It was July 28, 2020 when the then Deputy Minister of Sports Lefteris Avgenakis and the managing director of Lamda Development Odysseus Athanasiou signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation between the Greek public and Lamda Development for the transfer and redevelopment of the facilities of the Agios Kosmas National Youth Sports Center within the Metropolitan Park of Greenery and Recreation of the Hellinikon – Agios Kosmas Metropolitan Pole. Since then, 50 (!) months have passed and the national football teams remain… homeless. Although they left the pitches at EAKN Ag. Unfortunately, the internationals do not have a training center to prepare and the EPO is asking the Super League 1 clubs to give it their facilities for training ahead of official matches.
Occasional solutions
The problem of the lack of a training center is acute for the federation, because there are 19 levels of national teams under its responsibility! And at the moment it does not have a single 5X5 field for training. The men’s national team used the Atromitos sports center in Peristeri for their first two official games in the Nations League, but this solution is occasional.
For the field problem faced by other federations, L. Avgenakis had been appointed on October 26, 2022, after a meeting he had with the board of directors of EAKN Agios Kosmas. In his post on social media, he had stated that “the commitment to the orderly operation of the preparation of our Champions and our National teams is the first request of all of us and no sport or athlete is going to be moved from Agios Kosmas, if it has not first ensure its new sports headquarters (either with those created in Elliniko or with the further utilization of Olympic facilities)”. The EPO in the presidency Takis Baltakou left the fields to St. Kosmas and the federation are still looking for where to house all their national teams.
The EPO is also responsible
Its previous administrations are also responsible for the fact that the football federation does not have its own training center. They knew the problem and did not do anything essential to solve it, while they should not have left the stadiums of Ag. Cosmas. The state had said that “discussions with Lamda Development are continuing to find the most appropriate solutions and everything will be completely coordinated, without surprises, with prior detailed information on everything, when the time comes for the gradual relocation from Agios Kosmas” . EPO has been inactive and everything is up in the air regarding its training center.
The only positive in the story for the football federation is that it has secured 14 million euros from UEFA and FIFA to house the national teams in a modern or renovated sports center. In the present phase priority for his administration Maki Gagatsi is the market of the Paiania training center owned by the Vardinogianni family. Gagatsis has met and talked several times with him George Vardinogiannis for the completion of the deal, which is currently stuck on the financial side. The Vardinogiannis family is selling the training center for 20 million euros, an amount that is considered reasonable for the facilities in Paiana that spread over an area of 77 acres. However, in order to complete the agreement, EPO must secure another 8-10 million euros, as the former training center of Panathinaikos is under-functioning and needs a “facelift” to welcome the national teams. In addition, the federation wants its offices to be moved to the training center, which will be done in a second phase, once the signatures with the Vardinogiannis family fall through. The EPO has requested the extra money from the Attica Region and is waiting for a response.
The issue of the construction of a training facility in Elliniko also remains open. Baltakou’s administration had also dealt with this particular project and had even received the green light from UEFA – FIFA for the agreement, even though the construction of the sports center would take place on an area that the federation would rent for 49 years. The previous administration of EPO had the conversion of the Olympic Equestrian Center in Markopoulos into a training center as the No. 1 option, but the plans did not come to fruition.
In the case of Ellinikos, the construction costs of the sports center are covered by Lamda Development, however, the amount that must be paid by EPO every year for utilities is large. In essence, with the amount that EPO will give (more than 500,000 euros) it is like renting a training center and for this reason Elliniko is not a priority for the federation.
Five years ago, the EPO had developed a close cooperation with the mayor of Spata-Artemidos Dimitris Markou for the construction of a training facility on an area of 50 acres in the business park in Spata. The plans were for EPO to build three stadiums, a hostel and a restaurant for the needs of the national teams. But even these shots froze.
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