An Early Preview of all Greek Clubs in Europe

An Early Preview of 

All Greek Clubs in Europe


By Stephen Kountourou 




Even in the off-season, the narrative never stops in Greek football. This is mainly thanks to clubs who qualified for Europe last season being on the verge of competing in the qualifiers of all three of UEFA’s major competitions. The Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.


For many it is imperative that Greece has as many teams qualify for the European group stages as possible, to help improve the nations diminishing UEFA Coefficient ranking. Here is who each Greek club the qualifiers could or will be facing this summer. 


AEK Athens


The reigning Super League champions, AEK have the least clear potential opponent of all the Greek clubs in Europe this season. Being in the Champions League 3rd round qualifiers they will not be finding out how they will face until the draw on the 24th of July. Potential opponents include Slovan Bratislava, FC Copenhagen, Ferencvaros, Galatasaray, Dinamo Zagreb and Qarabag FC.


All six are difficult prospects for the champions. But ideally, the most realistic way of reaching the Champions League playoffs would be to avoid the likes of Galatasaray and Dinamo Zagreb while hoping to face either Slovan Bratislava FC Copenhagen, Ferencvaros or Qarabag FC despite the latter four teams being far from easy opponents for any Greek side. 


Panathinaikos


The Prasini, who enter the Champions League second qualifying round in less than a month, already know their opponents having been drawn to play SC Dnipro-1. While Panathinaikos can realistically hope to reach the next round of the qualifiers they cannot underestimate the Ukrainian side.


Greek clubs have had a recent history of struggling against sides from the eastern European country. PAO will first travel to Slovakia where Dnipro are playing their home matches before hosting the second leg at Leoforos. If they qualify for the 3rd qualifying round they could face Rangers, Braga, PSV Eindhoven or Marseille, any of whom would be a tough prospect for Panathinaikos.


Olympiakos 


Thrylos are playing the waiting game that could see them either become favourites or underdogs in the Europa League 3rd qualifying round. The match in question is the Champions League 2nd qualifying round between Belgian side Genk and Swiss side Servette. Whoever loses this tie will drop into the Europa League 3rd-round qualifiers.


The ideal opponent for Olympiakos would be Servette as Greek clubs have a good record against Swiss opponents. Genk could prove to be much of a challenge for Thrylos if they found themselves out of the Champions League qualifiers. Olympiakos will have to wait for another month to find out who they will be playing. 


PAOK


Much like Panathinaikos, PAOK has already been drawn to face an opponent in the Europa Conference League 2nd qualifying round in the form of Israeli side Beitar Jerusalem. A favourable opponent for the Asprómavri but as has been the case with Greek clubs in European qualifiers over the last few years, it is never that simple.


Greek sides have consistently underperformed in the qualifiers against opponents who many would expect them to comfortably defeat over two legs, but instead, see themselves exiting against in the qualifiers on numerous occasions. This is another potential stumbling block for PAOK who need to properly prepare for a side that has a deeply passionate and controversial home crowd.


Aris 


The Kitrinomavroi will also have to wait to learn who they will be facing in the Europa Conference League 2nd qualifying round. Aris could face either Armenian side Ararat-Armenia or Albanian side Egnatia.


Either opponent would be ideal for Aris on paper but once again both could also be seen as a potential stumbling block if they are not properly prepared for the qualifiers. After the 20th of July, which is the second leg between the two teams, Aris will officially know who they will be facing.   



@SteveKountourou 


Hellas Football 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Chants in Greek Football

Image
Top 10 Chants in Greek Football By Nick Tsambouniaris, Greek ultras are known around the world for their passionate support. Atmospheres at games are electric to say the least as fans act as the 12 th man for their team. Here are my top 10 chants in Greek football with a hyperlink to the YouTube video of them being belted out in full glory. 10. AEK – RE BIN LADEN This cheeky party starter aimed at Olympiakos from AEK’s Original 21 makes it as number 10. As you can see in the below link, every single fan is jumping and singing along with purpose, making for a great atmosphere. 10. AEK – RE BIN LADEN 9. PAOK – IRTHAME SKASTOI APO TIN KLINIKI Gate 4 of PAOK are notoriously known for creating an intimidating atmosphere wherever they go. This particular chant gets extra points for its climax ending when the fans rise from the ground as one jumping all over the place. The chant itself is also funny and sums up the passion of Greek football fans in general as it says they...
Read more

The Current State Of Football On Greece’s Biggest Island - Crete

Image
The Current State Of Football On Greece’s Biggest Island - Crete By Alexander Koutakos On this journey, we have travelled so far to the Greek provinces of Laconia, Messinia and Western Macedonia.  This week, we continue to journey around Greece on Greece’s biggest island (Crete).  Crete is home to the cities/large towns of Heraklion, Chania, Rethymno, Ierapetra and many others. Historically, Crete has been mass producing footballing talent for the Ethniki Omada and for the global footballing world.  The island of Crete itself has produced the footballing talents of Georgios Samaras, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Nikos Machlas, Michalis Sifakis, Petros Marinakis and many others. The “big 4” teams in Crete at the moment are OFI , Ergotelis, Chania and OF Ierapetra. In this article, I will be going over the current situation for each of the four aforementioned Cretan clubs and I will then be going over the current situation of youth development across the entire region. The Current S...
Read more

The Importance of Being Ange

Image
 The Importance of Being Ange By Stephen Kountourou It was the 26th of March 2023. Antonio Conte had left Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur by mutual consent and, with the club and supporters uncertain of who would be the Italian manager's long-term successor.  Speaking to my dad, a long-time Spurs fan, who was rather bemused with his team's performances and the lack of direction of the club, the first manager that I told him could be a good fit, was Ange Postecoglou.  The Greek-Australian manager was in the middle of a historical treble-winning season with Celtic. Despite my dad's scepticism, I insisted that Ange could be the man to bring an attractive attacking style of football that Lillywhite's fans had been crying out for since the departure of Mauricio Pochetino, which would in turn improve the fortunes of a club that was in decline. Lo and behold, Three months later, on the 9th of June Ange was announced as the new manager of Spurs, becoming the first Austral...
Read more