Need Club Histories Options

[Yiannis]

For our soccerpedia section. Anyone interested in posting here their club's history?

[Attilio]

Club History

The five-man Andrianopoulos brothers founded Olympiacos CFP in 1925, composing the forward line which would dominate the fledgling Greek championship in the 1930s. All would move into local and national politics, their influence helping promote the club and organize the funding and construction of their home stadium Karaiskaki in the 1950s, another period of lengthy domestic success for the red-and-whites. A relatively lean period in the 1960s was reversed by ambitious club president Nikos Goulandris, who bought star names to knock Panathinaikos FC off their perch in 1973, the first of three straight titles.

A financial scandal in the early 1980s - at a time of four straight title wins - knocked the club back, and allowed a motivated AEK Athens FC side under talismanic Bosnian Serb coach Dusan Bajevic to rule the roost. In 1992, mobile-phone millionaire and owner of the Olympiacos basketball team, Socrates Kokkalis bought the football club and cleared all its debts. In 1996, Kokkalis pulled the surprise coup of buying Bajevic from AEK; with fellow Serbians Ilija Ivic and Sinisa Gogic up front, Olympiacos strode to the title by 12 clear points over AEK in Bajevic's first season in charge.

With Grigoris Georgatos and another Serbian, playmaker Predrag Djordjevic, coming to the fore, Olympiacos took another title in 1997/98, and equipped themselves well in the UEFA Champions League the following season. Winning a tricky group over Ajax FC, Porto FC and NK Croatia (now Dinamo) Zagreb, Olympiacos lost to a late Antonio Conte goal for Juventus FC in the quarter-finals.

Although dominant at home, failure to match this progress the following season - and integrate expensive foreign stars Giovanni of Brazil and Slovenia's Zlatko Zahovic - saw Kokkalis and Bajevic fall out in late 1999. Meanwhile, Karaiskaki was proving a little shabby for prestigious European fixtures, and the club were looking to move to a new stadium, a 40,000 all-seater stadium in nearby Rendis. The Olympic Stadium began to play host to Olympiacos, and their gradual march to an unbroken run of seven league titles.

For 2002/03 and 2003/04, with the Olympic stadium under reconstruction and Rendis still under negotiation, Olympiacos play at Rizopoulis, home of modest Apollon Athens FC. On the pitch in the first of those two seasons, veteran striker Alexios Alexandris continued to score a hatful of goals, and Olympiacos pipped Panathinaikos to the title thanks to a 3-0 victory for the reigning champions in the season's penultimate round.


Working-class heroes

Olympiacos CFP are by far the most successful club in Greek football history. Traditionally a blue-collar side based around the port of Piraeus, Olympiacos are nicknamed 'Thrylos' or Legend, after the classic side of the 1930s which won a hatful of titles. The club have since enjoyed two periods of domestic dominance: the six straight championship wins of the 1950s, and now, seven consecutive titles up until 2003. Indeed they have more championships to their name than arch-rivals AEK Athens FC and Panathinaikos FC put together. Yet European progress has proved elusive, an unfortunate UEFA Champions League quarter-final defeat by Juventus FC in 1998/99 the best effort so far.



Olympiacos thrive in Greece
A look at Alpha Ethniki champions Olympiacos CFP by UEFA.com

Period of success

With a name inspired by the noted aviator Notis Kamperos, Olympiacos CFP were formed in the small port of Piraeus in Athens on 10 March 1925 following the merger of Piraeus Football Club and Piraeus Fans' Club. Since then, 'The Legend' have dominated Greek football in an almost unbroken period of success, having been crowned champions a record 32 times, adding a record 20 Greek Cups by 2003.

Six of the best

The Olympiacos story took off in the era of the famous Andrianopoulos brothers in the 1930s. Yiannis, Dinos, Giorgos, Vassilis, Leonidas and Stelios formed a potent forward line during that decade and the original 'legends' guided the team to six league championships before the second world war.

Dominance continues

When football returned to Greece, two more titles followed immediately and Olympiacos's dominance continued throughout the 1950s, when they claimed seven championships and seven cups, including three consecutive domestic doubles between 1957 and 1959. Nothing much changed in the 1960s as another two championships and five cups found their way into the Piraeus club's trophy cabinet.

Goals galore

Olympiacos continued along their supreme path in the 1970s when a spectacular side assembled by club president Nickos Goulandris won their third championship hat-trick between 1973 and 1975. In a record performance in the 1973/74 season the team scored 102 goals in just 34 league matches, including a club record 11-1 victory against Fostiras FC.

Period of turmoil

Although the success continued into the 1980s the end of the decade marked a period of turmoil with the administrations of Giorgos Koskotas and Argyris Saliarelis, who were both later jailed for financial offences, precipitating an economic crisis. This only ended when Socrates Kokkalis, owner of the Olympiacos basketball side, took over in 1992 and cleared a heap of debts, albeit with government support.

Lean decade

Despite conquering Greece time and again, Olympiacos endured a ten-year spell without winning the league between 1987 and 1997. After struggling to make much of an impact on the European stage, however, they did manage to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1992/93, losing to Club Atletico de Madrid.

Back to their best

The appointment of Dusan Bajevic as coach in 1996 - after his departure from arch-rivals AEK Athens FC - saw Olympiacos wrest control again. The championship drought came to an end in 1996/97, the first of seven consecutive league titles up to 2002/03, the last gained under former player Oleh Protasov from Ukraine.

Title record

The recent title feats of Olympiacos eclipsed the legendary run of six successive championships between 1954 and 1959, setting a new Greek record. During this latter period they have regularly participated in the UEFA Champions League and in their best performance, in 1998/99, reached the quarter-finals before losing to Juventus FC.

New arena

In 1982, Olympiacos moved to Athens' OAKA Spiros Louis stadium, leaving behind the Greek Olympic Committee-owned Karaiskaki stadium. However, they are to return to their traditional home at the beginning of the 2004/05 season.


OLYMPIAKOS TROPHY ROOM



CHAMPIONSHIPS: 32
1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1947, 1948,
1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1966,
1967, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983
1987, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

F.A CUPS: 20
1947, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959,
1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1992, 1999


"DOUBLES": 10
1947, 1951, 1954, 1957,1958, 1959, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1999

SUPER CUP: 1987, 1992

BALKAN CUP: 1963

[Marcus]

This is taken from the Aris site. I must admit it's one of the better club histories I've read...

1914: A God is Born

By Takis Hassir

In the beginning there was an idea: A God in succession of a semi-God. This is the origin of the name ARIS, the club that was founded in Thessaloniki in 1914, two years after the liberation of Thessaloniki, at the onset of World War I.
The name is synonymous with war and originated during a period turmoiled by the clouds of war. This is why the sprit of ARIS fans is characterised by passion and a consistent strive for victory .

When the city of Thessaloniki was liberated, the wave of restless youngsters who wanted to get involved with athletics, the wind of freedom and the expansion of soccer, developed masses full of intensity.

And in 1914, a team that consisted of D. Kotrotsis, Roussos Rossiadis, Ath. Papageorgiou, Greg. Vlachopoulos, Telemachos Karagiannidis, An. Tsiatsiapas, Lazaros Kostidis, Ioannis Pliatsikas, Dim. Ioannidis, Petros Kreis, Georgios Lamprou, Karolos Salousto and Dimou took the big decision:To start a new club which could satisfy their restlessness and could fuflill their ambitions. A club that could become the first amongst equals.

Their risky idea and their admirable confidence and optimism were inherited by their successors so that ARIS could become a leading club in Greece and some times, the most important times of its history, the undisputed first.
Aghia Triada, which was then extending until the beach, was a large, perhaps the largest, urban neighborhood of Thessaloniki. Although everybody knows of it as the soul and home of ARIS, it is actually not true. Instead, the restless pioneers that founded ARIS, decided to place their base at Kamara, a location that was perceived as the center, the heart, of the city for the inhabitants of Thessaloniki. However, its location and perception was not the only reason for this choice. Kamara was also the center for the "opponents" and a challenge was needed.

Young people are always young.And the young men did not forget that following Konstantinople, Thessaloniki was always the second city of Byzantium. As a result, the colors of the Byzantine emblem were chosen for ARIS: Yellow and Black.

Even though a small room in Kamara was the first base for ARIS, a big problem that troubled ARIS for many years still remained: The problem of a stadium.

At Hirs, there was a field of Alliance for which ARIS secured user rights. This was a temporary and handy solution and ARIS was constantly searching for new and better places within the ruins of the burned city of Thessaloniki.

As a result, ARIS transferred to the Doxa neighborhood and later to the open space TRANSVAAL, where the Aghios Fanourios community is placed today.

The small team had started to grow.

In the first game, against IRAKLIS, ARIS won with a goal of Salousto, who was also a player, as were most of the founders. ARIS was growing. ARIS' fans were growing. ARIS' ambitions were growing.

However, during the war years, championship games were not organised. Nevertheless, the members of the club were waiting to return to normal life so that they could start playing again.

In 1919 and 1921, two important events took place. Between Papafi Street and Stratou Avenue there was a team named Astrapi. Its liveliest player was Kostas Vikelidis. One day, he took the whole team with him and went to ARIS. Not far away, at Kilkisiou street, there was another team, Keravnos, with Stavros Zokos as a secretary. Soon after, Keravnos was also included in the ARIS roster.
In such a way, ARIS became a leader in an area that started at the Military Headquarters and ended at Martiou 25th street, an area starting from what is known today as Papanastasiou Street and ending at the sea.


This is the reason why everybody confuses ARIS with Aghia Triada which was then the centre of that whole area.
It self explanatory that the most energetic ARIS fans had a triple identity. They were football players, members and management and they were able to solve any financial problems by paying the bills themselves.

Nevertheless, the rising glory of the club attracted even more fans who were able to offer their help as well. The first places that were used as locker rooms and offices will remain in history. Two adjacent rooms in Doxa were the first rooms used. Later, the offices were at Hirs behind Villa Ilda and soonafter they were transferred to a spacious house, behind the Italian monopoly, that was shared with English soldiers and the socialist youth. Finally, the house of Kidonakis at Misrahi Street (Fleming) was used as offices and locker rooms.

With this infrastructure in place and with a spirit of battleship, proudness and belief, ARIS commenced the second phase of its history just after the destruction of Minor Asia and with a new mass of fans, the Greeks from Smirni, who, for inexplicable reasons, chose ARIS as their idol.

As a result, ARIS was ready at the onset of the first official soccer championship of the city , which of course was the winner of. ARIS also won the first Greek soccer championship which took place five years later(1928). And so, ascending the steps of success, ARIS was named "Yellow storm" in 1932, a year in which ARIS triumphed.

With the glory of the undisputed first, ARIS got larger and embraced most sport activities. ARIS succeded in winning water polo and basket championships, while in track and field, it generated champions such as Noukas, Mathaiou, Nasioutzik, Papavassiliou and others.

For the above reasons, the history of ARIS is not just a list of dates and facts. It is the story of a glowing life, a miracle that was generated by athletes, management, fans and friends who shared a common belief: The yellow and black God of war.

This belief helped ARIS stay strong during difficult periods, during periods of bad management and during periods where the ARIS people did not accept or adhere to the new realities due to a lack of shift in their mentality.

If there is a matter where ARIS was treated unjustly, it will have to do with the stadium. Still, for many years ARIS remained "homeless" and managed to survive although playing in fields owned by others, while theoretically being the "home" team.

2000: ARIS has completed 86 years of life and its fans must be proud. Moreover, the fans must never forget that they are the successors and continuation of the acitvities of a handful of people who had a vision of a great ARIS and they made this vision a reality. They should also never forget that they should never be or feel inferior of the first.

Succession is a law of a nature.

Good succession is a law of survival.

And ARIS shall not just be surviving. It must live and reign. And this should never be forgotten by the ARIS fans who must always be proud of their club.

*Mr. Takis Hassir is a veteran sports writer.

[Yiannis]

Attilio - This has been added to our soccerpedia forum!!! Thanks!

[Yiannis]

MArcus - Although it is a great article cn we use it? I think we would be violating copyright laws. If you can get the ok from the guy in an email we can post it.

[AEKara Boston]

If I ever get the time(with school and shit) I'll write one for AEK,but that might not be till December or something.

[Yiannis]

Take your time. God willing we'll be here to read it.

[Marcus]