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
Head Coach	Chris Coleman
League	Football League
2010–11	14th (relegated)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours
Current season

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). It has 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 Football League .

Contents 1 History 2 Titles 2.1 Greek Cup 2006–07 winners 2.2 Achievements 2.3 Records 3 Stadium 4 Crest and colors 5 Supporters 5.1 1985-2007 Cups & 1988 Championship Lineups 6 Current squad 7 Youth squad U-21 7.1 Out on loan 7.1.1 Foreign players 8 Coaching and medical staff 9 Managerial history 10 Notable former players 11 European competition history 12 UEFA Team Ranking 2011/2012 12.1 League history statistics 12.2 Training Facilities 13 Sponsors 14 References 15 External links

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. In the same year the club was saved from relegation to Delta Ethniki in the last game of the season. Next year things were much better as the club finished 2nd in Football League 2 (Greece) and was promoted to Football League (Greece) starting a fine period for Larissa 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. It has been particularly successful in the Greek Cup, winning in 2007 for a second time after 23 years. It has also played in UEFA Cup 2007–08, reaching the group stage by eliminating Blackburn Rovers. In 2008–2009 season the team finished 5th in Super League and won an UEFA Europa League place, but was eliminated in the 2nd qualifying round by KR Reykjavik (1–1,0–2). In 2011 Larissa was once again relegated to Football League (Greece) after a disappointing 14th place finish.

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 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 11,000 AEL fans in the stadium 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

Records

• Record home attendance – 18,493 v. Panathinaikos, 27 December 1987 (At the old home ground Alcazar Stadium).
• Most appearances - Giannis Galitsios – 399
• All-time top scorer - Michalis Ziogas – 92

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 up to 20,000, while it holds a UEFA 3-Star rating. The organized supporters Monsters and S.F. Alkazar gather in Gates 1 & 2.

Crest and colors

The emblem of the club is a wild rising horse (same as the symbol of the city), believed to be an ancient thessalian-breed horse like Alexander the Great's Bucephalus.Its colors are crimson and white.

Supporters

Monsters is the largest Larissa F.C. supporters club. The first attempt to organise Larissa's supporters was made in 31 March 1982 during a game against Diagoras F.C..30 fans that belonged to the older but old fashioned club Ierolochites where gathered in the Gate D of the old Alcazar Stadium that was meant to be the legendary Gate-1 afterwards.Monsters club was formed as an idea of having a true and passionate support to the team without restrictions or boundaries.The fans tend to use various styles and sizes of banners and flags bearing the name and symbols of their club and follow the team since the first day everywhere in Greece and Europe.

S.F. Alkazar (Greek: Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Αλκαζάρ) is the second bigger club of Larissa F.C. supporters.

1985-2007 Cups & 1988 Championship Lineups

Michail Agorogiannis Galitsios(c) Mitsibonas Kolomitrousis Voutiritsas Alexoulis Karapialis Tsiolis Valaoras Ziogas

1988 Greek Championship most common starting lineup (4-4-2)

Plitsis Parafestas(c) Galitsios Mitsibonas Kolomitrousis Valaoras Voutiritsas Adamczyk Andreoudis Kmiecik Ziogas

1985 Greek Cup Final starting lineup vs. PAOK F.C. (4-3-3)

Kotsolis Galitsios Dabizas(c) Föerster Venetidis Digozis Bassila Cleyton Fotakis Aloneftis Kožlej

2007 Greek Cup Final starting lineup vs. Panathinaikos F.C. (4-5-1)

Current squad

As of 23 December 2011

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 (captain) 4 DF Nikos Arabatzis 5 MF Konstantinos Chatzis 6 MF Konstantinos Nebegleras (2nd captain) 7 MF Dimitris Pliagas 8 MF Toni González 9 FW Joël Tshibamba 12 DF Cyril Kali 15 GK Dimitri Prifti 17 FW Antonios Vouzas 19 DF Naim Aarab 20 DF Nikos Karanikas 21 MF Romeu

No. Position Player 22 FW Dimitris Hasomeris 23 DF Lazaros Fotias 24 FW Zequinha 26 DF Dimitrios Kolovetsios 33 DF Athanasios Papageorgiou 45 FW Manthos Fallagas 71 FW Alexandros Karachalios 77 DF Panagiotis Katsiaros (3rd captain) 92 MF Savas Siatravanis 99 FW Georgios Saitiotis MF Fabricio Poci MF Blendi Moutsa DF Alexandros Galitsios DF Manolis Psomas FW Vaggelis Kaounos

Youth squad U-21

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 GK Tasos Papagiannis DF Christos Nonis DF Makis Mpourouzikas DF Filippos Tziolis DF Antonios Panagiotou DF Panagiotis Patras DF Christos Holevas DF Fanourios Vorgias MF Vasilios Papageorgiou

No. Position Player MF Sotirios Tsiloulis MF Christos Agrodimos MF Nikolaos Karathanasis MF Kostantinos Eleftheriadis MF Thomas Tsirogiannis MF Georgios Pappas MF Nikolaos Pappas FW Ioannis Papaioannou FW Anastasios Kritikos FW Fotis Goudroumpis

For recent transfers, see List of Greek football transfers summer 2011

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 Sander Puri (to Lombard-Pápa TFC) GK Christos Batavanis (to A.S. Pyrgetos)

Foreign players

EU Nationals Naim Aarab Cyril Kali Antonio González Rodríguez Zequinha

EU Nationals (Dual citizenship) Fabricio Poci Joël Tshibamba

Non-EU Nationals Romeu

Coaching and medical staff

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Chris Coleman
Assistant Coach	Nikolaos Kotsovos
Youth Team Coach	Athanasios Koutsaftikis
Technical Director	Andreas Bonovas
General Manager	Dimitrios Tsakmakidis
Goalkeeping Coach	Nikolaos Gkoulios
Fitness Coach	Georgios Pidoulas
Team Doctor	Antonios Tsagalis
Team Physiotherapist	Georgios Zacharis
Assistant Physiotherapist	Ilias Pappas
Assistant Physiotherapist	Odysseas Pagias
Chief Scout	Giannis Alexoulis
Team Kit Manager	Christos Triantafyllou

Managerial history

Name Season Matches Alexander Petrovic 1964-65 30 Dionysis Minardos 1965-66 30 Alexandros Vogas 1966-67 32 Giourkas Seitaridis 1967-68 30 Lefteris Papadakis 1968-69 26 Theodoros Sirganis 1968-69 8 Giannis Helmis 1969-70 13 Theodoros Sirganis 1969-70 14 Apostolos Chabibis 1969-70 7 Christos Kletsas 1970-71 3 Kostas Ziogas 1970-71 6 Giorgos Tsalopoulos (†) 1970-71 1 Kostas Polychroniou 1970-71 13 Kostas Polychroniou 1971-72 38 Stefan Karamfilovic 1972-73 38 Ivan Kochev 1973-74 34 Ivan Kochev 1974-75 5 Dan Georgiadis (†) 1974-75 15 AEL 1964 FC 1974-75 1 Ivan Kochev 1974-75 13 Lakis Progios 1975-76 5 Horacio Morales 1975-76 4 Nikos Alefantos 1975-76 3 Horacio Morales 1975-76 26 Giorgos Petridis 1976-77 14 Giorgos Tsalopoulos (†) 1976-77 2 Antonis Georgiadis 1976-77 8 Vangelis Balopoulos 1976-77 14 Pavlos Grigoriadis 1977-78 13 Giannis Zafiropoulos 1977-78 25

Name Season Matches Milan Ribar 1978-79 34 Kostas Polychroniou 1979-80 34 Antonis Georgiadis 1980-81 34 Antonis Georgiadis 1981-82 34 Jacek Gmoch 1982-83 34 Walter Skocik 1983-84 30 Andrzej Strejlau 1984-85 30 Andrzej Strejlau 1985-86 26 Kostas Tsakos 1985-86 4 Jacek Gmoch 1986-87 28 Jacek Gmoch 1987-88 29 Horacio Morales 1987-88 1 Vladimír Táborský 1988-89 30 Marcin Bohinek 1989-90 34 Marcin Bohinek 1990-91 5 Nikos Alefantos 1990-91 4 Hristo Bonev 1990-91 25 Hristo Bonev 1991-92 34 Hristo Bonev 1992-93 34 Jacek Gmoch 1993-94 10 Sotiris Koukouthakis 1993-94 1 Christos Archontidis 1993-94 23 Vassilis Daniil 1994-95 34 Ioannis Matzourakis 1995-96 5 Kostas Siavalas, Leonidas Efstathiou 1995-96 1 Andreas Michalopoulos 1995-96 28 Giorgos Foiros 1996-97 17 Kostas Siavalas, Dimitris Simeonidis 1996-97 2 Christos Archontidis 1996-97 3 Kostas Siavalas, Dimitris Simeonidis 1996-97 12

Name Season Matches Kazimierz Kmiecik 1997-98 8 Zoran Babović 1997-98 26 Zoran Babović 1998-99 15 Nikos Argyroulis 1998-99 14 Paris Meintanis 1998-99 2 Leonidas Efstathiou 1998-99 3 Nebojša Ličanin 1999-00 19 Takis Parafestas 1999-00 15 Nikos Argyroulis 2000-01 8 Giannis Alexoulis 2000-01 9 Michalis Ziogas 2000-01 13 Vangelis Vouroukos 2001-02 21 Kostas Siavalas 2001-02 9 Takis Sourlatzis 2002-03 3 Christos Gkatas 2002-03 22 Horacio Morales 2002-03 5 Takis Parafestas 2002-03 8 Takis Parafestas 2003-04 38 Giorgos Donis 2004-05 30 Giorgos Donis 2005-06 30 Giorgos Donis 2006-07 30 Giorgos Donis 2007-08 30 Marinos Ouzounidis 2008-09 36 Marinos Ouzounidis 2009-10 23 Giannis Papakostas 2009-10 7 Giannis Papakostas 2010-11 12 Kostas Katsaras 2010-11 2 Jørn Andersen 2010-11 3 Nikos Kostenoglou 2010-11 13 Chris Coleman 2011-12

Notable former players

Greece Giorgos Agorogiannis Alexandros Alexandris Giannis Alexoulis Christos Andreoudis Panagiotis Bahramis (†) Efstathios Chaitas Nikos Dabizas Angelos Digozis Georgios Fotakis Giorgios Galitsios Ioannis Galitsios Theofanis Gekas Stelios Giannakopoulos Vassilios Karapialis Fotis Kipouros Konstantinos Kolomitrousis Stefanos Kotsolis Dimitrios Koukoulitsios (†) Thomas Kyparissis Konstantinos Maloumidis Christos Melissis Christos Michail Chrisostomos Michailidis Georgios Mitsibonas (†) Evaggelos Moras Dimitrios Mousiaris (†) Evangelos Nastos Theologis Papadopoulos Takis Parafestas Nikolaos Patsiavouras Georgios Plitsis Dimitris Salpigidis Efstathios Tavlaridis Athanasios Tsiolis Ioannis Valaoras Spyros Vallas Theodoros Voutiritsas Michail Ziogas

Albania Lefter Millo (†) Argentina Gastón Casas Enrique Alberto Cavoli Guillermo Daus (†) Mauricio Ferrari Daniel Roberto Hil Walter Iglesias Horacio Oscar Morales Milton Axel Müller Facundo Parra Marcelo Sarmiento Giorgio Vajeho Austria Sanel Kuljić Belgium Mbo Mpenza Brazil Césinha Cleyton Delson Flávio Guga Marcello Troisi Moreira Marcello Isa Paolo Queiroz Da Silva Ricardo Jesus Vela Junior Bulgaria Divan Bozilov Atanasov Vasil Dragolov Mariyan Gerasimov Gosho Petkov Georgi Tsingov Burundi Nuredin Ndikumana Cameroon Thierry Modo Abouna David Embe Jean-Pierre Fiala Serge Honi Geremi Njitap Congo Moulamba Kaniemba Ricky Lokela Côte d'Ivoire Ibrahima Bakayoko Franck Manga Guela

Croatia Tomislav Vranjić Cyprus Nektarios Alexandrou Efstathios Aloneftis Antonis Makris Czech Republic Jan Blažek Rudolf Skácel France Christian Bassila Fabrice Pancrate Laurent Robert F.Y.R.O.M. Ivan Spasovski Gabon Henry Antchouet Daniel Cousin Germany Marco Foerster Christian Weber Iran Koji Hasenburg Ireland Paul Bannon Israel Shimon Abuhatzira Salim Tuama Mexico Antonio de Nigris (†) Nigeria Stephen Makinwa Henry Okorocha Peru Nolberto Solano Poland Krzysztof Adamczyk Krzysztof Baran Józef Dankowski Dawid Jarka Jan Karaś Jacek Kasperczak Kazimierz Kmiecik Janusz Kupcewicz Arkadiusz Malarz Maciej Żurawski

Portugal Filipe da Costa Hélder Luís Boa Morte Romania Dennis Şerban Ştefan Stoica Senegal Ibrahim Tall Serbia Žarko Dragaš Saša Ilić Velimir Ivanović Dragan Knežević Simo Krunić Slobodan Miletic Ivan Nedeljković Goran Perišić Dejan Radojkovic Zoran Riznić Aleksandar Simić Sladjan Spasić Dennis Tonković Slovakia Kamil Čontofalský Igor Klejch Ján Kozák Jozef Kožlej Rastislav Jan Lazorik Slovenia Janez Pate Aleksandar Radosavljevič Dino Seremet Mirnes Šišić Spain Juan Velasco Damas Toni Muñoz Sweden Mikael Rönnberg Ivo Vazgeč Turkey Tümer Metin Ukraine Viktor Dvirnyk Uruguay Fabián Canobbio Sebastian Viera Yugoslavia Enver Hadžiabdić

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

UEFA Team Ranking 2011/2012

Rank	Country	Team	Points
158		NAC Breda	9.523
159		Brøndby IF	9.465
160		Larissa F.C.	9.440
161		FC Politehnica Timişoara	9.164
162		ADO Den Haag	9.023

As of November 30, 2011.^[2]

League history statistics

Season	League	Rank	Win-Draw-Lost	Goals F/A	Points
1964-65	Division 2	5	15-4-11	34-30	64
1965-66	Division 2	3	15-9-6	39-30	69
1966-67	Division 2	10	10-10-12	38-45	62
1967-68	Division 2	14	9-8-13	33-42	55
1968-69	Division 2	17	11-4-19	37-43	60
1969-70	Division 2	13	9-11-14	34-45	63
1970-71	Division 2	4	15-15-4	39-25	79
1971-72	Division 2	2	26-6-6	71-25	96
1972-73	Division 2	1	27-6-5	68-19	98
1973-74	Division 1	9	11-10-13	31-40	32
1974-75	Division 1	18	5-7-22	24-59	17
1975-76	Division 2	5	15-12-11	58-42	42
1976-77	Division 2	3	19-8-11	63-40	46
1977-78	Division 2	1	25-9-4	58-17	59
1978-79	Division 1	12	15-5-19	34-53	29
1979-80	Division 1	8	13-8-13	33-44	34
1980-81	Division 1	6	14-9-11	42-40	37
1981-82	Division 1	10	12-7-15	40-38	31
1982-83	Division 1	2	18-9-7	54-27	45
1983-84	Division 1	6	13-6-11	28-29	32
1984-85	Division 1	6	14-7-9	55-35	35
1985-86	Division 1	8	12-6-12	36-31	30
1986-87	Division 1	9	10-5-15	24-31	25
1987-88	Division 1	1	18-7-5	51-22	43
1988-89	Division 1	6	10-14-6	37-34	34
1989-90	Division 1	8	12-10-12	35-38	34
1990-91	Division 1	12	10-9-15	38-46	29
1991-92	Division 1	8	11-9-14	40-46	31
1992-93	Division 1	7	11-10-13	36-42	43
1993-94	Division 1	10	11-9-14	45-53	42
1994-95	Division 1	11	11-7-16	41-46	40
1995-96	Division 1	16	9-7-18	32-64	37
1996-97	Division 2	6	15-10-9	44-32	55
1997-98	Division 2	9	11-13-10	37-42	46
1998-99	Division 2	8	13-7-14	45-47	46
1999-00	Division 2	6	16-7-11	55-39	55
2000-01	Division 2	15	8-6-16	28-41	30
2001-02	Division 3	7	12-6-12	37-34	42
2002-03	Division 3	15	11-13-14	33-40	43
2003-04	Division 3	2	24-5-9	58-34	77
2004-05	Division 2	1	17-7-6	56-25	58
2005-06	Division 1	8	10-9-11	31-37	39
2006-07	Division 1	10	9-9-12	30-38	36
2007-08	Division 1	6	11-12-7	35-30	45
2008-09	Division 1	5	12-13-5	36-26	49
2009-10	Division 1	8	10-7-13	31-42	37
2010-11	Division 1	14	5-10-15	29-47	25

• Point system: 1959–60 to 1972–73: 3–2–1. 1973–74 to 1991–92: 2–1–0. 1992–93 onwards: 3–1–0.

Training Facilities

Larissa F.C. has its own training facilities in the area of the village Dendra, near Tyrnavos. Those facilities cover over 30,000 square meters, have multisport purposes for all Larissa F.C.'s athletes and among the others include :

• 3 football fields (1 used by the first team, with 1.500 seats capacity and 1 for the U21 team's official matches.)
• 1 football field with artificial turf.
• Hosting area for the First and Reserves teams.
• Gym.
• Saunas.
• Rooms for tactical purposes.
• Press room.
• Changing rooms.
• Offices.
• Parking services.

Sponsors

The main sponsor of Larissa F.C. is OPAP – Pame Stihima, Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics S.A. (Greek: Ο.Π.Α.Π. – Οργανισμός Προγνωστικών Αγώνων Ποδοσφαίρου Α.Ε.)

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
• Οπαδικό forum της Λάρισας
• Larissa FC Forum
• AEL FANS
• Vissini.gr NEWS
• ΑΕΛ.gr NEWS
• ΛΕΣΧΗ ΦΙΛΩΝ ΑΕΛ