Giannakopoulos: “The EPO doesn’t even have scouts for the opponents” 

Recently, during an interview with Greek television, UEFA Euro 2004 champion Stelios Giannakopoulos gave his take on the current situation in the domestic game.

Watch LIVE GREEK TV including full GREEK SPORTS coverage with Go Greek TV! 

Giannakopoulos, 45, was a member of the coaching staff of the Greek national team when Angelos Anastasiadis was in charge, however he left the set-up after John van ‘t Schip became the new manager. In a television interview, Giannakopoulos shared his feelings on the state of play in Greece, noting that the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) did not use scouts when Anastasiadis was the head coach:

Current state of play in the Hellenic game: “Something has to be done in order to put Greek football on the right path again. Each individual team has its own issues. Each respective owner wants his club to perform successfully and invest well. However, for all clubs and the national team, the immediate interest is to improve Greek football. We should adopt techniques which are being used in the leading footballing countries. That is really easy to do, and we can achieve this is everyone all comes together.”

Effect for the national team: “It certainly affects me! Of course, the national team is a different concept altogether. A lot of our footballers are competing abroad, so the situation here doesn’t affect them. It has an effect on those playing their club football in Greece. Of course, if we look at the current atmosphere, it is definitely having a negative effect on football in our country. Fans must be able to watch their team play with their own eyes both home and away. This is what happens in all other countries.”

Leaving the EPO: “I don’t want to expand too much on that. Unfortunately, we weren’t given the opportunity to continue working with the national team. There wasn’t any scouts working for the EPO, so I myself went to watch the opponents instead. Basically, I was sat next to the coach for three games, and after those three matches, the organisation decided that we weren’t good enough. The federation should do more for the national team.”

Future of the national team: “Alongside the new coach, there are also new players. The new coach is implementing the plan which we already had in place. The great thing is that we were able to point out the players which should be playing on the international stage. I want to believe that we have a great future, the start has already been very promising. I want to see our national team at a major international competition again. We don’t have any problems at all with the new coaching staff.”

Giorgos Karagounis, a fellow 2004 European champion, spoke about the current situation within the EPO: “We’re in a transitional period at the moment, just qualifying for the finals of a major competition would be a great achievement now. In truth, the situation with the national team is very sad, we have lots of fans in Crete but we apparently don’t have the money to reconstruct the stadium. In Piraeus, there is the Karaiskakis Stadium, but we can’t play at that arena because of other issues. The national team doesn’t have a home stadium. We want our football to progress but, instead, we keep on taking steps backwards. And I’m not just speaking about our failure to qualify for tournaments.”

“If I was offered a job at the EPO, I would agree,” added former influential midfielder, Kostas Katsouranis. “I think that all of us from 2004 are ready to get involved with the management of the EPO. If we look at the entire situation, I think that we are all to blame, but we now have the opportunity to start again.”

Greece will return to competitive action in September when the 2020 UEFA Nations League begins.

Thank you for visiting AGONAsport.com, the only English based website for Greek sports fans across the world! Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter for all the latest news in Greek Sports!