From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
The Klidman Lilo talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. OFI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Borja González, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Andreas Bouchalakis. OFI will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at OFI
Andreas Bouchalakis 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.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Sochi to sit and watch. I want to come back to OFI and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Mirko Andrić
“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
Squad22 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikos Marinakis 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Zisis Karachalios 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Borja González
“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
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andreas Bouchalakis and OFI agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and OFI know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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
Crisis
The terraces22 Feb 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match20 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for OFI
4 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Asteras take the points off OFI
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. OFI deserved better, and so did he.
Squad22 Feb 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at OFI pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” OFI may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at OFI
Andreas Bouchalakis 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“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.
Match13 Feb 2027
A bad afternoon for OFI against Volos NPS
0‑1 to Volos NPS, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Shots: 13, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market15 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Giannis Theodosoulakis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
An afternoon Mirko Andrić will want back
Marked 5.57. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
OFI say no — this time
The offer from Karpaty for Tobias Asenzo 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thiago Nuss, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.78, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tobias Asenzo 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kostas Kostoulas is the division's best young player this month
At 22 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. OFI will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Match6 Feb 2027
A 1‑1 draw with AEL Larisa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
A one-man rearguard from Klidman Lilo
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at OFI
Andreas Bouchalakis 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Leya Iseka 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zisis Karachalios, and the manager let it.
Match30 Jan 2027
OFI share the spoils with AEK
A 1‑1 draw with AEK leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market1 Feb 2027
11 months and counting on Erik Bessa
Still no offer on the table, and Erik Bessa’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. OFI were going nowhere until he came on.
Market1 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tiago Pucciarelli signs something — a contract at OFI or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OFI can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Kostas Kostoulas at 21 — 7.93
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kostas Kostoulas did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. OFI know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andreas Bouchalakis, and the manager let it.
Match23 Jan 2027
OFI find a way past PAOK
PAOK made OFI work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Jan 2027
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Kostas Kostoulas was at the centre of it, Panetolikos were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.25, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at OFI
Andreas Bouchalakis 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match16 Jan 2027
It finished 3‑2, and it was Kostas Kostoulas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to OFI.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Klidman Lilo 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Asenzo 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The team sheet said everything about Zisis Karachalios
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Zisis Karachalios.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
9 matches without a win for OFI
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around OFI are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted OFI
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at OFI can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Atromitos left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for OFI
8 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OFI can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Klidman Lilo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and OFI did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at OFI
Andreas Bouchalakis 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Kifisia take the points off OFI
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
A one-man rearguard from Klidman Lilo
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Dec 2026
7 matches without a win for OFI
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around OFI are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Kostas Kostoulas at 21 — 7.79
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kostas Kostoulas did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
26 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad28 Dec 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. OFI know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win for OFI
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around OFI are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Andreas Bouchalakis 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 Dec 2026
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Leya Iseka 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Borja González, and the manager let it.
Match19 Dec 2026
It needed Aaron Leya Iseka to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Levadiakos, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
5.64. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Dec 2026
OFI out of the cup
Panathinaikos ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 28 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Kostas Kostoulas at 21 — 7.71
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kostas Kostoulas did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for OFI
5 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted OFI
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at OFI can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad14 Dec 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 34 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Kostas Kostoulas, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Nikos Athanasiou, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Still nobody has beaten OFI
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match5 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted OFI
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at OFI can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thanasis Androutsos, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
23 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Aaron Leya Iseka 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 terraces30 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Panserraikos will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
47 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 33. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
32 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Klidman Lilo
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play OFI right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tobias Asenzo. 1‑0 against Volos NPS, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
39 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Aaron Leya Iseka out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
30 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Tiago Pucciarelli 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for OFI, 1‑0 the final word against AEL Larisa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Krešimir Krizmanić, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Aaron Leya Iseka out for 25 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.79 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad2 Nov 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
OFI find a way past AEK
AEK made OFI work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at OFI.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at OFI who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Aaron Leya Iseka out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Klidman Lilo
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Kostas Kostoulas, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.81
A mark of 8.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Andreas Bouchalakis 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for OFI against PAOK
1‑2 to PAOK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Thiago Nuss
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Thiago Nuss at his very best
Marked 9.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at OFI.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Krešimir Krizmanić. 2‑1 against Panetolikos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikos Athanasiou, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.75 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Shots: 10, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and OFI 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kostas Kostoulas is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thiago Nuss, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Oct 2026
OFI and Atromitos cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Atromitos came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giannis Apostolakis is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Carlos Gutiérrez at his very best
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at OFI.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Tobias Asenzo
“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
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Aaron Leya Iseka out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match23 Sep 2026
OFI through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over AEL Larisa, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad28 Sep 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Tiago Pucciarelli at 20 — 7.69
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiago Pucciarelli did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Klidman Lilo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.42. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at OFI.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Filip Bainović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Squad21 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for OFI against Levadiakos
0‑1 to Levadiakos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
5.45. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A mark of 5.49 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Andreas Bouchalakis 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Klidman Lilo
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
No time for Olympiacos to settle
The goal that put Olympiacos ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when OFI equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at OFI
8 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Aaron Leya Iseka to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Olympiacos, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market14 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Klidman Lilo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OFI can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Panathinaikos left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tobias Asenzo 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Giannis Apostolakis has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
5.50 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Giannis Apostolakis, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.77
A mark of 8.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Manuel Kalafatis is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at OFI
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikos Athanasiou 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for OFI, 2‑1 the final word against Panserraikos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
OFI say no — this time
The offer from Levadiakos for Nikos Marinakis 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OFI can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at OFI has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market24 Aug 2026
OFI have made Filip Bainović available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
AEK come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and OFI did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Levadiakos paid $540.0K and OFI took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at OFI
8 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at OFI
Oswaldo Henríquez arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at OFI that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thiago Nuss commits to OFI for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at OFI
Thiago Nuss 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Levadiakos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Achilleas Poungouras. The answer from OFI has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikos Christogeorgos, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Christos Belevonis has just signed for OFI, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andreas Bouchalakis commits to OFI for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Thiago Nuss 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 OFI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at OFI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikos Marinakis 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Filip Bainović has his answer from OFI; what he does with it is the next window’s story.