Under-17’s: PAOK-Olympiacos to face off for the last trophy of the season
The last final of the year for PAOK and it’s the Super League Under-17 championship that is being held today 28.05 (17:00) in Lamia (Athanassios Diakos Stadium). PAOK face Olympiacos with the trophy up for grabs.
The Double-headed Eagle beat AEL 2-0 in the semi-final (scorers Papanikopoulos and Stylos), while Olympiacos overcame Panathinaikos with a goal in stoppage time, and now the title will be contested by the two winners, as traditionally happens in the finals of the youth championships.
The two teams met last in the regular season, in the early final in November, which also decided the first ticket to the Final Four. Then, in Agrinio, PAOK won 2-1 with goals from Dunga and Kosidis.
Let’s remember that last year’s final was also a battle between the same clubs, with Olympiacos winning 5-4 in extra time (2-2 in normal time). The goals for PAOK were scored by Kesidis, Kalaitsidis, Tsobanis and Vryzas.
PAOK has four championships in this age category. They won the trophy in 2013 (1-0 versus Olympiacos with Koulouris scoring), in 2016 (2-1 over Xanthi with goals from Tzovaras and Hatzistravos), in 2020 (6-5 on penalties with Koutsiadis and Kedikoglou scoring the goals in the 3-3 draw) and 2022 (2-0 versus Aris with Gitersos and Goumas scoring).
Under-17 profile
The Under-17’s of the 2023-24 season are those born in 2007, plus some younger ones (2008), in line with the PAOK Academy’s constant tactic of «promoting» younger players to the older age groups. It is a team that has been training for a number of years under the instructions of Dimitris Orfanou and Stelios Bikas, finalists in the Under-15 final in 2002 – which they lost due to a serious refereeing error – and informal champions last year in the Macedonia Football Association League, as Under-16’s.
It should be noted that during this season, players born in 2008 took part in the Under-17 matches, some being permanent members of the team, others competing in some games. These are Stavros Paschalidis, Charalambos Augitidis, Yiannis Louzianiotis, Dimitris Kyriazidis, Traianos Mokris, Evangelos Giokas, Dimitris Berdos, Vassilis Bakalidis, Grigoris Minasidis, George Mavro, Michael Papadopoulos, George Crommydas, Anastasios Sidiropoulos, Antoni Areti, George Georgiadis. And at the same time, of course, Under-17 players trained or participated in Under-19 matches.
Goalkeepers: Efstathios Beleris, Michael Pourliotopoulos, George Panagiotidis, Stavros Paschalidis
Defenders: Georgios Kosidis, Konstantinos Vyrsokinos, Pavlos Tsiotas, Traianos Mokris, Dimitris Bataoulas, Charalambos Augitidis, Ioannis Lougianiotis, Dimitrios Kyriazidis, Evangelos Gioka, Georgios Daoularis, Ioannis Karagiannidis
Midfielders: Vasilios Eleftheriadis, Bedri Dunga, Photios Vassili, Athanasios Papanikopoulos, Konstantinos Toursounidis, Vasilios Bakalidis, Grigorios Minasidis, Michael Papadopoulos, George Mavros, Antonios Theodosiadis
Forwards: Nikolaos Theophilou, Haris Kosmopoulos, Georgios Krommidas, Dimitrios Berdos, Anastasios Sidiropoulos, Ioannis Tsifoutis, Antonios-Panagiotis Tsitsilas, Paschalis Stylos, Antonios Aretis, Georgios Aretis, Anestis Mythou
Coach: Dimitrios Orfanos
Assistant coach: Stylianos Bikas
Fitness coach: Vasilios Leftheroudis
Goalkeeper coach: Dimitrios Kyriakidis
Video analyst: Alexandros Theodoridis
Doctor: Iraklis Giannaros
Physiotherapist: Stavros Charalambidis
Caregiver: Ioannis Klagas
Team manager: Alexandros Theodoridis
- 540 players (359 born in 2007, 156 in 2008 and 25 in 2009) participated in the 2023-24 season league.
- In the event of a tie, the semi-finals go directly to penalty kicks, while the final goes to extra-time and penalty kicks.
- The matches will be shown directly via Novasports channels, the WEB TV of Novasports.gr as well as from the Novasports channel on YouTube. They will also be shown live on the official Super League website and via the official Super League Twitter account.