Nea Kavala F.C.

Nea Kavala FC

Full name	Athlitikos Omilos Kavala (Athletic Club of Kavala)
Nickname(s)	Argonauts (Αργοναύτες)
Founded	1965
Ground	Anthi Karagianni Stadium
Ground Capacity	10,500
Owner	Amateur Kavala
Chairman	Konstantinos Kanakis
Manager	Giannis Ispirlidis
League	Football League 2
2013–14	Football League, 13th (Relegation)
Home colours Away colours

AO Kavala (Greek: Athlitikos Omilos Kavala, Αθλητικός Όμιλος Καβάλα), the Athletic Club Kavala, is a professional association football club based in the city of Kavala, Greece.

History^[1]

The Macedonian club was formed in 1965 from the merger of Phillipoi Kavala, Iraklis Kavala and A.E. Kavala.

They have had a few runs in the top division of the Greek League. They were promoted to Alpha Ethniki for the first time in 1969 and stayed up for 6 years (1970 – 1975). They returned to top division in 1976 and played again for six seasons.

In 1982 the club were relegated to the Beta Ethniki (second tier of Greek football). After 11 years in Beta Ethniki and one year in Gamma Ethniki (third tier – 1988–89) they were promoted to Alpha Ethniki. There "black" period began for the team in which they played only in Beta Ethniki and Gamma Ethniki.

2009–2010 Season

In 2009 they signed Miltiadis Sapanis and EURO 2004 winner Fanis Katergiannakis. Kavala were promoted for the first time in 9 years to Greeces top division. In their quest to remain in the top flight they have signed Pepe Reina's back up at Liverpool, Charles Itandje and recently acquired Brazilian Denílson (January 2010 transfer window) a 2002 World Cup Winner. Additional season signings include Craig Moore, Željko Kalac, Ebi Smolarek, Diogo Rincón, Sotiris Leontiou, Serge Dié, Wilson Oruma and Frédéric Mendy, . This combined with coach Aad de Mos meant that Kavala set the league alight. They subsequently achieved notable victories in the 2009–2010 season against Iraklis FC, Panionios, AEK FC and Panathinaikos FC.

2010–2011 Season

Ending in 6th place, the team entered the transfer season. In July, the Spanish goalkeeper, Lopez Vallejo (who played in Real Zaragoza) was added to the roster. The team's owner sought the new manager throughout Europe and settled on the Serbian coach Dragomir Okuka who lasted until November, when he was replaced by Henryk Kasperczak. In Kasperczak's debut as a coach, Kavala beat AEK, 2–1, in what was considered a very good appearance.

But in March 2011, Kasperczak, retired as the coach of this team, and he was replaced by Ioannis Matzourakis, who was the coach in Kavala FC team in the seasons 1985-1986. Kavala finished 7th and later faced the threat of relegation to Football League (Greece) due to the match-fixing scandal.^[2] After an appeal, the team managed to avoid relegation by starting the new league with 8 points less.^[3] On 23 August, however, the Professional Sports Committee stripped both Kavala and Olympiakos Volou from their professional licence and demoted them to the Delta Ethniki.^[4]

2011–2012 Season

Kavala competed in Delta Ethniki Group 1. They only finished 4th, but were promoted two divisions to the Football League for 2012/13 after it was ruled that their demotion to Delta Ethniki in 2011 was as a result of government intervention and should not have been implemented by the football authorities.^[5]

2013–2014 Season

Ιn September 2013 Germans investors take the management of Kavala F.C..The agreement provides that the new investors will "catch" and a significant part of its debts to old players.

Indeed, the Germans will be able to buy a majority stake of the shares of FC paying €500,000 clause of the first season and €700,000 for the second, respectively.

Stadium

The Anthi Karagianni Municipal Stadium (Greek: Δημοτικό Στάδιο Ανθή Καραγιάννη), formerly the Kavala National Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Kavala, Greece. It is the homebase of Kavala F.C..[1] The stadium was built 1970, and currently has a seating capacity of 10,500.[1] It is named after the paralympic athlete, Anthi Karagianni, who won three silver medals in the 2004 Paralympic Games.

Current squad

As of 1 Nowember 2014^[6] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Gloria Firinidiou GK Anastasia Athanasiou DF Mariona Mavriou DF Dmitra Nikopolidou DF Stella Tzioliou DF Maria Papstatzoglou DF Evangeria Christopoulou DF Nika Perperoglou MF Lucia Papachristou MF Eleni Maniatou

No. Position Player MF Denise Tomović MF Pavla Kyrgiakou MF Konstantina Glykou MF Helena Papadopoulou MF Adriana Tenorio FW Giorgina Fotinou FW Tanja Stanić FW Angela Kapetanou FW Almeda Jashari

For latest transfers see List of Greek football transfers summer 2013

Personnel

Board of Directors

Technical staff
President	Konstantinos Kanakis
Curator Of Football	Argyris Spanidis
Technical Director	Stelios Katrakilakis

Coaching & Medical Staff^[7]

Coach: Giannis Ispirlidis Assistant Coach: -

Coaches

• Giannis Papakostas
• Vasilis Daniil
• Michalis Bellis
• Grzegorz Lato
• Kostas Iosifidis
• Nikos Goulis
• Stratos Voutsakelis
• Aad de Mos
• Elvis Scoria
• Kostas Vasilakakis
• Ioannis Topalidis
• Diethelm Ferner
• Apostolos Charalampidis
• Michalis Iordanidis
• Babis Xrysostomidis
• Matthew Norman
• Bungewum Gresesiyatil

Achievements

• Greek Cup
  • Semi-finals (3): 1964-65, 1994-95, 2009-10

League Participation

• Alpha Ethniki: 1969–1975, 1976–1982, 1994–1995, 1996–2000, 2009–2011

• Beta Ethniki: 1965–1969, 1975–1976, 1982–1989, 1990–1994, 1995–1996, 2000–2001, 2002–2003, 2008–2009, 2012–2014

• Gamma Ethniki: 1989–1990, 2001–2002, 2003–2008, 2014–
• Delta Ethniki: 2011–2012

League history

• 1965 – 69: Division 2
• 1969 – 75: Division 1
• 1975 – 76: Division 2
• 1976 – 82: Division 1
• 1982 – 89: Division 2
• 1989 – 90: Division 3
• 1990 – 94: Division 2
• 1994 – 95: Division 1
• 1995 – 96: Division 2
• 1996 – 00: Division 1
• 2000 – 01: Division 2
• 2001 – 02: Division 3
• 2002 – 03: Division 2
• 2003 – 08: Football League 2
• 2008 – 09: Football League
• 2009 – 11: Superleague
• 2011 – 12: Delta Ethniki
• 2012 – 14: Football League
• 2014 – 15: Football League 2

Sources:^[8][9]

References

External links

• Official Website
• Fanclub website
• Internet fanclub website

Kavala F.C. Players Managers History History of Kavala F.C. Stadium Anthi Karagianni Stadium Training ground Kavala Supporters Blue Argonauts

Football League 2014–15 teams North Aiginiakos Anagennisi Giannitsa Agrotikos Asteras Apollon Kalamaria F.C. Serres Fokikos Iraklis Larissa Lamia Olympiakos Volos Pierikos Tyrnavos 2005 Zakynthos South AEK Athens Acharnaikos Alimos Apollon Smyrni Chania Ermionida Episkopi Fostiras Iraklis Psachna Kallithea Panachaiki Panegialios Paniliakos Seasons 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

Superleague Greece teams Current (2014–15) Asteras Tripoli Atromitos Ergotelis Kalloni Kerkyra Levadiakos Niki Volos OFI Olympiacos Panathinaikos Panetolikos Panionios Panthrakikos PAOK PAS Giannina Platanias Skoda Xanthi Veria Former AEK AEL Akratitos Apollon Kalamaria Apollon Smyrni Aris Aspida Xanthi Athinaikos Atromitos Piraeus Chalkida Chalkidona Diagoras Doxa Drama Edessaikos Egaleo Ethnikos Asteras Ethnikos Athens* Ethnikos Piraeus Fostiras Goudi Athens Ionikos Iraklis Kalamata Kallithea Kastoria Kavala Korinthos Makedonikos Megas Alexandros Megas Alexandros Katerini Naoussa Olympiakos Chalkida Olympiakos Volos Panachaiki Panargiakos Panegialios Panelefsiniakos Paniliakos Panserraikos Peiraikos Syndesmos* Pierikos Proodeftiki Rodos Thermaikos Thessaloniki Thrasyvoulos Trikala Vyzas *only in pre-HFF championships Former (from Cyprus) AEL Limassol APOEL EPA Larnaca Olympiakos Nicosia Omonia Nicosia