Unfortunately, the time of the year when football leagues end is somewhat here. That, paired with not driving, can make options even more limited when it comes to groundhopping. There were still a few games to choose from today, as the B and C levels of some regional leagues are still on — though not for long. Usually, it’s the Athens league that I look at first, but today nothing felt either particularly exciting or easy to get to. I was going to go to a game with my friend Sofoklis, who lives on the north side, so I had to take that into consideration too. While trying to solve the puzzle of where to go this Sunday, I had a flash of inspiration and remembered that EPS Anatolikis Attikis (Eastern Attica League) includes some teams from the far northern suburbs too. There were a few to choose from today. It was a plan.

EPSANA, for short, is a league I’d actually never seen a game from before, so that was also exciting. It is one of the four football leagues of Attica (Greater Athens), alongside the leagues of Athens, Piraeus, and Western Attica. It covers a rather large geographical area, including teams from the far north of the city, as already mentioned, as well as — strangely — even some from the west side, despite what the name suggests.

Drosia and Agios Stefanos were the easiest — or rather, least difficult — ones to reach out of the teams playing today. Sofoklis and I reached Kifissia, a posh area on the northern edge of the city, where we would take another bus to the stadium. We didn’t really have any preference between the two, so we just decided to take whichever bus came first with a direction to either place — and that ended up being a bus to Drosia. After a pleasant twenty-or-so-minute ride, we reached the area.

Drosia is a very green, spacious, pretty suburb that feels very distant from the city. It has a small population and not much to do as a non-local, apart from some admittedly very nice old taverns. We got off in what felt like the middle of nowhere and started walking toward the ground, thinking about how far away from Athens we had managed to get using just the bus. The walk initially felt lonely, but as we got closer, more and more matchgoers appeared.

The stadium of Drosia is located inside a park/grove — similar to Galatsi — next to tennis and basketball courts, and is nicknamed “Kokkino Horafi” (“Red Field”). There is a café just above a very small, DIY-like stand behind the left end of the pitch. Next to it were the dressing rooms and, on the right, another very small yet more proper stand. But it was the landscape that made it feel like one of the most beautiful football venues in Athens I had been to.

It was the last matchday of the season, and people of all ages were there to see their local team one last time before summer. Drosia currently occupy third from bottom in the table, while the bottom two teams get relegated. They were just one point clear of the drop, so anything but a win meant they'd have to hope other results went their way.

The home team entered the pitch on the front foot, seeking to score an early goal that would take the pressure off. Oropos, the visiting side, had nothing to play for, as they were mid-table, and didn’t put much pressure on. Drosia seemed quite capable on the attacking end, though the same couldn’t be said about their defenders, who probably had been out last night. They created a lot of chances and eventually managed to score in the first half. The job was done — they just had to make sure the score stayed that way.

The second half was unsurprisingly less exciting, and I found myself paying more attention to the crowd and the surroundings. Some kids on the left stand had brought a drum and some flags but didn’t have any chants to sing. Another group of teenagers were dressed in their own ultras group merch (“Blue Group Gate 3” — as if the stadium even has any gates), but they stood far from the drum and didn’t bother to chant either. Toward the end of the match, Oropos started pressing high, creating some serious chances for the first time, but didn’t manage to make anything of them. The final whistle blew, and the season ended with both teams still in the second division.