The Greeks no longer have to be satisfied with just the memory of the European title from 2004. The systemic work of the Association, the investments of the clubs and the generation of new footballers are now yielding results. With Ivan Jovanović on the bench, Serbian coaches and players play an important role in the revival of Greek football
Football team Greek is after Of Serbia (2:1) also beat Germany (1:0) in Augsburg and thus opened the cycle in the A League of Nations with two victories. Thus, the systemic work of the Greek Federation is gradually paying off.
Greece was the champion of Europe in 2004 when it won the title with rudimentary football. Since then, the Greeks have participated in only two European Championships and two World Championships. In recent years, they have been reborn under the leadership of Serbian coach Ivan Jovanović.
Jovanović used to play for Loznica and Rad, and he went to Greece in the late eighties, to Iraklis. At the beginning of the 21st century, he began his coaching career in Greece. During his 25 years of coaching, he was mostly in the Greek football sphere, including the Cypriot APOEL, with whom he played in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
He also worked as a coach in the United Arab Emirates, where he coached Al Nasr and the UAE national team from 2013 to 2020.
Upon his return to Greece, he took over Panathinaikos, with whom he won the Greek Cup trophy in 2023, which recommended him to take over the national team in August 2024.
At the end of the previous decade, Greece saw that it needed a football reform. The Greek Football Association has decided to invest in coaching staff, who will work with the younger categories. They called that undertaking "Renaissance". This is evidenced by the fact that in the 2019/20 season. there were 665 coaches with a UEFA license to work with children, and by 2023 that number had grown to 1886 coaches.
The goal was to standardize the level of work and for children from six to 14 years old to acquire sufficient knowledge of football basics - the development of technique and the speed of decision-making. Instead of leaving the development of young footballers to clubs and individuals, the idea was to raise the standard of work throughout the country.
The results of such an approach cannot appear immediately. It takes years for the generation that came through the new system to reach senior football. Greece is now entering a period in which the effects of such work can be seen on a representative level.
In addition to the development of representative football, which was encouraged by the association, the development of the club competition also took place in parallel. The Greek championship was considered low-quality for a long time.
For a long time, he was followed by scandals related to match-fixing, hooliganism and the low quality of football. Olympiakos dominated, and on the European stage, no club recorded success.
Since 2011, Olympiakos has won seven consecutive titles. It was the result of the Greek football crisis and the large investment of Greek controversial businessman Evangelos Marinakis. He invested in the reconstruction and modernization of the club's training center, thus creating a better foundation for the development of young footballers.
The result of that investment was seen in 2024 when Olympiakos won two European trophies. First, the under-19 players won the youth Champions League, and then the senior team won the Conference League.
It was the first European trophy for a senior Greek club.
Parallel to raising the level of quality in Piraeus, the competition also became better. In 2018, AEK Athens ended the dominance of Olympiakos after seven years, then the title was also won by PAOK Thessaloniki. Serbian internationals played an important role in both clubs.
Marko Nikolić is the coach of AEK Athens, which is the current champion of Greece and a participant in the Champions League. AEK's top scorer last season was Serbian striker Luka Jović.
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In addition to Jović, Marko Grujić and Mijat Gaćinović, who before AEK played for Panathinaikos under the leadership of Ivan Jovanović, played for AEK during the previous seasons.
On the other hand, the captain of PAOK is Andrija Živković, who has been playing for the Thessaloniki club for six years, with whom he won one Greek championship.
Apart from Gaćinović, Serbian national team members Filip Đuričić, Nemanja Maksimović and Filip Mladenović performed in Panathinaikos.
During the renaissance of Greek football, which was supported by the planning work of the Association and the raising of the quality of the Greek championship, a generation of quality football players grew up.
It is particularly interesting that the effect of this summer's development can be traced through the market. Greek footballers are no longer waiting for an opportunity in the bigger European leagues, but more and more of them are moving directly to clubs that are fighting for the highest goals.
The Greek team that played in Belgrade on Thursday included English champion and European vice-champion Christos Collis (24), who established himself in Arsenal and is coach Mikel Arteta's first choice on the left wing. He grew up in PAOK, and before London he played in Norwich, Twente and Club Brugge.
This summer, the Greeks also strengthened the German vice-champion Borussia Dortmund. Yannis Konstantelias (23) and Konstantinos Karecas (18) came to the German club. Both were brought in with high expectations, but Konstantelias suffered an injury that sidelined him for several months.
These are not isolated cases. Another indication of the breadth of the generation is the fact that Premier League newcomers Hull City brought in two Greeks this summer. This summer, Croatian coach Sergej Jakirović decided to bring in Konstantinos Colakis, the goalkeeper most responsible for Greece's victory over Germany, and Olympiakos midfielder Hristos Mouzakis (19).
Also, Roma brought Greek Konstantinos Kouliarakis (22), a stopper who strengthened the Roman club, who is considered a potential surprise in the Italian championship this season.
In addition to the stars of this summer's transfer window, the Greeks have been the mainstays of Lisbon clubs for years. Benfica's top scorer is Vangelis Pavlidis (27), while Sporting's starters are Fotis Ioanidis (26) and Grigoris Vaianidis (25).
The scorer of the winning goal against Serbia, Anastasios Duvikas (27), has been playing for Como since last summer, which qualified for the Champions League for the first time last season. Also, Haralampos Kostoulas arrived in the Premier League from Olympiakos in the previous summer, in Brighton, where he has already become an important part of the attacking team.
In addition to newcomers at the highest level who are yet to reach their peak, Jovanovic can also count on experienced footballers such as Konstantinos Mavropanos (28), a West Ham player, and the assistant for the winning goal against Serbia, Konstantinos Tsimikas (30), who has been playing for Liverpool for years.
This is perhaps the biggest change compared to previous decades. Greece no longer has just one generation that made an exceptional result, as was the case in 2004. It now has a system that produces players, clubs that develop them and footballers who reach the biggest European stages earlier and earlier.
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