The composition of Greece’s male team set to participate in the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka differs slightly from the squad that clinched bronze at the Worlds held in Budapest last year.
Two players are missing –Angelos Vlachopoulos and Konstantinos Gouvis.
Vlachopoulos, one of Greece’s and Novi Beograd’s key players, won’t travel to Japan due to personal reasons and obligations. Head coach Vlachos approved Vlachopoulos’ request to miss the Worlds. That is why Vlachopoulos didn’t play in the World Cup in Los Angeles, even though he was on the initially announced roster for the tournament in California. Greece finished 5th in the World Cup. Gouvis didn’t participate in the actions of the national team this year.
Head coach Theodoros Vlachos announced the roster today.
Emmanouil Solanakis, who played in the World Cup, isn’t among the picked players for Japan.
Nikolaos Gkillas, a Greece’s U20 team member and Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis will replace Vlachopulos and Solanakis. Besides the two, the newcomers compared to the team at the 2022 Worlds are Ioannis Alafragkis and Aristedis Chalyvopoulos, who both had excellent seasons with Vouliagmeni.
Greece at the 2023 World Championships
Goalkeepers: Emmanouil Zerdevas (Olympiacos), Panagiotis Tzotrzatos (Vouliagmeni),
Field players: Konstantinos Genidounias (Olympiacos), Dimitrios Skoumpakis (Novi Beograd), Efhstatios Kalogeropoulos (Vouliagmeni), Ioannis Fountoulis, Alexandros Papanastasiou, Georgios Dervisis (all Olympiacos), Stylianos Argyropoulos (Ferencvaros), Dimitrios Nikolaidis (Vouliagmeni), Konstantinos Kakaris (Pro Recco), Ioannis Alafragkis (Vouliagmeni), Aristedis Chalyvopoulos (Vouliagmeni), Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis (Panionios), Nikolaos Gkillas (Olympiacos).
Theodoros Vlachos’ assistant will be Tassos Shizas.
The rivals of Greece in the group stage will be three non-European teams. The Greeks will open the tournament with a game against Australia (July 17). Two days after, they will play against Kazakhstan. The derby of the group Greece – USA is scheduled for July 21.
