Under-15s turn to chase the title
The first time is usually a great learning opportunity, an important step in a never-ending educational process. Our rookie Under-15 side have taken full advantage of the opportunity, showing a maturity beyond their years and claimed the leadership of the championship in its inaugural year in this age category. PAOK took the lead, and now they are primed for the Final Four.
The Under-15s ended the regular season at the top of the table with 37 points, and they head to the Final Four in Agrinio, at Panetolikos Stadium, looking to maintain their position. Olympiacos were second with 31, Panathinaikos third with 28, and AEK fourth with 19. These are the teams which will contest the Final Four. PAOK’s opponent in the semi-final is AEK, a match which will be held on Sunday, March 20 at 11.00. In the other semi-final (14.00) Olympiacos and Panathinaikos will face off against each other. The final is scheduled for March 23 at 15.00.
In the regular season, Orfanos and Bikas’ side achieved 12 victories, had one draw and one defeat, while they scored 28 times and conceded seven. It is noteworthy that all seven goals conceded came in only the first half of the season. In the second half of the campaign, the team had only clean sheets. The players who have played the most minutes are the following: Kosidis (1120), Vyrsokinos (1098), Eleftheriadis (1078), Tsitsilas (980) and Dunga (964).
The top scorer is Dunga with six goals, second is Theofilou and Tsitsilas with four, and Eleftheriadis and Karakostas both have three. Tsifoutis has scored two goals and the following have all scored one each: Tsiotas, Dimopoulos, Romanidis, Mythou and Kosidis. Vyrsokinos leads the creative stats with four assists, followed by Eleftheriadis, Dunga and Tsifoutis with two. The following have all contributed one assist: Tsiotas, Bagios, Sellas, Vassili, Karakostas, Tsitsilas.
PAOK’s Under-15 squad consists of the following players:
Goalkeepers: Michail Pourliotopoulos, Georgios Panagiotidis, Klimis Kyriakidis, Efstathios Beleris
Defenders: Georgios Kosidis, Konstantinos Vyrsokinos, Dimitrios Sellas, Dimitrios Bataoulas, Pavlos Tsiotas, Pavlos Bagios, Demosthenis Kakoulis, Dimitrios Kyriazidis
Midfielders: Vassilios Eleftheriadis, Athanasios Panos, Bedri Dunga, Nikolaos Dimopoulos, Anestis Mythou, Fotios Vassili, Elias Drigakis, Athanasios Pananikopoulos, Konstantinos Toursounidis
Forwards: Antonios-Panagiotis Tsitsilas, Nikolaos Theofilou, Petros Karakostas, Ioannis Tsifoutis, Georgios Romanidis, Andreas Spyrou, Dimitris Berdos, Elias Karagiozis
*It should be noted that Berdos, Karagiozis, Kyriazidis, and Toursounidis were all born in 2008
Coaching and technical team
Coach: Dimitrios Orfanos
Assistant coach: Stylianos Bikas
Fitness coacht: Vassilios Lefteroudis
Goalkeeping coach: Nikolaos Bogdanos
Physiotherapist: Michael Kostidis
Caregiver: Ioannis Klagas
General manager: Stavros Sarafis
- PAOK recorded the most victories in the league (12) and had the best defense (7 goals conceded).
- In the regular season PAOK beat AEK in both games. In Athens on 31.10 they won 2-0 and in Thessaloniki on 06.02 they won 3-0.
- The duration of the matches in this category is 80 minutes. In the semi-final and the final in case of a draw, the match is decided via a penalty shootout.
- This is the eighth Super League championship in the Under-15 age group. Due to the pandemic, it was not held in 2020 and 2021. PAOK is a six-time finalist.
- The title was judged with a final between the top two teams in each of the two groups until the 2018-19 season, when the Final Four was held for the first time, which was won by PAOK.
- PAOK has won three championships, Olympiacos three, and Panathinaikos one. In the final of 2015 in Chania, PAOK beat Olympiacos 1-0 with a goal by Doumtsis; in the 2017 final in Larissa, PAOK beat Olympiacos 7-6 on penalties (the match ended 1-1 with PAOK’s goal scored by Altintzis), and in the 2019 Final Four in Lamia, PAOK beat Aris 3-1 in the final with two goals by Koutsias and one by Tsikos.
- 192 players participated in this year’s championship.
- The semi-finals and the final will be broadcast live on Novasports Start, on the channel’s WEB TV (novasports.gr), as well as on Novasports’ YouTube channel. The matches will also be broadcast live via the official website of the Super League and on the official Super League account on Twitter.