Abel Ferreira starts working
His flight from Porto landed in Amsterdam after midnight. While the members of PAOK’s expedition were resting ahead of the tough preseason days ahead, Abel Ferreira opened the door to a new career challenge.
Smiling and eager to start working, the Portuguese coach settled at the back seat of the car that transferred him to Apeldoorn. The first of his (many) meetings was already underway. PAOK technical director Μario Branco was seated beside him, giving him all necessary info and answering his questions.
He didn’t get to rest more than 3-4 hours. At 08:00, PAOK new head coach and his assistants held their first meeting in order to plan training and the schedule of upcoming days.
By 09:30, all players had gathered in the hotel hall where PAOK vice-president Makis Gagatsis introduced Abel Ferreira and his staff to them. The Portuguese coach expressed his respect and appreciation for the Greek champions and declared himself ready to work towards more success for the club.
The first training session under the new head coach of PAOK kicked off at 11:00. The menu consisted of physical condition exercises with ball, possession and passing drills and a half-pitch game.
After the session that lasted almost 80 minutes, the team returned to the hotel and Ferreira continued his meetings, aiming to get himself acquainted with his new team as soon as possible. He also met with Αndré Vieirinha who travelled to the Netherlands to be close to his teammates, despite not being able to train normally yet.