Uruguayan journalist and celebrated football writer Eduardo Galeano described it poetically. “Argentines play football like they write poetry. They live it (the game) with their stomach and heart, not their head.”
Marcelo Bielsa, the Argentine coach nicknamed “El Loco”, cynically said that “…football for the Argentinean is not just a game. It’s the means by which he affirms his value in the world.”
Jorge Valdano phrased it in metaphysical and anthropological terms in order to try and discern his compatriots’ love of the game. “We Argentines go to the stadium as we go to church. To confess, to redeem ourselves, to hope.”
In Argentina, football is not just a game. It is something much deeper, almost mystical. It is the voice of the barrio, the dream of a child playing barefoot with a plastic ball on the bare ground, it’s the cheering from the stands; it’s hope amid difficulty; faith when everything around is falling apart.
Argentines and Olympiacos fans speak the same language, one of passion, loyalty, and an obsession for the team
The Argentine doesn’t watch football, he dreams about it, sings about it, shouts about it. It’s like a religion, with the fields serving as the temples, and deities being players like Maradona, Messi and Riquelme. In a country often ravaged by economic crises and social unrest, football has become a refuge and a way of affirmation. This “football faith” has travelled abroad, migrated, and became global. In Piraeus the “Argentine model” found fertile ground in Piraeus, because Olympiacos is not just a team, it’s also a “religion”, a passion, an idea. Its fans are not just spectators; they are passionate lovers of the Club.
Fans live for going to the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, for teasing friends who support other teams come Monday morning, for chanting in the stands during games on Sundays. It’s exactly that temperament that makes Argentinians and Olympiacos fans so much alike. And when these two passions meet, moments of magic are born. That’s why the presence of the Argentine players at Olympiacos wasn’t a fad, it was a near karmic relationship.
Ariel Ibagaza, “El Caño”, as he was called in his homeland, was a maestro with the ball at his feet, a brainy player with a poet’s technique. He came to Olympiacos in 2010 and stayed… forever. He won four championships (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) and two Cups (2012, 2013). He was the voice on the pitch, the “brain” of the team. With classic Argentine toughness and calmness, he didn’t run as much as others, but he made everyone run better. He was a great on field “general”, something echoed by his teammates, who called him “El General”. A short-tempered giant on the field, pint-sized leader.
He was one the key faces of Olympiacos’ return to the top during the advent of the Marinakis era. Ibagaza was one of the greatest footballers who wore Reds’ jersey, a dedicated foot soldier of the Legend.
One of his compatriots in Olympiacos’ “Argentine colony” was Alejandro “Chori” Dominguez. He arrived in 2013, when Olympiacos needed a leader. He asked for and got the “number 10” jersey. Chori honored the uniform for his entire tenure at Olympiacos.
An old-fashioned football “ruffian”, he was another “artist” with the ball, who added three championships (2014, 2015, 2016) and two Cups (2015, 2016) to his collection. Chori was not just a footballer, he played with heart, soul and an unimaginable quality – an Argentine born to fight; a football phenomenon who wanted to play for the fans.
He played in 126 games, scored 40 goals and recorded 28 assists.
Speaking of “Argentine greatness”, Olympiacos had the luck, the joy and the privilege to offer a spot on its roster to football “gems” such as Esteban Cambiasso, nicknamed “Cuchu”. The Inter Milan and Argentina international joined Olympiacos at the twilight of his career in 2015, when he was 34 years old. However, he was… Cambiasso – and an Argentinian, infused with the winning mentality of Real Madrid.
He was also a Champions League winner with Inter; a cosmopolitan Argentine who became a Greek in Piraeus, going as far as to purchase two residences the country.
Cambiasso, in fact, intentionally remain an entire summer without a team, only to return to Piraeus. He played for two seasons, winning the 2016 first division championship while illuminating Greek football his superstar allure. Cambiasso was the epitome of a leader on the field. He didn’t need to yell; all he needed was that piercing gaze full of intensity and a thirst for victory. All it took was that raised hand.
Another star Argentine, Fernando Belluschi, was the complete opposite of the aristocratic “Cucho”. A youth raised on the streets, a tattooed gangsta. One of the most talented halfbacks ever to wear the red and white jersey, he arrived in 2007 and played until 2009. He won two championships (2008, 2009) and one Cup (2008). Playing with elegance, finesse and inspiration, he was the link between the midfield and offense, with precision passing and slicing shots on goal. He played for the Reds for a while, but didn’t offer as much as he could. Nevertheless, his bond with the club and the fans remains everlasting.
Javier Saviola. The wunderkind of River Plate and Barcelona came to Olympiacos in 2013. Even though he only stayed for one season his presence, goals, his personality and experience played a decisive role in Olympiacos’ championship run (2013-14), but also in their successful European play. Style, finesse, brains, class, in a baby-faced “beast”, who despite his small stature and gentle face, never renounced his Argentine “football roots”.
Chori Dominguez in action with the Reds during a derby at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.
All these great Argentines, and so many others, some more others less successful, brought with them their philosophy: football as an art and as a daily struggle. They came to give. They struggled, they fought, they played with their heart.
Argentines and Olympiacos fans speak the same language, the language of passion, loyalty, and an obsession for the team. The Argentine will travel miles to see his team, and sing for 90 minutes. He’ll cry over a loss, he’ll write a song for a win. Olympiacos has the same heart: forged from past wounds and glories, but above all, dedicated. It is no coincidence that to red-and-white stripe suits the Argentines. It’s no coincidence that even the greatest moment in the Club’s history, winning the UEFA Conference League, was combined with two Argentines in key roles: Santiago Hezze and Francisco Gabriel Ortega.
Finding a home in the port city
This is a link between a people who love football and a Club and expresses football. As long as there are players like Ibagaza, Chori, Cambiasso, Belluschi, Saviola, Hezze, the great Luciano Galletti , this connection will be revisited, inspired, and will remind that football is not just about goals, assists and titles. It’s mostly about stories, about people who came from far away Argentina to find a family in Piraeus. A home to be loved as if they were our own. From Argentina, but forever in Piraeus.
