ATHENS, Greece (AP) Jan. 18 – Former Ukrainian soccer star Oleh Blokhin has resigned as coach of struggling first-division soccer club Ionikos Nikea, media reports said Friday. “It was an honor for us to have cooperated with such a great soccer personality like Oleh Blokhin. But I believe that he offered whatever he had to offer to Ionikos,” the newspaper Ethnos quoted the club’s chairman, Nikos Kanellakis.
Blokhin, who once played for Dynamo Kyiv and the former Soviet national team, has been at Ionikos’ helm since July 2000 when he replaced Greek coach Costas Polychroniou. A club spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.
A series of poor results this season dropped the club to last place in the 14-team standings. At present, Ionikos has a 0-5-6 record and five points. The daily said that Kanellakis appointed Blokhin’s assistant, Socratis Gemelos, as his replacement until the end of the season. Blokhin had also led Ionikos from 1994-96. He has coached other Greek teams such as Olympiakos Piraeus, PAOK Thessaloniki and AEK Athens.
