OFI Crete
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| OFI Crete | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | PAE Omilos Filathlon Irakleiou (Fans' Club of Heraklion FC) |
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| Nickname(s) | Omilos (The Club) Fidia (Snakes) |
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| Founded | 1925 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion, Crete, Greece |
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| Capacity | 26,240 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Fanouris Vatsinas |
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| Manager |  Reiner Maurer |
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| League | Super League Greece | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | 13th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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OFI Crete, or more commonly OFI (Greek: ΟΦΗ - Όμιλος Φιλάθλων Ηρακλείου - Omilos Filathlon Irakleiou), the Fans' Club of Heraklion, is a Greek association football club based in Heraklion, Crete.
The team currently competes in the Super League Greece.
OFI is one of just 5 teams (and the only team outside Greece’s two major cities, Athens and Thessaloniki) that has played continuously in the Greek First Division since 1976, (in 1979 Greek football was professionalised). The most successful period of the modern era was between 1985-2000, when under the guidance of the Dutch manager Eugene 'Egen' Gerard, OFI won its first trophy (Cup winners in 1987), came close to winning the championship a couple of times, (runners-up in 1986) and qualified for UEFA competitions several times. OFI always symbolised the love of most Cretans for their island as a whole, not just a local city, and that is the reason for its official name OFI Crete, not just plain OFI. The club is also known for several homegrown players that have gone on to play abroad, such as Nikos Machlas, Nikos Nioblias, Giannis Anastasiou, Georgios Samaras and Mahamadou Diarra.
[edit] History
[edit] The foundation
The club was founded during the autumn of 1925 by a group of athletes that used to exercise in a specific gym in the city centre of Heraklion. The official name given to the sports club was Omilos Filathlon Irakleiou or OFI. The colours that OFI used were black and white, because none of the existing sports clubs had the same colour combination in Crete. The scope of the sport club, as had been written down in the first deed of association, was to participate in all kinds of events, and exhibitions related to athletics. During the first period of OFI’s existence most of the founders of the team were also members.
[edit] (1925-1940) The years before World War II
The years preceding World War II were a very difficult period not only for Crete, but for Greece in general. Thus, it was extremely difficult for OFI to travel around and participate in national football tournaments. As a result, OFI was limited to matches around the island of Crete and particularly with other football clubs based in Heraklion. Strangely enough, these local matches were more frequent in comparison to the official ones of former periods. Even though official documentation does not exist, elderly fans of OFI believe that the team played around 400 matches before the Germans finally occupied Crete.
[edit] (1945-1962) First participation in the National League
After the German occupation of Greece had ended, football tournaments around the country started again. At this time there was only the “First Division” championship, in which standard football teams from Athens, Thessaloniki and Peiraias participated, including a few teams which qualified through preliminary rounds. However, it was almost impossible for a team coming from rural areas to take part in it.
This situation arose because the Hellenic Football Federation structured a system in which football teams from around the country had to play a lot of preliminary rounds before proceeding to the national championship. As a result, even though OFI was the top football team in Crete, they could not take part in the national tournament.
After 1956, the system in Greece changed slightly. Advantages were that in some seasons the preliminary rounds were organized in groups of a few teams, where the champions of each group were promoted directly to the championship of the same season’s First Division. One of those seasons was in 1957/58. OFI played preliminary games in a group of 4 teams, where they finished in first place. Thus, OFI, for the first time in its history, participated in the Greek National Championship. Unfortunately, the team could not stand the frequent trips around Greece and finished in last position. Up to 1962, when the official 2nd Division Championship was organized, OFI tried again many times, but unsuccessfully, to take part in the competition of the 1st Division again.
[edit] (1962-1968) Attempts in the official 2nd League
In 1962/63 the official Greek 2nd division league was set up for first time. OFI was one of the teams that participated in the league and completed the season in 9th position. In 1963/64 and 1964/65 OFI finished in 3rd and 5th position respectively. In 1965/66 OFI were the champions of the 2nd Division of Greek football and only one step away from promotion to the official 1st National Division of Greek football.
Yet, the Hellenic Football Federation decided that even the champions of the 2nd Division had to play preliminary games in order to be promoted.
Unfortunately, OFI lost in the play-off matches and remained in the 2nd Division. In 1966/67 the disappointment was huge, even though OFI ended in 3rd position. Everyone on the island of Crete was feeling that the moment where they could see the pride of their island in the top league was very close.
In 1967/68 OFI finished in 2nd position and went into play-off games with the bottom team of the 1st division. The final match of the play-offs was to take place in the city of Chania, on 26/06/1968. OFI, with the help of 10,000 Cretans thrashed the team from the 1st division with a 3-0 win and made the dreams of thousands of supporters come true. OFI was an official member of the 1st National Division.
[edit] (1968-1971) Debut in the 1st League
OFI’s debut in the national 1st division was very difficult. “Omilos” ended the first round in 15th position. It was a very difficult task to remain in the league. However, in the 2nd round the Cretans played magnificently and finally finished in 12th place. In the next season OFI had already gained the experience of playing in the top league of Greek football. The “Snakes” finished in 13th place, but the strange thing was that OFI remained unbeaten in almost all of their home games in Heraklion. Only two teams managed to survive and leave Crete with an away win. Thus, even if OFI was not a feared opponent, all the other teams were anxious when taking the trip to the island of Crete.
1970/71 was the worse season the team from Heraklion ever had in the 1st Division. OFI ended in 17th position and was relegated for the last time in their history to the 2nd division. The whole season was a tragedy for the Cretans. OFI had to meet “old friends” from the 2nd division again and start battling again in order to be promoted for a second time.
[edit] (1971-1976) The last time in the 2nd league
OFI had been relegated again, but this time the 2nd division had changed entirely. After all, the championship had been more officially organized and opponents were tougher than before.
OFI spent another 5 seasons in the 2nd division, from 1971-72 to 1975-76. During the first season, the team was continually in 1st place.
Unfortunately, at the end of the season, OFI’s good performances deteriorated and they finally finished 4th. In 1972/73 the management decided on a complete overhaul of the squad. In these circumstances, the 13th position OFI achieved was predictable, yet a new era of the stars of OFI had just begun. In the next season OFI finished 6th and in 1974/75 they finished 5th. In the next season the league was divided again into two groups, each of 20 teams. The champions of each group would be promoted directly to the First National Division. OFI couldn’t afford to miss this chance.
Everything started perfectly for “Omilos” in 1975/76. They finished 1st at the end of the first round with a huge lead over the runners-up and then finished the season as champions. The whole island of Crete was celebrating the promotion of OFI to the 1st division. Up to the present, (2007), OFI have never been relegated again.
[edit] (1976-1985) The years before the arrival of Egen Gerard
During the first 3 seasons of OFI’s presence in the 1st Division, the Greek championship still had an amateur status. In 1976/77, even though OFI were rookies, they finished in 6th place and gained the admiration of the whole country. In addition to that, Dimitris Papadopoulos finished the top goal scorer of the season. In the next two seasons OFI finished 8th and 7th respectively. The strangest thing about these 2 seasons was that OFI was never defeated in Crete. Even the “heavyweights” of the league (Panathinaikos, Olympiakos, AEK & PAOK) struggled to win points when making the trip to the island of Crete.
In 1979/80 the championship in Greece was professionalised and in the middle of the season, the Vardinogiannis group bought the football club of OFI (see rival section). During that season, the only team that broke the home record of OFI was Panathinaikos. The Athenian team won in Heraklion extremely easily with a score line of 0-3. It was the only loss the Cretans endured on the island that year. Finally OFI finished in 11th position. In the next season Panathinaikos started carrying out their first experiments on OFI[citation needed]. Young players came from all over the country in order to play for “Omilos”. Partly because of this experimentation by the new owners OFI disappointingly finished in 13th position. In 1981/82 OFI finished in 9th place and in 1982/83 in 7th. It seemed clear that Theodoros Vardinogiannis wanted OFI to be a stronger team in the championship. He tried to achieve that, not by spending money for good players, but by sending 2nd hand players from Panathinaikos or rookies that could possibly be useful to OFI, but primarily, for Panathinaikos in the future. Thus, in 1983/84 3 goalkeepers, 1 midfielder and 1 defender came from the Athenian team to Crete.[citation needed]
The continuing experimentation caused OFI to be disappointed yet again. OFI finished in 8th place, exactly the same position they finished next season too. Although OFI’s results were not wonderful, this group of fresh players had gained experience and started to play like a team. The one thing that was missing was a good coach, who could get the best out of each player. This man arrived the following season.
[edit] (1985-2000) The Gerard years
Egen Gerard stayed on OFI’s bench for 15 years. This is still one record for Greek teams that won't be easily broken in the future. The 3 first years of Egen Gerard in Crete were nothing short of amazing. In 1985/86 OFI finished 2nd and lost the championship by just 5 points, finished 3rd in 1986/87 and 4th in 1987/88. In addition to those amazing feats in the championship, the team from Crete won the Greek Cup on the 21st of June, 1987 beating Iraklis 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. OFI was now one of the most successful teams of the country. The 1987/88 season was special for the Cretans for yet another reason - it was the first time that OFI finished in a better position than Panathinaikos, beating them 2-1 in Heraklion on the way, with a goal in last minute from Stefanos Vavoulas.
During these years OFI also participated in European competitions - in the UEFA Cup in 1986 and in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1987.
The next 3 seasons (1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92) were average for the pride of Crete. OFI finished 6th, 7th and 6th respectively, missing UEFA Cup qualification by a few points each year. Another important feat for OFI was that in June of 1990 OFI played once again in the final of the Greek Cup, this time against Olympiacos. The game took place in Olympiacos' home stadium and OFI lost 4-2. During the last of those 3 seasons, OFI brought an Argentinian young star to Crete – Victor Ougo Delgado. Unfortunately, his talent did not help the team much because he was soon transferred to Panathinaikos.
In 1992/93 OFI was great once again. OFI finished 4th and next year could participate in UEFA Cup once again. This year’s great star of OFI was Nikos Nioplias. After the end of previous season, the Vardinogiannis family decided that he might become useful in Athens, so he became the 3rd player to move on to Panathinaikos. Without this great star, OFI finished 7th in season 1993/94. Despite those facts, the name of OFI was first heard around Europe. In that season, OFI achieved the unthinkable - they eliminated Slavia Prague in the 1st round of the UEFA Cup and Atlético Madrid in the 2nd round (both 2-1 on aggregate). Nobody in Europe could believe that an unknown team like OFI could ever eliminate such great names in European football. OFI was eliminated in the 3rd round of the UEFA Cup by Portuguese club Boavista FC (Round of 16), yet was the only Greek team that lasted that long in European tournaments in that season.
In 1994/95, Panathinaikos were in dire need of a striker, and OFI had 2 top rated strikers from the previous season, Nikos Machlas and Alexis Alexoudis. Even though Panathinaikos wanted Machlas, he himself refused to go in Athens, and as a result, Panathinaikos grabbed Alexoudis. OFI ended in the 9th position this year. In the next season, Egen Gerard tried to build a new team with young players. Yet the Dutchman had lost 2 great players to Panathinaikos and Nikos Machlas was transferred to Vitesse Arnhem. OFI finished 5th and missed qualification in the UEFA Cup in the last game of the season.
1996/97 was an amazing season for “Omilos”. With the partipication of Nikos Nioplias (Panathinaikos did not need him anymore, so he was transferred back to OFI), OFI was in 2nd place before the winter break and 4 of their players were part of the Greek National Team. On the last day of the transfer period, Panathinaikos grabbed Kostas Konstantinidis, the best defender of OFI’s squad. Finally OFI finished 3rd in the championship by humiliating Panathinaikos 1 week before the end and leaving the team from Athens in 5th place, outside the positions leading to UEFA competitions. The whole island of Crete was again celebrating the great performance of OFI.
In the next 2 seasons, OFI finished in 7th and 8th position respectively, suffering constant humiliations by Panathinaikos in matches between the two, as revenge for what happened in May 1997. In addition to that, Kostas Kiassos, a great OFI midfielder, was the next 'victim' and was transferred to Panathinaikos. Nevertheless, OFI resumed their successful UEFA Cup campaigns. The pride of Crete eliminated Icelandic team Reykjavik FC in the second qualifying round (3-1 on aggregate) and Hungarian team Ferencváros in the 1st round proper,(4-2 on aggregate, with an unforgettable 3-0 victory in Crete). OFI’s European dream was ended by AJ Auxerre in the 2nd round of the UEFA Cup.
In the year 2000 and after 15 successful years, Egen Gerard announced his retirement from OFI's bench as the team finished 4th in the championship. It was the last time that OFI gained a position that lead to European competitions, and the last season that OFI was considered one of the top teams in Greece.
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Managerial history
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[edit] Statistics
[edit] Appearances in OFI's shirt only, in Professional First League only (1980-present)
As of end of 2005-06 season
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[edit] Appearances in OFI's shirt only, in 1st division generally (1968-71) & (1976-present)
As of end of 2005-06 season
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[edit] External links
- The official web site of the most powerful OFI supporters club
- site
- OFI Crete Amateur sports official web site
- The second most powerful OFI supporters club in Heraklion
- OFI Crete Tei-Club
- OFI Crete Irc Page
- Official Ofi Crete Myspace Page
