Greek Football Season 19/20

[Firnen]

AEK beat OFI 2-0, PAOK drew 0-0 vs Panathinaikos, Olympiacos beat Aris 4-2 away.

AEK is the clear favourite for 2nd place now, 4 points clear off PAOK.

Olympiacos 85
AEK 65
PAOK 61
Panathinaikos 52
Aris 38
OFI 36

PAOK is facing Olympiacos away next week while AEK faces Panathinaikos away (in their common home ground), so there is a very good chance that the battle for 2nd place is over by Sunday night.

Some people think that PAOK had an abrupt performance drop in the play-offs but that is not the case.

In the "derbies" between the big 4 + Aris in the regular season, the ranking was :

Olympiacos 5-3-0 18 pts
Panathinaikos 2-3-3 9 pts
AEK 2-3-3 9 pts
Aris 2-3-3 9 pts
PAOK 1-4-3 7 pts

In the play offs, the points so far are :

Olympiacos 5-1-0 16 pts
AEK 2-2-1 8 pts
Panathinaikos 1-4-1 7 pts
PAOK 1-2-2 5 pts
Aris 0-1-5 1 pt

The only thing that changed is Aris being unable to cope with the transfer ban that did not allow him to renew contracts after 30/6 or even promote youth players.

PAOK is as bad in difficult matches as they were the whole year. But it was "masked" by their...perfect (17-1-0) record against the "small teams", from which some more suspicious people claim that the fact that Greek referees were officiating them (instead of foreigners in most of the derbies) helped "mask" PAOK's problematic team this year.

[seso]

AEK may also seal the second place on July 15th when they host PAOK!

[rpo.castro]

Panathinaikos will keep playing at Olympic Stadium in next years?
How is the construction of new AEK stadium? When is expected to open?

[Firnen]

Panathinaikos will keep playing at Olympic Stadium in next years?
How is the construction of new AEK stadium? When is expected to open?

Yes, Panathinaikos will be playing there. There old stadium is more suitable for 2nd division teams, not a big club of Greek football.
AEK's construction is moving on, but I have no idea when it is expected to open. Not during the 2020-21 season for sure.

[Funkmaster]

Panathinaikos will keep playing at Olympic Stadium in next years?
How is the construction of new AEK stadium? When is expected to open?

Yes, Panathinaikos will be playing there. There old stadium is more suitable for 2nd division teams, not a big club of Greek football.
AEK's construction is moving on, but I have no idea when it is expected to open. Not during the 2020-21 season for sure.

I think Panathinaikos‘ stadium is quite nice and suitable for them. I would for sure prefer a narrow 15000 - stadium instead of playing in a big and outdated-looking 70000 - athletic stadium in front of 10000 people. The stadium looks empty and the few spectators sit like 1 km away from the field.

It‘s the same for Dinamo Kiew, they also have a 70000 - stadium and about 10000-15000 per game, it looks horrible. You need like 40000, better 50000 people to have a good atmosphere in stadiums like this.

[Firnen]

Panathinaikos will keep playing at Olympic Stadium in next years?
How is the construction of new AEK stadium? When is expected to open?

Yes, Panathinaikos will be playing there. There old stadium is more suitable for 2nd division teams, not a big club of Greek football.
AEK's construction is moving on, but I have no idea when it is expected to open. Not during the 2020-21 season for sure.

I think Panathinaikos‘ stadium is quite nice and suitable for them. I would for sure prefer a narrow 15000 - stadium instead of playing in a big and outdated-looking 70000 - athletic stadium in front of 10000 people. The stadium looks empty and the few spectators sit like 1 km away from the field.

It‘s the same for Dinamo Kiew, they also have a 70000 - stadium and about 10000-15000 per game, it looks horrible. You need like 40000, better 50000 people to have a good atmosphere in stadiums like this.

It is a 1970s stadium, the locker rooms and inside space are awful (all teams that have played there say so), the stands are too close to the field and this is very dangerous in Greece (and causes fines and penalties for the home team every time the fans riot), the grass is in woeful condition, generally it is not a 2020 stadium, simple as that.

[Funkmaster]

Yes, Panathinaikos will be playing there. There old stadium is more suitable for 2nd division teams, not a big club of Greek football.
AEK's construction is moving on, but I have no idea when it is expected to open. Not during the 2020-21 season for sure.

I think Panathinaikos‘ stadium is quite nice and suitable for them. I would for sure prefer a narrow 15000 - stadium instead of playing in a big and outdated-looking 70000 - athletic stadium in front of 10000 people. The stadium looks empty and the few spectators sit like 1 km away from the field.

It‘s the same for Dinamo Kiew, they also have a 70000 - stadium and about 10000-15000 per game, it looks horrible. You need like 40000, better 50000 people to have a good atmosphere in stadiums like this.

It is a 1970s stadium, the locker rooms and inside space are awful (all teams that have played there say so), the stands are too close to the field and this is very dangerous in Greece (and causes fines and penalties for the home team every time the fans riot), the grass is in woeful condition, generally it is not a 2020 stadium, simple as that.

Will Panathinaikos ever return to Leoforos, are there plans for renovation? They can‘t play in this athletic stadium forever.

How big will AEK‘s stadium be? Interesting to see a stadium of this size with 2 separate stands. It reminds me of Legia‘s stadium, just a bit smaller.

[Firnen]

I think Panathinaikos‘ stadium is quite nice and suitable for them. I would for sure prefer a narrow 15000 - stadium instead of playing in a big and outdated-looking 70000 - athletic stadium in front of 10000 people. The stadium looks empty and the few spectators sit like 1 km away from the field.

It‘s the same for Dinamo Kiew, they also have a 70000 - stadium and about 10000-15000 per game, it looks horrible. You need like 40000, better 50000 people to have a good atmosphere in stadiums like this.

It is a 1970s stadium, the locker rooms and inside space are awful (all teams that have played there say so), the stands are too close to the field and this is very dangerous in Greece (and causes fines and penalties for the home team every time the fans riot), the grass is in woeful condition, generally it is not a 2020 stadium, simple as that.

Will Panathinaikos ever return to Leoforos, are there plans for renovation? They can‘t play in this athletic stadium forever.

How big will AEK‘s stadium be? Interesting to see a stadium of this size with 2 separate stands. It reminds me of Legia‘s stadium, just a bit smaller.

They are supposedly planning to build a new stadium, but this is around since 2010 with zero progress all these years.
Last I had heard about the capacity of AEK's stadium it was planned to be 32.500.
AEK has much lower ticket average though, so it will be probably full only in 2-3 derbies and some European matches.

[rpo.castro]

How much are the home grounds of AEK and Panathinaikos far away? (I mean Leoforos and the new AEK stadium).
I look at countries like Portugal and Greece and I think that they are too many stadiums. Some could be shared, like in Lisbon you have to big stadiums separated by just 1 km (an then you have National Stadium for only 1 match per year).

[Firnen]

How much are the home grounds of AEK and Panathinaikos far away? (I mean Leoforos and the new AEK stadium).
I look at countries like Portugal and Greece and I think that they are too many stadiums. Some could be shared, like in Lisbon you have to big stadiums separated by just 1 km (an then you have National Stadium for only 1 match per year).

Half of Greece lives in Athens. There is sense to have many stadiums for the many teams that are there. It is a 4 million metro area !

[Funkmaster]

How much are the home grounds of AEK and Panathinaikos far away? (I mean Leoforos and the new AEK stadium).
I look at countries like Portugal and Greece and I think that they are too many stadiums. Some could be shared, like in Lisbon you have to big stadiums separated by just 1 km (an then you have National Stadium for only 1 match per year).

I really like this discussion about stadiums, I am a huge “stadium-fan“ and very interested about the development going on

In my opinion it‘s a good thing having rather too many stadiums than not enough. Speaking for Portugal I think Benfica and Sporting-supporters would hate sharing a stadium. Clubs only have own stadiums and I think it‘s better if a club really has a “home“ and a “place to be“ for identification. If you look to Milano, of course you have the iconic San Siro, but I don‘t think it‘s an ideal situation for AC and Inter. But building a new 40000-stadium is laughable for a big club like AC Milan, so it‘s difficult. I also think Juve‘s 40000-stadium is way too small. I also think the situation in Stockholm is not ideal with this shared stadiums. These huge national-stadiums are just way too big for clubs like Steaua or AIK.

Speaking of Austria there where some dubious plans before Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland to build a brand new stadium and to “stuck“ also Rapid and Austria Wien inside there and demolish their stadiums. All three stadiums (Rapid‘s, Austria‘s and national stadium) were outdated back then, so this wasn‘t a “too bad“ plan. But it would have been horrible, 2 enemies sharing a way too big stadium forever and without any identification and “home“. Now the situation is way better in my opinion, Rapid and Austria have 2 brand-new and nice stadiums in their “home area“. Our national stadium is outdated and old as hell, but what can you do? Building a 60000 mega-stadium for 6-8 matches per year? It‘s difficult and probably only possible in countries like Hungary.

But it‘s definitely an interesting topic to talk about. To come back to Greece I really love the look of Panathinaikos‘ Leoforos. It‘s just so narrow and fits right into this urban area between all the houses, using every inch possible Too bad they didn‘t look after it and now it‘s apparently a ruin and not usable. I get the point that it‘s not safe enough. But only the look of gate 13 - stand, just great

What about PAOK? Their stadium looks alright, but it‘s probably also really old and “out-worn“.

AEK‘s attendance were about 12000, so 32500 looks very/too big. With a new stadium you get more spectators, but not that much. Rapid jumped from 13000-15000 to 18000-21000 average attendance with the new stadium.

[Firnen]

PAOK is planning to rebuild a new stadium in the place were their current stadium is. I do not know if and when they will start this rebuilding.

[rpo.castro]

Italy is the most know example with AC Milan/Internazionale, Lazio/AS Roma and in the past Juventus/Torino (until 2006 when they abandoned the awful Stadio delle Alpi which only lasted 16 years!).

For me too much stadiums is way worst then lack of stadiums. Portugal suffers from Euro 2004 greedy with 30k stadiums with no use (Algarve and Leiria), Aveiro in regional championship (4th or 5th tier), Coimbra in 2nd League. Boavista, Braga and Guimarães have and average between 8-14k spectators). I think Greece has also a problem with 2004 Olympics facilites. They have costed lots and lots of money to the Portuguese and Greek people, most are still be paying (money that could be used other way) and with high maintenance costs.
(In Portugal, most of 2004 stadiums were paid and are owned by the city hall).

Few years after Euro 2004 they thought about demolishing them. Braga has 2 big stadiums (old SC Braga 1º de Maio and current Municipal) and they are speaking to build another one because the Municipal although very beautiful is a nightmare! (the contract will end in a few years and SC Braga pays only a small part of the maintenance costs).

Nowadays stadiums are more standard and with less and less unique features that made stadiums memorable, like Marakana in Belgrade or old stadiums in Greece, Turkey, Romania. Now its more like going to the cinema. From the inside they are so much alike.

And a team only needs the stadium only a couple hours each 15 days. The double if they are in European Competitions. Even if 4 teams shared the same ground, that, wouldn't be a problem (I assume that the youth matches aren't played on this really big stadiums).

Supporters might say that they don't want to share the seat with the rivals. But how much a club spend in a new stadium (or sticking with a old one) when they could save money (and have a better stadium) that could be use on their squad?

Sporting and Benfica? I wouldn't doubt making only one stadium. one 55k and other 65k places 1km apart, for just a couple of hours? Thats just nonsense.

[Firnen]

2nd place of Greece will be determined in courtrooms, after the end of the League.

That is because CAS reached is verdict for the PAOK-Xanthi case, and the verdict is that...the case needs to be tried again from the Appeal Board of the Federation, and until then PAOK gets back the 7 points.

After the Appeal Board re-tries the case and reaches a decision, there will be...new appeals to CAS by Olympiacos (if PAOK is not punished with relegation) or PAOK (if the Appeal Board decides to punish them with points deduction or relegation).

The way I see the time restraints for UEFA's list, there is a good chace that the penalties are applied next year instead of this one.

[NederPAOKtzis]

Panathinaikos FC in the last 20 years, just with one picture.
Everyone trying to understand what's wrong with these f*%&# referees.

This year your team had at least 10 penalties. Macheda scored 6, Chatzigiovannis 4. Not bad, but I get your point.

BTW, like your keeper, Sokratis Dioudis, very much. A wall that denied PAOK a lot of goals, especially in Athens in the play offs. Think he should have a chance in the National team.