Fun, education, training, social development, and above all, how we treat others and handle ourselves in the context of victory or defeat. All of this, together with 20 teams from all over Europe, combined with excellent facilities, a lot of rain, a little hail, mixed with plenty of sun, music, joy, disappointment – temporary – and supporters undaunted by any weather phenomenon, was the scene of the two-day 16th «Panagiotis Katsouris» Tournament (April 26 and 27 in Souroti).

The tournament involved age groups of Under-15 and Under-13 levels, and in addition to the PAOK teams, professional teams from Greece and Europe participated, as well as other high-level academies. The following teams travelled to Thessaloniki, among others: Bochum, Partizan, Exeter, Oxford, Vitesse, Slovan Bratislava, Ludogorets, APOEL, and the Hadzi Academy. A total of 16 teams participated in each of the two categories. They competed in group games and in a knock-out in the final phase. In the groups, the teams were ranked based on capacity and competed in 25 matches. In the second phase, the teams were again divided according to the scores and the teams followed either the golden or silver path.

In the gold Under-15 category, PAOK won, as they did last year, as they prevailed 1-0 (Tentolouris scored the goal) over Koukariski in the final. In the wooden spoon final, Bochum beat Partizan on penalties. The gold category at Under-13 level was won by Partizan (1-0 against Slovan Bratislava in the final), while PAOK Under-13s were defeated 1-0 by the Hadzi Academy in the wooden spoon final. In the silver path and in the Under-15 age category, Randers won (after a penalty shootout against Makedonikos), while Volos were third (3-0 against PAOK Koilon Kozani in the wooden spoon final). As for the silver category Under-13 level, the cup was won by Oxford, who defeated Apollon Limassol on penalties, while Exeter took third place (1-0 against PAOK Komotini).

After the end of the tournament, the teams were hosted at the Toumba Stadium where they were guests to watch PAOK’s victory over Panathinaikos in the 2024-25 Stoiximan Super League Play Offs.

Thank you all for participating! See you again soon!

• We hope that the Thunders academy player, who was injured during the tournament and underwent surgery by the PAOK medical staff, will make a strong comeback.
• The «Panagiotis Katsouris» tournament has been held since 2009, in memory of our late former player, who lost his life in a car accident on February 9, 1998 at the age of just 21.
• The duration of the matches were 25 minutes. There was no overtime, only penalty kicks (and believe us, we had a lot of them)…