Greek promotion for young duo

Yiannis Amanatidis of VfB Stuttgart and Burnley FC's Dimitris Papadopoulos have been called into the Greek squad for the first time for the friendly match against the Republic of Ireland on 20 November in Athens.

Promotion for youngsters
The Greece coach, Otto Rehhagel, today named the six foreign-based players who will be included in the squad and decided to promote the two youngsters who have been regulars in the Under-21s. The game will be a preparation match for Greece's UEFA EURO 2004™ Group Six qualifying matches next year.

Zikos ignored again
The one major omission is Zisis Vryzas of AC Perugia who has been a regular in the squad, while AS Monaco FC's Akis Zikos is ignored once more by the German coach. Also included in the squad are Kostas Konstantinidis of Hannover 96, Traianos Dellas of AS Roma, Newcastle United FC's Nikos Dabizas and Angelos Haristeas of SV Werder Bremen.

Weekend derby
The remainder of the squad - the Greece-based players - will be announced early next week following the weekend games which include the AEK Athens FC-Olympiakos Piraeus FC derby.