Soprano76

Interesting, I had thought Larisa had one of the nicer stadiums when it comes to size and modern infrastructure. Let's hope the boys get the win though. It would be nice to see some new blood in there. Still don't understand why someone like Fetfatzidis is basically black-listed from the NT despite people like Tziolis and Maniatis being regulars.

Would be nice if they played it somewhere else. Larissa has a nice stadium don't they?

That's unfortunate. Seems like there's a pretty big rift between Athens and Thessaloniki when it comes to football.. does this indicate a deeper divide perhaps?

What makes you say that? Have there been mumblings in the news or just a gut feeling? It would be nice if the NT could spread around and play in different parts of the country to get everyone more involved. From what I see the Ethniki has pitiful support during their games in Karaiskaki. I remember they played a friendly in Xania a few years back but I'm not sure how that went.

In truth I haven't read the article in a couple of months so my memory on it is a bit hazy, but since I just joined the forums so I thought I would share. I suppose I misspoke and should have said the article disputes the fact that the native population was largely displaced by Slavic invaders and the latter make up only a small portion of the genetic input to today's modern Peloponnisiotes. The people of Mani and Tsakonia had the most difference from any other subgroup as well, which if you look at the historical context makes sense. Either way, you're both correct in that since Greece is at the cross roads of 3 continents, it's bound to have both ethnic and cultural variances throughout the millennia. Just thought I would share

I think emotions are running a bit high here for some people. We should all take a step back and re-evaluate the direction of this discussion. We're all Greek and want a strong, competitive Super League right? I get it that we're all just some randoms on an internet forum but things in Greek soccer get way too tribalistic for its own good, and I'm seeing it play out right now

Hmm interesting, I can only follow so much since my Greek isn't that good and there aren't many English sites to get this stuff. I hope all the best for Aris. They have what, the 5th largest fanbase? So their involvement will be good for the league. I hope Papadopoulos or whomever gets involved can do a good job running the finances and turning into a strong club once again. Look at what happened to AEK, their turnaround these past 4 years has been very impressive.

Not sure where else to put this and wasn't sure if it was worthy of its own thread, but here's an article published in 2016 in the European Journal of Human Genetics that discusses the ethnic background of Peloponnesean Greeks and how close related they are to the Greeks during the Middle Ages. A popular hypothesis is that the native Greek populations were either wiped out or wholly assimilated with the Slavic invaders of the 6th and 7th century CE, but this article seems to dispute that. It is definitely an interesting finding that sheds new light on the question of how closely related modern Greeks are to their ancient counterparts. https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg201718: "The Peloponneseans are clearly distinguishable from the populations of the Slavic homeland and are very similar to Sicilians and Italians." I believe it quite likely that the further north you go, into Makedonia and Epirus, the people there will have a much stronger Slavic and Albanian admixture.

As is common with any ethnic group, the diaspora is typically more nationalistic than those living in the actual country of origin. Mix that with historical revisionism, and you have a recipe for what the Skops did in Australia last week. We can speak endlessly of the ineptitude of the Greek government since the 1990's regarding the issue, but the unfortunate truth is that any solution right now would mean that FYROM keeps the name Macedonia in their country's names. If this is going to be the case, the Greeks have to make sure the agreed upon name is some kind of composite than can't be dropped in everyday conversation. Here in the states, you see that this issue is compounded by the fact that most Greeks don't really know any better and refer to our lovely neighbors as "Macedonians." Might just be where I'm from since most of the Greeks here are 2nd or 3rd generation from places like Tripoli and the nisia, so there isn't a familial connection to Makedonia.

I don't know much about Savvidis, other than he's close to Putin and that he's been investing a lot of money into Greece/Thessaloniki. I thought he would be better than what he showed on Sunday, but what's done is done. Hopefully he learns from his mistake, isn't forced to sell the team and is able to work with the rest of the owners/EPO to create a better product on and off of the field. I was pulling for PAOK to take home the protathlima this year as well since I've become a bit of a fan of theirs ever since I visited Thessa. Oh well, maybe next year.

so is this still happening? Haven't heard anything about it this year.

Hello all, I've been following Aris a bit this season since I took a liking to the Thessaloniki teams ever since I visited two years. I'm somewhat of a Greek soccer orphan so I don't have much of a team per se. Aris is doing very well this year and looks to get promoted, which is good for Greek soccer as they're one of the bigger teams. Does anyone know about the financial situation though? For example, who owns the team and what measures are in place to make sure the club doesn't go bankrupt again like it did a few years back?