Leaderboard

Very promising last 2 friendlies from the Ethniki. Gosh, i hope we qualify for the upcoming WC. The pain from missing out so narrowly on the Euro still hurts daily. A wc quali might help me forget that.

Greece totally dominated Scotland 3 nil could have been 5. Karetsas will be the next Messi his talent is off the charts. What a finish. Konstantelias with a fantastic goal and performance. Zaferis, Tzolis, the whole team was incredible. Our team is loaded and will qualify for the World Cup and cause damage. Would love to see us draw Canada here or the USA and just have our way with them. lol.. PA ME ELLADA!!!!

This brought joy in my heart after I was gutted not to see Tentoglou get a medal in the World Indoor Championship. The Greek National Football Team was cooking from the start and the coach had massive balls to start most of his youngsters in a critical match. God bless Karetsas for choosing his countries main motherland over the country of his birth. His goal was out of this world!

I'd say we have the best squad we've ever had at the moment, so many exciting players Tziolis and Karetsas the stand outs. If we can't qualify for the WC now, I'd be very surprised. Btw I think Karetsas will be tapped up by a top club imminently.

Amazing performance. What a coaching call. 6 new starters a bunch of youngsters given opportunities. We have something to be excited about for the first time in 11 years

Hi everyone, I'm feeling optimistic about the national team and Greek football. We're seeing a surge of talented players emerge in the 18-22 age range, including Kostoulas, Mouzakitis, Tzolakis, Tzimas, and Vagiannidis. Add to that the likes of Konstantelias, Tzolis, Koulierakis, and Zafeiris, who are already making waves. With Olympiakos eyeing another European trophy and players like Pavlidis, Mavropanos, and Tsimikas shining abroad, it's an exciting time to be a fan. I believe it's time for Konstantelias to make a move abroad and for these young talents to secure permanent spots on the national team – the future is looking bright!

Top 5 in terms of victories all time? Maybe not due to the Euro run and WC wins, but definitely one of the most emotional

So much more satisfying that goal difference is the first tie breaker. Never thought I’d be saying that for a low scoring team historically like us but I’m cautiously optimistic. BRING THE HEAT BOYS. THE 11 YEAR TOURNAMENT DROUGHT ENDS WITH THIS CAMPAIGN. PAME PALIKARIA

Scorers Konstantelias, Karetsas and Tziolis. When you consider the fact the we also got Pavlidis and Ioanidis, this team has goals. There was a play where the Greek player passed the ball with the back heel, and the Scottish comentator says "well they're now even passing it with their back heel". Yep, that's right. I was looking at Tziolis, and thinking he's one of the more experienced players in the side. He's 23. Karetsas, looks so young. Probably just started shaving. What a great exciting talent. And to think, there are 3, 4 others waiting in the wings. Amazing. Konstantelias my man of the match. A goal, 2 assists. I love those dink passes that roll past defenders, nice technique. We could have scored 4, 5. Zafeiris, and Mouzakitis in the midfield. Vagianidis shutting out one of the best RBs in the world. Would you bench them for Bakasetas, Manatalos, and Rota in 4 months? I think that win was our 6th away win in our last 7 away matches. Nice record to take to the WC qualifiers.

Such a great win! It could’ve been more. I’ve been saying this for years… trust our youth! We looked so much better this game. The best players should always be in the starting 11 and it just so happens that our best players are our youngsters. This team that started should start again next game. Some of our experienced players are not good enough and don’t have the quality to make this team go to tournaments. Some should be on the bench and some not even included in the team.

Great win by Portugal we get Denmark a great draw for Greece. Denmark ranked 21st in the FIFA rankings, Scotland and Belarus. It is a dream draw compared with our last Euro draw which saw us get France and Holland! For the 2022 World Cup qualifying we had Spain so this is fantastic and it wont be easy but Greece have to get the direct ticket!

If this result holds up and Portugal wins, this will be the most favorable draw we've had in years for a qualifier.

Scotland 0-3 Greece FT Greece wins the series 3-1 and will be promoted to League A of the UEFA Nations League!

Now ranked 39 in the world. Moving in the right direction. They will get into the 20s this year. https://inside.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men

FINAL GROUP B2 STANDINGS England-15(+13) Greece-15(+7) Ireland-6 Finland-0 I think when we saw this group, we always assumed England would win it, who knew it would come down to tiebreakers. That win at Wembley will always be historic. Good job ethniki. Let's get to that 2026 World Cup!

I am so pumped for 17 year old Olympiakos player Christos Moutzakitis to play for the Greek NT.

FIFA Rankings Update! Greece climbed 6 places after the October international break to 42nd thanks to wins against England & Ireland

I believe I saw that we had a 98% or 99% chance of being in Pot 2.

This coach has this team playing as a complete unit. They know when they need to defend as a unit and when to press as a unit. Pavlidis steps up for an injured Ioannidis and scores 2 goals and could have had more. What's more impressive is that we were able to go toe to toe and IMO outplay England. What a start to the nations league campaign. 1 Greece - 9pts 7GF 1GA 2 England - 6pts 5GF 2GA 3 Rep. Ireland - 3pts 2GF 5GA 4 Finland - 0pts 1GF 7GA

The minute there’s a little hype around this team and they start pulling in crowds they lay a massive egg in big games. They did it with the game against England here, they did it against Georgia and now Denmark.

Looking at a Scottish forum. They clearly think we are the best team in the group. Hopefully we make their words come true…

This is how a big football nation that is serious starts their campaign against lesser nations. So far so good pame! Karetsas 3rd minute goal lol. What a start..

A win here & a tie in the Denmark - Scotland game would be huge

Squad for this match and against Denmark: Βλαχοδήμος, Μανδάς, Τζολάκης, Μαυροπάνος, Χατζηδιάκος, Ρέτσος, Κουλιεράκης, Ρότα, Βαγιαννίδης, Γιαννούλης, Τσιμίκας, Σιώπης, Ζαφείρης, Μάνταλος, Κουρμπέλης, Μασούρας, Πέλκας, Τζόλης, Μουζακίτης, Κωνσταντέλιας, Ιωαννίδης, Παυλίδης, Μπακασέτας, Καρέτσας, Δουβίκας.

Triantis officially commits his future to Greece!

The real question's going to be, what do we do against Denmark? Everything we've seen under Jovanovic has been encouraging though

Big success for PAOK's basketball team, which qualified to the final of the FIBA Europe Cup after defeating Cholet BC 90:88 in France erasing the 1 point deficit from the first semifinal game (88:89) in Thessaloniki. After 29 years PAOK BC will play once again in an European final: 16-Apr-2025: Bilbao Basket - PAOK 23-Apr-2025: PAOK - Bilbao Basket

After years of lacking a quality striker, all of sudden the Ethniki has 3 playing at a high level + Tzimas about to join a Premier League side. And you can throw in Kostoulas to that mix, although I am not sure that he actually has a natural position and I don't think he is an out and out striker. As a general rule, I don't think Greek footballers should be moving at such a young age to England. It didn't work out for Tzolis, Tsimikas really had to bide his time and was almost unsighted for a whole season until becoming a trusted depth player. Mavropanos went to Arsenal super young and eventually had to move to Germany for 2-3 years before moving back to EPL. I just don't think it suits our young players, especially so early in their professional careers. Different to go back as a more seasoned professional who has spent a few years playing abroad. Which is why I think moving to Germany should always be the priority. Beyond that, Portugal, Belgium and even Holland are a good smaller step-up before making a bigger leap. These countries and leagues have a reputation for developing talent and being patient. Unlike your England's, Spain's and Italy's which are a lot more cut throat. I hope Tzimas is the exception, Brighton has become known for signing talents and on selling them for a big profit. There is always added pressure and expectation when you come with a decently sized price tag. Good luck to the kid and I am sure he will get his shot with the Ethniki in the near-ish future.

It is just WILD to me that people were agonizing over who to play in midfield, to counter the Scots. Like, are you kidding me? Siopis and Mantalos? Were they hiding some deep well of skill all these years that we've never seen before? Get real; Zafeiris is looking great and can be the backbone of the team for years. Can't fall into the trap of not letting new people play, because when they're finally the vets, they will not have gained any experience with the team...

The order of the games suit us well : H - Belarus H - Denmark A - Scotland A - Denmark H - Scotland A - Belarus First 3 games must be wins. If we do that, just a tie in Denmark should be enough to see us as group winners

Ivan with a truly surprising starting lineup in change and experience. I cannot believe a team that young played a meaningful game for the NT. It's like he read my mind what I wanted and he made every single change. If Jovanovic gave the same team from the 1st match a go we would be in trouble but he really went for it. I had serious doubts that team could win in Scotland but once I seen the lineup it was definitely optimistic. The new Golden Era of Hellenic Football is upon us. I thought Zafeiris was immense. Dellias showed his confidence and his touch, Mouzakitis played above his age, Tzolis sold as usual, and Karetsas, it's all been said. Everyone played well, and perhaps even more motivated the weekend of the 25th Martiou!

Okay my children, fear not, I am here to provide more of my wisdom. Kudos to Jovanovic for making such a rotation. I am very much over the "old guard." Use them as super subs, but cut this nonsense of playing guys who are well past their prime. The average age of the starting 11 was under 23, and we still absolutely bossed around Scotland on their home turf. Complete no brainer where we should go from here. Konstantelias obviously the man of the match. What a player. I can't wait until PAOK sells him and then spends all that money on a dozen 35-year-old Ghanaian left-backs. Karetsas fit in immediately. It very much helps that he stylistically works so well with our other young players. The Tzolis-Konstantelias-Kartetsas line is such a blindingly obvious play going forward. Imagine how good they'll look if they can cut down those errant passes by another 10%. That's another goal a game right there! Giannoulis is a friggin stud and deserves game time. He's better offensively than Tsimikas so I can definitely see why Jovanovic would have started him here, where we're chasing two goals. This move paid dividends. Pavlidis and Ioannidis are both fine, but not as productive as we need our strikers. I'd still give the nod to Pavlidis going forward as he is playing at a higher level and scoring more goals. Simple math there. Tzimas will take his job soon anyway. I will disagree that this was a hugely meaningful game (sorry @J1078). I think this was considered a sort of... "what else do we have to lose?" kind of thing. We get to see how the youngsters look vs Scotland, who we will be competing against in just a few months...and of course he gets the chance to get our youngest, newest additions more minutes with each other. That last bit is probably hugely valuable to the team. Also, if we ended up staying in league B, we'd just have more matches to drive up our coefficient with - I'm not sure if that's better or worse than having our guys get tested against this higher quality of competition, in the lead-up to the next Euro (it's also such a shame that we won't get these games before next summer's world cup). The new midfield was maybe the best move by Jovanovic. I very much disliked the last lineup - Mantalos and Siopis are so obviously cooked. Especially considering how Scotland's main strength is that midfield; they were chewed right up. What do we have to lose by playing an ascendent Zafeiris and Mouzakitis? Clearly, it worked out even better. I can definitely see those two holding on to that spot going forward. Hopefully Bakasetas' manager doesn't have so much sway that our diving professor forces his way back into the starting lineup going forward. His weirdly piercing eyes belong on the bench. Ps you're welcome from a paoktsis -edit- edited for spelling

AMAZING!! and we have more talent coming!! Tzimas and Kostoulas. The talent is of the charts!!

Great game - could have had a few more...We were the better team by far, didn't care for the Scottish players pushing our guys around. The slaps to Zafeiris head or their other player pretty much kicking Koulierakis on the floor. He reminder him that they were up by 3...lol Overall, we played great - Tzolis - Delias - Karetsas should start all the time. Striker - try Tzimas or Kostalas. Midfield - Zafeiris and Moutzakis played well, not sure if we need someone bigger there but they were fine. Our back four were not bad, if you want to put in Retsos for Mavropanos, wouldn't argue. Tzolakis should start going forward. They deserved the tie, even the announcers were saying that and actually praising our guys. When was the last time English announcers were praising our guys???

I was impressed with the team's performance in the second half. Karetsas was outstanding and deserves a starting spot in the next game. However, I felt that some of our more experienced players underperformed. Siopis, despite his energetic efforts, struggled with passing accuracy and decision-making. Mantalos seemed sluggish and failed to provide sufficient support with his forward passes. While Mantalos showed promise, his execution was lacking. In my opinion, Tsimikas is no longer an effective player, and it's time to consider replacing him. Similarly, Masouras had a slow start and was correctly substituted at halftime. Konstantelias, on the other hand, brought a refreshing energy compared to Bakasetas. Delias's ball control is a valuable asset to the team, and Karetsas's talent enhanced the team's overall performance. Tzolis was unfortunate to miss his chances, but he, along with Delias and Karetsas, should be considered for starting roles more often. Although I liked the substitutions, something was missing. It's clear that we need to upgrade our midfield. With Siopis suspended for the next game, I'd like to see Alexandropoulos given a chance. Alternatively, Zafeiris would be a decent replacement. I've heard criticism of Ioannidis, but I believe he's a valuable player. His pressing, timing, and positioning are excellent, despite an off-day with ball control. I'm confident he'll bounce back in the next game. For the upcoming match, my preferred lineup would be: Tzolakis Vagiannidis Mavropanos Koulierakis Tsimikas Mouzakitis Alexandropoulos Karetsas Delias Tzolis Ioannidis

Greece can turn this around, if Jovanovic starts the same players who played mostly in the second half.

“According to multiple news sources Konstantinos Karetsas has been called up for the Greece national team against Scotland in March. The rest of the squad is due to be announced”

Just on the bolded part. Of course he has a say but the board doesn't always follow through. We know he wanted Meite, they wouldn't stump up the extra 200-300k needed to give him the salary he wanted. You know Lucescu wanted Chatzidiakos in the summer right? Deal was all but done, player was on his way to sign. Then at the last minute PAOK tried to change his wage by knocking off 100-200k and he said see ya later I am going to Denmark. None of these instances are Lucescu's fault. It is the club letting him down and leaving us with players who are worse (Lovern/Colley) or no one at all in the case of Meite. I don't disagree with your next point, but you're all too keen to tear something down that has literally won us a third of our trophies in our history. I have said it before and I'll say it again. We are talking about Greek football, Jurgen Klopp isn't banging down the door to take over when Lucescu leaves. The next in line is probably a Portuguese or Spanish manager who we've never heard of, who has never coached at a big club or if he has had an unsuccessful stint there. The alternative isn't a world class coach. Lucescu isn't perfect and I agree with you guys that some of his player selections and behaviour (this particularly annoys me) leaves a lot to be desired. His time will come but I don't think that it is now. Just my opinion of course. He is being under resourced so I refuse to COMPLETELY blame him for what has been up until now a poor season. He can't rotate the squad, because there is no quality there. Ozdoev and Camara have been run into the ground. We have one CB who is trustworthy, the other 3 either are error prone or can't pass a ball to save themselves. So yes that allows any team, even Volos and Kallithea to take advantage and get results. We are clinging on in the title race by a thread and as if the Slavia game already wasn't big it is now huge in the context of our season.

The point of the Nations League was exactly that. UEFA's goal was to give the smaller nations in League C and D a path to qualify for a major tournament. Something which has been almost impossible to achieve in the past. Hence we've seen Georgia and Skopia amongst the the countries making their debut at the last 2 Euros. Whether it is right or not is a different conversation. But that was always UEFA's goal by forming the play-offs through the NL. Euro qualifying is different as all the playoff participants come from the NL but World Cup qualification allows only for 4 NL group winners to participate. With the other 12 playoff participants being the runners-up from the WC qualification groups. So it is bad luck for Greece that we were a League B runner-up during a WC cycle. If it was a Euro cycle we would have almost certainly been handed a playoff birth. If we were to be promoted to League A, then regardless of where we finish in our group, we would again almost be guaranteed a playoff spot. For reference, in the 2 playoffs for Euro qualification since the NL was introduced, by virtue of almost all of the League A teams qualifying directly, the League A teams left behind have all taken part in the playoffs. In 2024 that was Poland and Wales and in 2021 (Euro 2020) it was Iceland.

We've been drawn to face Scotland in the play-offs for the Nations League. First leg in Greece, return in Scotland a few days later.

Keep in mind that PaokCT thinks himself a television pundit, so wants to stir up engagement. Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out how to monetize that yet. If you'll recall, he said Lucescu should be fired like six times last season, too. It is absolutely vital that Lucescu be supported by PAOK's administration. He's won with worse teams, and the first half of every season is always bad. It'll turn around.

Great to Mouzakitis included. Also great to see Alexandropoulos back in this team. 👍

We are looking good to be in pot 2 for World Cup Qualifying. The draw for that is on the 13th of December.

With that result we clinch top 2. Meaning we will at minimum have a playoff shot for league A. Also we have a 98% shot at being in Pot 2 for WCQ. And if we top this group , we will be guaranteed at minimum a playoff spot for WCQ

We've passed the point of no return. We won in London, we now HAVE to win the group!

I'm honestly shocked. What a historic performance from the NT and especially considering George news so recent. I felt we were capable of this performances now but awesome to actually see it. What heart and character we have to get this win. I thought to myself typical English squeak out the draw we should be up at least 1 goal, as they had chances as well. But they pulled it off and delivered the deserved full points. Pavlidis gets the call and delivers the performance. We are busting with attacking options and depth and Ivan has them on a mission looks like for this performance at Wembley. Will do wonders for our ranking and our World Cup chances!!

That was one of Greece's best attacking performances in quite a long time. We showed true grit to keep playing despite all the setbacks of disallowed goals, goal that looked to have crossed the line, dodgy decisions and biased refereeing. Glad the players were able to do it for Baldock and the nation.

Pavlidis should have gotten a hat trick, no way he was offside for Greece's second goal.