Leaderboard

We just went toe to toe with the best team in the world. Scoring 2 goals in 5 minutes was unreal. This was a huge confidence booster heading into March. A lot of positives from the boys tonight. We all should be proud of this performance..

Why they didn't reseed based on FIFA rank is baffling. Greece should be playing both at home!

Diego says hi to all PAOKtzides.

Like I said, easy. ?

The final was a random draw, it fell Georgia's way. Their stadium holds 55k, it will be packed and the atmosphere will be electric. Tough road trip for us for sure. As for today's game, so proud of the lads that was a great performance. Foot down from the start, showed they are a better team and kept going until the game was completely safe. The team has definitely developed more of a killer edge under Poyet. Credit to him and the players, I don't think there has been one game in his tenure that we lost where we were expected to win. We beat the teams we should, that is how we topped our group in the Nations League, that is how we stayed in touch with France and the Netherlands during qualifying and that is now why we are one win away from our first major tournament in 10 years.

Crazy how we all get punished for the last 3 events being caused by OLY fans. If this was PAOK, we would be penalized 10 points and no fans remainder of the year.

i guess i'll shut up about the line up... lol

At the end of the day like some guys said already France had to rely on a penalty to beat us. We held our own and we showed we won’t be an easy out for any team. This to me even though we lost was a huge confidence booster and we are really starting to show that this team is starting to put it together and hopefully have leave the dreadful years behind us. I haven’t read one negative article or listened to one negative podcast about how Greece played. Everything was very positive even from the French media. In September we play in Holland first and then against Gibraltar at home. Netherlands plays us and then go into Ireland. At the very least if we can get a draw against the Netherlands we should easily get 3 points against Gibraltar which will still keep us ahead of them. Hopefully they also drop points in Ireland. This is the first time in years where I actually feel optimistic about this team.

Poyet addressed it a few days ago and essentially said, he wasn't called up for these matches because in order to fit him in, the formation needs to be changed from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1. It seems Poyet, as other managers before him at both club and country level don't like Fortounis' lack of work rate and discipline without the ball. He did make a point to say just because he wasn't called this time around doesn't mean he isn't in future plans. In a 4-3-3, Poyet wants his midfield 3 to press without the ball and track the opposition not just play with the ball. Bakasetas, Siopis, Kourbelis offer these things. Clearly he thinks Bakasetas offers enough attacking drive (with the wingers and striker) to create enough opportunities to score. Poyet also described Bakasetas as 'untouchable' atm in his current Ethniki form and it is hard to argue given his performances over the last year. Fortounis has long been discussed here and in the Greek media, he's a media darling and they are just as shocked he hasn't been included. Me personally, I see the reasons why but don't necessarily agree with his exclusion all together. Here's a link to Poyet's explanation in full for anyone interested. https://www.sport24.gr/football/apokalypseis-poget-ayta-eipa-sto-tilefono-me-ton-fortoyni-o-mpakasetas-einai-untouchable.10061489.html

You sir, are hardcore! Ivan the Terrible comes to Thessaloniki, pays off our 10 million euro debt (do you remember that?) increases the player budget I don't know how much but it must be 3 or 4 fold, has built the best youth facilities in the country, makes it so that we are genuine contenders each season, wins us 2 championships and 4 cups and you reaction is ... where is the stadium ha ha. Good lord, will you ever be thankful? I guess if not by now, then the answer is no. Maybe one day you'll get your wish and Ivan the Terrible will leave. And then you will see what happens. If you're not sure go and speak to a Panathinaikos fan. Once they chased away the Vardinoyiannides that were putting in the money for all those years they haven't won a championships since then. At the time though the fans were all giving each other high fives about how hardcore they were. I think even if the stadium was built you'd would still complain. If the club ever gets sold to someone with money, hey, I won't be upset but in all our illustrious history only one person has put in big money so I ain't holding out much hope. It's not like there's a massive queue of people hanging to buy the club.

The men’s national basketball team has qualified for the tournament for the first time in 16 years!

Jovanovich mainly plays 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. He usually plays a possession game and tends to favor players who perform their defensive duties properly and work hard through out the 90 min. He has no problem using younger players (ex: Ioannides, Vagiannides) but he has shown a tendency to stick with certain players who may not be in form. Of course this is based on what I saw at PAO and the NT is a totally different beast. At least he won't have to worry about transfers or being screwed over by the owner and media. The main thing he brings, besides experience, is a logical thought process in the game (being able to identify and play to the strengths of the players available) as well as plain speaking, honesty, creating a tight team mentality and a refreshing dignified approach to dealing with the media. He is, imo, a very capable manager who is able of getting the most out of his players. Best of luck to him.

Guys I missed you! Even you @pash

We are the champions .... I am drunk from happiness right now. This is the 4th PAOK championship in my lifetime. Hope there will be more. I was wearing the PAOK jersey with Vieirinha name on the back during the game. I think I will keep it on going to a Greek church picnic later on.

I'm f***en gutted. Speechless. Which is rare for me. I was so naïve yesterday thinking its a done deal. I really thought there was no way in hell we were not going to win this game. I wasn't expecting a blow out but a 1-0 or 2-1 hard fought Hellas victory was a sure thing in my mind. Once again, I was brutally wrong. This team has let us down once again. I simply don't get it. There are other "smaller population" countries in Europe such as Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Holland, etc. that field competitive teams annually. Even the blockhead Albanians qualified directly. I simply don't understand. That was one of the worst performances I've seen from the Ethniki and I've been watching every game since the 1994 World Cup debacle. Countless backwards passes, no urgency, no desperation, playing in fear against a Georgia...come on! Gutted.

Red Cards to both benches. Won't affect anyone on the field. Also not sure the Poyet hate? He's gotten us a chance to get into a Euro, more than any of the last 3 coaches can say. Can't keep rotating coaches.

I agree with you but they did a draw after qualifying ended. Wales also gets two home matches and will play Poland at home. Greece have won the last 4 matches in Georgia. Most recently in 2022 wcup qualifier 2 nil. Georgia is a better team but we have improved a lot since JVS left and Poyet has the team beating countries that Greece should be beating. Let’s Go ??

Exact 40 days to go. This one-legged match is a must win game. Winner faces an away game either in Georgia or Luxemburg for a spot in Group F of Euro 2024. Who is on fire? Who not? Perfect lineup to do the trick?

That is how you play team football, every freakin match Greece must play this way to ensure victory. The next match in Georgia will be a tricky one, but history shows it's on Greece's side.

I read online that Kazakhstan is missing one of their starters due to suspension for our game, and Georgia is missing one of their best players for the game vs Luxemburg.

Considering we haven't made a major tournament in years this team is in no position to take any team lightly. This wont be an easy match and they better not start looking to the final match before this game is over. Kazakhstan will not be an easy out. In saying that we have a golden opportunity to finally make a major tournament and if Greece cant come out on top against Kazakhstan, Georgia or Luxemburg than we really haven't progressed at all under Poyet. We need to now take that next step.

Our biggest game in almost 7 years. Still over a month out but some things to keep an eye on in terms of player availability/form. -Tsimikas returned to the Liverpool bench and was subbed on to a play the last few moments on the weekend. He is fit again which is good news. -Chatzidiakos, since Christmas has only played 45 minutes for Cagliari in Serie A. He last had a full 90 on the 2nd of Jan, in a 4-1 cup defeat to AC Milan. As one of the prefered CB's it is a concern. He was hurt in training over the weekend, not sure on prognosis at this stage but assuming its minor Poyet will have to a decision to make if we get to this game and he's still riding the bench. -Vlachodimos: Nottingham Forest brought in another keeper, so he's effectively been relegated to 3rd choice. New keeper (Belgian Metz Sels) hasn't been setting the world on fire, which hopefully means Vlacho will get another shot at some stage. He hasn't played a Premier League game since early December and last played all-together in the FA Cup almost a month ago. Again Poyet will have another decision to make if he continues to not play come March. -Baldock has been injured the last month or so, I believe he is expected to be fit for this game. If fit he is a starter for Sheffield United, so if his body is right he will come with some game time under his belt. -Kourbelis was loaned to another Turkish club (Karagumruk) in January, and was injured after one game. He returned over the weekend and played some mins of the bench. Hopefully he continues to play over the next 5 weeks and is in some good form come the 21st of March.

Job #1 qualify. Job #2 don't lose to Turkey

We looked like we played good football for a while and yes Bakasetas can hit them well from distance. I was mostly impressed with Ioannidis for the way he held up the ball and got into great positions and that finish was a typical strikers goal. Good on him.

I don't know about you guys but its been quite a few years since I have felt hopeful, super nervous, confident, and dreadful all at once the way I do right now LOL. PAME ELADARRRRRAAAAA!!!

Kind of ugly, but Hearts is not much of an obstacle. If we don't eat them alive in Thessaloniki, the heat will do the job for us. Hot takes: weak-ass penalty given to Hearts Murg > Konstantelias Brandon Thomas has only his workrate and teammate injuries keeping him employed Team was consistently way too goddamn cute with trying to let passes go by them. Bit them on the ass like six times. Tzimas actually held up the ball and attacked....better than I thought? I bet Lucescu was pissed he got all that stoppage time to play in. Soares was fine, but Rahman is a menace; will be great to see him back We definitely need a winger. Taison can't start every game, and Zivkovic eventually needs to be rested. Narey is more concerned with staying uninjured than he is interested in playing for this team.

I tip my hat to you Dutch Eagle for all your intrepid work digging up the latest news on our boys abroad

Lots to be positive about with the NT during this window. We beat Ireland which was essential and kept them behind us. Then the team went to France who I believe are the best country in world football when you look at the lineup they throw out and what players are on the bench. So to go into France where Holland got crushed and only loose on a pen is commendable. The French couldn’t score even after Mavropanos red card where they botched a 2 v1 and 4 v 1 as well. Mavropanos basically threw the game away as I believe we would have held them to a nil nil draw. Regardless I’m proud of the performance and how calm the team was especially in the first half. I believe we will get a draw in Holland and that will set us up well because I could see Ireland holding the Dutch to a draw in the following match day. I believe the Ethniki will lock up 2nd and a Euro ticket when the Dutch come to Athens where they will taste defeat.

You guys may like this podcast from Hellas Football https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/hellas-footy-pod/id1536595945?i=1000614612222

G'day m8, throw another koala on the barbie!

Here are some fun facts that nobody will care about: I was curious about Guinea (where our next signing is from), so I read its wikipedia article. It mentions a dictator named Toure, which I'm sure many of you recognize as the last name of many professional players. So I look up the surname Toure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touré), and learn it may be descended from the name Elephant. Perhaps to indicate a person who was big and strong? Anyway, that article mentions the language of the Ghana empire, so I look at that article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana_Empire). In that, I see that Ghana means warrior, or war chief. And right under that, I see that Wague is a term for nobility. So we basically managed to destroy the career of a king! I tried looking up Kamara and Camara on the same page, and got no definitions. A chat bot I just asked states that those two names are not necessarily related to each other, but that Kamara means "teacher" or "scholar" in some languages. Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

As pash said, it doesn't help or alter anything for the coming seasons (24-25) European places, they are set. But their win means Greece moves to 15th place in the rankings and for the European season 25-26 we will have 5 teams in Europe. Top 2 will play Champions League qualifiers, 3rd and 4th Conference League qualifying and the cup winner will play in the Europa League qualifiers. Now this also happened in 2022 when we made the Conference League quarters, Greece ended up ranked 15th and with 2 teams in Champions League qualifying earlier this season (AEK and PAO) but we obviously slid back down the rankings and that's why next season there is only one team in the Champions League. Thankfully that's us. So hopefully Greek teams (not just us and Olympicos) can go on with this and have runs in Europe and continue to push the nation up the rankings and we can hold onto the 2 UCL spots as well as gain ground in the qualifying rounds and maybe even add an extra European ticket. Because when you look at the country coefficient, on paper there is really no reason we couldn't be ranked around 10th. Currently Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Scotland and the Czech Republic leagues rank ahead of ours. With the big 4 teams in the shape they are currently in, there is no reason we can't push past these countries in the next few years and end up with much better European tickets than we currently have. https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/country/?year=2024

And qualify for the 2024-25 Europa League league phase.

Olympiakos 1-0 Fiorentina FT/ET OLYMPIAKOS WIN THE UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to hear the bad news, @Dutch Eagle Good to see the European games are (finally) locked down. For the league, we basically need AEK to draw at least one game, and for us to win both? Assuming AEK doesn't drop points in both remaining games (unlikely).

Hi to all the Phantis/Greeksoccer.com folks! Let's go Elladara!!!

Boys this game isn't going to be easy. That stadium is going to be electric and the Georgian team is looking to make history in front of there fans. They sold out the entire stadium in 5 hours 54K. Greece needs to try and get an early goal to take the crowd out of it early. its going to be a tough game. Αμόκ στη Γεωργία για το ματς της ιστορίας της: Σε πέντε ώρες εξαντλήθηκαν τα 54.000 εισιτήρια για τον τελικό πρόκρισης στο Euro 2024 με την Ελλάδα (sport24.gr)

Really strong performance. They looked on it right away and determined. Put the game away very early. This was encouraging.

Wow. I ate my words from last week lol.

PAOK volleyball team won the Greek Supercup (last season's champion vs. cup winner) defeating Olympiakos 3:2 in a game played on Olympikos's home turf at Renti.

Group F portugal turkey czech playoff C

Release of November 30th: #47

Fortounis retired from the Ethniki. This reminds me all over again, about the potential returns of Sokratis, Manolas, Siovas & some creative mids a number of years ago. Like the words in that movie Frozen say, 'let it go.' This is now a new era. Bring on the likes of Konstantelias & Alexandropoulos.

First time we are playing in a sold out stadium in years. This would be huge if we can win in front of the fans and get them to start coming back regularly..

Goutas called up to replace the injured Chatzidiakos. Considering the squad flies for Ireland today and he plays his club football in Wales, he will fly directly to Dublin and link up with the squad there. With 4 center backs still in the squad, I feel it confirms Tzavellas is only being called up due to either Poyet wanting a "personality" in the squad or EPO forcing it upon him. He isn't seen as a feasible option unless the game is either comfortably won or lost.

Did not see the game as I was in the middle of all the Oktoberfest craziness. Followed the game on line but after the first 1 liter the score was a disappointing 1:0. Continued drinking and completely forgot about the game only to find out the final score after I got back to the hotel. Good result and hopefully we can get something out of the home game against Eintracht.

Somehow AEK clawed back with 2 extra time goals to advance to the playoff round of Champions League Qualifying. We have 2 teams with a chance to make the group stage in Panathinaikos and AEK. Olympiacos also are a step away from the Europa League Group Stage as are we in the Conference League. Aris almost joined us with a shocking upset of Dynamo Kiev but gave up a late goal to crash out: overall one of the best European starts for Greek teams in a long while. It pains me to root for some of these teams but after the coefficient work we put in 2 years ago, we deserve something in return from them. PAME ELLADA

100% correct about the city. Sydney is a sh1thole and it's inhabitants are pissweak

Impressive performance. Greece hungry for the ball, very fit and closing down. Lots of nice passing. I am getting a vibe from this team now something is special is happening. And Bakasetas has turned into an absolute stud. The team has a real leader and star in him who has an impressive shot always dangerous. I don't see any reason why this Greece team can't take on Holland for second spot.

Panserraikos is back in the top tier after 12 years. A draw against Anagennisi Karditsa was enough as their last match of the season will be a 3-0 win on forfeit against Apollon Larisa.