Green shoots in Greece for Panathinaikos – Back Page Football
I first heard the acronym PIGS in Germany in 2000. I heard it again, on Irish radio, almost a decade later when hosts and guests were discussing financial issues in southern Europe. Finally, as my Dad was driving me back from the city centre, I asked him what it meant.
“It’s a way for the rich to sneer at the ones they made poor,” he said, before explaining it meant Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. The sneering and jeering in Irish media soon changed when a second ‘I’ was added and we Irish were being called slackers, lazy, and having ‘partied’.
Each of those countries in the ‘grouping’ took a right kicking financially and socially, none more so than Greece. And the noughties financial crisis hit on Greek football is only being overcome now, with her most famous club finally getting onto solid ground.
Ireland’s club?
The first and, until now, only Greek club to reach a European Cup/Champions League Final, and second to Piraeus’ Olympiacos in the national top flight titles stakes, Panathinaikos are easily the most recognisable and famous club from the cradle of civilisation. Their symbol, the shamrock, possesses an array of origin stories, though one seems most plausible.
The 1906 Intercalcated Games in Athens saved the Olympic Games. A decade after the renewal of the ancient Greek celebration of sports, arts, and culture, there had been two unsuccessful jamborees and great opposition from France’s Pierre de Coubertin to give the Greeks their due. The 1906 games were held over a short, precise period with great success and some controversy. Irishmen, competing under flags of other nations, were keen to show just where they came from.
Billy Sherring, of the St. Patrick’s Athletic Club in Hamilton, Ontario, was Canada’s representative in the marathon. Having scraped up the money to make the journey, including getting lucky with a filly named Cicely, he arrived two months before the games and worked as a porter at the central railway station in Athens. Pana club founders, Michalis Papazoglou and Georgios Kalafatis, were both keen athletes and the latter witnessed Sherring, with a large, green shamrock on the front of his vest, romp to gold. Both, through local legend, are said to have been inspired by Sherring.
And not just Sherring – Peter O’Connor, crudely robbed of gold in the long jump, objected to the Union Jack being raised as he was about to receive his silver medal. He scaled the flag pole, tore down the banner that offended him and put in it’s place the ‘Erin Go Bragh’ flag, which was replete with harp and shamrocks. Con Leahy, another Irish athlete forced through Olympic rules to compete for Britain, guarded the pole along with members of the US team. O’Connor won gold and Leahy silver a couple of days later in the triple jump. The Irish spirit was appreciated by locals who’d been playthings of empires.
A leading tour guide in Athens told me, the day I’d go see Panathinaikos play Paks of Hungary in the UEFA Conference League, “Ireland and Greece have always had a connection. So many of you fought for our independence, like [Richard] Church, [Gavin] Hamilton. It is not a surprise that the symbol of Saint Patrick would be on the [Panathinaikos] shirt.” In any case, it’s as probable as the other explanations.
Long time in the shade
It’s not a lie to say that Panathinaikos have recently been overshadowed by city rivals AEK and neighbours Olympiacos. Without a top league title in 16 years following a league-cup double in 2010, it was impressive that they could fill a third of the Olympic Stadium and that the fans were genuinely behind the team.
The late evening, 9:30pm, kick-off was welcomed as our Capital Sports crew took our places, as the day had been unrelentingly hot. Although, one fan on the bus to the ground said that it was “balmy” in the Greek capital. I took the joke well, I think.
Pana didn’t make it easy on themselves but showed a real fighting spirit to come back twice and draw 2-2, going through 4-3 on aggregate. A local radio journalist said that Jacob Neestrup has already had a positive effect on the side, bringing excellent experience from FC Copenhagen, with whom he won two Danish league-cup doubles. At the media conference afterwards, Neestrup was keen to play down expectations of glory-starved Pana followers, telling Capital Sports that if the club want to win [the Conference League] in May that they “need to perform in the here and now.”
It was a blunt, yet refreshing view from a man who seems to have eschewed manager-speak and answer questions directly. One of our Capital Sports crew noted that while it’s still the “honeymoon period,” he carries himself like a winner and someone “who is destined for bigger things.” And how much bigger can it be than bringing a Super League title back to the club before they begin a new life at their new home.
Building for the future
The club academy has produced notable talent, few greater than Giorgos Karagounis. The midfielder was on the Panathinaikos production line from 13 and went on to play with Inter Milan, Benfica, Fulham, and between sojourns in Portugal and England would return to Pana to win the double with them. He was one of the vital components that saw the Greek National Team flourish in the 00’s and win the 2004 European Championship.
Seven of the 23-man squad in 2004 were Panathinaikos players, with Karagounis and Takis Fyssas also having played for the club. ex-Croatia international Gordon Schildenfeld, said of his time at the club that, “You could see the talent everywhere [in the academy] and the fans were the most passionate you can imagine.”
Brazilian midfielder Mauricio, who won the Greek Cup with the club in 2022, said that Pana are “like a Brazil[ilian] club” in the way they are able to continually “bring new, young guys from their academy.” He did remark, however, that until the club can be based in one place long enough, it would be difficult for them to capitalise on “the thousands and thousands of fans.”
Following decades of false starts and necessary short-term fixes, Panathinaikos will move into their new home in Votanikos next year. The multi-sport venue will have a capacity just over 39,000 and allow the club realise their potential. As all of us who follow modern football know, at any level, if you can’t generate income on match days and have the opportunity to stage non-football events at your own ground, you are never going to truly have the stability and ability to compete for prizes. But that’s the next few steps.
Outlook for the season
Panathinaikos seem to like making it tough on themselves in Europe, the battle to beat Paks was followed by an extra time 3-2 win over CSKA 1948 of Bulgaria. They now need to get by Czechia’s Hradec Králové to make the league stage, though they made it tough on themselves after drawing the first leg 2-2 at home. They’ve spent well to bring in quality players and cover all fronts. Croatian Adriano Jagušić is a talent that, given playing time, will get a full cap by the end of the year and end up getting an 8-figure move to a Top-5 league. Iñaki Peña has arrived from Barcelona to offer security in the net, while Zambia’s Kings Kangwa and Trinidad and Tobago’s Levi García bring depth to the squad.
The ‘Shamrocks’ will finish higher than the fourth place which saw Rafa Benitez sacked at the end of last season. AEK have gone out and spent on quality additions, including dynamic Ukrainian Oleksandr Zubkov, though the 30-year-old might spend more time on the physio table than field. Croatia’s Lovro Majer came in from Wolfsburg, but despite being in his prime, he might not turn out to be the smash hit the champs are banking on. The biggest issue might be on the bench, with coach Marko Nikolic under severe pressure to follow up on winning the title in his debut season. At Lokomotiv Moscow he won the Russian cup, same at CSKA Moscow, but despite being a nice man and very good coach, he has a way of self-sabotaging that could see AEK not retain their title and him gone by Christmas.
I saw Olympiacos get bored to death on a boiling Tuesday night in Piraeus, then fall apart in Holland against NEC, but they’ve got Europa League football in the autumn. Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, has moved four players to his Greek outfit, three on loan. But overall, the team is weaker than last year, especially in goals after selling Greek international Konstantinos Tzolakis to Hull City. Spanish head coach José Luis Mendilibar won a domestic treble in 2025 and made history by leading the club to the UEFA Conference League title in 2024, the first European title for a Greek club. His breathing space is running out, according to local media, and Evangelos could be moving him on by October.
The other title contender, PAOK Thessaloniki, made headlines for responding to anti-Greek and anti-Russian chants, and the waving of distasteful banners and flags by Dynamo Kiev. While non-Greek media focused on PAOK fan’s Russian flags, they didn’t mention that PAOK’s owner, Ivan Savvidis, is a Pontic Greek [USSR-born] and that the fans didn’t take kindly to the abuse being hurled at him. They fell next time out to Anderlecht and will have to beat Brann Bergen of Norway to get into the Conference League phase, but domestically, they need to make waves. Johnjoe Jenny and Greg Taylor are going to be leaned on this season, as will Greek starlet Giannis Konstantelias. PAOK will make the Top-4, but their new boss might not be up to it. Having had nine permanent managers since 2015, Alessio Lisci might not make the end of the season, even more so if he does well in Europe.
Panathinaikos, therefore, have the best chance to give it a good rattle with this new coach. None of their rivals are, currently, looking out of reach and the club could be taking up residence in their new stadium as champions and with UEFA Champions League football to enjoy. Given their history and breaking ground for Greek football, it would be almost be poetic. And as someone who studied Classical Greek poetry in university, it would be worth seeing happen.
