2021–22 PAOK FC season

The 2021–22 PAOK FC season is the club's 96th season in existence and the club's 63rd consecutive season in the top flight of Greek football. In addition to the domestic league, PAOK are participating in this season's editions of the Greek Cup and in the inaugural Europa Conference League. The season covers the period from 22 July 2021 to 30 June 2022.

Season Overview Restricted attendance and games behind closed doors were common in this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Thessaloniki, however the team recorded its best run at a UEFA competition since 1974 by reaching the last 8 of the newly created UEFA Europa Conference League in its inaugural season.

Starting in the 3rd qualifying round, the team had a sluggish start in the qualifying rounds, barely scraping by against Irish side Bohemians after a shock 2–1 defeat against them at the Aviva Stadium, by narrowly winning the return leg 2–0 at Toumba Stadium. Răzvan Lucescu, the much revered PAOK manager who led the team to the Double in 2018–19 and had major success with Al–Hilal, along with his assistant Cristiano Bacci, returned to the club in the pre–season, but the struggle against Bohemians was met with intense criticism and backlash. A last minute own–goal by Niko Galešić gave PAOK a 1–1 draw at home against Croatian club Rijeka, which was met with more criticism, with many fearing that the team was not capable of advancing to the group stage of the new competition. Contrary to the first match at home, PAOK won 0–2 at Stadion Rujevica and managed to advance to the group stage.

Coincing with the team's initial boost and then slump in form in the league, PAOK had an unspectacular group stage phase but had a bright spot in the 1–2 away win over eventual group toppers Copenhagen. In spite of the team not performing too well in the group stage, the 11 points accumulated were enough to hoist the team above Slovan Bratislava (who deprived PAOK of a Europa League group stage spot two years earlier) and advance the team to the Knockout round play–offs as the second placed team in the group. After the group stage ended, PAOK managed to undo the November slump in the league and would go on an unbeaten streak that would stretch until the end of the league's regular season, earning plaudits for Lucescu and Bacci.

The team easily disarmed AEL in the Greek Football Cup in December before memorably knocking out rivals AEK Athens in the quarter–finals, courtesy of two late goals from club top scorer Jasmin Kurtić and Alexandru Mitriță after PAOK were 1–0 down on aggregate at the Olympic Stadium.

Coaching staff

Players Current squad

Transfers In No.PosPlayerTransferred fromFeeDateSource– Apollon LimassolLoan return13 Dnipro-1Free transfer– KaraiskakisLoan return– Spartak TrnavaLoan return– TrikalaLoan return– Niki VolosLoan return– GöztepeLoan return– LamiaLoan return– Onisilos SotiraLoan return– KaraiskakisLoan return– TrikalaLoan return– LevadiakosLoan return– TrikalaLoan return– AEK AthensFree Transfer– Asteras Tripolis350,00027 ParmaLoan 47 MiddlesbroughLoan 16 Dynamo KyivLoan 28 New York CityLoan32 AnorthosisLoan Return11 Vasco da GamaLoan Return29 Malmö FFLoan Return23 MallorcaLoan 50 Moreirense3.0 M Total €3.350,000

Out No.PosPlayerTransferred toFeeDateSource– Norwich City7,500,00027 Club BruggeEnd of loan21 ChelseaEnd of loan11 Norwich City13,000,00029 LevadiakosLoan16 Rosenborg500,000 Volos8 AnorthosisFree transfer (but with a 50% resale-clause)32 AnorthosisLoan97 OFILoan23 Sint-TruidenFree transfer2 JuventudeFree transfer9 Charlotte FC5.5 M32 LamiaLoan65 EupenLoan44 FerencvárosFree Transfer Total €26,500,000

Pre-season and other friendlies

Competitions Overview

Managerial statistics

+ Head coachFromToRecord Răzvan Lucescu 27 May 2021 Present Last updated: 21 May 2022

Super League Greece

League table

Matches

Results summary

Results by round

Play-off round The top six teams from Regular season will meet twice (10 matches per team) for places in 2022–23 UEFA Champions League and 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League as well as deciding the league champion.

Results summary

Results by round

Matches

Greek Cup

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

UEFA Europa Conference League

Third qualifying round

Play-off round

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 27 August 2021.

Knockout round play-offs

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Statistics

Squad statistics

The squad was informed and the official page of PAOK FC.

! colspan="13" style="background:#DCDCDC; text-align:center" | Goalkeepers

! colspan="13" style="background:#DCDCDC; text-align:center" | Defenders

! colspan="13" style="background:#DCDCDC; text-align:center" | Midfielders

! colspan="13" style="background:#DCDCDC; text-align:center" | Forwards

! colspan="13" style="background:#DCDCDC; text-align:center" | Players transferred out during the season

Goalscorers

As of 21 May 2022

PlayerSuper LeagueGreek CupEuropa Conference LeagueTotal 127MF Kurtić152118247FW Akpom72211314FW Živković3047410MF Murg4015 22MF Schwab302569FW Świderski4004 8MF Douglas Augusto3014828FW Mitriță1113 29FW Čolak21031021MF Biseswar1012 16DF Sidcley1012 4DF Ingason2002 23DF Sastre2002 20MF Vieirinha1012 11FW Léo Jabá2002 49DF Michailidis2002 5DF Crespo1012 7MF El Kaddouri00221918FW Oliveira0011 19DF Lyratzis1001 50MF Filipe Soares1001Own goals2114TOTAL 5872085

Clean sheets As of 21 May 2022 PlayerLeagueCupECLTotalGames playedPercentage Alexandros Paschalakis1226205536,36% Živko Živković1001425,00%Total1326215935,59%

Disciplinary record As of 21 May 2022 NameSuper LeagueGreek CupEuropa Conference LeagueTotal18FWNélson Oliveira00000010010027MFJasmin Kurtić700300600160021MFDiego Biseswar1000003004007MFOmar El Kaddouri40000010050010MFThomas Murg30000020050013DFLucas Taylor20010010040020MFVieirinha10000020030022MFStefan Schwab50000030080049DFGiannis Michailidis60000020180128FWAlexandru Mitriță4001002007008MFDouglas Augusto60020110090116DFSidcley40010000050014FWAndrija Živković60020030011006DFEnea Mihaj11000000011031GKAlexandros Paschalakis1000001002005DFFernando Varela10000010020047FWChuba Akpom30031000061019DFLefteris Lyratzis00000020020015DFJosé Ángel Crespo5002002009004DFSverrir Ingi Ingason50010000060050MFFilipe Soares40010000050011FWLéo Jabá20000000020051MFTheocharis Tsingaras10100000010188GKŽivko Živković10000000010029FWAntonio Čolak00000010010023DFJoan Sastre200000000200 Players transferred out during the season11FWChristos Tzolis0000001001002DFRodrigo Soares1000000001009MFKarol Świderski10010030050044MFAnderson Esiti300000100400

References

External links