The dream became a reality and since the summer, I0nikos are among Greek football’s elite. And they have indeed shown that they want to stay. The Nikaian club could easily be characterized by one of the pleasant surprises in this year’s championship.

They have recorded 25 points and are in 11th place. But that does not tell the whole story about the Athenian team. Their style of play has been excellent, and they have met every opponent with the same determination, focusing on playing their own brand of football. They were in control of many matches that they somehow ended up losing, but generally the club seem to be here to stay and try to relive their former glories of the past.

The main goal of staying up looks like it will be achieved with relative comfort, something which seemed as though it would be the case from early on in the season with a squad built with experience and talent, including some big names such as Jose Canas and Dmytro Chyhrynskyi.

The black spot so far for them has been their failure in the Greek Cup. Although they managed to get past Xanthi, they fell to Lamia before the quarter-finals.

Their player of the season so far is Aias Aosman. The Syrian attacking midfielder has scored six goals and produced six assists, while Reinaldo Lenis has also proven to be a solid acquisition, as the Colombian forward has scored three goals and contributed three assists.

The architect of the team is coach Dimitris Spanos. The Greek technician guided the club to promotion and won the right to lead the team in the top flight.

Ionikos was active in the January transfer window, making four additions to give even more options to Spanos to cover the gaps he identified. Vassilis Mantzis returned after 1.5 years in Cyprus with Olympiakos Nicosia, while Valente was a free agent arrival from Tuzlalaspor. Goalkeeper Nejc Vidmar (on loan from Olimpija Ljubljana) was brought in, while Vangelis Platellas returned after a spell at Xanthi.

For the game at the Toumba, Spanos is without the injured Canas, but also Kiato, who is suspended. The Ionikos squad includes the following:

Choutesiotis, Vidmar, Tsirigoti, Vafeas, Valeriano, Chyhrynskyi, Mygas, Sanchez, Gotsoulias, Aosman, Dalcio, Romao,Lenis, Manalis, Cabral, Matsoukas, Platellaa, Thuram, Valente, Mantzis.