Posted: February 07, 2003 at 13:48 PM EST (18:48 PM GMT)

AEGALEO

The Sunday match against Ionikos ended in a draw(0-0). The referee, Kyros Vassaras, contributed to the outcome by accepting the assistant-referee's erroneous off-side indication and denied Aegaleo a legitimate goal (Nikolopoulos,10'). The Aegaleo fans nevertheless were upset mostly at their team and some shouted during the game that the match was fixed.

After the end of the game some 50 fans attempted to question the coach, Hatzaras (were mostly objecting to the fact that Nikolopoulos did not play in the second half) while shouting insults at the players and the team's owner (Thomas Mitropoulos). Finally, some located the town mayor, Kalogeropoulos, and demanded that he explain Hatzaras' decisions!

Aegaleo defeated a weak PAO team Wednesday (2/5) 1-0 (84', Chloros) as Markarian rested key players. The second cup match between PAO and Aegaleo will be played at Aegaleo's stadium. After the match Hatzaras said: "When you lose a game in Greece, you have been bought, when you win it, the opponent has been bought, and when you draw, the outcome is the product of an agreement. Today we defended well, we were a bit lucky, and we won. There is nothing more to it...."

AEK

The team needs to pay the revenue service 1.85M Euros. ENIC has promised to send 580K and new president Granitsas needs to find the missing 1.27M. Since 1.22M apparently do not grow on trees, Mr. Granitsas is to meet with minister of Finances Apostolos Fotiadis.

AEK drew against Panionios (1-1) in the first leg of their matches for the Greek cup. Panionios outplayed AEK but could not score. As a result, AEK scored first (Maladenis, 40') and Panionios equalized (Apostolos Mantzios crossed and Vangelis Mantzios headed the ball; 88').

Chiotis was injured (collision with Mantzios and Siliak) and was replaced in the second half by Michaelides. The latest news are that he cracked a rib and will not play on Sunday against PAO. Tsartas was not tested (bad pitch).

Yellow cards were given to Wright, Nalidzis, Kreek, Georgeas (AEK) and Ranguel, Giannopoulos, V. Mantzios (Panionios).

The match was attended by 1506 paying fans (gate=16,547 Euros).

Tsartas gave an interview Thursday in which he claimed that:

• this year Psomiades exhibited self destructive tendencies
• Santos is an excellent coach but does not know how to deal with people.
• because of past associations he demanded much from Bajevic and that Bajevic did all he could.

[Melek: the last statement can be seen as papering over past disappointments and less generous assessments of what Bajevic did or failed to do].

The new president, Granitsas spoke of the money AEK owes and said that:

The control of the team's finances for the period 1992-2001 shows that the team is 6.3 billion drachmas in the red. Three billions represent actual debts and the rest fines. According to Granitsas the debt is spread as follows:

• Melissanidis-Karras: 224M
• Trochanas 537M
• ENIC Netmed 4.5 billion drachmas

He referred to the fake invoices of 4.5 billion drachmas that Psomiades put in and later took out of the books, the one billion drachmas AEK owes other teams, the 1M Euros that the team owes right and left (as a result of which 42-43 individuals are threatening with legal action) and payment easements representing 7-8 billion drachmas. Granitsas stated that bankruptcy would be the wrong solution and that for the last time the government should do something for AEK and the other teams that are at risk. He ended by saying "I cannot imagine that the state will be indifferent!"

ARIS

Selander (just acquired) played against Panionios (Sunday) and showed he can contribute.

Aris management claims that multinational pharmaceutical company Roche is interested in buying part of the team.

Coach Foiros is complaining that some supporters indulge in negative criticism without regard for the difficult circumstances the team faces. He ended by saying:

"I find it unthinkable that I would bury my father Friday and be insulted by our fans Sunday while we were ahead in the score against Panachaiki!"

IRAKLIS

Xenidis will not play against OSFP (red card at the Panachaiki game, a draw)

Coach Gerard stated: Iraklis needs to bring new players that can help. Not to sign players in order to pacify the complainers. OSFP is a difficult opponent but Iraklis is going to play to win, not to avoid defeat. It is a good thing that we are not playing at the very bad stadium of Panionios.

KALLITHEA

Kallithea was winning 3-2 (Sunday 2/2/03) when the referee Douros invented a penalty that allowed Akratitos to equalize. The Kallithea coach, Babis Tennes, protested vigorously and was ejected.

Blendar Kola and Kallithea agreed to part ways. The player had tested positive for forbidden substance use (hashish) a second time.

OFI

During practice Mauricio Solis experienced intense muscular discomfort and could not participate in the practice. It will be decided on Friday if he will join the squad against Akratitos.

Gomez (knee) and Stavrakakis remain injured.

The team is still testing the Bulgarian left back Daidenov who is expected to be in Crete till 2/11.

OFI wishes to resign Kiassos whose contract expires this summer. Kiassos would prefer though to play abroad.

OSFP

The recent rains demonstrated that the Rizoupolis stadium did not have adequate drainage. While correcting the problem, OSFP had to find another stadium and initially chose the stadium of Panionios. The match against OFI demonstrated that this stadium too was in pretty bad condition. In order to avoid the risk of injury to the players, OSFP asked that his match against Iraklis (Sunday 1/0/03) be played in the stadium of Akratitos. This initially presented a problem as the stadium can hold 5,200 home team spectators and OSFP has 7,500 season ticket holders. The OSFP supporters though showed their support for the contemplated solution and the last hurdle was overcome. Last minute news indicate that Iraklis may return to OSFP as many as 500 tickets.

On Monday Eleftheropoulos hurt his right shoulder during practice. He will be out for at least one month and if, as all things indicate surgery becomes necessary, two. Alexandris and Kostoulas are not 100% and are not expected to play against Iraklis. Bermudez seems to have been released from the Siberian camp where he was dwelling and may see more action in the future.

The 80' minute inter-squad match indicated that Katanec thinks of using one of Mavrogennidis/Novak as a right midfielder and one of Choutos/Giovanni. The latter scored for the B-team which won 1-0. It is uncertain if this indicates an offensive rebirth of Giovanni or a defensive weakness in the team.

Katanec gave his usual interview Thursday and what he said did not please the team or its management. Among other things he said he could not understand the widespread fixation for the seventh in a row, that to be the champion you must be the best, that the team right now does not play the best soccer in Greece, and that the team does not have the player that would emerge as a squad leader. The journalists may have liked his frank and realistic assessments but the OSFP management did not. He was summarily fired Friday 2/7 and replaced with Oleg Protasov.

PANACHAIKI

FIFA asked that EPO apply article 3 because of debts to AEK-Larnaka for the transfer of Lazaros Iakovou. The punishment would normally be relegation but, given the circumstances, the threat appears to be empty.

Panachaiki had agreed to pay a 278K Euro fee to be paid by May 17, 2002. AEK-Larnaca received 101K and is still waiting for the balance (177K).

PANIONIOS

The team outplayed AEK but barely managed to draw (1-1) on the first leg of the cup matches (Wednesday, 2/6). More information under AEK.

Mpeos was punished for insulting Bajevic. In a strongly worded decision, he was informed that he must stay away from the Greek stadia for one month. We remind the readers that similar decisions in the past (e.g., against Psomiades) were neither taken seriously nor enforced.

PAO

According to persistent rumors Karagounis met with Inter representatives on Monday (2/3) and they signed an early agreement according to which Karagounis will be with Inter for four years and will be paid 900K Euros a year. PAO and Markarian appear upset that Karagounis did not inform them either before he went to Milano or after he returned to Athens. Karagounis and Inter have been denying the rumors.

PAO lost to Aegaleo (0-1) in the first leg of the cup matches. Lincar and Chainio played well (especially the first). Chainio was injured though and will be out of commission for about ten days. More information under Aegaleo.

Rene Henriksen and Jan Mikaelsen will will join the Danish national team which will play against Egypt a frirndly game on 2/12). Olisadebe will join the Polish national team for the games against Croatia (2/12) and FYROM (2/14).

PAOK

With minutes to spare Batatoudis paid the first installment (360,000 Euros) of the money owed to the revenue service.

Okkas and Spasits seem to be 100% while Yasemis and Hassiotis served their suspensions [cards]. The only players who have not fully recovered are Zavantias and Pourliotopoulos.

More than 800 fans (the minimum share, 20% of the stadium) are expected to support PAOK in Kallithea because the match is not sold out

PRODEYTIKI

At the beginning of the week there were doubts that Soulis Papadopoulos would continue coaching the team. But the team's management and its owner came out supporting him and all seems to be well.

Forbidden substances

Kola (kallithea), Kordonouris (Xanthi), and Mouzaoui (Panionios) tested positive for a second time. The penalty for this varies from a few months suspension to a life ban. It is expected that Kordonouris (nadralone, a steroid) will draw the heavier punishment. The other two were using recreational drugs (hashish). Kordonouris claims that the nadralone was in the medication his doctor prescribed for a medical problem.

Statistics

According to the latest world club rankings of the International Association for Football History and statistics AEK is #11 in the world (used to be 16), the highest Greek ranking ever, PAO (used to be #26) shares the 17th and 18th places with Borussia Dortmund, Olympiakos (used to be #78) shares positions 74 and 75 with GalataSaray?, PAOK is #103 (used to be #85), Xanthi is #194, Iraklis is #223 (used to be #174) and Panionios (who used to be #401) shares positions #245-#255 with 10 other teams. The highest ranking for a US team is #240-#243 for the Kansas City Wizards.

Bans on visiting fans

Stavros Kalafatis, N.D., asked in the parliament the ministers of Culture (sports as well) and Interior (police) who and with what criteria decides when fans can accompany their team. He referred to the possible infringement of constitutional rights and asked if similar bans are contemplated for the cup matches between OSFP and PAOK.