Blackhawk

Game highlites:

Latest rumor is that PAOK is talking to CSKA Moscow about acquiring Colombian Jorge Carrascal for 4.5 mil which would give PAOK 50% ownership of the player. Samatta had to reschedule his flight to Thessaloniki and will now show up later than expected on Saturday (today).

They are saving Augusto for the return game against Beitar since we don't have many options in his position. He will miss the first one due to a red card ban.

Emmanoulidou finishes in 5th place in the final of 100m. Her time 11.40.

Maria Despolari gets the bronze medal in the 800 m final with 2:04.14

The team is coming back from Holland on Monday, so it would be useless for him to go there.

Good results in the full first day of the U23 European Championships: Emmanoulidou qualified to the final thanks to having the 6th best time (11.32) in the semifinals. She will need to do much better to medal in the final. In the men's hammer throw two of our athletes (Dousakis with 70.08 and Polychroniou with 68.36) made it to the final. Korakidis (66.09) did not make it. In men's discus throw, Bouzakis (53.44) qualified to the final. Pavlidis (53.05) failed to qualify. Pavlidis has been an utter disappointment since his national record throw of 64.90 back in the USA earlier this year. Despolari qualified to the finals of 800 meters with best qualifying time of all participants with 2:04.53. Retsa qualified to the pole vault final with a jump of 4.10 Dragomirova is in 18th place in the heptathlon after the first day. Also failing to make the finals are Stamatinikolas in long jump with 7.03, Kosmidou in hammer throw with 61.11, Karydi (12.88) and Rapti (12.49) in triple jump.

The friendly is against Al Taawoun on Saturday. Apparently it's a practice game behind closed doors (no TV coverage). I think all the second stringers will get to play in that one. The starters will play next day against Westerlo, which will serve as a last test before our European match against Beitar Jerusalem.

Apparently we reached a deal with Mbwana Samatta for 2+1 years. The player is expected in Thessaloniki on Thursday. One option agreed is that we will not sell the player to a Turkish club in the future.

3:2 final

3:2 with own goal by Giaxis.

Tragic mistake by Kotarski and 3:1

Zivkovic 3:0

pash we are playing Genk, not Go Ahead Eagles. 2:0 halftime

Quite a few fans watching the game too.

2:0 Schwab

1:0 with Tsiggaras

PAOK - Genk starting lineup:

Apparently we came to an agreement with Novasport for the next 2 seasons for the TV rights to the Superleague home games and friendly games. The deal should be announced shortly. The contract calls for 8 mil Euro per season plus bonuses.

NAME: Thomasz Karol Kedziora POSITION: Right Back JERSEY NUMBER: 16 BIRTHDAY: 11-June-1994 BIRTH PLACE: Sulechow, Poland HEIGHT 1.84 m PAOK DEBUT: 12-Feb-23 (Asteras Tripolis – PAOK 2:2) NT DEBUT: 13-November-2017 (Poland – Mexico 0:1 Friendly Game) PREVIOUS TEAMS: PAOK (loan), Lech Poznan (loan), Dynamo Kiev, Lech Poznan, UKP Zielona Gora CONTRACT ENDS: 30-Jun-2024 (on loan from Dinamo Kiev) SALARY: € per season

Prijovic is going to the newly promoted Kifisia. Kedziora loan for one year is now official.

NAME: Abdul Baba RAHMAN POSITION: Left Back JERSEY NUMBER: BIRTHDAY: 02-July-1994 BIRTH PLACE: Tamale, Ghana HEIGHT: 1.80 m PAOK DEBUT: 21-Feb-2021 (PAOK - Lamia 4:0 with Baba scoring one goal) NT DEBUT: 10-Sep-2014 (Togo-Ghana 2:3) PREVIOUS TEAMS: Readding (loan), PAOK Thessaloniki (loan), Chelsea London, Real Mallorca (loan), Stade Reims (loan), Schalke 04 (loan), Chelsea London, Schalke 04 (loan), Chelsea London, FC Augsburg, Greuther Furth, Asante Kotoko (loan), Dreams FC, Young Meteors Tamale CONTRACT ENDS: 30-June-2026, Chelsea retains 10% resale option SALARY: €

Baba Rahman announced officially by PAE PAOK. Signed until June 30, 2026. Chelsea maintains a 10% resale option.

NAME: William Troost-Ekong POSITION: Centre Back JERSEY NUMBER: 15 BIRTHDAY: 01-September-1993 BIRTH PLACE: Haarlem, Holland HEIGHT 1.91 m PAOK DEBUT: PAOK – Go Ahead Eagles 1:2 (08-Jul-2023) – Pre-Season Friendly NT DEBUT: 13-June-2015 (Nigeria - Chad 2:0 AFCON Qualifying) PREVIOUS TEAMS: Salernitana (loan), FC Watford, Udinese Calcio, Bursaspor, Haugesund (loan), KAA Gent, Dordrecht (loan), FC Groningen, Tottenham Hotspur youth team, FC Fulham youth team CONTRACT ENDS: 30-Jun-2026 SALARY: € per season

I never read anything into the pre-season friendlies. They are worthless in predicting the outcome of the season. I think we will be fine. Finishing 2 - 4 in the league gets you the same benefits: 2nd qualifying round of Conference League. There is no way we can contest for the title. If we get lucky we might get into the cup final (it has become a habit lately) and maybe even win it. I just hope we have a good run in Europe (group stage at a minimum), but as we saw last season nothing is guaranteed. If things get rough, maybe both sides can come to a mutual agreement to end the ties and hopefully we can bring someone mid-season to start building a team for next season. Ivic would be an ideal choice, but that would imply that some of the front office bureaucrats would need to be fired.