Karaiskakis return on the cards
The Greek national team is in line to return to the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, according to reports in the media.
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At the weekend, Sportime released a report suggesting that the national team will play its home matches at the Karaiskakis Stadium again, with both the coaches and players eager to finally leave the cold, empty Olympic Stadium in Marousi which is hugely unpopular. The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) decided - against the will of the players - to stop playing games in Piraeus in late 2017 in an attempt to further distance itself from Olympiacos.
However, the EPO elections are due to take place in the summer, and it’s highly unlikely that Evangelos Grammenos will maintain his position of president. This consequently opens the door for a return to the Karaiskakis Stadium after three miserable years playing at the OAKA.
In early 2019, the organisation revealed that the Pankritio Stadium in Heraklion, Crete was to become the new home of the national team, but the idea never came to fruition. The arena requires a major renovation in order to bring it up to UEFA standards.
Head coach of the national team, John van ‘t Schip, is known for wanting to leave the OAKA, a stadium which has not helped the players achieve positive results. Greece only won two UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers in Athens.
The Greeks are now predicted to stage home games of the 2020/2021 UEFA Nations League at the Karaiskakis Stadium, assuming that Grammenos doesn’t continue working as the president of the EPO. At the moment, the Nations League is still scheduled to begin in September, however, the coronavirus pandemic could result in the competition being put back to a later date. Greece will compete in League C against Kosovo, Moldova and Slovenia.
