Michael Skibbe

An own goal sufficed for Greece to beat Finland 1-0 in Athens on Thursday, but did not suffice to avert Greece's elimination from the Nations League, on the debut of coach Angelos Anastasiadis on the Greece bench.

The Hellenic Football Federation on Thursday announced the appointment of 65-year-old Angelos Anastasiadis as coach of the national team after German manager Michael Skibbe was sacked. Anastasiadis, who signed a contract that will run until December 2019, has coached several Greek clubs in the past. [ANA-MPA] 

Greece has parted ways with German coach Michael Skibbe after the team's disappointing run in the Nations League, the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) said on Thursday.

EPO appointed 65-year-old Angelos Anastasiadis as his successor, the first Greek coach for the national team, who is not an interim solution, in 17 years.

An experimental Greece, consisting only of Super League players plus Alexandros Tziolis, lost 2-0 to Saudi Arabia in a friendly in Spain on Tuesday. Greece played the entire second half with 10 men.

Greece suffered a 1-0 friendly loss to Switzerland on Friday in its first match for 2018, going down at the Olympic Stadium of Athens to a team that will feature in this summer's World Cup.

Michael Skibbe will remain at the helm of the Greek national team for the next couple of years, after steering Greece out of ignominy and into the play-offs for a spot in the World Cup finals this month.

The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Skibbe will arrive in Athens on Thursday to sign his new two-year contract.

Many things are about to change in the national team set-up following the elimination to Croatia from the 2018 World Cup, but manager Michael Skibbe is not one of them.

After 12 years at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, the national team will likely relocate to the Olympic Stadium of Athens and the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki.

Croatia snatched a goalless draw in Greece on Sunday and grabbed the all-important ticket to the World Cup finals of 2018 with a 4-1 aggregate score, due to Greece's miserable performance in the first leg in Zagreb on Thursday.

Greek centre-back Socratis Papastathopoulos is expected to be in the starting line-up of the national team for tonight’s crucial away 1st-leg knock out qualifier for the 2018 Russian World Cup finals against Croatia.

Greece central defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos remains doubtful for the national team's do-or-die play-offs with Croatia after the rather superficial injury that forced him out of last Saturday's Borussia Dortmund game. In view of this and the ban on Costas Manolas, coach Michael Skibbe has called up two more central defenders.