Cote

Left Back - AEK
26 Sep 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Cote

60 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

AEK do the business in Europe

3‑2. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and AEK came through the finding-out well against Utrecht.

Squad

23 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Luka Jović takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings

Aboubakary Koita was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

Miloš Pantović keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AEK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at AEK

Lorenzo Scipioni 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.

Squad

Luka Jović has improved at 29, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Market

Niclas Eliasson has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AEK can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Player ratings

One of those days for Luka Jović

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

Back issues
59 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Dereck Kutesa was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 44. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

30 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEK

Lovro Majer 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.

Squad

A muscle injury and 15 days out for Charalampos Lykogiannis

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AEK will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

The step up is real for Nikos Vlioras

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market

Barnabás Varga raises the bar for AEK

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AEK heard it as anything else.

The terraces

AEK supporters have found a favourite in Lorenzo Scipioni

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Scipioni has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Loan watch

Dimitris Kaloskamis has seen enough of Atromitos

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AEK, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.

Player ratings

Lorenzo Scipioni was the difference for AEK

Marked 7.43. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

In brief

  • The dugout Luka Jović gets picked when it counts
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Antonis Tsiftsis gets it from the manager
58 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

37 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

13 seasons of Petros Mantalos

395 appearances across 13 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and AEK know what they have.

Squad

The step up is real for Lorenzo Scipioni

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Boardroom

AEK close the window on a squad of their own making

10 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Market

Thomas Strakosha moves on

Olympiacos pay $2.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Clayton deal

AEK ran out of time with Olympiacos. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Market

Panagiotis Retsos wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AEK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Player ratings

Aboubakary Koita was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Tempers go at AEK

Lovro Majer 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.

In brief

57 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Cote out for 45 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Thomas Strakosha has said yes to Olympiacos

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEK have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Transfer targets

AEK agree $4.1M for Clayton

The clubs have shaken hands with Olympiacos; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Market

Cote puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEK, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

AEK baulk at the price for Tomás O'Connor

Gimnasia y Esgrima wanted more than $9.4M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEK

Lorenzo Scipioni 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.

Player ratings

Niclas Eliasson beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at AEK

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Squad

Late improvement for Thomas Strakosha

At 32 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

In brief

56 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Cote breaks a bone — 54 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Transfer targets

An offer of $7.9M for Tomás O'Connor

AEK have gone to Gimnasia y Esgrima with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Match

AEK refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 56 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Market

Thomas Strakosha attracts admirers

The name of Thomas Strakosha has come up in conversations AEK were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

The step up is real for Christos Palaiologou

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Tempers go at AEK

Lorenzo Scipioni 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.

Market

Thomas Strakosha raises the bar for AEK

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AEK heard it as anything else.

Squad

Late improvement for Luka Jović

At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market

Kervin Arriaga wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

In brief

55 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Cote breaks a bone — 63 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Transfer targets

Clayton turns down AEK

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympiacos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Market

AEK may not be able to give Panagiotis Retsos what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Panagiotis Retsos wants continental football; whether AEK can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Real improvement from Nikos Vlioras at AEK

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikos Vlioras is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Niclas Eliasson has improved at 31, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Panagiotis Retsos

“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.

Squad

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

Loan watch

Dimitris Kaloskamis wants to come home

“I did not go to Atromitos to sit and watch. I want to come back to AEK and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Charalampos Lykogiannis has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AEK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

54 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Cote breaks a bone — 70 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Real improvement from Lorenzo Scipioni at AEK

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Scipioni is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Panagiotis Retsos stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Panagiotis Retsos and AEK agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at AEK

Panagiotis Retsos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Kervin Arriaga wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AEK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Market

Cote told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Cote has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AEK.

Market

AEK and Filipe Relvas are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

The dugout

When it matters, Luka Jović plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

A door opens for João Mário

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

53 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

79 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

The dugout

Răzvan Marin says AEK went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Panagiotis Retsos signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Panagiotis Retsos commits to AEK for another 4 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEK

Lorenzo Scipioni 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.

Market

Niclas Eliasson wants more than AEK are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Niclas Eliasson 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 dugout

Lazaros Rota has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AEK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

João Mário knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and João Mário trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

The manager makes Antonis Tsiftsis a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AEK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

52 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

87 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

Moussa Dembélé turns down AEK

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Ahli keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Match

AEK are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 56 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Market

Kerim Mrabti asks to leave AEK

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

A falling-out at AEK

Lovro Majer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Niclas Eliasson wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Market

Elche watching Jan Hurtado

The interest is real enough to have reached print. AEK have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Words at AEK training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Răzvan Marin

“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.

In brief

51 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

95 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

AEK make their move for Moussa Dembélé

$13.1M on the table at Al Ahli. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Jan Hurtado puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEK, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Business is business: Sven Köhler goes

PAOK paid $2.2M and AEK took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Market

Only the photograph left for Domagoj Vida

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domagoj Vida will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEK the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

AEK turn down Kano Pillars for Hakim Sahabo

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEK

Lovro Majer 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.

Squad

Words at AEK training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

Squad

A late step up for Petros Mantalos

At 35 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

In brief

50 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

104 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Terms done: Jan Repas is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Asteras waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AEK is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

AEK say no — this time

The offer from Gijón for Jan Hurtado was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Amor Layouni hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEK can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at AEK

Lovro Majer 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.

Squad

AEK count the cost of losing Paolo Fernandes

20 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Niclas Eliasson

“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.

Squad

7 new faces, and AEK are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

Luka Jović has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AEK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

49 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

112 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

Marco Miori will not be coming to AEK

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Alvarado is saying, and nobody at AEK is enjoying the guessing.

The dugout

Mijat Gaćinović says AEK went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Roger Martínez

AEK and Al-Shabab have settled on $1.7M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Market

AEK raid Panathinaikos for Miloš Pantović

Business between these two is never simply business. AEK wanted Miloš Pantović, Panathinaikos did not want to sell to them of all clubs, and the signature at the end of it says who won that argument.

Market

Thomas Strakosha wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AEK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Lovro Majer 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 AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A late step up for Harold Moukoudi

At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Market

Gijón watching Jan Hurtado

The interest is real enough to have reached print. AEK have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

In brief

  • Squad Words at AEK training over how hard people work
  • The dugout No hiding place for Panagiotis Retsos
  • Boardroom Intake day at the AEK academy
48 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

119 days out for Cote after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

AEK pay Olympiacos $6.5M for a proper upgrade

Olympiacos did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $6.5M for Lorenzo Scipioni, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Match

AEK are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 56 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Transfer targets

AEK make their move for Roger Martínez

$1.6M on the table at Al-Shabab. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Lorenzo Scipioni is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Transfer targets

No deal for Giorgos Kanellopoulos at that price

AEK offered $840.0K; OFI said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

Thomas Strakosha has improved at 32, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Răzvan Marin

“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.

In brief

44 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Mijat Gaćinović breaks a bone — 40 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

AEK are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 56 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

A falling-out at AEK

Lovro Majer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at AEK

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Barnabás Varga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Dimitris Kaloskamis comes back from a loan that worked

12 appearances and 34 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Cote

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cote, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Lovro Majer has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AEK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Dimitris Kaloskamis knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AEK, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Luka Jović story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Jović signs something — a contract at AEK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

43 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Dimitris Kaloskamis’s exile

34 goals in 12 games at Torpedo Kutaisi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AEK updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

Squad

A fracture rules Mijat Gaćinović out for 50 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

AEK are in Europe

Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.

The dugout

Cote: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Jan Hurtado asks to leave AEK

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Only the photograph left for Domagoj Vida

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domagoj Vida will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEK the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEK

Lovro Majer 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AEK

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charalampos Lykogiannis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Harold Moukoudi

“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.

In brief

42 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Mijat Gaćinović out for 58 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

The small margins put AEK out

Out, 0‑1 to Olympiacos, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Loan watch

Dimitris Kaloskamis keeps scoring at Torpedo Kutaisi

11 appearances away from home and 27 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Market

Thomas Strakosha wants more than AEK are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Luka Jović is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.32 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEK

Cote 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.

Player ratings

Dereck Kutesa beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

No place for Harold Moukoudi on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at AEK pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for João Mário
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout When it matters, Luka Jović plays
39 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Petros Mantalos

34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Mijat Gaćinović breaks a bone — 81 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Jan Hurtado puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEK, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Domagoj Vida is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Răzvan Marin 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 AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at AEK

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charalampos Lykogiannis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

No place for Mijat Gaćinović in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mijat Gaćinović has his answer from AEK; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

Cote gets it from the manager

“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.

The dugout

Thomas Strakosha has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AEK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

36 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Petros Mantalos damages knee ligaments — 59 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 59 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

A fracture rules Mijat Gaćinović out for 103 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

AEK are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 56 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

Lovro Majer 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 AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at AEK

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charalampos Lykogiannis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

14 goals on loan for Dimitris Kaloskamis

5 appearances at Torpedo Kutaisi and the goals keep coming. AEK are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Market

Kervin Arriaga has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AEK can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Loan watch

Dimitris Kaloskamis has seen enough of Torpedo Kutaisi

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AEK, and 5 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

No hiding place for Antonis Tsiftsis

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antonis Tsiftsis, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • The dugout Lovro Majer has become a man the manager trusts
  • The dugout Cote knocks on the manager's door
  • Market Luka Jović linked with a move away
35 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Petros Mantalos damages knee ligaments — 66 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Alberto Brignoli breaks a bone — 104 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Jan Hurtado hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEK can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Domagoj Vida has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AEK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Thomas Strakosha wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AEK hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Tempers go at AEK

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

Squad

Barnabás Varga 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.

Loan watch

12 goals on loan for Dimitris Kaloskamis

4 appearances at Torpedo Kutaisi and the goals keep coming. AEK are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

The dugout

When it matters, Thomas Strakosha plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

33 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Petros Mantalos damages knee ligaments — 82 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 82 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

120 days out for Alberto Brignoli after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

The dugout

Stavros Pilios says AEK went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Tempers go at AEK

Panagiotis Retsos 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.

Squad

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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 dugout

No hiding place for Cote

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cote, and the manager let it.

Loan watch

Zois Karargyris counts the days

“I watch every AEK game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bunyodkor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

Charalampos Lykogiannis has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AEK will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Kerim Mrabti’s exile

9 goals in 24 games at Baltika — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AEK updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

In brief

24 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Petros Mantalos damages knee ligaments — 158 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 158 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

AEK are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 47 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Transfer targets

No deal for Lorenzo Scipioni at that price

AEK offered $6.5M; Olympiacos said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

Thomas Strakosha keeps AEK in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Transfer targets

AEK rebuffed over Christian Kouamé

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aris Thessaloniki have kept their man, and AEK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Gijón come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and AEK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

AEK spend $1.7M to raise the standard

This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.7M has been paid because Jan Hurtado is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.

Match

9 unbeaten for AEK

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation AEK did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Lovro Majer 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 AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

16 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

AEK up to position 2

29 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Match

The run is over for AEK

11 matches without defeat, and then AEL Larisa. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Squad

Lovro Majer 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 AEK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

9 AEK players away with their countries

The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 9 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.

Squad

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

Match

AEL Larisa take the points off AEK

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Mijat Gaćinović gets it from the manager

“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.

Player ratings

Cote beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Boardroom

Doors closed at AEK

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

14 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

10 unbeaten for AEK

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation AEK did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

Charalampos Lykogiannis, 33, rolls back the years — 7.84

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Thomas Strakosha wants more than AEK are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Match

AEK are at home on the road

5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEK

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

Match

Luka Jović the difference as AEK beat OFI

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luka Jović. 1‑0 against OFI, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Words at AEK training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Barnabás Varga 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Luka Jović

Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

The dugout

No hiding place for Cote

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cote, and the manager let it.

In brief

13 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Whatever happens, AEK do not lose

9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Tempers go at AEK

Răzvan Marin 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.

Match

After 7 games, AEK finally taste it again

The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Olympiacos; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Squad

A row about effort at AEK

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charalampos Lykogiannis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Luka Milivojević gets it from the manager

“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.

Player ratings

Both jobs done by Barnabás Varga — 6.73

A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.73, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.

Player ratings

Aboubakary Koita runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at AEK

13 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.

The dugout

Cote dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

6 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

AEK win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Kifisia will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Boardroom

AEK close the window on a squad of their own making

13 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cote

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words exchanged at AEK

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

The terraces

AEK supporters have found a favourite in Zois Karargyris

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Zois Karargyris has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

AEK see off Kifisia

Three points for AEK, 1‑0 the final word against Kifisia in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Market

Dobrudzha join the queue for Zois Karargyris

Add another name to the list: Dobrudzha have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Zois Karargyris. The answer from AEK has not changed — yet.

Squad

A row about effort at AEK

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazaros Rota was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

International break empties AEK

6 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.

In brief

5 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

AEK throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Volos NPS the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that AEK will enjoy reviewing.

Squad

A day Aboubakary Koita will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Market

Domagoj Vida puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEK, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

OFK Beograd come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and AEK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

OFI tell AEK: Giannis Apostolakis is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A falling-out at AEK

Charalampos Lykogiannis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

No deal for Ibrahim Aliyu at that price

AEK offered $460.0K; Houston Dynamo said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

Barnabás Varga 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Aboubakary Koita

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

4 Edition

The AEK Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

AEK turn down Krasnodar for Luka Jović

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Not going: Zini stays at AEK

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kalmar FF had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Alexander Callens puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AEK, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Luka Jović out for 36 days

The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Luka Jović, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Transfer targets

AEK baulk at the price for Noah Fadiga

Aris Thessaloniki wanted more than $1.8M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

AEK rebuffed over Thanasis Androutsos

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OFI have kept their man, and AEK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Panetolikos join the queue for Aboubakary Koita

Add another name to the list: Panetolikos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aboubakary Koita. The answer from AEK has not changed — yet.

Squad

Charalampos Lykogiannis 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.

Squad

A falling-out at AEK

Cote and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief