THE VITALS:

Team: Olympiacos Piraeus (Olympiacos)

Brand: Puma

Era: 2005-06 (Used for the 2005-06 Alpha Ethniki season, and the 2006 Greek Cup Final)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt remains in very good condition in spite of its years; the felt Puma logo and sponsor are still in great condition, and the decal club crest is also umblemished.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: XL Boys

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19 inches

Shirt Length: 25.5 inches 

Made in Puma’s range of shirts that were introduced ahead of the 2005-06 season; although this is labelled as an XL Boys size shirt; this shirt would also fit a size small, however, please be mindful of the length of the shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

After 5 seasons apart; Puma and Olympiacos reunited ahead of the 2005-06 season! Puma would wonderfully integrate their new modern template with the red and white stripes of Olympiacos, and to distinguish themselves from the Umbro regime, they would make black a prominent tertiary colour of this shirt. After the previous season used white shorts, Puma reinstated red shorts for this season’s ensemble. Fans will remember this shirt as the club pulled off another domestic double and accumulated a 16 match winning run in the league! This would also be the last Olympiacos Piraeus shirt to bear the Siemens sponsorship after 6 seasons, further distancing itself from the Umbro era. Please be aware that the club crest is vinyl; not embroidered.

THE SEASON:

Although Olympiacos would wrestle back both the league and cup in 2004/05; there’d be yet further managerial changes as Dusan Bajevic was replaced by Club Brugge’s legendary coach: Trond Sollied. The likes of: Yaya Toure, Dani, Haruna Babangida, Erwin Lemmens, Mihailis Kapsis, Marco Ne and Erol Bulut were amongst the new recruits as ‘Thrylos’ looked to once again dominate the domestic scene.

There would be more than just 3 points at stake on the opening day of the 2005/06 Alpha Ethniki season as they met fierce rivals Panathinaikos at the Aspostolos Nikolaidis! The hosts would be reduced to 9 men, as Olympiacos collected a fine 2-0 win! That would set the precedent for a run of 5 straight wins to kick off the new season; a run that culminated with a 3-1 win away against fellow rivals AEK Athens.

It would be PAOK who ended the run on October 16th when they beat Olympiacos 2-1 at the Georgios Karaiskakis. Despite their great league form, the Champions League campaign was over by November as 4 straight losses condemned them to resigned them to a UEFA Cup slot at best. Not even that was achieved as Rosenborg’s superior head to head record saw the Norwegian finish in 3^rd despite both teams collecting 4 points each.

Back in the league, Olympiacos would fall to a surprise second successive defeat when OFI Heraklion stunned them 1-0 on October 23^rd. They would return back to the top of the table shortly after when they beat the surprise pace setters Skoda Xanthi 2-0 on November 6^th. They would conclude 2005 with a place in the Greek Cup quarter final, and riding a 7 match winning streak in the league; finishing their final league game of the year on December 17^th with a 1-0 win over Levadiakos.

2006 began with a 1-0 win away against Ionikos Nikea, and then on January 15^th, they completed the double over Panathinaikos when they won a thrilling contest 3-2 at home. Another 3-2 win, this time away against Panionios GSS on January 30^th brought up the 10 match winning streak, as they pulled away from 2^nd place AEK by 6 points. Their 1^st Leg at home against Skoda Xanthi in the Greek Cup ended 1-1, before Rivaldo continued his excellent start to 2006 by scoring the winner in the 2^nd Leg on February 8^th.

Any chance that AEK Athens had of negating the arrears between themselves and the champions were dealt a significant blow on February 19^th, when Olympiacos punished them 3-0 to go 9 points clear.

All great things must come to an end eventually; and Olympiacos would see their winning run snapped at 16, when Skoda Xanthi avenged their earlier defeat and cup exit with a 1-0 win on March 18^th. 3 days later, Olympiacos moved a step closer to the Greek Cup Final as they beat Agrotikos Asteras 3-0 at home in the 1^st Leg of their semi-final clash.

In the league, there was a sting in tale that was in the making as Olympiacos were beaten for a 4^th time on April 3^rd; allowing AEK Athens to reduce the deficit between the clubs to just 6 points with 4 games to spare! They couldn’t keep the heat on the champions however, as they were beaten by PAOK, while Olympiacos got back to winning ways with a 5-1 win over AO Aigaleo to move 8 points clear, and needing just 1 more point to successfully retain the title.

Formalities in the cup were completed 4 days later on April 12^th, when Nery Castillo scored in the 1-0 away leg victory over Larissa to set up a rematch of the 2002 final with AEK Athens on May 10^th. Larissa would get a measure of revenge on April 16^th when they beat Olympiacos in the league, making the gap 6 points between the league leaders and AEK.

Olympiacos’ superior goal difference all but assured them of the title in spite of the aberration, but the title race was still made interesting as Levadiakos upset ‘Thrylos’ 3-2 in the penultimate game of the season. Olympiacos would draw their first game of the league season in their last outing as they battled to a 0-0 stalemate against Ionikos Nikea, to successfully retain the Greek Super League! They would make it the ‘Double-Double’ when they beat AEK 3-0 in the Greek Cup Final on May 10^th!

The notable players that season were:

Dani Garcia, Haruna Babangida, Ioannis Okkas, Nery Castillo, Rivaldo, Pedrag Dordevic, Milos Maric, Ieroklis Stoltidis, Yaya Toure, Christos Patsatzoglou, Grigorios Georgatos, Stelios Venetidis, Michalis Kapsis, Gabriel Schurrer, Pantelis Kafes, Erol Bulut, Efthimios Kouloucheris, Antonios Nikopolidis, Erwin Lemmens