PAOK training centres

Faithful in their philosophy, PAOK invest in the creation of a formation centre for the Greek footballer, therefore they have set up 9 training centres for players aged 8 to 12 in almost every corner of the country.

PAOK FC Youth and Development Sections, with the assistance of their network of collaborating academies, select the most talented players of each region, in order to have them train often and gradually follow the schedules and high aims of the “Double-Headed Eagle’s” players.

The objective of the club is clear. They want to encounter at least 16 gifted athletes aged no more than 12, and hand them at least 7-8 years of proper footballing education, so that they can dive into the mentality of a big club.

How the system works

Through a camp in a specific area under the supervision and organization of a team belonging to the Football Prints’ network, a total of 20-30 children are selected. They train in the corresponding sports centre four times per month under the guidance of the collaborating academy coach and PAOK coaches of that specific age group.

It’s important for children selected to remain under that training schedule for a year. Needless to say, however, that more children can join this program during the season.

The scouting team of PAOK youth sections visits each training centre once each month (or once every two months for cities more than 300 kms away), in order to supervise the children’s progress. Furthermore, these visits will provide a training environment equivalent to the one at Thessaloniki, meaning the youngsters will follow the training schedule that all PAOK youth sections follow.

PAOK training centres will be located at:

Komotini – Xanthi

North Evros

Kavala

Kilkis

Drama

Kozani – Ptolemaida

Katerini

Lamia

Rhodes

There are important and very specific benefits for PAOK:

• Control and first pick over the talented children of each prefecture –establishing a bond through personal relation, not commitment.
• Expansion of PAOK FC’s brand, as more people get in touch with the club and form a positive opinion about it.
• PAOK FC expand their sporting philosophy throughout Greece and become the inspiring force in the pioneer effort to establish training centres and put them in motion.

There are also benefits for the collaborating academies and their respective prefectures:

• The local club gets advertising promotion through their collaboration with PAOK FC.
• The collaborating club’s coaches are offered guidance and education by the PAOK FC Academies’ supervisors.
• The team’s prospects are boosted by the presence of PAOK FC staff in their premises.
• The collaborating academy will attract talented players from the prefecture.
• There is no financial or other dependence from PAOK FC.
• The football formation of the kids who have been picked in each region and prefecture sets the tone for the future selection teams of the federation’s unions, making life easier for their coaches, as children have already established a bond.
• Prefecture and union coaches have the right to attend trainings and get information about the operation of the collaborating club and their training methods. That results to the gradual adaptation of a common training style by prefecture coaches, thus elevating football standards in the region.

However, most important are the benefits about the promising players:

• Children who have been picked are training with children of equal level, thus improving the training quality.
• Children have a smoother adaptation to the PAOK FC youth sections if picked, as they have been following the same training methods under the same circumstances.
• Children become more familiar with the club’s identity and operation.
• Children get to live their dream and that boosts their self-confidence and reflects directly in their performances.