2017–18 Football League (Greece)

The 2017–18 Football League is the second division of the Greek professional football league system and the seventh season under the name Football League after previously being known as Beta Ethniki. It will start at 28 October,^[1]

Football League

Season	2017–18
Dates	28 October 2017 – 28 May 2018
Champions	OFI
Promoted	OFI Aris
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Teams

Acharnaikos
Kallithea

Aris,
Apollon Pontou

Aiginiakos

Anagennisi K.

Apollon L.

OFI
Ergotelis

AO Chania-Kissamikos

Panachaiki

Panegialios

Panserraikos

Sparti

Trikala

Veria

Karaiskakis

Doxa

Location of teams in 2017–18 Football League

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Last season
Acharnaikos1	Acharnes	Acharnes Stadium	4,450	FL, 13th
A.E. Karaiskakis	Arta	Municipal Agioi Anargiroi Stadium	1,900	Gamma Ethniki (Group 2), 2nd
Aiginiakos	Aiginio	Municipal Stadium of Aiginio	1,000	FL, 10th
Anagennisi Karditsa	Karditsa	Karditsa Stadium	9,500	FL, 12th
AO Chania−Kissamikos	Chania	Perivolia Municipal Stadium	4,000	FL, 11th
Apollon Larissa	Larissa	Alcazar Stadium	13,108	Gamma Ethniki (Group 2), 1st
Apollon Pontou	Thessaloniki	Apollon Kalamaria Stadium	6,500	Gamma Ethniki (Group 1), 1st
Aris	Thessaloniki	Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium	22,800	FL, 3rd
Ergotelis	Heraklion	Pankritio Stadium	26,240	Gamma Ethniki (Group 4), 1st
Doxa Drama	Drama	Doxa Drama Stadium	7,000	Gamma Ethniki (Group 1), 2nd
Kallithea	Kallithea	Grigoris Lambrakis Stadium	4,200	FL, 14th
OFI	Heraklion	Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium	8,500	FL, 4th
Panachaiki	Patra	Kostas Davourlis Stadium	11,321	Gamma Ethniki (Group 3), 1st
Panegialios	Aigio	Aigio Stadium	7,000	FL, 9th
Panserraikos	Serres	Serres Municipal Stadium	9,500	FL, 8th
Sparti	Sparta	Sparta Municipal Stadium	1,500	FL, 7th
Trikala	Trikala	Trikala Municipal Stadium	15,000	FL, 5th
Veria	Veria	Veria Stadium	7,000	SL, 16th

• ¹ Acharnaikos was expelled during the season^[2]
  

1.^ Agrotikos Asteras withdrew from the league. As a result of this they will participate in 2017–18 Gamma Ethniki. A.E. Karaiskakis were promoted from the Gamma Ethniki in their place.

2.^ Iraklis Thessaloniki withdrew from the league because of Financial Problems. The Founding Club (Athlitiki Enosis Pontion Katerini) stopped to exist too. The Original Gymnastikos Syllogos Iraklis will decide if a new Football Team will start from The Third Category of the Local Championship Macedonia Football Clubs Association, or if The Football Team Of G.S. Iraklis will be merged with 1st category (A1) Macedonia Football Clubs Association club Iraklis Ampelokipi, as it happened before 5 years with Athlitiki Enosis Pontion Katerinis F.C.. Doxa Dramas were promoted from the Gamma Ethniki in their place.

Structure

There are eighteen clubs that compete in the Football League, playing each other in a home and away series. At the end of the season, the bottom six teams are relegated to Gamma Ethniki. The top two teams gain automatic promotion for Super League. All teams in the Football League take part in the Greek Football Cup.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	OFI (C, P)	34	27	5	2	86	14	+72	86	Promotion to Super League
2	Aris Thessaloniki (P)	34	26	7	1	65	13	+52	85
3	Panachaiki	34	22	7	5	50	21	+29	73
4	AO Chania − Kissamikos	34	19	7	8	64	32	+32	64
5	Doxa Drama	34	18	9	7	57	25	+32	63
6	Trikala	34	16	10	8	31	22	+9	58
7	Apollon Pontus	34	14	11	9	43	27	+16	53
8	A.E. Karaiskakis	34	13	9	12	35	32	+3	48
9	Ergotelis	34	13	7	14	56	47	+9	46
10	Apollon Larissa[a]	34	16	1	17	45	54	−9	43
11	Aiginiakos[b]	34	11	7	16	36	54	−18	37
12	Sparti[a]	34	11	7	16	29	46	−17	34
13	Anagennisi Karditsa[a] (R)	34	11	7	16	32	41	−9	34	Relegation to Gamma Ethniki
14	Panserraikos[a] (R)	34	9	6	19	43	52	−9	27
15	Panegialios[a] (R)	34	8	7	19	29	57	−28	25
16	Kallithea[a] (R)	34	6	9	19	26	40	−14	21
17	Veria[c] (R)	33	5	2	26	13	70	−57	5
18	Acharnaikos[d] (R)	33	1	0	32	2	95	−93	−51

Source: Soccerway and Football League News
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Goals against; 6) Play-offs (neutral ground, only used if needed to decide teams for promotion or relegation).
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Panegialios, Kallithea, Panserraikos, Sparti, Apollon Larissa, Anagennisi Karditsa were deducted six points, after their failure to pass the first stage of surveillance twice.^[3]
2. Aiginiakos were deducted three points , after their failure to pass the first stage of surveillance
3. Veria withdrew from the league on 22 February 2018^[4] and were deducted twelve points, for unpaid wages to former club players Antonio Tomás^[5] & Roberto Battión.^[6]
4. Acharnaikos were deducted fifty four points, for unpaid wages to former club players.^[7]

Matches

Home \ Away	ACH	KAR	EGN	KRD	KIS	APL	APO	ARI	DDR	ERG	KLT	OFI	PCK	PEG	PSE	SPA	TRI	VER
Acharnaikos		0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	1–0	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31	0–31
A.E. Karaiskakis	1–0		2–0	3–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	0–2	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–1	2–0	3–0	2–1	0–1	3–02
Aiginiakos	3–01	2–0		1–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–4	0–2	3–2	2–0	0–3	0–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–1
Anagennisi Karditsa	3–01	1–0	2–0		3–3	2–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	3–02
AO Chania−Kissamikos	4–1	1–0	3–1	1–0		7–0	2–1	2–3	2–1	0–3	2–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	2–0	0–2	3–0	3–02
Apollon Larissa	3–01	3–1	1–0	4–1	2–0		1–0	0–2	1–3	3–2	4–3	1–0	0–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	0–1	1–3
Apollon Pontou	3–01	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–0		0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	4–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	3–02
Aris	3–01	0–0	5–0	3–0	1–0	3–0	2–0		1–0	3–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	5–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	3–02
Doxa Drama	3–01	0–0	3–3	2–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	1–2		4–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	3–1	7–0	0–0	3–02
Ergotelis	3–01	4–1	5–1	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–3	0–1		0–0	2–4	2–1	5–1	0–3	0–0	0–2	3–02
Kallithea	3–01	1–1	0–0	3–1	0–3	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0		1–3	0–3	2–1	3–1	0–0	0–1	1–1
OFI	3–01	3–0	6–0	1–0	3–0	4–0	3–1	2–0	3–0	4–2	2–1		1–2	7–0	2–0	5–0	3–0	3–0
Panachaiki	3–01	2–0	0–1	4–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	0–3		2–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–0
Panegialios	3–01	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–4	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–2		3–2	1–0	0–1	3–02
Panserraikos	3–01	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	3–3	1–3	3–4	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–0		3–1	1–1	1–0
Sparti	3–01	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–3	2–0	0–4	0–3	1–0	2–2	1–0	0–3	0–0	1–1	1–0		1–0	3–02
Trikala	3–01	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	3–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–3	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–1		3–02
Veria	–3	0–2	0–32	1–0	0–32	0–32	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	0–32	0–32	0–32	3–1	0–32	1–0	0–1

Source: Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

• ¹ The opponents of Acharnaikos awarded a 3–0 w/o win each.
• ² The opponents of Veria awarded a 3–0 w/o win each.
• ³ Game did not held

Top scorers

Updated to games played on 28 May 2018

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[8]
1	Dimitrios Manos	OFI	27
2	Hugo Cuypers	Ergotelis	22
3	Nikos Kouskounas	OFI/Doxa Drama	18
4	Dimitrios Diamantopoulos	Aris	16
5	Panagiotis Moraitis	Panachaiki	13
6	Giannis Loukinas	A.E. Karaiskakis	11
	Georgios Xydas	AO Chania−Kissamikos	11
8	Athanasios Dinas	Trikala/OFI	10
	Vasilios Koutsianikoulis	OFI	10