Hundreds of thousands of Olympiacos fans celebrated winning the Europa Conference League in Piraeus, Athens and other major Greek cities until early on Thursday.
The final whistle of the game at Nea Philadelphia which ensured that Olympiacos won Greece’s first European club title by beating Fiorentina 1-0 with a goal in extra time set off wild celebrations.
It is estimated that tens of thousands of Olympiacos fans gathered at the Korai Square in Piraeus to celebrate.
At around 4 am Olympiacos players and the coaching staff arrived on a bus creating pandemonium. Youths held up lit flares and flags of their favorite team.
Olympiacos’ victory marks a significant moment in Greek football history, with previous attempts by Greek teams to win a major European trophy ending in failure.
In the 1970-1971 season, Panathinaikos FC reached the final of the European Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League). They faced AFC Ajax in the final but were defeated 2-0. Now, however, Olympiacos will be returning to Greece with a long long sought after European trophy.
Olympiacos supporters also celebrated in the western port of Patras.
Historic night for Olympiacos
Ayoub El Kaabi provided the dramatic ending to the final against Fiorentina, diving to nudge in a last-gasp goal in the second period of extra time, with fans erupting in celebration after a lengthy wait for a VAR check for offside.
“Praise be to God, we promised our supporters we’d do this today and we did it,” El Kaabi said.
The Morocco striker – who finished as the competition’s top scorer – struck in the 116th minute of the match and dropped to his knees as he waited to see if the goal would stand after he had met a cross from Santiago Hezze.
Olympiacos coach Jose Luis Mendilibar secured a second straight European title after winning the Europa League with Sevilla last season.
“It’s an honor to have made all these people happy, I feel immense joy and happiness to have made people feel this way and I dedicate it to them,” Mendilibar said.
“We have achieved something that our club has never achieved before. We will celebrate it and celebrate it the way we should. Then we will start working on what comes next.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described Olympiakos as “a true legend,” adding in an online post: “Olympiacos has won the Europa Conference League and made history! A sensational night for the club itself, but also for Greek football as a whole.”
The third-tier European club competition took place amid a massive security operation, with some 5,000 police officers forming concentric cordons around a northern area of the capital – amid Europe-wide security concerns this summer for major sporting events including the Paris Olympics and European soccer championship in Germany.
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