2021–22 PAOK FC season

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PAOK

2021–22 season
President	Ivan Savvidis
Manager	Răzvan Lucescu
Stadium	Toumba Stadium
Super League 1	2nd
Greek Cup	Runners-up
UEFA Europa Conference League	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Jasmin Kurtić (15 goals) All: Jasmin Kurtić (18 goals)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

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.

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 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.

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Răzvan Lucescu
Assistant Coach	Cristiano Bacci
Goalkeeping Coach	Jose Moreira
Head Fitness Coach	Matteo Spatafora
Fitness coach	Paolo Castorina
Rehabilitation Coach	Georgios Tsonakas

As of 15 February 2022^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 31 GK  GRE Alexandros Paschalakis 88 GK  SRB Živko Živković 64 GK  GRE Christos Talichmanidis 4 DF  ISL Sverrir Ingi Ingason 49 DF  GRE Giannis Michailidis 5 DF  CPV Fernando Varela (vice-captain) 6 DF  ALB Enea Mihaj 15 DF  ESP José Ángel Crespo (vice-captain) 16 DF  BRA Sidcley (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv) 20 MF  POR Vieirinha (captain) 13 DF  BRA Lucas Taylor 19 DF  GRE Lefteris Lyratzis 8 MF  BRA Douglas Augusto 23 DF  ESP Joan Sastre

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  AUT Stefan Schwab 50 MF  POR Filipe Soares 27 MF  SVN Jasmin Kurtić (on loan from Parma) 51 MF  GRE Theocharis Tsingaras 7 MF  MAR Omar El Kaddouri 21 FW  SUR Diego Biseswar 65 MF  GRE Giannis Konstantelias 28 FW  ROU Alexandru Mitriță 14 FW  SRB Andrija Živković 10 MF  AUT Thomas Murg 11 FW  BRA Léo Jabá 29 FW  CRO Antonio Čolak 47 FW  ENG Chuba Akpom 18 FW  POR Nélson Oliveira 70 FW  GRE Georgios Koutsias

No.	Pos	Player	Transferred from	Fee	Date	Source
–	FW	Diego Biseswar	Apollon Limassol	Loan return
13	DF	Lucas Taylor	Dnipro-1	Free transfer	29 June 2021	[2]
–	GK	Nikos Bourganis	Karaiskakis	Loan return
–	DF	Marios Tsaousis	Spartak Trnava	Loan return
–	DF	Stathis Tachatos	Trikala	Loan return
–	DF	Petros Kaloutsikidis	Niki Volos	Loan return
–	MF	Anderson Esiti	Göztepe	Loan return
–	MF	Zisis Chatzistravos	Lamia	Loan return
–	MF	Anastasios Meletidis	Onisilos Sotira	Loan return
–	MF	Konstantinos Korelas	Karaiskakis	Loan return
–	FW	Vasilios Fasidis	Trikala	Loan return
–	FW	Antonis Gaitanidis	Levadiakos	Loan return
–	FW	Dimitrios Panidis	Trikala	Loan return
–	FW	Nélson Oliveira	AEK Athens	Free Transfer
–	FW	Panagiotis Tzimas	Asteras Tripolis	350,000
27	MF	Jasmin Kurtić	Parma	Loan	18 July 2021	[3]
47	FW	Chuba Akpom	Middlesbrough	Loan	25 August 2021	[4]
16	DF	Sidcley	Dynamo Kyiv	Loan	27 August 2021	[5]
28	FW	Alexandru Mitriță	New York City	Loan	31 August 2021	[6]
32	FW	Nika Ninua	Anorthosis	Loan Return	3 January 2022
11	FW	Léo Jabá	Vasco da Gama	Loan Return
29	FW	Antonio Čolak	Malmö FF	Loan Return
23	DF	Joan Sastre	Mallorca	Loan	14 January 2022	[7]
50	MF	Filipe Soares	Moreirense	3.0 M	27 January 2022	[8]
Total							€3.350,000

No.	Pos	Player	Transferred to	Fee	Date	Source
–	DF	Dimitrios Giannoulis	Norwich City	7,500,000	1 July 2021	[9]
27	FW	Michael Krmenčík	Club Brugge	End of loan	30 June 2021
21	DF	Baba Rahman	Chelsea	End of loan	30 June 2021
11	FW	Christos Tzolis	Norwich City	13,000,000	12 August 2021
29	FW	Georgios Vrakas	Levadiakos	Loan	21 August 2021	[10]
16	DF	Adrian Pereira	Rosenborg	500,000	24 August 2021	[11]
	DF	Pavlos Logaras	Volos		24 August 2021
8	MF	Amr Warda	Anorthosis	Free transfer (but with a 50% resale-clause)	29 August 2021	[12]
32	MF	Nika Ninua	Anorthosis	Loan	30 August 2021
97	FW	Lazaros Lamprou	OFI	Loan	31 August 2021	[13]
23	MF	Shinji Kagawa	Sint-Truiden	Free transfer	18 December 2021
2	DF	Rodrigo Soares	Juventude	Free transfer	14 January 2022	[14]
9	MF	Karol Świderski	Charlotte FC	5.5 M	26 January 2022	[15]
32	MF	Nika Ninua	Lamia	Loan	28 January 2022	[16]
32	MF	Giannis Konstantelias	Eupen	Loan	18 January 2022	[17]
44	MF	Anderson Esiti	Ferencváros	Free Transfer	15 February 2022	[18]
Total																€26,500,000

  Win   Draw   Loss

PAOK v Volos

Friday, 9 July 2021 Friendly	PAOK	3–1	Volos	Thessaloniki
19:00 EET, UTC+02:00	Gordeziani 44' Esiti 47' Michailidis 86'		39' van Weert	Stadium: Toumba Stadium Attendance: C. doors due to COVID-19 Referee: Aggelos Aggelakis

PSV v PAOK

Wednesday, 14 July 2021 Friendly	PSV	1–0	PAOK	Eindhoven
21:00 EET, UTC+02:00	Madueke 25'		42' A. Živković  84' Schwab  87' Lyratzis	Stadium: Philips Stadion Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Dennis Higler

Charleroi v PAOK

Saturday, 17 July 2021 Friendly	Charleroi	0–2	PAOK	Sportpark Wiesel, Wenum-Wiesel
14:00 EET, UTC+02:00			47' Oliveira 89' Murg	Attendance: behind closed doors

Heracles Almelo v PAOK

Wednesday, 21 July 2021 Friendly	Heracles Almelo	1–2	PAOK	Sportpark Wiesel, Wenum-Wiesel
15:00 EET, UTC+02:00	Rai Vloet 17'		14', 33' Oliveira	Attendance: behind closed doors

Feyenoord v PAOK

Sunday, 25 July 2021 Friendly	Feyenoord	1–2	PAOK	Rotterdam
15:30 EET, UTC+02:00	Burger 2'		14' (pen.) Tzolis 52' Koutsias	Stadium: De Kuip Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Jochem Kamphuis

Veria v PAOK

Saturday, 4 September 2021 Friendly	Veria	0–1	PAOK	Veria
18:00 EET, UTC+02:00			69' (pen.) Kagawa	Stadium: Veria Stadium Attendance: N/A Referee: Dimitris Maloutas (Imathia)

Head Coach	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Răzvan Lucescu	27 May 2021	Present	59	29	14	16	85	51	+34	049.15

Last updated: 21 May 2022

OFI v PAOK

Sunday, 3 October 2021 5	OFI	1–3	PAOK	Heraklion
16:00 EET, UTC+03:00	90+1'		15' Świderski  22' Mihaj  41' 71' Douglas Augusto  44' Živković 58' Kurtić	Stadium: Theodoros Vardinogiannis Attendance: 3,014 Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos Man of the Match: Kurtić[24]

PAOK v Volos

Sunday, 17 October 2021 6	PAOK	4–4	Volos	Thessaloniki
16:00 EET, UTC+03:00	24' (o.g.) Akpom 30' A. Živković 32', 42' Esiti  69' Douglas Augusto  73' Vieirinha 80' Michailidis  81' Murg  90+4'		13', 54', 62', 82'	Stadium: Toumba Attendance: 7,607 Referee: Dimitris Karantonis (Imathia) Man of the Match: A. Živković[25]

Olympiacos v PAOK

Sunday, 24 October 2021 7	Olympiacos	2–1	PAOK	Piraeus
20:30 EET, UTC+03:00	22', 31'		Sidcley  16' Biseswar  44' Murg 81'	Stadium: Georgios Karaiskakis Attendance: no fans allowed Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Germany) Man of the Match: Murg[26]

PAOK v Apollon Smyrni

Saturday, 30 October 2021 8	PAOK	4–1	Apollon Smyrni	Thessaloniki
19:30 EET, UTC+03:00	Schwab 5' (pen.) El Kaddouri  31' Świderski 66' Michailidis 72' Douglas Augusto 90+4' (pen.)		14'	Stadium: Toumba Referee: Aristomenis Koutsiaftis (Arta) Man of the Match: Świderski[27]

Panathinaikos v PAOK

Sunday, 7 November 2021 9	Panathinaikos	1–3	PAOK	Athens
19:30 EET, UTC+02:00	59'		13',  82' Akpom  45+2' Taylor  53' Michailidis 85' (pen.), 90+8' Kurtić	Stadium: Apostolos Nikolaidis Attendance: 12,792 Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande (Spain) Man of the Match: Kurtić[28]

PAOK v Aris

Sunday, 28 November 2021 11	PAOK	0–1	Aris	Thessaloniki
19:30 EET, UTC+02:00	Taylor  45+1' Kurtić  83' A. Živković  85'		41'	Stadium: Toumba Attendance: 12,605 Referee: Bobby Madden (Scotland) Man of the Match: not appointed

Ionikos v PAOK

Sunday, 5 December 2021 12	Ionikos	3–2	PAOK	Nikaia
19:15 EET, UTC+02:00	20', 34' (pen.), 49'		18' Świderski  23' Esiti 60' Murg  76' Schwab	Stadium: Neapolis Public Stadium Attendance: 1,265 Referee: Athanasios Tzilos Man of the Match: A. Živković[30]

PAOK v Lamia

Sunday, 12 December 2021 13	PAOK	2–1	Lamia	Thessaloniki
17:15 EET, UTC+02:00	A. Živković  7' Michailidis  9' Lyratzis 11' Kurtić 64'		7'	Stadium: Toumba Attendance: Behind closed doors Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos Man of the Match: Lyratzis[31]

PAOK v Asteras Tripoli

Sunday, 19 December 2021 15	PAOK	3–2	Asteras Tripoli	Thessaloniki
19:30 EET, UTC+02:00	Akpom 43' Kurtić 49' (pen.), 90' (pen.) Schwab  74'		12', 60'	Stadium: Toumba Attendance: Behind closed doors Referee: Aristomenis Koutsiaftis (Arta) Man of the Match: Kurtić[33]

PAOK v Ionikos

Sunday, 27 February 2022 25	PAOK	1–1	Ionikos	Thessaloniki
17:15 EET, UTC+02:00	Schwab 33' (pen.) Soares  39' Michailidis  69' El Kaddouri  84' Mitriță  88'		58'	Stadium: Toumba Referee: Aristotelis Diamantopoulos (Arcadia) Man of the Match: Paschalakis[42]

AEK v PAOK

Wednesday, 2 March 2022 17	AEK	1–1	PAOK	Athens
20:30 EET, UTC+02:00	28'		19' Tsingaras 36' Kurtić  ?' Z. Živković  89' Crespo	Stadium: Olympic Stadium Referee: Michael Fabbri (Italy) Man of the Match: Kurtić[43]
Note: Match was originally scheduled for January 9, 2022 but was postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak at PAOK.

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.^[45]

Aris v PAOK

Sunday, 17 April 2022 5	Aris	1–0	PAOK	Thessaloniki
19:30 EET, UTC+03:00	17'		9' Kurtić  37'  71' Mihaj  41' Soares  90+5' Sidcley	Stadium: Kleanthis Vikelidis Attendance: 7,902 Referee: Miguel Garcia Godinho (Portugal)

PAOK v AEK

Sunday, 1 May 2022 6	PAOK	1–1	AEK	Thessaloniki
21:00 EET, UTC+03:00	Čolak 27' Mitriță  58' Sastre  81'		15'	Stadium: Toumba Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria)

PAOK v Olympiacos

Wednesday, 4 May 2022 4	PAOK	1–2	Olympiacos	Thessaloniki
19:00 EET, UTC+03:00	Murg 10' Sidcley  90+3' Akpom  90+4'		51', 62'	Stadium: Toumba Referee: Luís Godinho (Portugal)
Note: match was postponed due to PAOK’s duties in the European Conference League

PAS Giannina v PAOK

Sunday, 8 May 2022 7	PAS Giannina	1–0	PAOK	Ioannina
18:00 EET, UTC+03:00	77'		90' Schwab	Stadium: Zosimades Attendance: 1,452 Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos

PAOK v Aris

Wednesday, 11 May 2022 8	PAOK	0–1	Aris	Thessaloniki
18:30 EET, UTC+03:00	Ingason  44' Kurtić  65' Sastre  82'		63'	Stadium: Toumba Attendance: 6,932 Referee: Brych (Germany)

Olympiacos v PAOK

Saturday, 14 May 2022 9	Olympiacos	1–1	PAOK	Piraeus
20:00 EET, UTC+03:00	41'		2' Filipe Soares  50' Kurtić	Stadium: Georgios Karaiskakis Attendance: 28,765 Referee: Angelos Evangelou (Athens)

AEL v PAOK

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 1st leg	AEL	1–1	PAOK	Larissa
21:30 EET, UTC+02:00	64'		79' Taylor 90+5'Kurtić	Stadium: Alcazar Attendance: ? Referee: Evangelos Manouhos Man of the Match: Kurtić[47]

PAOK v AEL

Wednesday, 22 December 2021 2nd leg	PAOK	3–1 (4–2 agg.)	AEL	Thessaloniki
17:00 EET, UTC+02:00	23' (o.g.) 82', 90+1',  89'  90+2' Akpom		62'	Stadium: Toumba Attendance: Behind closed doors Referee: Angelos Evangelou (Athens) Man of the Match: Akpom[48]

Olympiacos v PAOK

Wednesday, 27 April 2022 2nd leg	Olympiacos	1–1 (a.e.t.) (1–1 agg.)	PAOK	Piraeus
20:00 EET, UTC+03:00	105' (pen.)		45' Živković  105+3' Ingason 109' Čolak  ?' Douglas Augusto	Stadium: Georgios Karaiskakis Referee: Valentin Pizarro Gómez (Spain)
Note: Douglas Augusto was sent off while being subbed off already and sitting on the bench

Panathinaikos v PAOK

Saturday, 21 May 2022 Greek Cup Final	Panathinaikos	1–0	PAOK	Athens
20:00 EET, UTC+03:00	34' (pen.)		7' Douglas Augusto  22' Filipe Soares  90+5' Crespo  90+7' Kurtić  90+7' Živković  90+7' Mitriță	Stadium: Olympic Stadium Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)

Bohemians v PAOK

3 August 2021 (2021-08-03) First leg	Bohemians	2–1	PAOK	Dublin, Ireland
21:45 EEST	Coote 23', 52' Breslin  66' Talbot  70'	Report	Oliveira  62' 78' Tzolis  77' Kurtić  90+1' Biseswar  90+6'	Stadium: Aviva Stadium Attendance: 6,500 Referee: Antti Munukka (Finland) Man of the Match: Oliveira[51]

PAOK v Bohemians

12 August 2021 Second leg	PAOK	2–0 (3–2 agg.)	Bohemians	Thessaloniki, Greece
20:00 EEST	Schwab 4' Biseswar 28' El Kaddouri  76' Murg  4' Esiti  90+6'	Report	Buckley  90+2' Cornwall  90+4'	Stadium: Toumba Attendance: N/A Referee: Julian Weinberger (Austria) Man of the Match: Biseswar[52]

PAOK v Rijeka

19 August 2021 First leg	PAOK	1–1	Rijeka	Thessaloniki, Greece
21:00 EEST	Kurtić  86' Galešić 90+4' (o.g.)	Report	Gnezda Čerin  14' Lepinjica 33' Galović  68'	Stadium: Toumba Attendance: 8,091 Referee: Jérôme Brisard (France) Man of the Match: Schwab[53]

Rijeka v PAOK

26 August 2021 Second leg	Rijeka	0–2 (1–3 agg.)	PAOK	Rijeka, Croatia
21:00 EEST	Issah  14' Galović  50' Drmić  74'	Report	10' El Kaddouri  16' Taylor  60' Świderski 80'  89' Murg	Stadium: Stadion Rujevica Attendance: 6,722 Referee: Serhiy Boiko (Ukraine) Man of the Match: El Kaddouri[54]

The draw for the group stage was held on 27 August 2021.^[55]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		COP	PAO	SLO	LIN
1	Copenhagen	6	5	0	1	15	5	+10	15	Advance to round of 16		—	1–2	2–0	3–1
2	PAOK	6	3	2	1	8	4	+4	11	Advance to knockout round play-offs		1–2	—	1–1	2–0
3	Slovan Bratislava	6	2	2	2	8	7	+1	8			1–3	0–0	—	2–0
4	Lincoln Red Imps	6	0	0	6	2	17	−15	0			0–4	0–2	1–4	—

Lincoln Red Imps v PAOK

Thursday, 16 September 2021 1	Lincoln Red Imps	0–2	PAOK	Gibraltar
19:45 EET, UTC+03:00	Torilla  39' Soler  56'	Report	45' Michailidis 45+2' Akpom 56' Mitriță	Stadium: Victoria Stadium Attendance: 668 Referee: Rob Harvey (Ireland) Man of the Match: Paschalakis[56]

PAOK v Slovan Bratislava

Thursday, 30 September 2021 2	PAOK	1–1	Slovan Bratislava	Thessaloniki, Greece
22:00 EET, UTC+03:00	Akpom 9' Mitriță  68'	Report	Green 14' De Kamps  17' Medveděv  40' Henty  86' Mráz  90+2'	Stadium: Toumba Stadium Attendance: 7,537 Referee: João Pinheiro (Portugal) Man of the Match: Paschalakis[57]

Copenhagen v PAOK

Thursday, 21 October 2021 3	Copenhagen	1–2	PAOK	Copenhagen, Denmark
19:45 EET, UTC+03:00	Grabara  9' Lerager  41' Jóhannesson  52' Pep Biel 80' Wind  88'	Report	Sidcley 19' Michailidis  22' Živković 38',  82' Paschalakis  69' Świderski  83'	Stadium: Parken Stadium Attendance: 19,552 Referee: Erik Lambrechts (Belgium) Man of the Match: A. Živković[58]

PAOK v Copenhagen

Thursday, 4 November 2021 4	PAOK	1–2	Copenhagen	Thessaloniki, Greece
22:00 EET, UTC+02:00	Živković 8',  89' Świderski  53' Kurtić  74' Michailidis  90+4' Varela  90+5'	Report	Ankersen 34' Pep Biel 50' Stage  77' Kristiansen  89' Johnsson  90+1' Jóhannesson  90+2' Gabrielsen  90+4'	Stadium: Toumba Stadium Attendance: 11,166 Referee: Paweł Raczkowski (Poland) Man of the Match: A. Živković[59]

Slovan Bratislava v PAOK

Thursday, 25 November 2021 5	Slovan Bratislava	0–0	PAOK	Bratislava, Slovakia
19:45 EET, UTC+02:00		Report		Stadium: Tehelné Pole Attendance: Behind closed doors due to COVID-19 Referee: Dennis Higler (Netherlands) Man of the Match: A. Živković[60]

PAOK v Lincoln Red Imps

Thursday, 9 December 2021 6	PAOK	2–0	Lincoln Red Imps	Thessaloniki, Greece
22:00 EET, UTC+02:00	A. Živković 17' Schwab 55',  57' Biseswar  83' Lyratzis  84'	Report	Lopes  80' Toscano  87'	Stadium: Toumba Stadium Attendance: 4,648 Referee: Rohit Saggi (Norway) Man of the Match: A. Živković[61]

Midtjylland v PAOK

17 February 2022 (2022-02-17) First leg	Midtjylland	1–0	PAOK	Herning, Denmark
19:45 EET, UTC+02:00	Andersson 20' Onyedika  73'	Report	36' Mitriță  42' Schwab  90+4' Crespo	Stadium: MCH Arena Attendance: 7,088 Referee: Craig Pawson (England) Man of the Match: Lyratzis[62]

PAOK v Midtjylland

24 February 2022 Second leg	PAOK	2–1 (a.e.t.) (2–2 agg.) (5–3 p)	Midtjylland	Thessaloniki, Greece
22:00 EET, UTC+02:00	A. Živković 20' Crespo  23' Vieirinha 26',  62' Kurtić  56' Lyratzis  90+2'	Report	Høegh 80' Onyedika  90+2' Dyhr  101'	Stadium: Toumba Stadium Attendance: 7,468 Referee: Lawrence Visser (Belgium) Man of the Match: Paschalakis[63]
	Penalties
	Čolak Sidcley Schwab Mitriță Kurtić		Meyer Andersson Dyhr Lind