A hugely successful 17th elite «Panagiotis Katsouris» tournament
The 17th “Panagiotis Katsouris” international tournament, held on April 18 and 19 at the Souroti sports complex, was not just a series of matches – a lot of matches – but a celebration of sport that once again united teams, athletes, children, coaches, families and fans.
Teams from 14 different countries, with famous academies, filled two full days of competition with talent, color and smiles, adding glamour to the biggest tournament that PAOK has organized so far in memory of Panagiotis Katsouris. A tournament in our centenary year, which certainly raised the bar for the future.
The matches were attended by large crowds, parents who came from almost all over Europe, scouts, agents, including the Portuguese forward Jorge Mendes, who came to Thessaloniki in … the capacity of a father, as his son plays for Porto’s Under-13 team.
The tournament was for the U-15 and U-13 age groups and apart from PAOK’s teams, professional teams from Greece and Europe, as well as high-level academies, participated. Porto, Benfica, Feyenoord, Eintracht Frankfurt, Malmö, Bochum, Partizan, Twente, Ludogorets, Banik Ostrava, Union Saint-Gilloise, among others, traveled to Thessaloniki.
In the U-15 category, 20 teams competed (four groups of five teams) and in the U-13 category, 24 teams (four groups of six teams). And all this in three phases. The group matches were held on Saturday 18.04 and the knockout games in the B’phase (gold and silver path) on Sunday 19.04. In these, the teams were divided based on their scores in the A’phase, with the 1st and 2nd places leading to the Gold Path, while the 3rd, 4th and 5th places to the Silver Path.
In the gold KU15 category, PAOK emerged victorious, as last they did last year, as they prevailed 1-0 (scorer Efstathiadis) over Feyenoord in the final. In the minor final, Oxford defeated Randers on penalties. The gold U-13 category was won by Benfica, who prevailed on penalties over PAOK, while third place was won by Eintracht Frankfurt, who defeated Porto 2-1 in the minor final.
In the silver path and in the U-15, Twente won (2-1 against Viborg) and third was Makedonikos (1-0 against Atlas Epirus). In the U-13, Jagiellonia beat Djurgarden 1-0 in the final, while in the small final, Oxford prevailed 2-1 over Banik Ostrava.
A huge thank you to all who participated. See you next time!
- The “Panagiotis Katsouris” tournament has been held since 2009, in memory of our former player, who lost his life in a car accident on February 9, 1998 at the age of just 21.
- The duration of the matches was 25 minutes, with no extra-time and matches going straight to penalties if necessary.
