PAOK supporters made noise in the center of Helsinki.
– What is this about?
That’s what one person wondered on the Töölönlahti beach track. He and many others stopped to watch and photograph the black-and-white-clad crowd Thursday afternoon.
Information about tonight’s significant Euro match had not reached everyone. HJK opens the Conference League group stage against Greek PAOK in the evening.
Around 400–500 passionate Greek fans traveled to Helsinki to support the visiting team. A loud crowd marched in a police convoy from Kansalaistor to the Töölö football stadium.
Although PAOK is not the biggest and most successful in Greece, its supporters are perhaps the most famous in the country. The atmosphere at home matches is infernal.
And excesses have not been avoided. Especially between the ultra-supporters of Thessaloniki’s local rivals Aris and PAOK are heated. Over the years, clashes have taken their toll even human lives.
The group that arrived in Helsinki consisted almost entirely of men. “PAOK, TRIPS, DRUGS” read one supporter’s shirt.
PAOK’s savior was the current owner of the club Ivan Savvidis. In 2012, the Russian-Greek oligarch wiped out the indebted club in one fell swoop and has enabled it to succeed.
Savvidis has entered Forbes’ list of the richest people in the world. In addition, he is known for his close relations with the President of Russia to Vladimir Putin.
PAOK supporters gathered at Kansalaistor after 5 pm on Thursday. Anssi Karjalainen