Footballers

PAOK celebrated on Sunday, and well into Monday morning, the third league title in its history, and the first after 34 years on a historic night at Toumba Stadium of Thessaloniki.

Beşiktaş defeated the Turkish Super League leader Medipol Başakşehir 2-1 on April 13.

Turkish league leader Başakşehir maintained six point lead atop the Spor Toto Super League standings with April 7's 2-0 victory against Konyaspor.

PAOK is just a win away from clinching its first league title in 34 years, after beating Lamia at home on Sunday, while Olympiakos thrashed Panetolikos away.

With 24 wins and three draws from 27 games, PAOK is close to winning the championship unbeaten, a feat unseen since 1964 in the Greek league.

Ninety minutes is a long time indeed in soccer. What seems unlikely early on, may well become likely later. This way Greece came back from a likely debacle at Zenica to snatch a precious point and get to within a whisker from victory, forcing a 2-2 draw from host Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday.

Greece will miss talismanic striker Costas Mitroglou in its key clash with Bosnia on Tuesday due to his injury in the game at Liechtenstein, but at least it will welcome back captain Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Mitroglou picked up a leg injury that is ruling him out of the game at Zenica, so coach Angelos Anastasiadis has called up Panionios striker Fiorin Durmishaj to replace him.

The Greek national team defeated Liechtenstein 2-0 at Vaduz at the start of its campaign for the Euro 2020 qualifiers on Saturday, having produced one hour of decent soccer.

Bulgaria midfielder Todor Nedelev scored a dubious late penalty to help them earn a 1-1 home draw in their opening Euro 2020 Group A qualifier against Montenegro on Friday, reports Euronews.

The penalty was awarded in the 82nd minute for a foul by Montenegro substitute Vladimir Jovovic on Stanislav Kostov but television replays showed the incident happened outside the penalty area.

Turkey starts its campaign to qualify for the 2020 European Football Championships on March 22 against Albania under a new coach.

The two favorites left in the Greek Cup semifinals have been kept apart after Friday's draw, as holder PAOK will play Asteras Tripolis and last year's finalist AEK will meet Lamia.

The first leg will be played on April 3 and 4 at the home grounds of PAOK and AEK, with the return at Tripoli and Lamia on April 24 and 25.