Marked for Facundo Pumpido
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match31 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Nestos Chrysoupoli can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Nestos Chrysoupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Fernández is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
228% of the income goes out in wages at Nestos Chrysoupoli
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.44. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giorgos Manolakis, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nikos Galanopoulos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nestos Chrysoupoli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Kyriakos Giaxis falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nikos Galanopoulos after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Kampaniakos? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Makedonikos in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad26 Oct 2026
At 26 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Nestos Chrysoupoli have a decision that made itself.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑3 to Kavala, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match17 Oct 2026
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nestos Chrysoupoli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Nestos Chrysoupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Fernández is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Kyriakos Giaxis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Nestos Chrysoupoli dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Nikos Galanopoulos to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Nestos Chrysoupoli told Giorgos Doumtsis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Nestos Chrysoupoli take on the side everybody is chasing
Kampaniakos arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Franco Shea
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nestos Chrysoupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Nestos Chrysoupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlos Dermitzakis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market12 Oct 2026
No place for Jorgji Muca in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jorgji Muca has his answer from Nestos Chrysoupoli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorgji Muca, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kavala in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Nestos Chrysoupoli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nestos Chrysoupoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes Franco Shea a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Nestos Chrysoupoli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match23 Sep 2026
Out, 0‑4 to Iraklis, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
0-4. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jan Vodháněl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match26 Sep 2026
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kostas Tsamouris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jan Vodháněl was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergio Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Sep 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Lefteris Astras knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Nikos Galanopoulos to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Lefteris Astras is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Nestos Chrysoupoli lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Nestos Chrysoupoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kostas Tsamouris is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kyriakos Giaxis is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Nestos Chrysoupoli have made the call to Olympiacos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad7 Sep 2026
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Nestos Chrysoupoli now.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Nestos Chrysoupoli man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Vasilis Kostika was the best thing in any of them.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Asteras Tripolis B next, and one man in the Nestos Chrysoupoli dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market7 Sep 2026
Sergio Fernández signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Nestos Chrysoupoli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Panathinaikos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jan Vodháněl in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nestos Chrysoupoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panserraikos have kept their man, and Nestos Chrysoupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything was agreed with Kalamata and then the doctor spoke. Nestos Chrysoupoli have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Panathinaikos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jan Vodháněl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Godoy Cruz have kept their man, and Nestos Chrysoupoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Apostolos Tsimikas has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Petros Karelis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nikolaos Pelkas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikos Papagiannopoulos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Nestos Chrysoupoli will not keep him by pretending otherwise.