OFI MEETS ADIL NABI

Not the best location for writing this although Heraklion Airport departures lounge saw me and my footballing companion, Jerry, rubbing shoulders with OFI of Heraklion, the local football club. The lads, in their understated black and white trackies were off to Athens to play a "Super League" match for a club founded in 1925, against Atromitos tomorrow (5th in the division) at 5pm in the 5th month....what could possibly go wrong? 5-5 draw? I know you will look for the result.

Atromitos lie 4th (if only they were 5th) n the division, the top one in Greece, and OFI are 13th out of 16th, sitting on the edge of the relegation zone. OFI need a win.

Omilos Filathlon Herakleiou was founded in 1925 primarily as a sports' club where athletes especially enjoyed running around. The club developed football and after many challenges such as the 2nd World War, and including finding themselves in the National 3rd Division, won promotion to the top division in Greek Football last season. They have won the Greek Cup once in 1987, have won the Balkan Cup and played in UEFA competitions seven times, so they are no slouches.
OFI in 1954
The Balkans Cup was fairly prestigious being played amongst clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia since the early 1960s. It was made defunct in 1994 as other distractions came about such as the Europa League. In 1989-90 due to the Romanian revolution, the competition was suspended!

On the club roll is Englishman Adil Nabi, a WBA academy player, who has signed on for the season. He is a Pakistani muslim who played in the Indian Super League for Delhi Dynamos in 2015 and has turned out for Peterborough Utd, Nuneaton Town, Dundee and on January 20th this year scored two in a 3-0 win against Panetoliko. Adil is allowed a special Halal diet!