Ilias Kanzouris was introduced as the haed coach of Hapoel

?Two days after he signed, today (Friday) Ilias Kantzouris was introduced as the new Hapoel head coach. Kantzouris , a Greek who currently works as Spanoulis' assistant in the Greek national team, started the season in Limoges until he was appointed as the current coach. Today, at a special press conference with the participation of the club's owners, Matan Adelson, the co-owner, Gal Mekel, and the professional manager, Yonatan Alon, Coach Kantzouris was introduced.

The owner, Matan Adelson, opened by saying, in connection with the situation the country is in: "Our hearts go out to the soldiers who are fighting in the north and south, we hope that they all return safe and healthy". After that, Matan continued to introduce Ilias Kantzouris: "Today is an exciting day for Hapoel. We did a long thought process, and we did a long process of interviewing candidates for the position of head coach, and we decided that Coach Kantzouris is the most suitable person to lead this team to the achievements we want to achieve". "Our goal is still to win all the titles, all the fixtures, and we believe he is the right person to lead the club to those places", the owner said.

 

 

The co-owner, Gal Mekel, elaborated a little more on the process of selecting the coach and said: "We are happy that Ilias is here. In our selection process, we made sure to balance the ability of the new coach to take the existing roster, continue what we started and take us to our goals, and the future potential We see Coach Kantzouris here for many years, as far as we are concerned".

 

Ilias Kanzouris, Hapoel's new coach, said during the press conference: "I want to thank Yonatan Alon, Gal Mekel and Matan Adelson for the opportunity given to me. This is the biggest challenge in my career. Usually, when a coach changes, it's because something bad happened. I get into a situation where Things are going as they should, and the goal is to continue the good work that is being done here". Kantzouris continued saying: "I don't want to throw out promises, but the goal is to go for all the titles. We will do everything".

 

On coming to Israel and deciding to sign with Hapoel, the coach said: "I feel very confident coming here. I was here a lot as an opposing coach, and I always felt something special about Israel. The truth is, I still feel a ringing in my ears from the last game. The fans here are special, and I really want to be a part of it". Kantzouris went on to say about the challenge of coaching Hapoel: "I feel like I have a contract for one day. We will focus each time on the next training session, and on the next game. I would be lying if I said that we don't have high goals, but our goal is to do well. The enemy of good is the better".

 

The professional director, Yonatan Alon, also spoke about Coach Kantzouris: "We found a person who fits this squad of players, the professional qualities we have, and someone who can continue what is here and get the most out of this roster. You can see that this is a very high-quality person, a person of people, and there is no doubt that he can take us a step forward".