Terim out: Panathinaikos urgently sacks legendary Turkish manager

Wednesday’s heavy defeat by PAOK at Toumba for the Super League playoffs, the third loss in a row for the Greens, led Fatih Terim to the exit from Panathinaikos.

The Turkish coach has left the Panathinaikos bench since late on Thursday, with the club proceeding with his immediate replacement with Christos Kontis ahead of Sunday’s derby with Olympiakos at home that will decide the third place in the league, as well as ahead and the final of the Greek Cup against Aris.

From Thursday morning there was a lot of internal fermentation in the Greens around the issue of the coach, with owner and president Giannis Alafouzos deciding on an immediate change, as Terim’s inability to “turn things around” became clear.

At noon on Thursday, Turkish journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu, who on December 26 had revealed the agreement between Panathinaikos and Terim, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “…the president of Panathinaikos, Giannis Alafouzos will meet with Fatih Terim and the divorce is very close.”

That was confirmed in the course of the day with the meeting that brought the “divorce” with the 71-year-old coach.

Terim was on the Panathinaikos bench from December 27 to May 16, with a record of 14 wins, 6 draws and 6 losses in the league (regular season and playoffs) and the Greek Cup, leading the Greens to this year’s final with Aris.

Kontis was an assistant of Terim’s predecessor, Ivan Jovanovic.