The 2011–12 Super League Greece was the 76th season of the highest football league of Greece and the sixth under the name Super League. The season began in late August or early September 2011 and ended in May 2012 with the last matchday of the European play-off round. Olympiacos were the defending champions, having won their 38th Greek championship in the 2010–11 season.
The league comprised 13 teams from the 2010–11 season and three promoted teams from the 2010–11 Football League.
Teams AEL, Panserraikos, Iraklis, Olympiacos Volos and Kavala were relegated at the end of the 2010–11 season. AEL and Panserraikos were relegated on virtue of their league position at the end of the season; AEL had to return to the Football League, formerly known as Beta Ethniki, after six seasons, while Panserraikos were relegated after just one season. Olympiacos Volos and Kavala were initially relegated to the Delta Ethniki due to the ongoing match-fixing scandal, but after an appeal, both teams demanded to have their cases rechecked. The Professional Sports Committee refused, however, and the original penalty stood. On 22 October 2011, almost two months after the league had started, they were replaced by Doxa Drama and Levadiakos.
Iraklis were denied a licence for the 2011–12 season over unpaid debts and put into last place of the league table. The club was thus demoted to the 2011–12 Football League, concluding a twenty-nine-year run in the highest football league of Greece. The demotion of Iraklis eventually spared Asteras Tripolis from relegation.
The three relegated teams have been replaced by 2010–11 Football League champions Panetolikos, runners-up PAS Giannina and OFI via a play-off round. Panetolikos returned to the Greek top football level after 34 seasons, while PAS Giannina made their immediate comeback to the Super League.
The promotion play-off round, originally scheduled to take place in late May 2011, was postponed to late July 2011 after qualified teams OFI and Trikala were denied a licence for the 2011–12 season. The decision against OFI has since been reverted after the club successfully took the case to a civil court, enabling the side to compete in the play-offs along Levadiakos, Doxa Drama and Diagoras. OFI were eventually promoted as play-off winners after they were granted a walkover in their second-to-last match as their opponents Doxa Drama were not able to field a full side. The Heraklion club thus returned to the Super League after two seasons.
Promoted from2010–11 Football League Relegated from2010–11 Super League Greece PanetolikosPAS GianninaOFILevadiakosDoxa Drama AELPanserraikosIraklisOlympiacos VolosKavala
Stadiums and locations
ClubLocationVenueCapacity2010–11AEK Athens Athens Athens Olympic Stadium 69,638 4thAris Thessaloniki Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium 22,800 6th Asteras Tripolis Tripoli Asteras Tripolis Stadium 7,616 13rdAtromitos Athens Peristeri Stadium 10,200 11th Doxa Drama Thessaloniki Kaftanzoglio Stadium 27,560 5th (FL) Ergotelis Heraklion Pankritio Stadium 25,780 8th Kerkyra Corfu Kerkyra Stadium 2,776 12th Levadiakos Livadeia Levadia Municipal Stadium 6,500 4th (FL) OFI Heraklion Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium 9,088 3rd (FL) Olympiacos Piraeus Karaiskakis Stadium 32,115 1st Panathinaikos Athens Athens Olympic Stadium 69,638 2nd Panetolikos Agrinio Panetolikos Stadium 5,500 1st (FL) Panionios Athens Nea Smyrni Stadium 11,700 10th PAOK Thessaloniki Toumba Stadium 28,703 3rd PAS Giannina Ioannina Zosimades Stadium 7,652 2nd (FL) Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Skoda Xanthi Arena 7,361 9th
Personnel and kits Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor AEK Athens Nikos Kostenoglou Pantelis Kafes Puma Κino Aris Manuel Machado Michalis Sifakis Under Armour Κino Asteras Tripolis Sakis Tsiolis Antonis Ladakis Lotto Lotto Atromitos Georgios Donis Stelios Sfakianakis Hummel good.gr Doxa Drama Makis Katsavakis Angelos Vertzos Teapo Pame Stoixima Ergotelis Nikos Karageorgiou Silva Júnior Macron Lotto Kerkyra Timos Kavakas Dimitrios Grammozis Masita good.gr Levadiakos Georgios Paraschos Thanasis Moulopoulos Hummel Extra 5 OFI Nikos Anastopoulos Minas Pitsos Nike Races Olympiacos Ernesto Valverde Vasilis Torosidis Puma Pame Stoixima Panathinaikos Jesualdo Ferreira Josu Sarriegi Adidas OPAP Panetolikos Giannis Dalakouras Giorgos Theodoridis Hummel Go Lucky Panionios Akis Mantzios Fanouris Goundoulakis Givova Tzoker PAOK László Bölöni Stelios Malezas Puma Pame Stoixima PAS Giannina Angelos Anastasiadis Georgios Dasios Lotto Tzoker Skoda Xanthi Marinos Ouzounidis Spyros Vallas Nike Super 3
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointmentAsteras Tripolis Óscar FernándezSacked19 September 201110th Horácio Gonçalves23 September 2011AEK Athens Manolo JiménezMutual consent5 October 20113rd Nikos Kostenoglou6 October 2011Aris Sakis TsiolisMutual consent31 October 201112th Michał Probierz4 November 2011Asteras Tripolis Horácio GonçalvesSacked1 November 201113th Sakis Tsiolis9 November 2011Kerkyra Božidar BandovićResigned9 November 201114th Javi Gracia13 November 2011Panionios Takis LemonisMutual consent22 November 20119th Apostolos Mantzios24 November 2011PAS Giannina Stéphane DemolSacked23 November 201110th Angelos Anastasiadis4 December 2011Doxa Drama Apostolos CharalampidisResigned8 December 201116th Makis Katsavakis8 December 2011Aris Michał ProbierzMutual consent5 January 201211th Manuel Machado16 January 2012Panetolikos Babis TennesMutual consent9 February 201212th Takis Lemonis9 February 2012Kerkyra Javi GraciaSacked28 March 201215th Timos Kavakas28 March 2012Panetolikos Takis LemonisMutual consent11 April 201215th Giannis Dalakouras11 April 2012
Regular season
League table
Results
Play-offs In the play-off for Champions League, the four qualified teams play each other in a home and away round robin. However, they do not all start with 0 points. Instead, a weighting system applies to the teams' standing at the start of the play-off mini-league. The team finishing fifth in the Super League will start the play-off with 0 points. The fifth placed team's end of season tally of points is subtracted from the sum of the points that other teams have. This number is then divided by five.
Before the last round of matches, fifth-placed club AEK Athens earned 48 points during the regular season. Based on this number and the calculations above, Panathinaikos as runners-up began the play-offs with four points ((66–48)/5 = 3.6, rounded to 4) while PAOK and Atromitos started with zero points each ((50–48)/5 = 0.4, rounded to 0).
Season statistics
Top scorers Updated to games played on 22 April 2012. RankPlayerClubGoals1 Kevin Mirallas Olympiacos202 Kostas Mitroglou Atromitos163 Sebastián Leto Panathinaikos154 Stefanos Athanasiadis PAOK12 Rafik Djebbour Olympiacos126 Chumbinho OFI / Levadiakos10 Njazi Kuqi Panionios10 Marko Pantelić Olympiacos109 Leonardo AEK Athens9 Marko Markovski Skoda Xanthi9
Top assists Updated to games played on 22 April 2012. RankPlayerClubAssists1 Djamel Abdoun Olympiacos92 Ariel Ibagaza Olympiacos73 Quincy Owusu-Abeyie Panathinaikos6 Chumbinho OFI / Levadiakos6 Javier Umbides Aris66 José Carlos AEK Athens5 Cleyton Panathinaikos5 Denis Epstein Atromitos5 Costin Lazar PAOK5 Sebastián Leto Panathinaikos5 Lino PAOK5 Kevin Mirallas Olympiacos5 Mauro Poy Skoda Xanthi5
Awards
MVP and Best Goal Awards
Matchday MVP Best Goal Ref 1st Leonardo (AEK Athens) Javito (Olympiacos) 2nd Kevin Mirallas (Olympiacos) Fabián Vargas (AEK Athens) 3rd Stelios Vasiliou (Levadiakos) Stefanos Athanasiadis (PAOK) 4th Vieirinha (PAOK) Giannis Gianniotas (Aris) 5th Toché (Panathinaikos) Leandro Becerra (PAS Giannina) 6th Dino Seremet (Doxa Drama) Christos Aravidis (Doxa Drama) 7th Vangelis Mantzios (OFI) Chumbinho (OFI) 8th Ilias Anastasakos (Atromitos) Ilias Ioannou (Kerkyra) 9th Mirnes Šišić (OFI) Vangelis Mantzios (OFI) 10th Giannis Gianniotas (Aris) Juliano Spadacio (PAOK) 11th Jacobo Sanz (Asteras Tripolis) Emanuel Perrone (Asteras Tripolis) 12th Javier Umbides (Aris) Danijel Cesarec (Aris) 13th Marko Pantelić (Olympiacos) Luiz Brito (Atromitos) 14th Lino (PAOK) Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK) 15th Stefanos Athanasiadis (PAOK) Marko Markovski (Skoda Xanthi) 16th Mohammed Abubakari (Doxa Drama) Dimitrios Sialmas (AEK Athens) 17th Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK) Cleyton (Panathinaikos) 18th Fotis Papoulis (OFI) Dimitrios Grammozis (Kerkyra) 19th Nery Castillo (Aris) Georgios Georgiadis (PAOK) 20th Fotis Kipouros (PAS Giannina) Leandro Becerra (PAS Giannina) 21st Apostolos Giannou (PAOK) Georgios Kousas (Panetolikos) 22nd Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Panathinaikos) Kostas Mitroglou (Olympiacos) 23rd Kostas Chalkias (PAOK) José Holebas (Olympiacos) 24th Emanuel Perrone (Asteras Tripolis) Stefanos Athanasiadis (PAOK) 25th Nikolaos Lazaridis (Aris) Vangelis Ikonomou (Atromitos) 26th Costin Lazăr (PAOK) Pablo García (PAOK) 27th Fotis Georgiou (PAS Giannina) Athanasios Tsigas (Kerkyra) 28th Anastasios Kyriakos (PAS Giannina) Ilias Ioannou (Kerkyra) 29th Angelos Charisteas (Panetolikos) Konstantinos Panagiotoudis (PAOK) 30th Emiljano Vila (PAS Giannina) Giannis Fetfatzidis (Olympiacos)
Annual awards Annual awards were announced on 14 January 2013.
Award Winner Club Greek Player of the Season Kostas Mitroglou Atromitos Foreign Player of the Season Kevin Mirallas Olympiacos Young Player of the Season Panagiotis Vlachodimos Skoda Xanthi Goalkeeper of the Season Orestis Karnezis Panathinaikos Golden Boot Kevin Mirallas Olympiacos Manager of the Season Ernesto Valverde Olympiacos Georgios DonisAtromitos
Attendances
Olympiacos drew the highest average home attendance in the 2011–12 edition of the Super League Greece.
References
External links Official website