PAOK Academy


PAOK Academy is the football academy system of Greek professional football club PAOK consisting of eleven official youth teams, based on the young athletes' age. PAOK's U15, U17 and U20 teams all play in Greek Superleague's . Ιn 2016-17 season, U20 team participated in UEFA Youth League as a champion on official superleague U17 2015-16.
This academy holds more than 280 young players, and also more than 50 people work there. The PAOK Academy maintains 16 training centers outside of Thessaloniki. These are in Athens, Didimoticho, Alexandroupoli, Komotini - Xanthi, Kilkis, Kavala, Drama, Kozani, Katerini, Lamia, Corfu, Rethymnon, Chios, Chalkidiki, Cyclades and Rhodes.

History

The first youth academy was created in 1952. The visionary was Austrian coach Wilhelm Sefzik.
His dream was to be able to bring out new talents that could evolve from an early age into the PAOK team.
In 2007-2009, The former president Theodoros Zagorakis began the rebirth of the academies. Vangelis Pourliotopoulos undertook the reorganization,
and for the first time in PAOK history started an organized effort of the club to exploit, to bring out new talents, and promote young footballers systematically from the infrastructure departments of PAOK's to the first team. In 2009, the cost reached €1 million per year.
At that time the "Football Prints" program was created. Today more than 90 academies participate in this program.
In 2008, the first hostels in the Toumba Stadium were inaugurated. In the first three years, the hostels accommodated 14 children, who came from outside Thessaloniki
The evolution of academies continues to date, with Ivan Savvidis investing in a new home that will host young footballers.
On September 2015, the PAOK Academy acquired a seven-storey building in the center of Thessaloniki, where 55 young football players live there.
The cost of academies has now reached €2 million per year, making it the most expensive academy in Greece. According to the International Center for Sports Studies, the club has the best academies in Greece.

Organization

PAOK invest in setting up its own football schools to bring out talented children. To this day the club maintains 13 training centers in every corner of the country. PAOK FC youth sections, with the assistance of their network of collaborating academies, select the most talented players of each region, in order to have them train often and gradually follow the schedules and aims of the PAOK academy players.
The objective of the club is encounter young talented athletes aged no more than 12, and hand them at least 7 years of proper the footballing education, so that they can dive into the mentality and philosophy of their club. The scouting team visits each training centre once each month, in order to supervise the children’s progress. Some distinguished children are invited to Thessaloniki to join the PAOK Academy, which will be staying at PAOK's house.
Since 2013, PAOK maintains a cooperation with Juventus on the academies sector.

Football Prints

PAOK football prints, is a network of academies working with the PAOK academy. Football Prints network functions through a communication system that is based on the eagerness of local academies to work and push talented children. The coordination of all academies has the Vangelis Pourliotopoulos and Kyriakos Alexandridis. In 2014, PAOK FC also organized their first "PAOK Football Prints Network Tournament". Since 2009, the club hold the annual youth tournament “Panagiotis Katsouris” in his memory, a renowned tournament and among the best in the Balkans.

List of academies

The 90 academies of "Football Prints" in Greece, according to geographic criteria.
Greece
Cyprus
Germany
Israel
Sweden
Australia
As of 12 June 2017
General Manager of PAOK Youth and Development Sections Vangelis Pourliotopoulos
Technical Director Giorgos Georgiadis
U20 & U17 Team Manager Stavros Sarafis
U20, U17, U16 & U15 Technical Advisor Grigoris Karavelis
U15 Team Manager Kostas Iosifidis
Technical Supervisor of teams U6 up to U14 Vasilis Mittas
Scout Giannis Avramidis
Football Prints Network Supervisors Vangelis Pourliotopoulos, Kyriakos Alexandridis
Strength Enhancement Training Vasilis Kanaras
Ergophysiologist Giorgos Ziogas
Nutrionist Ioanna Paspala
Psychologist Irini Rera
Head of Education Ioanna Charalampous
Dorms Supervisors Kostas Iosifidis, Ilias Iliadis
U20 Coaches Pablo Garcia, Mirosław Sznaucner
U17 Coaches Angelos Zazopoulos, Konstantinos Kazanas
U15 Coaches Vasilios Mhttas, Petros Tsiapakidis
U14 Coaches Apostolos Papavasiliou, Evaggelos Alexopoulos
U13 Coaches Theofilos Chatzistathis, Savvas Konstantinidis
U12 Coaches Giorgos Gourtsas, Andreas Balabanis
U11 Coaches Alexandros Tasoulis, Spyridon Koulouris
U10 Coaches Alexandros Foropoulos, Stylianos Bikas
U9 Coaches Nikos Nikolaidis
U8 Coaches Antonios Krinitsas
U7-6 Coaches Maria Exadaktylou, Anthoula Arvanitaki

PAOK U20 Squad

As of 16 August 2018

Out on loan

Other players under contract who play at first team and also U20

Honours

Titles won and honours by the PAOK academy's teams.

Official youth championship's - International tournaments

PAOK U20
PAOK U17
PAOK U15
PAOK U14
PAOK U13
PAOK U12
PAOK U11
PAOK U10
PAOK U9
PAOK U8
Notable players coming from the club's youth departments include: