Year to forget for the Olympiacos football and basketball departments
In a campaign to forget, the Olympiacos organisation struggled in football and basketball, failing to pick up a title for the first time since 2004. AGONAsport investigates further.
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Since the turn of the millennium, the Thrylos have been dominant in Greek football, winning the Super League on 15 occasions and proving to be practically unbeatable. In the 2003/2004 and 2009/2012 campaigns, Olympiacos did finish in second place behind arch-rivals Panathinaikos, but this year, they reached a new low as the Piraeus outfit languished in third position and missed out on UEFA Champions League football.
Basketball matters took a major improvement in 2010, when Olympiacos finally won the Greek Cup for their maiden trophy in eight years, also playing in another domestic league final and reaching the Euroleague Final Four. After the 2009/2010 campaign, the Erythrolefkoi began to surge, notably claiming two consecutive European titles in 2012 and 2013. They started to challenge Panathinaikos’ dominance in the Basket League, earning the status of Greek champions in three of the past seven season.
However, the football and basketball departments fell short this year, flattering to deceive in Greece and on the continental stage. Let’s take a closer look at the 2003/2004 and 2017/2018 seasons, where Olympiacos didn’t pick up a trophy in the two sports:
2003/2004
PANATHINAIKOS FC PROVE TO BE STRONGER
Football wise, the team were awful in the Champions League, propping up the rear of Group D after taking four points in six games against Juventus, Galatasaray and Real Sociedad, including an embarrassing 0:7 thrashing at the hands of the Italians. In addition, things didn’t go to plan in the Super League, missing out on an eighth successive crown by a mere two points. Panathinaikos were the champions, holding Olympiacos to a dramatic 2:2 draw at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium in the season’s deciding match.
Later, in early May, Olympiacos would suffer more misery at the hands of the Greens, losing 1:3 in the showpiece Greek Cup final held at the Nea Smyrni Stadium. Dimitris Papadopoulos had given Panathinaikos the lead, but after Giovanni equalised for Olympiacos, the Prasini clinched their double with further goals from Michalis Konstantinou.
NO TROPHIES ON THE COURT
On the basketball court, the Piraeus club were simply terrible in the Basket League, sneaking into the playoffs in eighth place of the regular season. In the form of a punishment, Olympiacos were given a difficult tie against Panathinaikos in the first playoff round, falling to the Trifylli 0:2 in a one-sided series. Going through three different coaches in Slobodan Subotic, Dragan Sakota and Milan Tomic, the team never built up traction, exiting the Euroleague in the Last 16 and beaten 73:70 by Aris in the cup final.
2017/2018
OLYMPIACOS FC FALL APART
Without doubt, it can be called the worst season for Olympiacos FC in recent memory. In a campaign which started with qualification for the Champions League group stage, everything fell apart at the seams, not achieving the required results while playing disjointed, scrappy football. During the summer, Olympiacos had signed a group of supposedly talented, capable footballers, but they failed to come together as a team, often not showing enough commitment.
Incredibly, four coaches were in the Olympiacos hot-seat this season: Besnik Hasi, Takis Lemonis, Oscar Garcia and Christos Kontis. If we look at the results, the experienced Lemonis was the best of the bunch, but he found himself ousted in favour of Oscar Garcia in January. The Spaniard lasted a matter of months in Piraeus.
Olympiacos, albeit handed a daunting draw, picked up one point in six Champions League group stage matches, were kicked out at the Greek Cup quarter-final stage by AEK Athens and came in a distant third of the Super League, consequently seeing their dream of eight league titles in a row disappear. Flops such as Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, Emmanuel Emenike and Kevin Mirallas unsurprisingly won’t return to Piraeus for next season. It remains to be seen whether incoming Portuguese manager Pedro Martins can turn the tide and get Olympiacos back to the top of the Greek pile.
BASKETBALL DISAPPOINTMENT
How did Olympiacos BC do? Well, not much better is the answer. Yes, the Thrylos competed in the Greek Cup and Basket League finals, but the team came up short, especially in the Euroleague with a bitter setback against Zalgiris in the quarter-finals. As a result, head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos paid the price, pushed out of the door after four years in charge. Olympiacos are expected to unveil a replacement in the near future.
In the Greek Cup final, Olympiacos were overwhelming favourites to win after Panathinaikos exited in the semis, but opponents AEK Athens had other ideas, emerging as 88:83 winners to provide a shock which no-one saw coming. American Manny Harris was the star man, registering 17 points to lead the Enosis in scoring.
In all fairness to Olympiacos, they pushed Panathinaikos hard in the Basket League finals, taking the first match at the Olympic Stadium 75:65. Panathinaikos, the reigning champions, came roaring back though, eventually clinching the series 3:2 with an emphatic 84:70 triumph in the fifth game.
According to media reports, well-known American-Israeli coach David Blatt is currently in negotiations with the Thrylos to become the team’s manager for the 2018/2019 season. Olympiacos are also attempting to conclude new deals with leaders Vassilis Spanoulis, Konstantinos Papanikolaou and Ioannis Papapetrou.
Elsewhere, Olympiacos had plenty of trophies to savour in volleyball, handball and water-polo, but the club’s loyal fan-base demand much more from the organisation’s largest teams in the 2018/2019 campaign.
