Soprano76

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?