012. Since then, numerous investments have been made to, for example, expand the academy throughout Greece and improve facilities along with a series of other effective measures.  

Zagorakis ushered in the change that Savvidis refined However, the venture itself was already started during Thodoris Zagorakis' presidency of the club between 2007-09.  The captain from the European Championship gold team in 2004 had a vision of reviving a then pointless and somewhat defunct academy. 

A solid attempt was started by rebuilding the club's infrastructure where the ultimate goal was to be able to feed the A team with promising players from the U teams on a fairly regular basis with the system.  

At this time also joined for the first time a gentleman who would turn out to be a key person for the whole long success story. Namely the general manager of the academy, Vangelis Pourliotopoulos. What Savvidis then did was to build on that project with capital, strategy, international collaborations and acquired competence, which resulted in the country's best youth academy being designed.  

Only Olympiakos can in some way measure up to PAOK on the point where they have, among other things, invested in becoming global with schools around the world.  In every corner of Greece, however, PAOK have schools and scouts with their eyes on potential new stars.  A wide network with the aim of finding the best young talent from every region around the country.  

Since, of course, other big clubs also work in a similar way, a lot is about, for example, how the plan for the young ability is presented to parents/guardians or agents, both in terms of football but also schooling and more before a possible move to Thessaloniki.  A trust-inspiring treatment can be decisive. The whole is what is important in the context. The previously mentioned Pourliotopoulos has emphasized the importance of good pedagogical training.  

It goes hand in hand with being a coach who can make a difference in one way or another. Through Pourlitopoulos, PAOK has also recognized the achievement of PAOK B players where they combined studies at university with wholehearted investment in football:- The contribution of education to athletes is of the utmost importance and it has always been a fundamental principle of our academy.  Knowledge is strength and education strengthens personalities.  

We are proud of those who managed to combine both parts (studies and football) but also proud of all our players who fought hard but did not succeed.  They will reap the benefits of it for the rest of their lives.  

From Stafylidis to Konstantelias & Koulierakis, Receipts for the fine work we have received at regular intervals over a longer period of time.  If we go back approx 10 years on, we find names like Kostas Staylidis, Stelios Kitsiou, Dimitris Pelkas and Efthimis Koulouris. A couple of years ago Charis Tsingaras, Lefteris Lyratzis, Giannis Michailidis, Marios Tsaousis and Christos Tzolis were highlighted.  

The latter was sold for expensive money to the Premier League in August 2021.

This season, Giannis Konstantelias together with Dinos Koulierakis have taken advantage of the chance they were given by coach Razvan Lucescu.  

Both were born in 2003. The Romanian showed the young roosters confidence, which they were not slow to respond with via tone-setting efforts. Almost 20-year-old Konstantelias, with roots from Volos, went on a short loan stay in Eupen in Belgium last year, which gave him valuable experience.  An extremely attractive offensive midfielder with dazzling technical ability combined with speed and game perception.  

His magical assist the other weekend in the summit meeting against AEK went viral and spread worldwide, Sitting on the grass, the youngster showed tremendous presence of mind as well as magnificent ball handling. Konstantelias, whose market value has skyrocketed, recently extended his contract with PAOK until 2027. 

In a couple of weeks, it is likely that he will also make his senior national team debut. Koulierarkis came to PAOK's youth team in Thessaloniki from Chania in Crete where he grew up.  

In the spring of 2017, it was off to northern Greece, where he would remain. After impressive efforts in both the U team and the B team last season 2021-22, he was given full confidence ahead of this season by Lucescu.  

Alongside his mentor Sverrir Ingason, he has grown and shown great maturity considering his age but also his position. The tutelage of the Icelandic national team central defender has clearly had its significance for Koulierakis progress. The centre-back duo have good chemistry and complement each other well.  

Left-footed Koulierakis is a modern centre-back with a fine play-up foot and masters both the short and the longer passing game. Before he was retrained as a center back during his time in the academy, he had played as an attacking midfielder. In addition to his footwork, he has excellent physique for his age, game intelligence and mental strength.  Possessing just mental strength is basically half the part of being successful. Koulierakis was ruled out of his first-team debut in November when he was given playing time by national team captain Gustavo Poyet in a meaningless NL game against Malta. 

In the top game against AEK at Toumba last weekend (February 19) he scored his second league goal of the season. 

Rumours have already started to abound around interested parties for the players. AC Milan, Red Bull Salzburg and others have been mentioned in the media. A rumor pointed to Benfica being willing to pay 25 million euros to bring the duo over to Lisbon.  

It is important for the board and sports director José Boto that there is a clear plan for how they will handle upcoming bids for the players this summer.  

Incidentally, the club recently sold another product of its own. 19-year-old Georgios Koutsias has been on loan to Volos during the season but will now move across the Atlantic.  

MLS club Chicago Fire have decided to pay 2.5 million euros to PAOK for his services. The next name to remember from PAOK is the mere 17-year-old Stefanos Tzimas. A striker who for several years has been matched against older opponents in agreement with the plan around him.  PAOK's structure and work around its entire youth activities is, in summary, a great example to try for others to follow as far as possible.  

P.S. Terrible tragedy last night at accident-prone Tempi outside Larissa where a passenger train with around 350 travelers collided with a freight train. 36 people are confirmed dead and nearly 100 injured. 

Three days of national mourning have been issued. Thoughts and prayers go out to all affected by the tragedy.  

Due to the incident, tonight's (1/3) cup semi-final game is postponed and football is back with round 25 of the league game for the weekend.  

We chose, despite the tragedy to publish today's article about PAOK's academy so that there will be a little more positive reading for those who wish during this sad time.

Andreas Mitsis for svenskafans.com

Translated in English for Hellas Football.