The toxicity overshadows everything in the Super League, with the result that even the famous names that will strengthen the Big 4 this year are taking a back seat.
In the Super League championship, there is no ceiling to the toxicity and brilliance brought by the resounding transfers of the Big 4. For the first time in the history of the Super League, the teams have “stars” from the showcase of European football who have starred in the World Cup, the EURO, the Copa America and UEFA competitions.
In the previous two seasons the league was highly competitive at the top level. Competitiveness will be one of the key elements of the current season as well, however what will make the difference is the class of young footballers such as Willian, Oliveira (he has also worn the shirt of PAOK in the past), Lamela, Pereira, Koita, Pellistri , Unahi, Tete, Chalof, Soretire. In addition, the main title contenders have largely retained last year’s core, so their squad will be of higher quality and their coaches will have more options. And that’s not all. With the exception of Panathinaikos, PAOK, AEK and Olympiacos have the same coach on their bench and this is in their favor.
SL1 recorded this year’s record spending in the transfer market which is still not closed. The amount spent, according to a FIFA report, exceeds 51 million dollars and there is a big increase compared to the corresponding amount of last summer (2023) which was about 32 million dollars.
The average money spent reached a Greek league record of $1.6 million per transfer, compared to $1.36 million in 2023, $1.5 in 2022, $1.03 in 2021 and $1.1 million in 2021. dollars in 2020. Player transfers in SL1 showed an increase of 19.2% compared to 2023, while concessions 14.3%.
Prolonged whining
On the one hand, the barons of the ball spread a carpet of euros to acquire big-name players, and on the other hand, their teams deal with the referees day and night. For example, PAOK defeated Atromitos (2-1) in Peristeri, but the coach of the champions, Razvan Lucescu, in his statements also spoke about the refereeing of last season! “It was a great year, it ended very nicely for us, but know that the match we won against Ari was a match where we played against the referees. This is happening even now because some people have interests in stopping us, blocking us. We try to play on the field, to give everything there, sometimes we do well, sometimes not so well, it is important to have overall competitiveness. PAOK is a team from Thessaloniki, not Athens. Athens always had an advantage in all respects against Thessaloniki” said the Romanian coach, who also commented on the refereeing of the Livadeia match: “I saw a while ago what happened to Levadeiakos, that they did not give a penalty to AEK and they awarded a penalty for the same phase against us”.
The Union’s response was immediate. PAE’s communication consultant Stamatis Voulgaris, in his post on social media on the occasion of Loucescu’s comment about AEK, wondered if the Romanian coach of PAOK has been informed about who made the new referee tables and who is the new president of EPO ( is Makis Gagatsis, former CEO of PAEK PAOK). The decisions of Fotis Polychronis in the Livadia match were also commented on in Olympiakos. “We started. Herukla Mukudi with the ball going into the net and Polychronis and Evangelou (VAR) say “play”. Immediately after the same… hold for a long time you are “playing” again. So in 20 seconds they checked (and well) both phases? Of course, this is a natural position if you dance the Haka, the dance of the New Zealanders (because we will hear that from Martha Vourtsis and her friends…). And a clean offensive foul by Koitas in the AEK goal” was the comment of the vice president of the red and white PAE Kostas Karapapa. When the dust settled from the reactions, the chief referee Stephane Lanois, commenting on the controversial refereeing decisions of the 3rd matchday, vindicated Polychroni – Evangelou stating that there is no penalty in Mukudi’s hand.
Strangeness
Toxicity hits red again with the difference that this has been happening since the start of the league. Imagine what will happen in the playoffs if the title is “up for grabs”. It is completely paradoxical that big businessmen spend tens of millions of euros to give prestige and quality to the league and at the same time “shoot” the product they are upgrading. At this stage the EPO seems unable to do anything to deal with toxicity, however the federation’s disciplinary law provides specific procedures for those who defame the sport. However, it is almost certain that for another year nothing is going to be done to put a stop to the toxicity.
In this atmosphere, Willian, Unahi, Lamela, Soretire and the rest of the “aces” are expected to “make” football fans’ weekends.
From the top shelf
Be that as it may, our teams were strengthened and especially regarding the Big 4, several names from the top shelf of the European market came again this year, raising the prestige of SL1 even more. In fact, the current transfer window ends next Wednesday (11/9) for the domestic competitions (until 30/9 there is room for the footballers who were released on 30 August) and this means that there will be a continuation. The three European teams (PAOK, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos) may have closed their European lists, but it is not excluded that they will proceed with further support for the domestic competitions, which will increase the transfer budget even more.
This year’s transfer window, however, also hid a big surprise. According to the authoritative website Transfermarkt, specialized in stock market values in world football, the troubled Panathinaikos of recent years with the acquisition of great players (Pelistri, Tete, Unahi) managed to have the most expensive roster of all the Greek teams and even more expensive and since the era of multi-shareholding, when the “greens” won their last championship in 2010! The “clover” is followed by Olympiacos, then PAOK and fourth is AEK. But let’s take things in order:
The champion PAOK, which with the departure of Koulierakis for Wolfsburg this year fell to 92 million euros, is looking for a good name in the market to fill the gap in the stoppers and if he acquires him, his market value will rise even more. The “two-headed” has so far spent 6.35 million euros on transfers and the most expensive name on the roster is understood to be Yiannis Constantelias, whose market value reaches 15 million euros. Second is the newly acquired Chalov, whose value reaches 11 million euros, followed by Zifkovic with 8 million and Despodov with 7.
AEK, which after the disaster of its exclusion from Europe is trying to pick up its pieces, brought great players to Greece (Lamela, Pereira, Koita), but will ultimately only have them for the domestic competitions. At the same time, she is still looking for a strong center forward, which will logically increase her market value, which is currently at 72.88 million euros. An amount that ranks it fourth among Greek teams, just like last year. This year the Union, now under Marios Iliopoulos, spent 4.1 million euros on transfers. The most expensive part of the team’s roster is Levi Garcia, who reaches 13 million euros on the football market. He is followed by Orbelin Pineda with 7 million and Abubakari Koita with 5 million and Niklas Eliasson with 4.5 million euros.
Last season’s third place and holder of the Conference League Olympiacos spent 7.91 million euros this year and is in second place (after Panathinaikos) in roster market value with 94.65 million euros. Piraeus lost by 22 million euros Pontense (12 million), That’s right (6 million) and Fortune (4 million). According to Transfermarkt, the most expensive assets of the “red whites” are David Carmo with 12 million euros and Santiago Ese with 10 million. Followed by Velde with 6 million, Stamenic and El Kaabi with 5, Masouras and Ciquinho with 4…
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