Ergotelis F.C.
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| Full name |
PAE Ergotelis (ΠΑΕ Εργοτέλης) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Οι Κρητικοί (the Cretans) | |||
| Founded | 7 August 1929 | |||
| Ground |
Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion | |||
| Capacity | 26,240 | |||
| Owner |
 Dimitris Papoutsakis | |||
| President |
Giannis Daskalakis | |||
| Manager |
Marinos Ouzounidis | |||
| League | Super League | |||
| 2012–13 | Football League, 2nd (Promoted) | |||
| Website | Club home page | |||
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Ergotelis FC (Greek: Εργοτέλης) is a Greek football club based in Heraklion, the largest city of the Greek island of Crete. The name itself, Ergotelis, was that of a famous ancient Cretan expatriate Olympic runner Ergoteles of Himera.
History
Early years
Ergotelis was established as an amateur club of Cretan footballers in 1929 by prominent Heraklion citizens, mainly refugees from Asia Minor. The club's foundation, as well as its first ever recorded game, a friendly 4-0 win against local side Leon (Greek: Λέων) held at Chandax (Greek: Χάνδαξ) stadium on August 4, 1929, was reported onto local newspaper 'Eleythera Skepsis' (Greek: Ελευθέρα Σκέψις) on Wednesday, 7 August 1929.[1] The newly founded football club was named after Ergoteles of Himera, an ancient Cnossian athlete and first Olympic champion native to the modern Heraklion prefecture.
Since its early days, Ergotelis showed the progressive ideals of its founders, being one of the first sports clubs in Greece to allow women into its sporting divisions, as well as its board of directors. The team gradually gained its own football ground on Martinengo Bastion, located on the Venetian Era walls surrounding the city's center, and would mostly play in local championships and Greece's national Second Division, after the latter was founded in the early 1960s.
Junta years, Theodorakis concert and repercussions
During the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, Ergotelis was 'branded' as an anti-national organization, after its board of directors allowed renowned songwriter and composer Mikis Theodorakis, a key voice against the right-wing government, to perform a concert on Martinengo stadium. Several months later, the club was relegated to amateur status by the passing of a new law, that allowed each regional city of Greece to be represented in the country's Second national Division by a single team. With many of the club's athletes moving on to local rival OFI - who remained in the national competitions, and members of its board of directors being prosecuted, Ergotelis was practically disbanded in 1967.[2]
After the junta's collapse in 1974, several attempts were made to bring the team back to Greek football reality, however most of these were met with failure. As a result, Ergotelis languished in the lower regional competitions for more than 30 years.[3] The most notable achievement of this period, was the Amateur Cup title won during the 1982-83 season.
Rebirth and rise to top-flight
In the late 1990s Ergotelis' new owners Georgios Soultatos and Nikos Tzortzoglou devised a plan that would lead to the club's resurrection. This would not only concern quality changes made to the club's roster, but also the foundation of Ergotelis' own training academies, intending to further boost the men's team with promising young talent. Within a couple of years, Ergotelis grew into a strong, competitive team that would celebrate three consecutive promotions and eventually made its debut in the Greek Superleague, thus becoming the second team to have represented Heraklion in the highest profesional football league in Greece, alongside OFI F.C. This historical moment for the club was achieved by winning the promotion play-out match held at Makedonikos Stadium in Thessaloniki, against Akratitos F.C., who had finished 14th in the 2003-04 Alpha Ethniki season.[4] However, due to lack of experience, the team failed to avoid relegation in its first season in the league, and after finishing in 15th place, returned to the Beta Ethniki once again. However, the 2005–06 Beta Ethniki season saw Ergotelis return to good form, with Greek manager Nikos Karageorgiou taking over, achieving instant promotion to the Superleague after winning the division title.
Apostolos Papoutsakis era
In January 2008, Ergotelis came under the ownership of Heraklion businessman Apostolos Papoutsakis. During Papoutsakis' presidency, the club rose to prestigious standards in Greek football, which eventually earned Ergotelis the 2008-09 Fair Play award, making Papoutsakis extremely popular amongst the fans of the club. Karageorgiou remained manager of the club for six seasons, in which the club saw a steady financial growth, mainly due to the transfers of promising young Greek players Dimitrios Kiliaras and Vasilios Koutsianikoulis[5] to Panionios and PAOK F.C. respectively.
During these years, Ergotelis would sporadically achieve memorable results against Greece's traditional football giants Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, including a 2–3 away competition win in the Athens Olympic Stadium against Panathinaikos on October 29, 2008 and a stunning 5-0 win against reigning champions Olympiacos in a friendly game commemorating Ergotelis' 80th anniversary on September 6, 2009. Outside the pitch, the club's board of directors would gain praise from the media for its initiative to sign international partnerships with Dutch side F.C. Utrecht and State-side Philadelphia Union. Moreover, Ergotelis organized a series of social and beneficial activities, which culminated in a concert held at Pankritio Stadium on September 19, 2011, honoring Mikis Theodorakis in commemoration of the 45 years passed since the controversial concert at Martinengo Stadium in 1966.
Despite the club's gradual financial growth and status, which allowed room for signing stars such as Latvia's all-time top scorer Māris Verpakovskis and former Benfica midfielder Beto, most of the six seasons under Karageorgiou management saw Ergotelis struggling to avoid relegation, with the most notable achievement being an 8th place finish in the 2010-2011 season. The club's continuous weak form led to the fans highly criticizing Karageorgiou's choices, especially since Ergotelis would be the only Superleague team to never advance from the Greek Cup fourth round, often being willingly eliminated by clubs playing in lower divisions, due to the manager's claim that the focus should be fixed on avoiding relegation in the championship.
For the 2011-2012 season, the club's board of directors decided to cut down the team's budget, a direct result of the Greek economic crisis of the late 2000s. While the season took off on a promising start, subsequent weak performances, along with rising tensions between several of the club's players and the manager, ultimately failed to keep Ergotelis in top-flight. The team was relegated in the end of the season, after a disastrous second round which saw the club win only 2 of the total 15 matches, and thus return to the Football League after finishing in 14th place. To further add to the fans' pain, club president Papoutsakis passed away on July 23, 2012 at the age of 60.[6]
The next season saw Ergotelis go through a major overhaul on all fronts. Nikos Karageorgiou terminated his contract on mutual consent after six years of service, and former renowned Cypriot striker Siniša Gogić took over as manager of the team. The roster was rebuilt with youngsters from the club's training academies, as most of the club's veterans were either released, or refused to follow the team in the lower division. During mid-season, the club came to know financial instability after major shareholders announced they were stepping down. Despite these facts however, Ergotelis managed to secure a second place finish in the 2012-13 Football League marathon procedure, thus celebrating a third promotion to the Super League.
Rivalry with OFI
Ergotelis has enjoyed a fierce rivalry with other local Superleague side, OFI F.C.. The first ever game between Ergotelis and OFI, a friendly match in 1929, ended after 35 minutes. Ergotelis were ahead by one goal, when the game had to be abandoned after violence between the players broke out.
During the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 a legislation determined that every regional Greek city should be represented by one football team. At that time, both OFI and Ergotelis used to play in the Second National division. Αt the end of the 1966–1967 season, Ergotelis finished 8th, while OFI finished in a higher position, leading to Ergotelis' relegation. The legislation also allowed the remaining teams in the second division to sign players of the relegated ones, and thus 5 Ergotelis players were transferred to OFI. In the years to come Ergotelis languished in the lower leagues.[7] This fact led to various controversies, especially since Ergotelis' come back, at the early 00's.
This rivalry has shown signs of diminishing over the years, with OFI fans attending newly promoted Ergotelis' games in the Super League during the club's first season in the competition, and Ergotelis loaning their longtime scoring legend Patrick Ogunsoto to a financially weakened Beta Ethniki side OFI for no fee, as an attempt to assist the latter in their struggle to once again return to the Super League.
Honours
Domestic Titles and honours
Current squad
As of 3 September 2013 [8]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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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.
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Notable former players
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Managerial History
- Manolis Patemtzis (1999–00)
- Myron Sifakis (2000–01)
- Pavlos Dermitzakis (2001–02)
- Myron Sifakis (2002 – April 4, 2005)
- Manolis Patemtzis (2005–06)
- Nikos Karageorgiou (Feb 1, 2006 – June 30, 2012)
Siniša Gogić (June 29, 2012 – April 17, 2013)- Stavros Labrakis (interim) (April 17, 2013 – June 30, 2013)
- Giannis Petrakis (July 1, 2013 – January 13, 2014)
- Marinos Ouzounidis (January 20, 2014 – )
References
- ↑ Ergotelis Official Site: History Section (Greek)
- ↑ Υποβιβάστηκε γιατί δρούσε αντεθνικώς (Relegated because of anti-national acts) (Greek)
- ↑ The rough guide to Crete By John Fisher, Geoff Garvey Page 93 ISBN 1-85828-696-4
- ↑ "Ο Εργοτέλης "γκρέμισε" τον Ακράτητο από την Α' Εθνική (Ergotelis "demolished" Akratitos from Alpha Ethniki)" (in Greek). Skai TV. 30 May 2004.
- ↑ Συμφωνία για «Μέσι»
- ↑ 23-07-2012: ΑΝΑΓΓΕΛΙΑ (23-07-2012: ANNOUNCEMENT)
- ↑ The rough guide to Crete By John Fisher, Geoff Garvey Page 93 ISBN 1-85828-696-4
- ↑ "Ergotelis squad". Ergotelis F.C. Retrieved September 3, 2013. (Greek)
External links
- Official website (Greek)
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