Apollon Kalamarias F.C.

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Apollon Kalamarias
Apollon Kalamarias FC crest
Full name Απόλλων Καλαμαριάς
Apollon Kalamarias
(Apollon of Kalamaria FC)
Nickname(s) Πόντιοι Pontioi(=Pontians)
Rossoneri (Red-blacks)
Founded 1926
Ground Apollon Kalamaria Stadium, Kalamaria,
Thessaloniki, Greece
(Capacity 7,000)
Chairman Flag of Greece Ilias Damilos
Manager Flag of Greece Makis Katsavakis
League Beta Ethniki
(Βήτα Εθνικη)
2007-08 Super League Greece, 16th (Relegated)
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

Apollon Kalamarias (Greek: Απόλλων Καλαμαριάς) is a Greek association football club based in the district of Kalamaria, in southeast Thessaloniki, Greece.

The club will compete in Beta Ethniki for the 2008-2009 season.

Contents

[edit] History

When thousands of Pontic Greek refugees settled in and around Thessaloniki after the Greco-Turkish War and the subsequent population exchange, a group of them formed a musical club to continue their local traditions.The club's first emblem was the image of ancient Olympian god Apollo, Greek God of music and poetry.

Growing in popularity amongst the inhabitants of Kalamaria, the club soon expanded with a theatrical department, and later, a sports department. It was around this time the club colours were chosen - red, and black. The football club was formed in January, 1926.

The team had been in and out of Greek first division until international businessman and former owner of Kalamata FC, Stavros Papadopoulos, bought the team in 2001. Papadopoulos invested money into the team and brought in many young players from Brazil, and the team gained promotion to the Greek first division within two years. Papadopoulos has relinquished the running of the team since 2004.

The team is planning to build a new modern stadium (15,000 seats) in 2008.

[edit] Notable former players

[edit] Current squad 2007/08

As of February 21, 2008

No. Position Player
1 Flag of Greece GK Emmanouil Bantis
2 Flag of Greece MF Aristidis Galanopoulos
3 Flag of Poland MF Maciej Murawski
4 Flag of Greece MF Nikolaos Samouilidis
5 Flag of Greece DF Georgios Koltsis
6 Flag of Greece MF Dimitrios Kontodimos
7 Flag of Greece MF Dimitrios Karamanlis
8 Flag of Greece DF Nikolaos Papadopoulos (vice-captain)
9 Flag of Greece MF Georgios Lanaris
10 Flag of Argentina MF Lucas Gabriel Favalli
11 Flag of Brazil MF Gonçalves Wellington
12 Flag of Italy GK Matias Omar Diegra
13 Flag of Greece FW Vasilios Chatzivasiliadis
14 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia DF Vance Sikov (on loan from Olympiakos Piraeus)
15 Flag of Greece GK Christos Kelpekis (vice-captain)
16 Flag of Greece DF Ioannis Stathis
17 Flag of Greece FW Konstantinos Lazaridis
No. Position Player
18 Flag of Greece DF Merkourios Karaliopolous
19 Flag of Greece DF Achilleas Sarakatsanos
20 Flag of Albania FW Alban Bushi
21 Flag of Greece MF Georgios Barkoglou
22 Flag of Greece MF Emmanouil Spiridakis
23 Flag of Australia FW Apostoli Giannou
24 Flag of Brazil MF Eduardo Brito
25 Flag of Ghana DF Kofi Amponsah
26 Flag of Greece MF Stergios Psianos
27 Flag of Brazil MF Giuseppe Vela Junior
29 Flag of Greece MF Konstantinos Ntountoukis
33 Flag of Greece DF Ioannis Zapropoulos
56 Flag of Finland MF Perparim Hetemaj (on loan from AEK Athens)
Flag of Austria FW Roman Wallner
Flag of Greece MF Anargiros Nikitopoulos
Flag of Greece MF Vassilios Myroforidis (on loan to AO Kavala)




[edit] External links

Official sites

Fans