AEL 1964 FC

AEL 1964

Full name	PAE Athlitiki Enosi Larissas 1964 (Athletic Union of Larissa 1964 FC)
Nickname(s)	Vasilissa tou Kambou ("Queen of the Lowlands") Vyssini ("The Crimsons")
Founded	17 May 1964
Ground	AEL FC Arena, Larissa, Greece (Capacity: 16,118)
Chairman	Konstantinos Piladakis
Manager	Giannis Papakostas
League	Super League Greece
2009-10	Super League Greece, 8th
Home colours Away colours

AEL 1964 F.C., fully the Athletic Union of Larissa 1964 (Greek: Π.Α.Ε. Αθλητική Ένωση Λάρισας 1964, Athlitiki Enosi Larissas 1964), is a Greek association football club based in the city of Larissa, capital of Greece's Thessaly region. The club is also known, unofficially, as Larissa. It is the only FC outside the two big Greek cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, to have won the Greek Championship (1988). They also have won two Greek Cups (1985, 2007) and played in an additional two Cup finals (1982, 1984). This record places AEL amongst the top 5 of Greek Football.

The team currently competes in the Super League Greece.

History

The club was founded as Athlitiki Enosi Larissas in 1964, the result of a merger of four local clubs - Iraklis Larissas, Aris Larissas, Toxotis Larissas and Larissaikos. It was promoted to the first division in season 1972-73, but stayed at that level for only two years. After a second promotion (1977-78) Larissa reached the cup final three times (1982, 1984, 1985) winning the last 4-1 against PAOK. After winning the 1988 championship, the club fell into decline and by 2000 it had been relegated to the third division, going through bankruptcy. In 2003, the club was forced to change its name to AEL 1964 as a result of the bankruptcy. The 2004-2005 season proved to be very fruitful for the club, as it won the second division (achieving double promotion) and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup. AEL has had some good seasons in the First Division ever since. They have been particularly successful in the Greek Cup, winning in 2007 for a second time after 23 years. They also played in UEFA Cup 2007-08, reaching the group stage by eliminating Blackburn Rovers. In 2008-2009 season the team finished 5th in SuperLeague and won an UEFA Europa League place, but were eliminated in the 2nd qualifying round by KR Reykjavik (1-1,0-2).

Titles

AEL 1964 is the only countryside based team to win the Greek Alpha Ethniki (now Super League Greece) Championship, when they did so in 1988. The club also won the Greek football Cup twice: in 1985 by beating PAOK FC in the final (4-1) and in 2007 by beating Panathinaikos 2-1. Before that, AEL 1964 made the finals of the Greek Cup twice, losing in both 1982 and 1984 to Panathinaikos.

Greek Cup 2006-07 winners

AEL fans during the 2007 Greek Cup Final at the Panthessaliko Stadium on May 5, 2007.

AEL lifted the 2007 cup for the second time in their history after beating favourites Panathinaikos by a one goal margin^[1]. Two goals gave underdog AEL the Cup by stunning their opposition who were in the midst of a disappointing season both nationally and in Europe. The first goal came early in the match as at the third minute AEL won a free kick which was taken by Georgios Fotakis and headed in by striker Jozef Kozlej. Just before the end of the first half Panathinaikos won a penalty and Dimitris Papadopoulos stepped up to make the score even on the 44th minute. As the match was approaching its end Henri Antchouet scored with a strong shot after an excellent long pass from Georgios Fotakis to give AEL the lead. AEL then kept the lead, sealing a glorious day for the unlikely winners. The 10,000 AEL fans deliriously celebrated the goal as the opposing fans felt the disappointment of having to end the season trophyless despite high expectations.

Achievements

• Super League Greece
  • Winners: 1988
  • Runners-Up: 1983
• Greek Cup
  • Winners: 1985, 2007
  • Runners-Up: 1982, 1984

Stadium

AEL plays at the new ground, the AEL FC Arena in Neapoli District. The new stadium's capacity is 16,118 seats and can be expanded to 18,000.

Current squad

AEL fans in Veria during a game in January 2008.

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Dimitrios Sotiriou 3 DF Stylianos Venetidis 4 DF Nikos Dabizas 5 DF Efstathios Tavlaridis 6 DF Ibrahim Tall 7 MF Aleksandar Simić 8 MF Geremi Njitap 9 FW Daniel Cousin 11 MF Tümer Metin 14 FW Vasilios Rentzas 17 FW Antonios Vouzas 19 FW Shimon Abuhatzira 20 DF Nikolaos Karanikas 21 MF Romeu

No. Position Player 23 DF Juan Velasco 26 DF Dimitrios Kolovetsios 27 MF Fabián Canobbio 28 MF Sander Puri 40 GK Georgios Ambaris 42 MF Walter Iglesias 45 FW Manthos Fallagas 71 GK Christos Batavanis 77 DF Panagiotis Katsiaros 82 FW Stephen Makinwa 83 GK Sebastián Viera 88 FW Jan Blažek 92 FW Savas Siatravanis

'For recent transfers, see List of Greece football transfers summer 2010

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player DF Naim Aarab (at R. Charleroi)

Coaching and medical staff

• Manager: Chris Coleman
• Fitness Coach: Giannis Gkiokas
• Goalkeeping Coach: Christos Michail
• Masseurs: Apostolos Dritsas, Odysseas Pagias
• Chief Scout: Dionisis Katramados
• Youth Team Manager: Konstantinos Katsaras
• Youth Team Assistant Manager: Christos Kapelianis

Managerial history

• Giorgos Donis (2004-08)
• Marinos Ouzounidis (2008-10)

Notable former players

European competition history

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away
1983–84	UEFA Cup	1st Round	Budapest Honvéd	2–0	0–3 (a.e.t.)
1984–85	Cup Winners' Cup	1st Round	Siófok	2–0	1–1
		2nd Round	Servette	2–1	1–0
		Quarter finals	Dynamo Moscow	0–0	0–1
1985–86	Cup Winners' Cup	1st Round	Sampdoria	1–1	0–1
1988–89	European Cup	1st Round	Neuchâtel Xamax	2–1	1–2 (0–3 p)
2006–07	Intertoto Cup	3rd Round	Kayserispor	0–0	0–2
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1st Round	Blackburn Rovers	2–0	1–2
		Group Stage (Group A)	Everton		1–3
			Zenit St. Petersburg	2–3
			AZ Alkmaar		0–1
			Nuremberg	1–3
2009–10	Europa League	2nd Qual. Round	KR Reykjavík	1–1	0–2

League history

Sources: ^[2][3]

Sponsors

The main sponsor of Larissa F.C. is On Telecoms, a triple play (telephone, internet and television) telecommunications provider.

References

External links

Official Sites

• Official site
• Larissa TV channel from Goal4Replay.net (English) (Greek)

Fan clubs

• Monsters Fan Club
• Athens Fan Club
• Alkazar Fan Club
• Vissinokippos Fan Club
• Larissa FC Forum
• AEL FANS
• AEL TV