PAOK Academy to feature heavily in EURO finals
With 10 players from PAOK in the squad, Greece’s Under-19 side leave for Malta for their seventh participation in the European Championship finals. The EURO 2023 Under-19 finals will be held from 3 to 16 July with our national team facing Norway on 04.07 (19:00), Spain on 07.07 (19:00) and Iceland on 10.07 (22:00).
The 10 PAOK Academy players who will live the experience are Dimitris Monastirlis, Zisis Tsikos, Lambros Smyrlis, Nikos Spyrakos, Haris Georgiadis, Dimitris Kottas, Konstantinos Goumas, Nikos Deligiannis, Yiannis Gitersos, and Stefanos Tzimas. It should be noted that the initial call-ups were 11 for PAOK, but unfortunately Lefteris Tasiouras returned with a virus from the second stage of the training camp in Karpenisi and was not included in the 20-member squad by head coach Tasos Theou.
The Greece team advanced from the qualifying phase in September 2022 as the first of their group, with victories over Switzerland (2-0) and Andorra (3-0) and a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic. Then, in March 2023, they traveled to Ireland and the Elite Round stage, where with two wins and a draw (3-0 Estonia, 1-1 Slovakia and 1-0 hosts Ireland) they completed their journey again to finish in first place on goal difference. Greece, therefore, became one of the eight teams in the final phase of the EURO 2023 Under-19 Championship and was drawn in Group 2 along with Spain, Iceland and Norway. Group 1 will feature hosts Malta, Poland, Portugal and Italy.
- Qualification to the semi-final stage (knockout games) will be claimed by the winners of each group.
- All of Greece’s matches will be broadcast live by ERT.
- Greece’s previous participations in the Under-19 finals were as follows: 2015 (hosts – semi-final phase), 2012 (finalist), 2011, 2008, 2007 (finalist), 2005.