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 PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

are participating in this season's editions of the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

and in the inaugural

Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

. 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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, however the team recorded its best run at a UEFA competition since

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

by reaching the last 8 of the newly created

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

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 Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

after a shock 2–1 defeat against them at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...

, by narrowly winning the return leg 2–0 at

Toumba Stadium Toumba Stadium () is a multi–purpose stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece, mainly used for association football, football. It is property of P.A.O.K., AC PAOK and hosts PAOK FC since its completion in 1959. The official name of the stadium is simply ...

Răzvan Lucescu Răzvan Lucescu (; born 17 February 1969) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently managing Super League Greece, Greek Super League club PAOK FC, PAOK. ...

, the much revered PAOK manager who led the team to the

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

in 2018–19 and had major success with Al–Hilal, along with his assistant

Cristiano Bacci Cristiano Bacci (born 6 July 1975) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Greek Super League club Panserraikos. Playing career Bacci has played for Roma and for various Serie C2 and Serie D te ...

, 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 Niko Galešić (born 26 March 2001) is a Croatian footballer playing as a defender for Dinamo Zagreb. Career statistics Club Honours Rijeka * Croatian Cup: 2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, wh ...

gave PAOK a 1–1 draw at home against Croatian club

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

, 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 Stadion Rujevica (), officially known as Stadion HNK Rijeka (), is a stadium in the city of Rijeka, Croatia. The stadium is commonly referred to as Rujevica after its location. From August 2015, the stadium is a temporary home ground for HNK Rijek ...

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 Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. 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 The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

in December before memorably knocking out

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

AEK A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Established ...

in the quarter–finals, courtesy of two late goals from club top scorer

Jasmin Kurtić Jasmin Kurtić (born 10 January 1989) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Club career Early career A right-footed midfielder, Kurtić joined the 1. SNL club Gorica in August 2010 from the 2. SNL club Bela ...

and Alexandru Mitriță after PAOK were 1–0 down on aggregate at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

Coaching staff

Players

Current squad

Transfers

In

Out

Pre-season and other friendlies

Competitions

Overview

Managerial statistics

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 The 2022–23 UEFA Champions League was the 68th season of Europe's premier club Association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 31st season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions ...

and

2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League The 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League was the second season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played at Fortuna Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. It was won ...

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''

Clean sheets

''As of 21 May 2022''

Disciplinary record

''As of 21 May 2022''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 PAOK FC Season PAOK FC seasons