Schip arrival brings entire new staff for Ethniki

The appointment of new Greece national team manager John Van’t Schip has also brought a new coaching staff to the Ethniki.

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The firing of Angelos Anastasiadis was followed by the release of the rest of his coaching staff including Angelos Basinas and Stelios Giannakopoulos. There are now four new individuals that will take the place as assistant coaches and technical and sporting directors. Schip’s coaching team will include assistants Aron Winter and Michael Valkanis.

Aron Winter

Winter was a well-known player with time spent at major clubs such as Ajax, Lazio, and Inter Milan in a 16-year professional career that lasted from the mid 1980’s to 2002. He amassed 84 international caps for the Netherlands. Winter entered the coaching ranks soon after as an assistant to the Ajax reserve side. Toronto FC approached him in 2011 and he took over the side, initially finding success with a Canadian championship victory.

A disastrous start to his second season with the team saw Toronto lose a record nine straight matches, the worst start to an MLS campaign in the league’s history. He was sacked and returned to Ajax to head up the the Netherlands U-19 side for two years before going back to Ajax for two seasons as their U-19 manager.

Michael Valkanis

Valkanis was also a professional player, splitting his career between clubs in Greece and his native Australia. He played for South Melbourne before heading to Greece where he had spells at Iraklis, Larisa, and Agios Nikolaos. Upon returning to Australia he played for Adelaide City and Adelaide United, as well as a short stint at Adelaide Olympic. He made a single appearance for the Australian national team in 2006.

His coaching career has seen Valkanis primarily take the role of assistant, however he was the head coach for short periods at Adelaide United (caretaker boss), Enfield City, and Melbourne City (caretaker boss). At Melbourne he was the right-hand man to Van’t Schip as the two struck a positive working relationship. This led to Valkanis joining Van’t Schip at PEC Zwolle last season as an assistant and he now follows him to the Greek national team in the same capacity.

Two familiar names from Greek football’s recent history will take the roles of sporting and technical director.

Takis Fyssas

Takis Fyssas will reprise his position as sporting director, a similar post as to what he held from 2008 to 2014 with the national team. During that time he worked closely with managers Otto Rehhagel and Fernando Santos. A member of the 2004 European Champions, Fyssas had a fine playing career. He was capped by Greece 60 times and played for Panionios, Panathinaikos, Benfica, and Hearts. He has worked as a director for Panathinaikos in recent years and now comes back to the Ethniki after a five-year absence. He left his position at the end of the 2014 World Cup after Santos also left the Greek side.

Kostas Konstantinidis

The new technical director for the team is former national team player Kostas Konstantinidis. The German-born Konstantinidis played for Greece 37 times. He began his career in Greece, first at Pierikos and then at OFI and eventually PAOK. A six-year stay in German followed as he played for such clubs as Hertha Berlin, Hannover, and Cologne.

After returning to Greece to play for OFI and then one season in Cyprus for Nea Salamina, he retired in 2008. He entered the coaching ranks by serving as an assistant manager at Xanthi for three seasons, including a short spell as caretaker manager. He has also worked as an agent and a scout in the past.

by George Tsitsonis

Image Source: newsit.gr

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