Our Story
Thrylos International, originally Gate 7 International (G7I), was a podcast founded by three friends from the United States who love Olympiacos: Aristidis ‘Ari’ Bouloubassis, Peter Thompson, and Lambros Syrmos. Ari and Lambros are of Greek origin and found their love for Olympiacos through their parents. When they met Peter, he was an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland who was unfamiliar with football and had no connection to Greece or Olympiacos. He quickly fell in love with the team due to the passion of the fans and the intensity of the play. This is exactly what the podcast and blog strives to do: using English as a more accessible platform, it intends to connect Olympiacos fans from all over the world , all walks of life and inspire others to fall in love with the club. Early on, the podcast attracted followers from across the world, with listeners tuning in from across Europe, South Korea, India, Kenya, Peru, and Japan.
Thrylos International quickly grew from an audio only platform between three local friends and within a few months added its first new Cohost in Costa Levoyannis. Costa’s presence in Europe and comms expertise helped morph the initiative into a full-blown media operation now run by an international group of six friends with a news website, video analysis, podcast, and more. Now part of the One Football Network, the initiative now produces material from a variety of perspectives and methods that is accessible to all. Specifically, Thrylos International continues to break ground in the football media landscape by utilizing advanced data analytics to analyze Olympiacos and Greek football in an easy to comprehend manner for the average fan. However, the project will never turn its back on what makes football great: the people. Through our audio and YouTube channel we continuously draw insight from high-profile players, agents, journalists and club employees. The podcast has attracted and hosted a number of Olympiakos legends including Stelios Giannakopoulos, Jose Cholevas, Omar Elabdellaoui, Matt Derbyshire, Moedim Ze Elias, Par Zetterberg and club Vice President Kostas Karapappas.
A lot has changed at Thrylos International from its conception during the pandemic, but the fundamental foundation it was built upon has not: making Olympiacos a global powerhouse. We hope you join us along this journey!
About us!
Biography
Quick Fire
Born and raised in London, Constantine aka Costa grew up in a big footballing culture. His first experience of football was a drab Arsenal Everton draw in the 90s; needless to say neither the atmosphere nor the football inspired him. Enter Olympiakos. The first time he stepped into the old Karaiskaki stadium: the atmosphere, the roar of the crowd, the chants, the fans bopping up and down even before a football had been kicked... it clicked. Olympiakos was meant to be. Costa has followed the team across Europe from Anfield to Parc des Princes, to Signal Arena, Stamford Bridge, Turin, the Emirates and of course “our land” Karaiskaki Stadium. By day Costa works in the energy sector, trying to save the planet. The rest of the time, he is a husband and father of two, he’s mad about football and red and white to the bone. For more than 10 years, Costa has lived in the heart of Europe, Brussels, Belgium.
Favorite Player Ever: Giovanni
Favorite show/movie: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Favorite Vacation Spot: Chania Crete GR
Beach or Mountains: Mountain view from the beach
Favorite Hobby: Gate 7 International podcast
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Costa Levoyannis
Biography
Quick Fire
Born in Seattle and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Lambros spent many mornings at 6 am watching Olympiakos. His love for the team comes from his father, a native of Pagkrati in Athens. He attempts to go to games every time he is in Athens. His favorite game that he has attended in Karaiskaki was a 3-1 win versus Panathinaikos in 2016 and the epic penalty shootout victory against Apollon Limmasol in 2022. His favorite game ever is the 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, in which two of his favorite players Kostas Mitroglou and Arthur Masuaku, scored goals. While not supporting Thrylos, he is riding his bike around Washington, D.C.!
Favorite Player Ever: Kostas Mitroglou
Favorite show/movie: The Wire
Favorite Vacation Spot: Tinos Greece
Beach or Mountains: Beach
Favorite Hobby: Cycling
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Lambros Syrmos
Biography
Quick Fire
Born and raised in Grenoble, France, Martial fell into Olympiakos' reality just like Obélix fell into the cauldron full of Magic Potion as a kid. In love with football and Greece in its whole, the connection with Olympiakos became logical, guided by the iconic Rafik Djebbour, another legend from Grenoble. It took time for him to get to Karaiskakis but he managed to see Alan Pulido scoring a goal against Panthrakikos behind closed doors, in 2016, and an awul away game in Nantes, in Europa League. When he's not using terrible streaming links to watch Olympiakos, Martial is a sport-journalist in a local newspaper in the Western part of the mighty country that France is.
Favorite Player Ever: Rafik Djebbour
Favorite show/movie: Oz and The Wire
Favorite Vacation Spot: Any place in Greece!
Beach or Mountains: Beach
Favorite Hobby: Running
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Martial Debeaux
Biography
Quick Fire
Born and raised in Baltimore, Ari lives and breathes football and Olympiacos. His family's shipping business has seen generations of his family keep close ties with Olympiacos's home, the port of Piraeus. Ari seeks to fuel the discourse of Greek Football with next gen data and analytics.
Favorite Player Ever: Giovanni
Favorite show/movie: Supernatural
Favorite Vacation Spot: Rhodes GR
Beach or Mountains: Beach
Favorite Hobby: Gaming
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Aristidis Bouloubassis
Biography
Quick Fire
Kostas has been an Olympiacos fan since 1999, which means he was denied Thrylos' stunning Double triumph and sensational Champions League campaign that saw them missing out on the semi-finals because of - checking notes - wind, by just a year!
He comes from a family that doesn't, didn't and probably never will care about football, but thankfully the great Giovanni won him over during a Cup game at OAKA against Naousa and forever turned him to the black sheep of the Lianos household - wear it with pride, man!
You can find Kostas - with a K - at Georgios Karaiskakis providing live commentary for our podcast while also reporting for The Sun and other British outlets, such as Sky Sports and the BBC.
When he takes time off Olympiacos he usually spends his free time somewhere between Athens and London in a cinema or a nice local pub - as you would...
Favorite Player Ever: Giovanni | Zidane
Favorite show/movie: South Park/Goodfella
Favorite Vacation Spot: The next one
Beach or Mountains: Beach
Favorite Hobby: Cinema
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Kostas Lianos
Biography
Quick Fire
Born and raised in London, Dimitris has lived both in Spain and New York. Despite being born in London and living in two other countries, he always felt very proud of his Greek heritage. His dad wasn’t a keen sports fan, so he took after his mum and became an Olympiacos fan to honour her home city. As a young boy he was blessed with watching Greece win Euro 2004 and Eurobasket 2005 and despite Olympiacos dominating in Greek football, he always yearned for European success. That first came with the basketball team in 2012 and then in 2013 (during which he got to go to the Final Four semi-final against CSKA Moscow in London). He attended many a European night for the football team in the UK, including the 3-0 losses to both Chelsea and Manchester United, but also the 2-3 win at the Emirates against Arsenal. He was also blessed with travelling to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup to watch the Greek national team. However his greatest sporting memory came when he got to attend the Conference League Final in Athens in 2024 and saw Olympiacos become the first Greek football club to ever lift a European trophy. The result and overall experience overwhelmed him and brought him to tears. He has since dedicated that moment (which he describes as the best in his life) to his mum Tessy and his grandmother Nota who are both proud Piraiotisses and taught him what it means to be from Piraeus and to be Olympiacos
Favorite Player Ever: Matt Derbyshire | Djamel Abdoun
Favorite show/movie: Game of Thrones/Kingdom of Heaven
Favorite Vacation Spot: Boston & Antiparos
Beach or Mountains: Beach
Favorite Hobby: Basketball
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