Coaches have come and gone but the success has remained

By Andreas Mitsis

Marinakis grazes coaches but also lifts trophies.

Olympiakos comes from a dreamlike year 2024 and the big club celebrates its 100th anniversary this season. Owner Vangelis Marinakis is also entering his fifteenth year as owner. Coaches have come and gone but the success has lasted with double digit league titles and European cup titles to the account.

When in a couple of days we change the calendar year from 2024 to 2025, it also means that we enter the calendar year when Olympiakos will celebrate its 100th anniversary. A celebration which, however, takes place in varying degrees throughout the season. The big club from Piraeus is the most successful of all time in Greek football and has been owned and managed by businessman Vangelis Marinakis for the past 15 years or so. A man in the headlines for one reason or another, positive or negative.

57-year-old Marinakis comes from a dream-like 2024 where Olympiakos took home two UEFA titles. UEFA Europa Conference League and UEFA Youth League. At the same time, the Premier League club Nottingham, which he owns since 2017, has gone like a train in the Premier League where they are in an excellent fourth place at the time of writing. Marinakis also has long-standing plans to expand his multi-club empire (Olympiakos, Nottingham, Rio Ave) with more competent people and another club which could become a big Brazilian club.

Over the years, among other things, his name has become synonymous with coaching changes on an international level. If we take a closer look at Olympiakos in particular, since his arrival in the summer of 2010 [ Link ] he has employed 14 foreign head coaches (including the current José Luis Mendilibar) as well as a Greek one in the form of the reliable, loyal club soldier Takis Lemonis. He did his most important and best job for the club between 2006-08 (second stint in the head coaching role). Despite the numerous temporary/interim coaches and basically one coach change per year on average, he can be counted as one of the most successful owners ever in Greek football. Ten league titles, four cup titles and two European cup titles are on his account. But it's not just title success that matters. Among other things, Marinakis has invested large sums of money in developing Olympiakos' organization and infrastructure. The training facility at Rentis is an example, which is also the basis for the flourishing own academy.

Marinakis and the management in collaboration many times with e.g. super agent Jorde Mendes has generally had a good eye when it comes to coach recruitment, especially from the Iberian Peninsula. There are a number of skilled coaches who have been at the helm of Karaiskakis and looked after the team. Some were given neither the time nor the optimal conditions to succeed, while others did it all the better. However, the fact remains. The majority of them have benefited to varying degrees from managing a big club of Olympiakos' stature with all the pressure that entails. All foreign coaches today work in different clubs around the world. No one is without work. We graze them all in chronological order below and see where they live today:

Name: Ernesto Valverde
Time at Olympiakos: (August 10, 2010 - June 30, 2012)
Today: Athletic Club (2022-)
Comment:One of the greatest coaches in Olympiakos history. Marinaki's first job and Valervde made his second stay at the big club from Piraeus under his ownership. Revolutionized the team with his high pressing game and pass-oriented football. Still today has an excellent relationship with Olympiakos and created an important foundation for the entire club in terms of philosophy and approach. After Olympiakos, he has lived in Barcelona, among other places, but it is in Bilbao that he is also a living legend. Won the Spanish Cup earlier this year with his Athletic Club.

Name: Leonardo Jardim
Time at Olympiakos: (July 1, 2012 - January 19, 2013)
Today: Al Ain (2024-)
Comment: Had to leave Olympiakos after just six months despite being undefeated in the domestic game and scoring okay results in the Champions League. The Portuguese was an "up and coming" coach this time and focused a lot on defensive organization and effective transition play. A couple of failed efforts made the supporters unhappy, and the pressure was great on the board for a change, which was also the case. After Olympiakos, he is best known for his years in Monaco where he e.g. In 2016-17 with players like Kylian Mbappé led the team to the league title in France as well as the semi-finals of the Champions League. Relatively good at adapting tactics to the player material, which is an underestimated quality in today's football among all system coaches. Tactical flexibility is a hallmark of a skilled coach.

Name: Míchel
Time at Olympiakos: (4 February 2013 - 6 January 2015), (21 September 2022 - 3 April 2023).
Today: Al Qadsiah FC (2023-)
Comment: Made a clearly approved first stay at Olympiakos where, among other things, he took the team to the round of 16 (one goal from the semi-final) in the 2013-14 Champions League. A gentleman who came back during the tumultuous 2022-23 season to stabilize the situation, which he succeeded to some extent. Have also trained e.g. Marseille between their stays at Olympiakos.

Name: Vítor Pereira
Time at Olympiakos: (January 7, 2015 - June 11, 2015)
Today: Wolves (2024-)
Comment: Replaced Michel midway through the 2014-15 season and looked set to do solid work in the months he was in charge the team. A true globetrotter for trainers. However, recently got the chance to lead Wolves in the Premier League due to, among other things, that he has the right agent. Tactically skilled Pereira has got off to a brilliant start with two wins in two games played.

Name: Marco Silva
Time at Olympiakos: (7 July 2015 - 23 June 2016)
Today: Fulham (2021-)
Comment:Only 38 years old when he arrived from Sporting CP and became coach of Olympiakos. Took Greek football by storm as his edition broke record after record in league play. Walked home the league title but also made an impression in Europe. 79% in win percentage including all matches. His stay at the big club from Piraeus sadly also came to an abrupt end when he left just at the start of the 2016-17 pre-season due to differences of opinion with some people in the management. Is today a well-respected and established Premier League manager.

Name: Víctor Sánchez
Time at Olympiakos: (24 June 2016 - 9 August 2016)
Today: Olimpija Ljubljana (2024-)
Comment: He started against the wind and did not last long. Former Panathinaikos player, was to replace Marco Silva and had only been head coach for just over a season before the Olympiakos job. Previously, he had worked as an assistant coach, including for Michel, which meant that he knew Olympiakos well, which was to his advantage. Sánchez only lasted 1.5 months in his post. He had to leave after a stinging defeat against Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the CL qualifiers. He had not given a convincing first impression and it was in and out for the Spaniard. Was hired before the season by Slovenian Olimpija Ljubljana.

Name: Paulo Bento
Time at Olympiakos: (August 11, 2016 - March 6, 2017)
Today: United Arab Emirates (2023-)
Comment: Came in at a messy position and was able to provide reasonable security for the team. Bento released a couple of young players from his own academy, including Panagiotis Retsos. By the end of February and the beginning of March 2017, the team had gone on three straight league defeats for the first time in 20 years and that too without managing to score. That was the final straw for the board. The squad at the time was also significantly weakened following expensive sales of key players Luka Milivojevic and Brown Ideye. Bento has for many years been the national team captain for South Korea but is currently in the same type of position with the United Arab Emirates.

Name: Besnik Hasi
Time at Olympiakos: (8 June 2017 - 25 September 2017)
Today: Mechelen (2023-)
Comment:In the summer of 2017, Olympiakos made an exception and left the Iberian track (Portuguese and Spanish coaching school) and instead sought their luck with Besnik Hasi. He had knocked out Olympiakos by the smallest possible margin with his Anderlecht in the round of 16 of the 2015-16 Europa League. Hasi started with a stable CL qualification, but patience was short from management when a couple of setbacks had to be tackled. For various reasons, the collaboration felt more or less doomed to fail in advance and it never felt quite compatible. Hasi is currently coaching Belgian Mechelen after several years in Saudi Arabia.

Name: Óscar García
Time at Olympiakos: (January 8, 2018 - April 3, 2018)
Today: Guadalajara (2025-)
Comment: The Spaniard took over from Takis Lemonis and arrived with the aim of, among other things, preparing something already for the following season. However, it was a risk to bring him in mid-season which did not end well. Olympiakos failed to claim what would have been a historic eighth straight league title. García was fired just three months into his employment. In the days to come take over Chivas from Guadalajara in Mexico.

Name: Pedro Martins
Time at Olympiakos: (July 1, 2018 - August 1, 2022)
Today: Al-Gharafa (2022-)
Comment: No other manager has ever been in charge of Olympiakos longer than Pedro Martins. The Portuguese arrived with relatively low expectations of himself but was clear about what he wanted to achieve and in what way. Despite the fact that the first season was titleless, he received, for the sake of unusualness, continued trust due to positive efforts, which was not part of the norm. Patience would pay off. 2019-20 was a magical season for Olympiakos despite the Covid disruption and 2020-21 was just as good if not quite as phenomenal. Then took a gradual decline which ultimately resulted in a CL qualifying breakdown at the start of the 2022-23 season and the two parties parting ways. Now lives in Qatar with Al-Gharafa but has been rumored many times for a job in England.

Name: Carlos Corberán
Time at Olympiakos: (1 August 2022 - 18 September 2022)
Today: Valencia (2024-)
Comment: Right coach but at the wrong time. It was anything but easy for the project coach to replace Martins and on top of that, he had a rather large and messy squad of players at his disposal. The club was a little off course after the divorce with Martins and Corberan was not the type of coach the club needed in that period. Signed on Christmas Eve a three-year contract with Valencia which was a huge honor for him as he is from the area.

Name: Diego Martínez
Time at Olympiakos: (June 20, 2023 - December 5, 2023)
Today: Las Palmas (2024-)
Comment: After a long but also tumultuous 2022-23 season, Olympiakos would start something new with a qualified sporting director in Antonio Cordon. He brought in Diego Martinez as coach. It was mixed and given in achievements which was not strange because something new had been started. However, Cordon had to leave for personal reasons a bit into the season and Martinez was later fired after a couple of stinging losses against PAOK and Freiburg. Working in Gran Canaria with Las Palmas today where he does a good job.

Name: Carlos Carvalhal
Time at Olympiakos: (December 5 - February 8, 2024)
Today: Braga (2024-)
Comment: Became the sixth coach (interim included) in less than six months when hired last December. Olympiakos struggled to find a way to follow Pedro Martins and Carvalhal was not the right route to take. The few matches he was responsible for, he did not get the team going and left shortly after arriving. Today is the coach for Braga, which Olympiakos beat back 3-0 at Karaiskakis in the league phase of the Europa League earlier last fall.

Name: José Luis Mendilibar
Time at Olympiakos: (February 2024 -)
Today: Olympiakos (2024-)
Comment: A jackpot. New-age sports director Darko Kovacevic in consultation with owner Vangelis Marinakis chose to go for an experienced old-school coach and more successful move about 10 months ago Olympiakos could not have done. Everything turned upside down when Mendilibar showed evidence of a number of fine qualities as a coach. A fantastic spring resulted in the win of the UEFA Europa Conference League after, among other things, knocking out Premier League table four Aston Villa with a total of 6-2 in the semi-final game. The 63-year-old from the long-standing basic coaching school made history and it is only right that, judging by everything, in a couple of months he will be the coach who leads the team on the day the big club celebrates 100 years of existence, namely March 10, 2025.