Andreas Dimatos takes stock of the first half of the season for the “greens”, who are first in points for Greece for the first time since the 2008-9 season, already have their best coefficient of the last 15 years, up 113 places in the standings of UEFA and much room for further improvement
His opponent in the intermediate knockout stage of the play-offs of the new format for qualification to the last 16 Conference League he is waiting in a little while Panathinaikos having… his conscience at ease that despite the numbing start to the fledgling League Phase finally he has largely done his part with three wins and nine points in the second half of his games compared to just one point in the first half…
On the one hand, Panathinaikos he still has the European field open in front of him, but on the other hand, the conclusion of his European return after a minimum of 15 years is clear, as is clearly reflected in the numbers.
Item one…
With the current data, after the first six matches of the Greek teams in League Phase (Olympic and PAOK of course in Europa they still have two more matches based on format) o Panathinaikos is the first Greek team to offer points in Greek football for the current season.
In the west of 2024, the “greens” figure in first place in the… rating with 12,500 points in the Greek coefficient, followed by PAOK with 9,500 points, Olympiacos with 7,000 points (the red and whites did not participate in the qualifying process compared to previous years) and last is AEK which completed its European presence giving Greece 3,000 points.
Given that the season is in full swing, we are not talking about a done deal, but Panathinaikos can claim that to find the last season in which they were the first Greek team in European points, they would have to go back a full 16 years to the 2008 season -9, when he had finished the season with 15,500 points in Greece!
In the fifteen years that followed, the “greens” in only two seasons were second in the relevant list, behind Olympiakos, in 2009-10 and 2012-13. Since then their European imprint has been ignored and this year they returned after a long European absence…
Item two…
His score to date Panathinaikou in Europe with a coefficient in the current season of 8,500 points (and the prospect of further improvement, of course) is the leader in its European history for the last 15 years, since the 2009-10 season, when respectively he had written on the board of that season 13,500 points .
Item three…
This year’s coefficient of 8,500 points Panathinaikou equivalent to the points he earned in Europe the previous eight European seasons in total! In simple words: from 2016-17 until last year the “greens” had collected all the points of this season! With 3,000 points last year, 2,000 points the year before, 1,500 points in 2017-18, 2,000 points in the 2016-17 season and four seasons away from European Cups in between!
This is enough for him Panathinaikos who finished last season in Europe at this time in 225th place in the UEFA rankings and has already risen as of last night to 112th with a rise of 113 places in a few months? Clearly not for a team that for many years at the beginning of the previous decade was close to the European top-20! But it is the first time after about fifteen years that the “greens” manage to… get out of European obscurity again!
With a European rate currently at 13,500 points o Panathinaikoswho last summer didn’t even enter the draws with his coefficient, which was lower than the 6,305 points of the Greek coefficient (his was 5,000 points…), is in a much better position than in previous years.
At least as far as it is concerned Conference League next summer he will not have a chance to meet such early teams as Chelsea or Lance, which he managed to eliminate, and it will be given to the strong until the playoffs. To a certain extent, the same will be true in Europa, although something more will be needed in order to have a given group of strong ones in the playoffs as well. And certainly in the Champions League he will not be among the weak from his start in the second qualifier, if he conquers the Greek championship.
Against Vikingur or Borats Panathinaikos would have room for an even bigger jump in the UEFA standings, but in this intermediate round the points count only towards the country coefficient and not towards the collective coefficient. The greens can be satisfied with the bonus of… a draw (500 points) if they qualify for the 16 of the Conference and continue in… March!
However, the fact that after many years Greece does not rely on one or two teams to build its European coefficient, but on three and hopefully by next year on more has already created a very significant impact on its European standings with the goal of 11th position in the UEFA ranking to be more visible than ever!
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