Years of innocence

Panionios, Apollon Smyrnis and Ethnikos Piraeus were, throughout the twentieth century, the unsung backbone heroes of Greek football. They were powerful teams, who supplied the grand teams with great players and were always the regulators of the title. Always on the backseat of the then powerful POK’s (Central Football Club) system, with fewer but devoted fans, dedicated to fair and honest play; they gradually left the scene, as did their era.

Panathinaikos, that made it to the European Champions Cup final in 1971, at Wembley Stadium, is the top Greek team of all time. That team was created by a schism and the restoration that followed it. Ferenc Puskas was the visionary of the team at the bench and its big stars were “General” Mimis Domazos and “Gunner” Antonis Antoniadis. The spirit of that team remains unchanged even today, fifty years later, when they gather together again at the Stadium of Alexandras Avenue.

PAOK’s team in the seventies made history as the most spectacular team of all time in Greek football. When Koudas returned, after Olympiakos tried to sign him, something that PAOK's administrative leader, the famous Giorgos Pantelakis, staunchly opposed, PAOK shot to prominence, played mythical football, but only won one championship and two cups. The club was certainly persecuted by the football status quo, but it also did itself an injustice.

The short term of Goulandris in Olympiakos, from 1971 to 1975, was the only case where Greek football became a dream come true. A dream that ended abruptly, when Nikos Goulandris suddenly left, leaving, however, a legacy of football bliss behind him.

In the club’s entire history, the 1970s incarnation of the AEK team, presided by Loukas Barlos, was by far the one that stirred up the most powerful emotions, both in its fans and in its players. We focus on a highly exciting period that is full of spectacle, love, beauty and intense passion.

After the unprecedented emergence of Doxa Dramas in the second half of the fifties, the football clubs of the province didn’t aim high. In the seventies, however, three teams shook things up. The great Panachaiki with Kostas Davourlis and the rest of the talented players reached Europe. PAS Giannina with players from Argentina, which initially appeared as pseudo-Greeks, but eventually became an integral part of the city of Ioannina, offered unforgettable moments of football greatness. Finally, Kastoria went even further by winning the Greek Cup in 1980.

The First National League was established in 1959 and Greek football took its first steps towards semi-professionalism, while still predominantly characterised by amateurism. The presence of a few great foreign coaches, the installation of artificial turf on some fields, as well as the emergence of great players and other factors in the sixties and the seventies, changed the climate. Our National Team came very close to the finals of major competitions twice, but on both occasions it failed in the end. Nonetheless, Panathinaikos reached Wembley Stadium, and we also admired the great teams of Olympiakos led by Goulandris, PAOK led by Koudas and AEK by Barlos. Eventually, after a lot of ups and downs, the Greek National Team managed to qualify for a major competition, the European Championship, for the first time in 1979, the same year that we entered the European Union and, thus, it became professional.