The Toumba dorms

Toumba is their second home. They sleep and wake up, train, study and dream there. The talented youngsters, who have been picked out as eventual members of the “Double-Headed Eagle’s” future team and reside in PAOK’s dorms, have just one aim: to come down from the dorms, enter the senior team dressrooms and then step onto the pitch.

Seventeen children born between 1996 and 2001 can be accommodated in Toumba dorms (400 sq. metres). Children older than 15, who are deemed mature and capable of self-service, live in groups of 2-3 in houses rented by the club.

Their families can visit them after getting the club’s permission and can stay with their children for just one day. After getting the club’s permission parents can also visit the children residing in dorms. The only people allowed in the premises are the coaches, teachers (four for literature, one for physics and one mathematician), the doctor (ergophysiologist – nutritionist) the psychologist, the cook, the guard and the house-keeping lady.

It’s a huge responsibility and the regulations are strict. When PAOK FC, the player and his family have reached the decision, all parties sign a private contract stating that PAOK FC assume the responsibility of the child’s accommodation, nutrition, health care, education, psychological development, support and safety.

Creation of the dorms

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Amateur PAOK (owners of the stadium) created a few little houses between Gates 3 and 4 in collaboration with the club’s administrations. In following years, as the team were using Makedonikos’ installations, there was a need to encounter space for the children of the youth squads. These houses were not meeting requirements and they were soon abandoned.

The Zagorakis administration came up with a solution in 2008. There were some empty spaces in the building in Gates 1-2-3 and the original idea of creating dorms soon became reality. Thodoris Zagorakis and the supervisors of PAOK Academy (Iliadis, Farfalis and Michailidis) wanted the children from the Greek province to grow inside Toumba, to become one with the club, to love PAOK and feel this iconic stadium as their second home.