“It really is a huge success. It was for all those lost games of Olympiakos in Europe in the 90’s. For Gerrard’s elimination from the groups. For Riathor in the 90′, for the exclusion from Juventus, for Metalist, for Wolves. All these games came together here and I was really happy and I feel lucky to be part of the generation that reached 4”.
The statement of Giorgos Masouras after the great qualification of Olympiakos to the semi-finals of a European competition for the first time in the history of the club was the most essential. And that’s because the club’s qualification to the 4th round of the Conference League (where it will face Aston Villa on May 2 and 9) took a heavy burden off of it, since something always happened and Olympiacos lost the details of the European breakthrough…
The success even takes on even greater dimensions as everything happened in a … fairytale way. When a team that until two months ago was sailing in bulk on the waves and with a boat of hope, in disrepute, without a derby win, with punishments, is transformed and finds itself claiming the championship again and above all being in the semi-finals of a European competition for the first time time in its history and to dream of the final of the Conference, you could call it a football miracle.
However, there are no miracles in sports, only planning, organization, right choices and hard work. And this year’s Olympiacos took a risk and was reborn. When Vangelis Marinakis hired a third coach in the season after Martinez and Carvalhal, many thought that Olympiacos had thrown in the towel. But this time the risk came out. And it worked out because quality players (Carmo, Horta, Ciquinho) came in the January transfers that tied directly with the rest of the roster thanks to Jose Luis Mendiliber. Who with… Seville’s recipe (with which he won the Europa League) managed to build a quality team that plays normal football and get three European qualifiers within 66 days! Justifiably, the president of the “red and white” renewed his contract in such a short period of time and even after the crash in Karaiskaki by Maccabi with 1-4.
Money in the coffers
However, beyond the prestige and competitive benefits, Olympiakos with its European course this year has put more than 11.5 million euros in its coffers and has a horizon to reach 20 million! Analytically:
If Olympiacos reaches the OPAP Arena final on May 29, they will receive another 3,000,000 bonus, with the winner of the final collecting 2,000,000 as a bonus. New market pool amounts will be added to this money and after all the competitions are completed, UEFA will redistribute money that has been left over and thus receive money from there as well.
The profits of the “doubleheader”
On the other hand, the other European of this year’s formidable Greek presence, PAOK, may have lost the ticket to the top four of the competition to Club Brugge, but will put more than 10 million euros in its coffers thanks to its successful course in the competition , which started from the second qualifying round last summer and reached the quarterfinals of the competition for the second time in the last three years.
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