PHOTO: Panathinaikos Is Cursed for Croats

Croatia’s Kranjcar is mulling transferring to the most successful Greek club, but his colleague’s experiences could dissuade him.

Portsmouth is going through dire straits and Croatia’s national Niko Kranjcar has realised it is time to move on if he is to play European matches. Amongst the many football clubs that are being connected to his transference is also Panathinaikos, a great friend to Croatian football players ever since Velimir Zajec played for it from 1984 to 1988. 

Velimir Zajec thrilled the club and opened its doors

The story about the most successful Greek football club and Croatian players is interesting for several reasons. Apart from it being exceptionally open for various exhibitions, meaning, bringing in players who were less than brilliant, it is also cursed for Croatians. Once Croatian players come to Panathinaikos, their road stops there. They either do not move on or backtrack.

The first was Velimir Zajec who thrilled all of the club’s fans and leadership with his playing during the four years he spent in Athens. It can be said that he was more appreciated in Greece than in the former Yugoslavia where he was too often ignored during national matches. As he was already past his prime time and had suffered many injuries, when the year 1988 arrived, he said farewell to football and turned to coaching, as well as being a sports director.

But he remained exceptionally influential in Greece and he opened the doors of Panathinaikos to many Croatian players when he ran the club in the 1990’s. He initiated the arrival of Aljosa Asanovic to the club in 1998, just after the great World Championship in France in which Croatia came in third. But although in the first game he played in the champions league he scored two goals against Steaua, Asanovic spent most of the time on the bench, after which he left and returned to Croatia’s Hajduk where he ended his career soon after.

And then, with the arrival of the 21st century, the era of Croatians in Athens began. There were many, from the very successful  Goran Vlaovic to the less successful Silvio Maric, all the way to today’s members, Mario Galinovic and Ante Rukavina. They wore the green kits less successfully than had been expected, but they did their jobs as best as possible.

Anthony Seric is the only exception 

But all these many players ( ten or eleven of them who played for Panathinaikos) have one thing in common. They went to Greece to end their careers or make it more fruitful, but all of them failed. The mentioned Zajec ended his career in Athens, as did Vlaovic, Saric and Jarni, while the others went back to Croatia. The example of Igor Biscan is very intriguing. He won the title of European champion with Liverpool, then arrived in PAO where he went unnoticed and then returned to Croatia’s Dinamo after he had already started considering to end his career.

The only exception to this rule is Anthony Seric, a player whom everybody knew as the player who sat on the bench wherever he played. But that did earn him a lot of money in any case. He arrived in PAO in 2005, lasted until 2008 and then went to Besitkas. At first one might think he had broken the curse, but in fat he did not because he only played three matches in several months and ended up back in Hajduk where he will probably end his career.

It is unclear why this is happening to Croatians in Panathinaikos because they have everything they need, the conditions are excellent, fans constantly fill up stadiums, the temperament is similar to Croatia’s and big European games are played year after year. But there is no progress. So, perhaps it is better for Kranjcar to think twice about where he will continue his career. The exception is only goalie Galinovic, who is an excellent goalkeeper who has been in PAO for five years, setting the record for staying in Athens.

Why do they buy them at all? 

While many will wonder why Croatians leave for Greece after all of the examples of those who did not succeed and they had everything a player would want, many are also wondering why Panathinaikos is buying Croatian players at all. And that is the real question.

In England, Maric showed little ability, in Porto even less, he returned to Dinamo a spent player, yet this did not get in the way of Panathinaikos buying him and using him in the club. Also, Jarni was at the end of his career, but they took him in, just like Asanovic, as well as many young players who have not shown what they can do, but still they went to Greece.

In conclusion, we could say that the old rule “only the first ones are remembered” is very applicable in this case. Had it not been for Zajec, PAO would probably not decide to undertake all these unsuccessful transfers year after year.