U.S. international Frank Klopas has a found a new club in his birthplace.
If one is to play in the Greek First Division, Athens is the place to be. It is home to seven clubs, including the big three (Panathinaikos, Olympiakos and AEK) that dominate the domestic championships and occasionally score an upset in European competition.
Games among the big three are spectacular, passionate — and sometimes violent. In the Greek Cup final between Panathinaikos and AEK April 19, the award of an penalty with one minute left in overtime set off battles between rival fans in the crowd of 70,000. Play was delayed for 10 minutes, and the field was covered in smoke.
“You don’t want to go to those games, seriously,” says U.S. international Frank Klopas. “It’s too crazy.”
Klopas was born in Athens in 1966, and after spending most of his childhood in Chicago, came home in 1988 to play four seasons with AEK. In the midst of the 1991-92 season, during which he had scored 11 goals, an anterior cruciate ligament injury and subsequent infection that required additional surgery knocked him out of action for nearly two years.
Klopas is in Athens again. This time, though, he’s a sardine in the big pond. His current club, Apollon, is doing well enough on the field, but attracts average crowds of about 5,000 per game in a facility that holds just 17,000. And that’s not the worst of it.
“Our stadium is a kilometer and a half from AEK’s stadium,” laments Klopas, who bumps into fans of his old team every time he steps outside the hotel he’s been living in since September. “This area is full of AEK fans, so we don’t get big crowds at our games. We do have our own hooligans, but there’s only about 50 of them.
“After being in the World Cup, it’s hard.”
Klopas didn’t play in the World Cup, despite ringing up five goals in 10 internationals prior to the tournament, including the only U.S. goal in a 1-1 tie with Greece. That goal helped convince Apollon to bring him back to his native land.
Apollon is chasing its first-ever UEFA Cup berth this season. With five games to play, the club sat fifth, where it needs to finish for a European slot. Panathinaikos is running away with the title, and Olympiakos and AEK are in second and third. PAOK is in fourth, but is under UEFA suspension for crowd trouble, so the club finishing fifth would qualify for Europe if PAOK finishes fourth.
Klopas is holding down a regular first-team job, playing on the right side of midfield or as an attacking midfielder supporting two forwards. Post-World Cup goals against Saudi Arabia and Jamaica — which upped his career goal total to 12 (fourth on the all-time U.S. list) — hasn’t helped his scoring eye for Apollon.
“No, not yet,” he says of scoring goals. “I do have a lot of assists, I guess about eight assists, but I haven’t been able to score.”
Klopas says a good First Division player in Greece can earn between $200,000 and $300,000 per year, depending on bonuses. A win against a top team like Panathinaikos can be worth as much as $3,000 to $4,000 per player.
“But beating Panathinaikos is tough,” says Klopas. “They’re a good team, plus they have all the refs on their side.
“That was one reason they had big riots at the cup final. A lot of the fans bet on the games, and they think every game is fixed.”
A foot injury hobbled him in his last U.S. international, a 1-0 loss to Belgium April 22. He played only 17 minutes before being replaced by Jovan Kirovski.
Klopas, whose contract with Apollon runs through the 1995-96 season, hopes to rejoin the U.S. this summer for U.S. Cup and the Copa America.
“I don’t need a break,” he says. “It’s nice to be with the team and the guys. I miss the atmosphere of the World Cup, especially when you play with only a few thousand people [in the stands].
“Sometimes, I just close my eyes and think I’m in the Rose Bowl. You’ve got to have a good imagination.”
by Soccer America Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney