Greece coach Otto Rehhagel has resisted the temptation to experiment with his team as the German named a mostly unchanged 22 for next week's friendly against Spain in Thessaloniki Friday.
Panionios defender Nikos Spyropoulos is the only uncapped player in the squad, even though Olympiakos Pireaus central defender Paraskevas Antzas has earned a recall for the August 22 game.
Bolton's Stelios Giannakopoulos and Ioannis Amanatidis of Eintracht Frankfurt miss out due to injuries.
The game is being played as a testimonial for former captain Theodoros Zagorakis who led Greece to win at Euro 2004.
It will be played at the Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki, home of Super League club PAOK, where Zagorakis is now president.
Democratic Republic of Congo forward Lomana LuaLua has completed his move from English Premier League side Portsmouth to Greek champions Olympiakos Piraeus.
The Greek Super League club said the deal on their website (olympiakos.gr) and mentioned LuaLua had signed a 3 year contract. No further details were published.
Reports in the Greek media say that Portsmouth will earn around 3 million euros (2 million pounds) however as stated by the British press, the fee is 2.8 million pounds (approximately 4.1 million euros).
The forward expects to earn around one million euros a year at the Greek champions.
The 26 year old started his career with Colchester United before moving to Newcastle United in 2000.
He played 59 games for the Magpies before heading to Portsmouth in 2004 for whom he has scored 19 goals in 91 games.
Olympiakos are also reported to be looking closely at the possibility of signing former Glasgow Rangers centre back Sotiris Kyrgiakos.
The 27 year old Greece international currently plays for Eintracht Frankfurt and spent several years at Olympiakos' arch rivals Panathinaikos.
11 August 2007
Luca Toni amd Miroslav Klose were both on the scoresheet as Bayern Munchen started their Bundesliga campaign with a solid 3-0 triumph over newly-promoted Hansa Rostock on Saturday.
The Italian, Toni, an €11 million summer signing from Fiorentina, opened his account on 14 minutes. Klose, a €12 million purchase from Werder Bremen, added a 2nd on 66 to settle home nerves. The former Kaiserslautern forward headed a 3rd with 5 minutes remaining to have completed the win.
In the day's other games, Werder Bremen were held to a 2-2 draw at VfL Bochum, Hamburger SV beat Hannover 96 1-0 at he Niedersachsenstadion, and Eintracht Frankfurt beat Hertha BSC 1-0 in front of 46,000 fans at the Waldstadion.
Felix Magath got off to a terrible start as Wolfsburg coach when his side slumped 3-1 at home to Arminia Bielefeld. Meanwhile, Energie Cottbus forced a scoreless draw at Bayer Leverkusen.
Champions Stuttgart drew 2-2 with last season's runners up Schalke 04 last night. In tomorrow's games, newly-promoted MSV Duisburg and Karlsruher SC take on Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Nurnberg, respectively.
29 July 2007
Eintracht Frankfurt sign Mexican international Aaron Galindo from Swiss side Grasshopper-Club on a 2 year contract, the Bundesliga club said on Saturday.
The 25 year old made 11 appearances for the Zurich based side since joining them in February of this year.
After 4 seasons with Mexican side Cruz Azul, Galindo signed with Spanish 2nd division side Hercules CF last summer, however made only 7 appearances and spent most of the season on the bench before a transfer to Grasshopper.
Galindo has made 11 appearances for Mexico since his international debut in 2004.
12 June 2007
Bundesliga runners up Schalke 04 have completed the signing of defender Heiko Westermann from Armina Bielefeld.
The 23 year old signed a deal which will keep him in Gelsenkirchen until 2011 and head coach Mirko Slomka is pleased to sign the tough-tackling defender, who only missed one Bundelsiga game in 2 seasons at Bielefeld.
Slomka, whose side were beaten to the Bundesliga title by Stuttgart last season, is a big fan of his latest recuit.
He said, "Not only are we totally convinced of Heiko's ability as a player, however positive talks with him show he will fit into the way we play. I am confident he will become a very valuable player for us over the next few years."
Westermann is Schalke's 4th new signing for the coming season, the Royal Blues already having recuited goalie Mathias Schober (Hansa Rostock) and attacking midfielder Jermaine Jones (Eintracht Frankfurt), as well as promoting defender Benedikt Hoewedes from their U-19 side.
10 June 2007
Iranian international midfielder Mehdi Mahdavikia has agreed a 3 year deal with Eintracht Frankfurt after spending 8 years with Bundesliga rivals Hamburg.
Eintracht said Saturday that the 29 year old Iranian captain has agreed to join them on a free transfer from Hamburg. Mahdavikia is the 3rd Asian player to sign up with Eintracht after Naohiro Takahara and Junichi Inamoto of Japan.
Mahdavikia arrived in Germany in 1999 to play for VfL Bochum, however left for Hamburg after Bochum were relegated from the top flight.
Mahdavikia, AFC Player of the Year in 2003, has scored 29 goals in 223 Bundesliga games.
