Atromitos F.C.

Atromitos
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 9,050
Owner Georgios Spanos
President Georgios Spanos
Manager Nikos Nioplias
League Superleague Greece
2013–14 Superleague Greece, 4th
Website Club home page

Atromitos Football Club is a football club based in Peristeri, Athens that plays in the Superleague Greece. It was founded in 1923 and its home ground is the 10,200-seater Peristeri Stadium.

History

Early years

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.[1] That same year, Vaggelis Stamatis, a mathematics teacher and member of the Panhellenic football league, joined Atromitos' administration board – because of his prominence in pre-war Greek football history, Stamatis' involvement increased the new team's stature in Athenian football.[1]

First league steps

In 1924, Atromitos was accepted into the Greek football league.[1] At the time, Atromitos played at Aris Park, which was the home ground of Panellinios and Panathinaikos.[1] During their first season in the league's first division, they ended in third place behind Panathinaikos and AEK.[1] In 1928, they defeated Goudi 4–3 in the final game at Rouf Stadium to become champions of Athens.[1] That same year, they took part in the first Panhellenic Championship as Athens champions, which was organised by the HFF.[2] On 24 May 1928, they were beaten 3–1 by Aris Thessaloniki (who later became champions) in an away game, and were defeated again on 3 June by Ethnikos Piraeus (5–0). On 10 June, they managed a draw at home against Ethnikos (1–1), before losing again to Aris 3–1 seven days later.[1] Overall in the national championship, Atromitos finished third.[2]

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.[3] They repeated the feat in 1930[4] but they were relegated from the first division of Athens in 1931, as they came last with only one point.[5]

Move to Peristeri

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. Before occupation of Greece, they played again in Panhellenic championship in the season of 1938–39.

Atromitos played in 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.

2012–13 season

Atromitos finished the 1st half of the season in 4th place, together with Asteras Tripolis and 14 points from the top, but 4 points from 6th place, that doesn't redirect to the playoffs. On 6 January 2013, at the debut of Nikos Anastopoulos in the coaching position and the Portuguese footballer Fabio, Atromitos beat Kerkira 2–0, with two headers. From Sokratis Fytanidis at the 26th minute and from Stathis Tavlaridis at the 31st minute. In other words, the win was awarded to the team by the two centre backs. The team stayed in 4th with Asteras, but now 6 points from the 6th place. One matchday later, they managed to get the 0–0 from PAOK at Toumba, retaining the 6 points difference from PAS Giannina. On Matchday 18, they beat Platanias 1–0, getting to be only 3 points from 2nd place. The goal was scored by Eduardo Brito.

2013–14 season

The 2013-14 pre-season friendly against West Bromwich Albion was lost by 3-1.

Supporters

Atromitos are based in western Athens and their main supporters club is called "Fentagin", a grammatically incorrect type of "Fedayeen". Founded in 1980, they have a space underneath the stands. They are dedicated to support the local football team. The younger element of the support are known as the "Little Atoms".

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 Evangelistria.

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.

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

Current squad

As of 8 August 2013[6]

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

No. Position Player
1 Italy GK Luigi Cennamo
2 Greece MF Kostas Katsouranis
3 Greece DF Alexandros Kouros
5 Algeria MF Laurent Agouazi
6 Greece DF Sokratis Fytanidis
7 Brazil MF Eduardo Brito (vice-captain)
8 Greece MF Fotis Georgiou
9 Italy FW Stefano Napoleoni
11 Greece FW Thanasis Papazoglou
13 Greece DF Vaggelis Nastos (Captain)
15 Greece GK Christos Theodorakis
16 Greece MF Panagiotis Ballas
18 Brazil MF Marcelinho
No. Position Player
19 Greece DF Kyriakos Kivrakidis
20 Greece FW Tasos Karamanos
21 Greece MF Elini Dimoutsos
22 Greece DF Pantelis Theologou
23 Argentina MF Javier Umbides
24 Greece DF Nikolaos Lazaridis
26 Argentina MF Pitu Garcia
27 Greece MF Spiros Papaspiros
29 Greece FW Dimitris Limnios
30 Belarus GK Andrey Gorbunov
32 Argentina FW Mauricio Carrasco
33 Greece DF Giannis Kontoes
35 Greece GK Vasilios Barkas

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player
Greece DF Anastasios Kantoutsis (to Greece Fokikos)
Greece DF Theodoros Papoutsoyiannopoulos (to Greece Chania)
Greece MF Manolis Kallergis (to Greece Fokikos)
No. Position Player
Cameroon MF Lionel Otto Essono (to Greece Chania)
Cameroon MF Alberto Ngwem (to Greece Chania)
Portugal MF Fábio (to Greece Kerkyra)

The Club

Athletic staff

Position Staff
Head coach Nikos Nioplias
Assistant coach Thanasis Kolitsidakis
Goalkeeping coach Slobodan Šujica
Fitness coach Sotirios Kakargias
Technical Director Ioannis Angelopoulos
General Director Spyridon Sofianos
Scouter Apostolos Apostolou
Medical Director Nikolaos Piskopakis
Doctor Petros Kapralos
Physiotherapist Panayiotis Ambeliotis
Physiotherapist Nikolaos Zafiropoulos
Caregiver Nikolaos Katsikas
Exercise Physio Georgios Ziogas
Bus driver Angelos Verikakis

Last updated: 2 July 2013
Source: Atromitos F.C.

Management

President & CEO Georgios Spanos
Vice President Evangelos Batagiannis
Vice CEO Ekaterini Koxenoglou
Ground Manager Panagiotis Michaletos
Press Director Pavlos Katonis
Marketing Director Spyridon Boulousis
Security Director Georgios Petrou
Computing Director Roberto Panagos
Accountants Director Vasilios Karakatsanis
Club Lawyer Argirios Livas
Tickets Director Roberto Panagos
Ground (capacity and dimensions) Peristeri Stadium (10,200 / 102x65 metres)

Last updated: 2 July 2013
Source: Atromitos F.C.

Former coaches

European competitions record

Last update: 10 August 2012

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2006–07 UEFA Cup 1R Spain Sevilla 1–2 4–0 1–6
2012–13 UEFA Europa League PO England Newcastle United 1–1 1–0 1–2
2013–14 UEFA Europa League PO Netherlands AZ 1–3 0–2 3–3
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 3Q Bosnia and Herzegovina FK Sarajevo 1–3 2–1 3–4
Notes

Honours

Greek Cup

Football League

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Team history". atromitosfc.gr. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (11 June 2010). "1927/28 Panhellenic Championship". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  3. Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (11 June 2010). "1928/29 Panhellenic Championship". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  4. Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (11 June 2010). "1929/30 Panhellenic Championship". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  5. Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (11 June 2010). "1930/31 Panhellenic Championship". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  6. "Roster 2012–2013". Atromitos FC. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  7. "Beta Ethniki 1979–80". RSSSF.
  8. "Atromitos are champions" (in Greek). in.gr. 18 May 2009.

External links