Zafei Rakis secured a narrow 39:38 victory over Xanthi in the A1 competition on 19 September 2026. The home side opened their campaign with a win, while the visitors remain winless after one game.
And here's the thing — a single-point margin tells you everything about how closely contested this was. By then, both teams had already played once, but the context was different. Zafei Rakis moved to three points in third place, while Xanthi stayed at the bottom with zero points after their draw earlier.
The visitors come into this having drawn their opening fixture, but recent results suggest they've struggled against stronger opposition. They lost 26:34 to Kilkis in December and 28:35 to Diomidis Argous last March. To be fair, they did beat Aeropos Edessa 30:20 in December, showing flashes of capability.
Zafei Rakis have been more consistent across their recent fixtures. After a 29:31 defeat to Kilkis in March, they bounced back with wins against Ionikos and others. The momentum carried through to this opening day, though the narrow scoreline suggests they could have fallen behind at any stage.
The result keeps Zafei Rakis in the upper half of the table, while Xanthi face an uphill battle to find their first victory. Three points separate the sides now, and the gap will only widen if the visitors cannot respond.
