General info :
The first place leads to the groups of Champions League. The second place leads to the preliminary rounds of the Champions League. Third, fourth and fifth place lead to Uefa Cup. The cup winner will play in Uefa cup too. The last two teams in the table will be relegated and next season 4 teams will be promoted to A division.

Aek (Athens)
Stadium : Olympic Stadium (72.000)
Coach : Fernando Santos (Portugal)
Last season : 3rd.
System : 4-3-3
Last year Aek had a great season and some weekends before the end of the championship, the team from Athens was fighting for the championship. Some lost points (especially against Ionikos) in the final weeks was the reason that Aek finally got the third place. During the whole season Demis Nikolaidis (former player of Aek and Atletico Madrid), who is the president since last season, and the players and coaching stuff said that their main target was to play attractive football and they didn’t say anything about the championship. In the end Aek was satisfied with the 3rd place and the UEFA Cup ticket, even though the fans of the team were expecting something more. In general Aek did well and one thing that has to be in mind is that president Nikolaidis managed something crucial. Aek had debts of about 120 million euros!!! The government brought a new law about the debts of the teams and Aek (along with Aris) managed to erase the biggest amount of their debts. Aek doesn’t have a home ground as the stadium of Nea Filadelfia was torn down in order to built a new ground but the works had stopped so Aek will be playing in the huge Olympic stadium as it did last year. This thing is at the sane time a huge advantage as Aek had almost 40.000-50.000 in every game and the income for the team was welcome by the board!!! Aek has lost some basic players such as Asunsao and Alvez and those players haven’t been replaced.
Things to take into account: Kostas Katsouranis is the star player that refused to be transferred in big Europe clubs and decided to stay in Aek. Fernando Santos is the coach that can make the difference even if he doesn’t have star players. He is a quality coach.
Prediction : Aek seems to be one level down comparing to Olympiakos and if we consider that Panathinaikos is a team that always has a leader role and that Paok is pretty strong, then Aek will be fighting for a top place. The best Aek can do is to fight for the second place that leads to Champions league but it will be very difficult. 3rd or 4th place.



Aigaleo (Athens)
Stadium : Stavros Mavrothalasitis (11.000)- known as “City”
Coach : Giorgos Vazakas
Last season : 6th.
System : 4-4-2
Aigaleo was fighting for a place in the Uefa cup but the team didn’t show consistency during the season and was just waiting to see if the sixth place would lead to the Uefa cup but Aris managed to take this place due to playing in the Cup final against Olympiakos. Aigaleo played in the Uefa cup last year and a ticket for the Uefa cup will be the target of the team this season too. Aigaleo is a model team for all the Greek teams. 8 years ago Aigaleo was in lower divisions and every year the team was promoted to the upper divisions. The big advantage of the team is its president, Thomas Mitropoulos who is said to have many connections and is a great organizer of a team. During this period of 8 years Giorgos Hatzaras was the coach of the team (till 2 seasons ago) and after him the team seems to be losing its pace and stability. It is a big question if the new coach can produce something good in Aigaleo.
Things to take into account: Alexopoulos departure is a big blow for the team. Goran Popov will try to replace him in the defence. The star of the team is Giorgos Barkoglou who scores pretty easily with powerful shots from long distances. Coach Vazakas was the coach of Panionios last year but he didn’t show any productivity there. Even Aigaleo is in A division for the last years and has played in Europe, the fans don’t support the team and the stadium is never packed with fans.
Prediction : Aigaleo will drop some places this year. 6th-9th place.


Apollon Kalamarias (Thessaloniki)
Stadium : Kalamaria (7.000)
Coach : Dragan Cocotovic
Last season : 12th.
System : 4-4-2
Apollon Kalamarias is a team with many supporters which tried for the past 10 years to get promoted. After some unfortunate efforts Apollon managed to get promoted 2 seasons ago. So the team from Thessaloniki played in A division last season. The team managed to avoid relegation in the last rounds of the championship with the help of Aris (another team from Thessaloniki that committed suicide in the last games). From that moment the fans were waiting to see big things in the team as the target of staying in the league was achieved. But the board instead of doing something to build a better team, started selling players. Papas (Olympiakos), Hatzi (Anorthosis), Iliadis (Paok) left the team and the team didn’t get any quality players. Dragan Cocotovic who came in the middle of last season will be the coach again. Apollon even lost in friendly matches with teams from lower divisions and everybody says that Apollon will be in great trouble this year.
Things to take into account: The fans won’t be supportive as the team is weakened comparing to last season. Parmaxidis (captain and midfielder who is 8 years in Apollon) and Sylva Cleyton (striker) will be the players to notice again this season. If those two get injured or out of form then things will get even worst.
Prediction : Apollon will fight to avoid relegation and I don’t see it happening again. May be if the board brings players in January and is not too far behind in the table then it can do that in the end. Apollon Kalamarias is the number one candidate to relegate. 15th-16th place.


Akratitos (Athens)
Stadium : Giannis Pathiakakis (5.000)
Coach : Ilie Dumitrescu (Romanian)
Last season : promoted from division B
System : 4-5-1
After playing one year in division B, Akratitos was lucky enough to be promoted in the last round of the championship. Akratitos played away in Panseraikos and the home team had the advantage. Panseraikos committed suicide and lost the match so Akratitos got the ticket to A division. Akratitos knows it is difficult to avoid relegation but this will be the target of the team this season.
Things to take into account: Experienced Bogdan Stellea (keeper) and Macimo Paganin (defender) will be the key players of a team that changed its roster quite a lot. Dumitrescu is a coach that knows the Greek championship (ex coach of Aek and Aigaleo) even though he seems to be an ordinary coach.
Prediction : Akratitos will fight to avoid relegation. 13th-15th place.



Atromitos Athinwn (Athens)
Stadium : Stadium of Municipality of Peristeri (10.200)
Coach : Giorgos Parashos
Last season : 8th.
System : 3-5-2
This is the team that came through the merge of Chalkidona and Atromitos. Chalkidona is a team with a rich president but no fans. For the past few years president Spanos tried to find a team with many fans in order to merge and get a team with many fans. The money was there and this summer the negotiations with Atromitos came to a happy end. So the new team kept the name, the colours (blue-white), the stadium and the emblem but with the board and coach of Chalkidona. Chalkidona is another team that followed the model of Aigaleo for the past few years. Chalkidona was a fascinating team with offensive and quality football but last year the team seemed to lose some of its power. Parashos and his players will have to prove that last year’s 8th place (and 7th place two years ago) was not lucky and that they are capable of achieving something more but this will be difficult.
Things to take into account: Giorgos Parashos is a coach with great experience. Milen Petkov and keeper Mihailidis who came from Aek and strikers Zaharopoulos and Iliopoulos will be the key players.
Prediction : 7th – 10th place.


Ionikos (Athens)
Stadium : Nikaia stadium (7.026)
Coach : Sakis Tsiolis
Last season : 10th.
System : 4-3-3
Ionikos is the usual team that fights to avoid relegation. Last year Ionikos with Vaggelis Vlachos as the coach managed to stay in the league easily and in the last rounds, Ionikos was just waiting for the season to end. Ionikos is a team that always plays hard and the quality is something that you’ll never see in Nikaia. Sakis Tsiolis is the new coach of Ionikos. He has great experience in lower divisions (mainly division B) and he was last trainer of Kalamata. He made a good impact as the coach of Paniliakos 2 years ago when the team was in division A and got relegated. The big advantage of the team is that every year the team changes half of its roster with many foreigners. Only 16 out of 28 players of the team are Greeks. Ionikos will fight to avoid relegation once more. Ionikos can make it happen but it will depend on the performance of the other teams that have the same target.
Things to take into account: The departure of striker Gavrilopoulos is a big blow for the team that always has average players. Guntman (basic midfielder), Macor and Coibra are the key players of the team.
Prediction : 11th – 14th


Iraklis (Thessaloniki)
Stadium : Kaftantzogleio (33.000)
Coach : Savvas Kofidis
Last season : 7th.
System : 4-2-3-1
Last season Iraklis started with many dreams (an Uefa cup ticket) and a great coach. Sergio Marcarian (ex coach of Ionikos and Panathinaikos) was thought to succeed in Iraklis but during the season Marcarian was sacked and Kofidis went on as head coach. The team made a superb course in the championship and fought for the Uefa cup place till the last rounds but didn’t get it in the end. Kofidis trusted many young and talented players such as Lagos, Papapostolou, Kapetanos, e.t.c and was happy to see all these players combine a great team. Many of these young players were targeted from the “big” clubs of Athens but the board declared tat no one will leave the team. The board changed and Dimitris Houlis (ex owner of Akratitos) is the new stock holder of Iraklis. He spent quite a lot of money to keep all the youngsters and brought Gabra Lawal (international Nigerian), Giorgos Georgiadis (ex Paok and Olympiakos) and Sakis Prittas in the midfield, Alemao in defense and Katergiannakis (international keeper). So there is tranquility in the team with many young players and quite a few experienced, a good coach that everybody in the team trusts and a president that delivers anything he is asked to.
Things to take into account: Players such as Lawal, Georgiadis, Katergianakis, Epale (came from Panathinaikos last January) with great experience and youngsters such as Kapetanos, Lagos, Diamantidis and Papapostolou can do the job this season. The stadium was renewed for the Olympic Games and is like a new stadium. The fans just have to be present in the stadium and help the team achieve an Uefa cup place. Everything is showing that Iraklis will continue just as it stopped last season. Flying high!!!
Prediction : 5th-7th place.


Kallithea (Athens)
Stadium : Grigoris Labrakis (7.500)
Coach : Stoico Mladenov
Last season : 9th.
System : 3-4-3
Kallithea is a team with fighting spirit that stayed in the league some rounds before the end of the season. Coach Lemonis resigned 2 rounds before the end of the season when Kallithea was staying for sure in the league. Striker Theofanis Gekas helped Kallithea for the past few years to avoid relegation but last January he went to Panathinaikos. Kallithea didn’t have any problems staying in the league after Gekas left the team. The new coach is a big question as experienced Lemonis is now out of the team. Mladenov may be an experienced coach but can he deliver the goods for the team from Athens?
Things to take into account: Experienced defender Vokolos and midfielder Todor Yanchev will be the key players. The home advantage isn’t that strong in Kallithea’s case as the team doesn’t have many supporters and will try hard to avoid relegation.
Prediction : 10th – 14th


Larisa (Larisa)
Stadium : Alkazar (13.100)
Coach : Giorgos Donis
Last season : promoted from division B (1st place )
System : 4-3-3
Larisa is a team with great history in Greece as it is the team that was the champion in the mid 80’s. That was a brilliant team with many players that went to the “big” clubs of Athens the following years. From that moment Larisa was playing in the lower divisions (even played in division C). The board has made a great job in the recent years and president Piladakis along with coach Giorgos Donis brought the team in division A. Larisa has many loyal fans and the people of Larisa are “hungry” to see their team in this league. Coach Donis is an ex player of Panathinaikos who played in the great team that was eliminated by Ajax in the semi finals of the Champions League some years ago. He started his career in Ilisiakos and last season he trained Larisa with great success.
Things to take into account: Players to watch are striker Thomas Kyparissis with great experience in many teams and midfielders Denis Serban (Romanian), Aloneftis (Cypriot). A big question is the defence with many young and inexperienced players. The big advantage is the packed stadium in every match. In the last days of the transfer period Larisa brought Nikos Dabizas (ex international player with great experience—Olympiakos, Newcastle e.t.c) and it will be a major help in the back line.
Prediction : Staying in the league and build something for the following years s the main target of Larisa. 9th – 12th place.


Levadeiakos (Leivadia)
Stadium : Leivadia stadium (7.900)
Coach : Takis Lemonis
Last season : promoted from division B
System : 4-4-2
Levadeiakos is a team that played some years in division A but for the last 10 years (1994-95 was relegated) the team was playing in lower divisions (even in division D). Last year Levadeiakos had Makis Katsavakis as a coach but the board decided that Lemonis (ex player of Levadeiakos and Olympiakos) can keep the team in the division this year. Levadeiakos brought some players from division a (Kallimanis, Rusev, Zisopoulos) but has many inexperienced players for A division. Levadeiakos will fight to avoid relegation till the end.
Things to take into account: Takis Lemonis an experienced coach (Olympiakos and Kallithea) who knows the league pretty well.
Prediction : Levadeiakos will have a hard task in order to stay in the league. 13th – 15th place.



Ofi (Crete)
Stadium : Pangritio stadium (27.000)
Coach : Vaggelis Vlachos
Last season : 13th.
System : 3-5-2
Ofi was a team that always fighting for a place in the Uefa cup until some years ago. Coach Egen Gerard who was in the team for many years left Ofi and since then the team from Crete has been struggling. Last season Ofi managed to avoid relegation in the last two rounds and it is common sense that the team will have the same target this season too. Giannis Hatzinikolaou (coach of last season) is now replaced by the well known Vaggelis Vlachos. Vlachos (ex player of Panathinaikos) is a coach with great experience in the league, he has coached Skoda Xanthi, Panahaiki, Apollon Kalamarias, Kallithea and last year Ionikos, and the board believe that he is the man that can take Ofi out of its misery. This summer was not very easy for Ofi. The new owner Fanouris Voutsinas is not the “big” businessman everyone expected. The fans reacted in a bad way and the star of the team Nikos Machlas refused to train. But in the end Machlas changed his mind so now everything is ok in the club. It is ok until the next “problem”… In fact the owners of Panathinaikos are said to be the actual owners of Ofi and always had a man they controlled as president of the team. Many players of Ofi got transferred in Panathinaikos (and the opposite—on loan usually or when they were ending their career) for the past years. The relations between the two clubs are really good although the fans don’t want to admit it.
Things to take into account: This season Ofi won’t be playing in “Theodoros Vardinogianis” (known as Genti Koule) which is a totally football ground, but will be using the huge Pangritio (it was constructed for the Olympic Games). Pangritio was used from Ergotelis last season with great success and the board decided to use this ground. Striker Machlas is the star of the team. He started his career there and then he went to Vitesse and Ajax with great success. He is an ex international player with experience and has helped Ofi last season. Dejanov and Nuafor are other players to look at while keeper Sifakis (international with under 21 team) is a big hope for the future.
Prediction : 8th – 12th. The team will try to avoid relegation, even if it is many years in division A’. If Ofi takes advantage of the home matches then the team will stay in the league.


Olympiakos (Pireas)
Stadium : Karaiskaki (33.500)
Coach : Trond Sollied
Last season : champion and cup winner
System : 4-3-3
Olympiakos achieved the double last season when everything seemed to be lost. Panathinaikos was in the first place in the last rounds when rival Panathinaikos lost some crucial points (in a stupid way I must say) and made the championship a gift to Olympiakos. The team from Pireas didn’t lose the chance and after beating Iraklis in the last round (0-1) in Thessaloniki managed to get the championship while he had beaten Aris in the Cup final, so the season ended in the best way. President Kokalis (a powerful man and clever businessman) stated that he wants his team to reach the Champions League final in 2007 (that will be held in Athens). To that direction he sacked coach Bajevic in the summer and brought Trond Sollied from Club Brugge. Panathinaikos was said to have been interested last January but Olympiakos was the team that brought him to Greece. Olympiakos has many quality players (Rivaldo, Djordjevic, Schurer, Stoltidis) but the president spent money and brought players such as strikers Dani (Espanyol), Konstantinou (Panathinaikos), Babaginda (free from Metallurg), midfielder Yaya Toure (from Metallurg (ex Beveren)) and many more. Olympiakos has many solutions in every line and is a team ready for the big step in Champions League.
Things to take into account: Last season stadium Karaiskaki was packed with fans and it was a hard home ground in the Champions League (Olympiakos was unbeaten at home). Another thing is that Olympiakos has many quality players and had many new transfers this season. Only the departure of Jiovani for Brazil is a blow but Olympiakos has got now 5 capable strikers. Not to mention Nikopolidis as a goalkeeper and experienced Sollied as coach. Everything shows championship for Olympiakos.
Prediction : 1st or 2nd with bigger probabilities for the 1st place.


Panathinaikos (Athens)
Stadium : Olympic Stadium (72.000)
Coach : Alberto Malesani
Last season : 2nd
System : 3-4-3.
After seven years Panathinaikos got the championship in 2003-2004. That year the team has done the double (championship and cup). The Israel coach Itzhak Shum managed to lead the team to the double. Shum was sacked last season and the board after searching for a while, brought Alberto Malesani (experienced coach with great success in Parma). Giorgos Vardinogiannis (was a very powerful man in the 80’s when Panathinaikos was winning the one trophy after the other) is no longer in charge of Panathinaikos and he has put his son Giannis up front since last season. Argyris Mitsou (a famous doctor) is just the president but everything is decided by Giannis Vardinogiannis. Panathinaikos was leading the title race last season but the team committed suicide and gave away the championship to Olympiakos. Giannis Vardinogiannis had a target of destroying the team that had lost from Olympiakos in Rizoupoli some years ago. So players like Nikopolidis (basic goalkeeper of the national team) who is now in rivals Olympiakos, Seitaridis (right back defender) who is now in Russia after playing at Porto, Takis Fyssas (went to Benfica and is now in Hearts), Konstantinou (international with Cyprus who is now in rival Olympiakos), Basinas (free agent) and many more have left the team in the last few years. Panathinaikos is trying to cut out the past and form a new team. Panathinaikos has many great individuals but there is a big doubt if these players can be a “team”.
Things to take into account: This summer (ex international Brazilian Conceicao) and experienced Croatian Igor Biscan arrived in the team. Along with Olisadebe (international with Poland), Papadopoulos (international with Greece), Gekas and Mantzios in the offense and Eki Gonzalaez (Argentinian) those two players will be the “heart” of the tean. Another advantage is that Panathinaikos will be playing in huge Olympic stadium this year and this will be good for the financial part of the team. Panathinaikos agreed with the government to build a new stadium in a place called Votanikos in Athens so this season the team will be using the Olympic stadium.
Prediction : Panathinaikos seems to be losing some of its glory this season and it had a hard task to beat Wisla in the 3rd preliminary round of the Champions league) in over time. Panathinaikos is having big problems in the defence and many people say that the “greens” don’t have the quality to challenge Olympiakos. 1st or most probably 2nd. If things get worse Panathinaikos can lose even the second place…



Panionios (Athens)
Stadium : Nea Smyrni (11.700)
Coach : Jozef Chaplar (Chech Republic)
Last season : 11th.
System : 4-4-2
The main target of the team is to participate in Uefa cup every year. Panionios is a team that changes its coach easily. Now Chaplar is in charge and brought many players from his country. Many experienced players left the team (Drobny, Vlchek, Lagonikakis, Tziolis and Mantzios) so everybody is waiting to see how quick can Chaplar form his new team. Vice president Beos is always a big issue for the radio stations and tv channels with the way he behaves in many situations. President Lefteris Pantazis (a famous singer in Greece) just gives the money and Ahilleas Beos does everything else. He is a man that knows people and things in Greek football pretty well. Last season Panionios played in the Uefa Cup in the group stages and played against Barcelona. In this stage Panionios played with a team from Georgia and Uefa investigated Panionios for fixing the game. It was away win in the half time and home win in the end. It is said that many people made big money from this (the odds started around 30.00 and dropped to 5.00) but Uefa never managed to find proof. Even a young child could see what was happening in this match (it was on tv)…
Things to take into account: Mario Bresca and Dario Fernandez are the two players who can make the difference in the midfield and in the game of Panionios. A bad thing is that Panionios fans are in dispute with vice president Ahilleas Beos. If this situation is not solved then Panionios won’t have many supporters in the stadium. Actually Panionios had never had a packed stadium except the derbies with the big clubs of Athens.
Prediction : Just another season for Panionios with no big dreams for something good. 8th – 11th place.



Paok (Thessaloniki)
Stadium : Toumba (28.700)
Coach : Nikos Karageorgiou
Last season : 5th.
System : 4-2-3-1
After the last season which was a disaster for Paok, the team from Thessaloniki starts this season with great expectations. Paok reached the Champions league position (third place) two seasons ago so last summer everybody thought that it was a great opportunity for Paok. But the team didn’t perform well against Maccabi Tel-Aviv which was not such a strong team for Paok. Paok lost in Thessaloniki 1-2 and the worst thing is that a Cypriot player who was suspended from his former team played in the match and Uefa decided that the match is 0-3 in the papers. After all these bad incidents Paok had to play in the Uefa cup. There Alkmaar “killed” Paok in the two matches so the atmosphere in the team was something more than bad. In the end coach Anastasiadis was sacked and Friger (an unknown coach) came in the start of the season. But Friger was not a suitable coach for Paok so the board brought Nikos Karageorgiou (ex coach of Skoda Xanthi and ex player of Paok). Paok seemed to be finding itself in the second round of the championship and the team got the 5th place which leads in the Uefa cup. President Goumenos managed to make great moves in the summer by signing Sicabala (young Egyptian who is believed to be a huge talent) and the captain of Greek’s national team, Thodoris Zagorakis. Along with strikers Salpiggidis and Miecel and experienced Udeze, Akiel and Futchene Paok is believed to be ready to take the big step this year and challenging the big clubs from Athens.
Things to take into account: Paok has good players in every line. Udeze, Megahed and Akiel in the defense, Maladenis, Zagorakis, Futchene, Iliadis and Egwmitis in the midfield and Salpiggidis, Miecel and sicabala in the offense, Paok is in position to achieve many things this season. Another advantage is the home ground of Paok. Toumba stadium is one of the hottest home grounds of the championship and if the fans help, then Paok is ready even for the second spot. Everything will depend on how good or bad Panathinaikos will be this year.
Prediction : The team is capable of achieving better things than a place in the Uefa cup. 2nd – 4th.



Skoda Xanthi (Xanthi)
Stadium : Pigadia (8.500)
Coach : Giannis Mantzourakis
Last season : 4th.
System : 4-4-2
Nikos Karageorgiou has left the team and Giannis Matzourakis got in charge last season. Xanthi had a terrific season and at some point the team was challenging the big clubs from Athens. The fourth position in the end of the championship states that Xanthi has done a fine job throughout the years and the vision of the owner of Xanthi, Hristos Panopoulos comes true. He wanted to create a team that will play every year in Uefa cup with a target of winning a trophy (probably the cup as the championship is always a matter of Olympiakos and Panathinaikos and eventually Aek). Last season Xanthi reached the semi finals of the cup where it was eliminated from Aris even though Xanthi has won (1-2) in the first match in Thessaloniki. In the second match Aris made a miracle and won 0-2 taking the ticket for the final. Xanthi was playing the best football in the league and had many complaints from the referees in many matches. Everybody in Greece admired Xanthi for their game and it is worth taking the 4th place in the end.
Things to take into account: Xanthi is at team that kept all their good players from last season and the big arrival was the one of Brazilian star Emerson Costa. Along with the other Brazilian Luciano de Soouza (top scorer of the team for last season) are the two that will bring Skoda Xanthi in the top places of the championship.
Prediction : 3th-6th and may be a good run in the cup.


I hope this will help all of you. Good luck!!!