Sylvain Francisco visited Telekom Center Athens for the first time as a Panathinaikos AKTOR player, touring the arena and speaking to the club's official website paobc.gr about his transfer, his new coach, and his excitement about the club's famously intense fan culture.
Francisco said he felt wonderful and was genuinely happy to be back in Greece and to be joining what he described as the biggest club in Europe. He added that he was eager to meet his new teammates and everyone at the club.
The deal came together with unusual speed. Francisco said he had been in Mykonos when negotiations began, and that from the moment he landed, things moved quickly from every direction. He said everything was completed within a few hours, within a single day, and credited both his representatives and the Panathinaikos staff for getting it done so fast. He said he was genuinely happy that they managed to get him to the place he wanted to be.
Working under Obradovic
Francisco was candid about how much the prospect of working under head coach Zeljko Obradovic mattered to him. He said Obradovic was without question a legendary coach, and that being alongside him and learning from him would be something very significant. He said he was truly looking forward to it.
The arrival also means Francisco will share a locker room with three of his French national team teammates: Mathias Lessort, Gerson Yabusele, and Moustapha Fall. He said those three players had been very important to him during the recruitment process and that they were the ones he spoke to most. He described the chemistry the group had built through the national team as enormous, and said having that same connection at club level would be something he would genuinely enjoy. At the same time, he said, they would all be completely serious about doing their jobs, and that was the most important thing.
Arena atmosphere
Asked about the Telekom Center Athens, Francisco said the experience of seeing it as a home player rather than a visitor was something else entirely. He said that when you play there as an opponent, you come away thinking it is very difficult to win in that building. Now, he said, he was on the other side. He described the arena atmosphere as crazy and incredible, and said he was looking forward to experiencing Gate 13, the club's most passionate fan section, and the supporters as a whole. He called the prospect genuinely thrilling.
On settling in quickly, Francisco said the squad was a very good and exceptionally talented group, which he expected would make adaptation straightforward. He said the important thing now was to build good chemistry and a strong relationship within the team so they could all play together, and he believed everyone in the squad knew how to adapt quickly, which would make the whole process easier.
Nicknames
Francisco was also asked whether he had a nickname. He said a lot of people called him Frenchy, because he is French. Others called him Arrow or Sisko, which is why his social media handle uses that name. During his time in Spain, he said, people called him Paco, after the name Francisco. But generally, he said, it was Sisko, and that it depended on what people preferred.
He closed with a message to the Panathinaikos supporters, saying he was happy to be there and hoped the fans would back the team throughout the entire season. He said he knew they would, called for a great season ahead, and said he was looking forward to meeting his teammates. Above all, he said, he was there now, and it was time to get going.
