Season to begin with a bang

Archrivals Panathinaikos and Olympiakos to meet in new soccer season’s opening round

Action from a league clash between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos last season. They meet in Round 1 on August 26.

The Greek Super League will kick off with archrivals Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, the defending champion, meeting in the first round of play, on August 26, yesterday’s draw for the upcoming season’s fixtures determined. The two clubs had also met in the opening round of play two seasons ago.

“It’s the biggest game and I hope that the best team wins,” said Olympiakos CEO Petros Kokkalis.

Besides the clash of the country’s two biggest clubs, with Panathinaikos as host at its Leoforos Alexandras stadium, the opening round of play includes several other potentially interesting games.

AEK, hoping to go one place better next season for the league title, will be hosted by the newly promoted club Veria.

Aris, one of last season’s leading sides, will greet Panionios. In the previous season, the two sides captured fourth and fifth places respectively, with just one point separating them.

PAOK, which narrowly missed out on a UEFA Cup berth for the first time in years after ending sixth last season, will be hosted by Xanthi.

The Thessaloniki club, whose board was taken over earlier this week by its former captain Thodoris Zagorakis – as the leader of a team of entrepreneurs – will face several tough tests early in the season, all of them away. In Round 3, PAOK travels to Athens to face Panathinaikos. Then, two rounds later, the Thessaloniki team will be greeted by city rival Aris. In Round 7, PAOK will be hosted by Olympiakos.

“The draw doesn’t matter because everybody plays everybody,” said PAOK official Koulis Apostolidis.

In other major games, Panathinaikos will host AEK in Round 8, Olympiakos will greet AEK In Round 12, and AEK hosts PAOK in Round 14.