Atromitos F.C.

Atromitos Athens
Full name P.A.E. A.P.S. Atromitos Athens
Π.Α.Ε. Α.Π.Σ. Ατρόμητος Αθηνών
Founded 1923
Ground Peristeri Stadium
Peristeri, Athens
(Capacity: 10,200)
Μajor shareholder Georgios Spanos
Chairman Georgios Spanos
Manager Giorgos Donis
League Super League Greece
2010–11 Super League Greece, 8th
Website Club home page
Home colours
Away colours
Third colours

Atromitos FC is a football club based in Peristeri, Athens that plays in the Super League Greece.

Contents

History

Atromitos FC was officially founded in May 1923 when Kalomvounis, Petos, Glykofridis, Stathopoulos, Synodinos, Rigopoulos, Stamatopoulos, and other students living in Victoria Square (which was then called Kyriakou Square) decided to form a football team. That same year, Vaggelis Stamatis, a mathematics teacher and member of the Panhellenic football league, joined the administrative board of Atromitos. Because of his prominence in pre-war Greek football history, Stamatis' involvement increased the new team's stature in Athenian football. In 1924, Atromitos was accepted into the Greek football league.

At the time, Atromitos played at the Panellinios football grounds, Panathinaikos, and in Aris park. During their first season in the league's first division, they ended in third place (behind Panathinaikos and AEK). In 1928, they defeated Goudi 4–3 in the final game at Rouf stadium to become champions of Athens.

That same year, they took part (in the champions condition) in the first Panhellenic Championship, which was organised by EPO. On May 24, 1928, they were beaten 3–1 by Aris (who later became champions) in an away game, and were defeated again on June 3 by Ethnicos Pireaus 5–0. On June 10, they managed a draw at home against Ethnicos 1–1, before losing again to Aris 3–1 seven days later.

During the following two years, Atromitos stayed in the upper part of the first division of Athens, and in 1929, they finished third behind Panathinaikos and AEK Athens. They repeated the feat in 1930. They relegated from the championship in 1931. In 1932, Iosiph Chouroukchoglou and Nikolaos Epioglou decided to move Atromitos to Peristeri. Earlier, it was located in the same area as Panathinaikos, and they had found it hard to establish a large fan base or develop a unique identity. They played again it in seasons of 1933–34, 1938–39, 1939–40 before ocuupation of Greece. They played again in Panhellenic championship between 1945–1951, 1952–1953, 1956–1959.

Atromitos played in Alpha Ethniki in 1960–61 season and played in the second division until May 1972 when, under the coaching of Savva Papazoulou, they were re-promoted to the first level. It proved a change too hard to handle, and they were demoted the following year. In 1975, a better-prepared Atromitos returned to the first division with a large fanbase, and ended the year in 13th place, securing their spot in the top flight. In 1976 they improved to end the season in 9th place, the best in the club's history. But, they relegated in 1977.

By 1981, Atromitos had succeeded in attracting renowned players such as Stylianopoulos, Álvarez, Toskas and Athanasopoulos. However, despite high expectations, the club played for the last time in the top flight, and once more returned to the lower divisions. After years of playing in the third division, Atromitos won promotion back to the second division in May 2002 by beating Levadiakos FC at Patra stadium. The team played again in the top flight between 2005–2008 by merging with Halkidona and returned to the top flight after playing one season in the second division in 2008–2009.

In the 2010-2011 season Atromitos Fc made a historic run to the Greek Cup Final. However, they lost 3-0 to AEK.

Supporters

Atromitos are based in western Athens and their main supporters club is called Fentagin. They are dedicated to support the local football team.

Previous chairmen

Former chairmen of the club include Iosiph Chouroukchoglou, Nikolaos Epioglou, Nikolaos Chakiris, Adonis Galaios, Stefanos Kaloumenos, Evaggelos Stais, Takis Anevlavis, Adonis Ksipnitos, Pavlos Panoutsopoulos, Stamatis Glykos, Andreas Koulopoulos, Giorgos Douros, Vasilis Petrou, Yiannis Kurtis, Kostas Stathakis, Vasilis Chigos and Tasos Papanikolas. Giorgos Spanos is the present chairman.

Stadium

The home ground of Atromitos was once well-maintained but has been recently neglected. In its early days, Peristeri had grown to become the fourth largest municipality in Greece. The first club home ground was the grounds of "Bravery", which was located beyond the last shanty town of Evaggelistria.

In 1953, Atromitos moved to their present location, which contained only central stands for the spectators; the changing rooms consisted of a small room at the end of the stands. Much later, a larger stand was built with a capacity of 6,000 spectators. It was also used for non-football purposes, such as musical performances.

During the chairmanship of Victor Mitropoulos in EPAE, blue and white plastic seats were installed in the central stand. Before the Athens Olympics, Atromitos installed floodlights and renovated the running track so the ground could be used as a coaching facility during the Olympic Games. Under the football ground there are spaces and facilities for activities such as wrestling, chess and boxing. The organised fan club, "The Fedayeen", also have a space underneath the stands.

Repairs to fragile parts of the stadium due to humidity and earthquake damage are expected to be carried out.

Current squad

As of 28 August, 2011[1] 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 Charles Itandje
2 DF Ioannis Skondras
3 DF Evangelos Ikonomou
5 DF Wayne Thomas
6 DF Sokratis Fytanidis
7 MF Andreas Tatos
8 MF Denis Epstein
9 MF Brito
10 FW Thanasis Karagounis
11 MF Nikola Beljić
12 GK Fotis Karagiolidis
13 DF Evangelos Nastos
14 FW Ilias Anastasakos
No. Position Player
16 MF Panagiotis Ballas
18 DF Kostas Giannoulis
19 MF Stelios Sfakianakis
20 FW Tasos Karamanos
21 MF Elini Dimoutsos
22 MF Antonis Athanasiou
23 FW Kostas Mitroglou
24 DF Francisco Zuela
26 MF Pitu
30 GK Velimir Radman
33 MF Giorgos Makris
38 DF Apostolos Argyros
For recent transfers, see List of Greek football transfers summer 2011.

Staff

Players 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
MF Lefteris Intzoglou (at Pierikos F.C. until the end of 2011–12 season)

Notable players

Greece
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Cameroon
Cyprus
Egypt
France
Liberia
Paraguay
Peru
Poland
Spain
  • José Luis Reyes
  • Miguel Ángel
  • Sergio Cirio
Syria
Venezuela
Zimbabwe
  • Zenzo Moyo

Former coaches

European matches

Season Competition Round Club Home Away
2006–07 UEFA Cup 1st Round Sevilla 1–2 0–4

Honours

Beta Ethniki

Greek Cup

References

  1. ^ http://www.atromitosfc.gr/english/the-team/football-players/
  2. ^ "Beta Ethniki 1979–80". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesg/grk2hist.html#80. 
  3. ^ "Atromitos are champions". in.gr. May 18, 2009. http://sports.in.gr/football/bethniki/article/?aid=1015004.  {{gr icon{}}
  4. ^ "2010–11 Greek Cup Final, match report". Hellenic Football Federation. http://www.epo.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18788.  (Greek)

External links