GREEK
The idea and the foundation of AEK
The first years without a seat
New Philadelphia and first hits (1930–1941)
First European Greek team's distinction
New season Melissanides (2013–σήμερα)
AEK FC is Greek professional football on Greek territory. It is part of the historical club "Athletic
Union of Constantinople "(AEK), was founded in 1924 and was converted into a societe societe anonyme (FCI) in 1979 with the
establishing professionalism. Headquartered in the Athens Olympic Stadium, where it has been playing since 2004 due to its demolition
traditional headquarters in New Philadelphia.
The large population of the Greeks of Constantinople, in relation to the other urban centers of the Ottomans, created many
sports clubs in the area for all sports, but mainly for football. In 1875 Hermes was created in
Galatas region and in the wider area called Beyoğlu today, aiming at the emergence of Greek athletes
and the preservation of Greek ideology.
The Hermes Sports and Cultural Association was the oldest football club
a club established in the Turkish territory. In 1922 he was forced to discontinue his operation after their intervention
Turkish authorities. In 1914 the Athletic Club of Pera Konstantinoupoleos was established, which was also forced to stop
his activities in 1922. Nevertheless, the two clubs merged and created Pera Klub. Those years
but thousands of Greeks, who settled in areas of Greece, were expelled from Constantinople.The Pera Club
it is twinned with AEK and continues to exist on an amateur level of football to this day.
The idea and the foundation of AEK
The Greek Constantinopolitans who settled in Athens, together with Greek athletes of Pera Klub, met in
a sports shop owned by Emilios and Menelaos Ionas, at Veranzero Street in the center of Athens. There
the idea of AEK and the club itself was created, while the founding procedures were completed in 1924. The original ideology
of the club was the continuation of the sports activities of the city, but also the preservation of their ideology
Constantinople through a sports club that keeps the morals, values and traditions of the Greeks alive
refugees.
The first years without a seat
In the first decade of the 20's AEK managed to overcome older clubs, such as Panionios and Apollo,
thanks to the large population of refugees who had been embraced or expressed by the group's ideology against
and then political situations. At the first call of a meeting of the Constantinople people in Athens, they ran to
all football players who came from the city are staffed by AEK. Goalkeeper Nikos Kitsos, the backstops
Jeremiades and Asperis, the middle Kechagias, Dimopoulos, Paraskevas and the aggressive Karagiannidis, Baltas, Milas,
Hippiadis and Georgiadis. There were a lot of problems at the start, as there was no stadium or a gym to
Footballers can train. With the foundation of the club immediately made efforts to find a solution and to
the team uses the field of tennis courts, near the columns of Olympian Zeus.
As the first match of the newly formed football team of AEK, a friendly match was held in October
in 1924, against Atromitos in Athens, with which he scored 1-1. In his first (second) championship
Athens participated (1924-25) AEK defeated on 14 December 1924 the historical SP. Goudi with 4-2 (first official match)
and was later defeated by Panathinaikos on January 6, 1925 with 1-0, while on the 18th of the same month he prevailed with 4-0
of Apollo. In the second Athens score, finished second and faced the semi-final on March 1, 1925,
the Armenian Union, which he defeated with 1-0 (a penalty shootout of Balta). In the big final he met Panathinaikos, who eliminated Atromitos 4-0 and was the big favorite. On March 8, final day, the winner was judged by
a penalty shootout in the 58th minute, achieved by Panathinaikos player, Apostolos Nikolaidis. So AEK in the first Athenian
the championship that took part, was a bit short of conquering the title, but it lacked homogeneity.
In 1926 and 1927, two great footballers of Pera Kloub came to AEK, Kostas Negrepontis initially and Stavros
Emmanuelides later. Transcripts and additions continued and in 1928 came the defensive, Serbian origin,
but born in Constantinople, Rovert Mallius (Gallic) and until 1930 AEK had created a strong team,
but the fact that the club did not yet have a permanent seat, but was mainly fighting on a stadium near the Temple of Olympian Zeus
and at today's stadium Apostolos Nikolaidis, was the most important problem.
New Philadelphia and first hits(1930–1941)
The first president of AEK was Konstantinos Spanoudis, who was minister in the government of Venizelos. Spanoudis
asked the government a space for the team to train. So from 1926 the club used an area
in New Philadelphia, which hosted the team and became, in a way, its training center. In 1930 the area
passed to the property of the club and soon Eleftherios Venizelos ordered the creation of AEK Stadium in
the same venue, which then hosted the group for over 70 years and became its permanent seat. The opening was indeed
of the stadium in 1930 became the presence of the old prime minister and leader of the Great Idea.
The first official match of AEK in New Philadelphia was held on 9 November 1930 against the Athenian, with AEK winning 3-0,
thanks to the goals of Negreponti (2) and Iliakos. The Athens Championship of 1930-31 was a favorite of AEK, but it was also interrupted
never completed. In the new championship of Greece, which began in February 1931, the Union began with a great extent
a defeat by Iraklis in Thessaloniki with 8-1 (which still remains the largest in the field at an official event) and
followed by a new defeat away from Apollo, 2-0.
On February 15, 1931, in the first league championship in New Philadelphia,
AEK beat 3-2 at the National Piraeus. Finally, in her first Greek national championship, AEK finished fourth with 13
points in 14 matches.
The first title came in 1931-32 when he won the Greek Cup defeating the champion of the same season, Mars
Thessaloniki with 5-3. "Star" of the team was the veteran now Kostas Negrepontis, footballer of the 10's and his
'20 in the Greek Pera Club of the City, the group that was essentially an ancestor of AEK. The other players in the group
who competed in the final were Yamalis, Mallios, Daispangos, Argyropoulos, Konstantinidis, Patroklos, Baltas, I. Tziradidis,
Iliakos and P. Tziradidis. In the championship, however, it did not do just as well as it finished in the 8th and final position, scoring just 9 points in 14 races.
Kostas Negrepontis, after this period, retired from active action, followed by other "stars" of the team,
which needed renewal. The club spent a short period of bending and rebounded in the 1935-36 season when
the aggressive twin, consisting of Kleanthi Maropoulos and Tryfon Tzaneti, first appeared. In November 1937 AEK
made a return trip to her "hometown", Istanbul, for two friendly meetings. On November 27, 1937
was defeated by Atsi Güney with 2-1 and the next day defeated Fenerbahce with 3-2.
The team of AEK fought at that time
Cypriot Costas Vassiliou (the first footballer of the great Greek who played in Greece), who in the
match scored two goals. The two fights took place at the Taksim Stadium, home of Galatasaray.
Having created an outstanding team, she won her first championship in 1938-39, winning the
the same period and the cup became the first team to win the doubles in Greece. In the following period 1939-40, with Negrepont
in the position of coach now, he regained the championship. In the period 1940-41 the Athens Championship was interrupted due to the 2nd
World War, but a week before the start of the local championships, AEK had scored a wide
7-3 away at Olympiacos in a friendly match at home. The course of that team was gruesome because of it
war, but it was clear that at that time (1938-1941) it was unrivaled.
The protagonists of this three years have been
Delavinia, Ribas, Sklavounos (goalkeepers), Gassparis, Kontoulis, G. Papadopoulos, Selschikas (defensive), Gogotsis, D. Kapandas,
Kytidis, Mageras (Simos), Xenos (Markopoulos), K.Manettas, Spyrides (middle), Anagnostopoulos, K.Vassiliou, Koutsoulieris, V.Manettas,
Maropoulos, Nikolis, Tzanetis, Filis, Chatzistawidis and K. Christodoulou (aggressive).
First European Greek team's distinction
In 1968 the AEK with its main protagonists Papaioannou, Stamatiadis, Sofianidis, Skiofoukas, Serafides, K. Nikolaidis, T. Vasileiou, Balopoulos,
Karagepso, Jordanou, Pomoni, Kefalidi, Stathopoulos, Ventouris, Papageorgiou, Frogoudaki, Maniathea won the championship, participating in the next
(1968-69) in the current Champions League (known as the "European Championship Cup" at the time), where it reached the quarter-finals of the event,
in the first European division of a Greek team. In the quarter-finals he stopped at Czechoslovak FC Spartak Trnava (1-2, 1-1).
The space
AEK had reached the zenith of its European history, as outside of the football section, the basketball section last year
(1967-68) had conquered the Cup of Cup Winners defeating the Slavia Prague final with 89-82, the first Greek team to conquer European
basketball title.
After the successful year followed a small fall of AEK in the next two years. In 1971 he returned to the top as he conquered
the fifth of the championship with coach Branko Stankovic and their main protagonists Papaioannou, Stelios Konstantinidis, Nicolaides,
Tossa, Stephanos Theodorides, Stathopoulos, Lavaridis, Sfikofylakas, Karafesko, Kefalidis, Triantafyllou, Pomoni, Ventouri and Papaemmanouil. AEK
made an amazing year and won the championship with ease, with Papaioannou achieving 27 goals. The next
three years showed signs of bending,
as financial problems arose, leaving the team to retreat over the period
1973-74 to finish in fifth place, retaining remarkable footballers like Papaioannou, Theodoridis,
Stathopoulos, Lavaridis, Karafeskos, Toskas, framed by the younger Nicholas, Ravoussis, Tassos (Konstantinou), Tsami, Zarzopoulos,
Stefanidis.
Relegation
In the next period 2011-12, AEK reduced its costs again, while financial problems and debts made
aggressively occurring. He finished fifth in regular time and third through a playoffs. The team can not cover them
its financial needs for the 2012-13 season, was forced to solve all the high contracts, and the decline in the budget was rapid.
The Thomas Thomas Mavros team made a pass and the race was tragic, staying in the last
position of the rankings throughout the first round of the championship,
while he was out of the cup in the first round that took place,
against Kavala, team B Ethniki, with home defeat.
In the second round of the championship, AEK quickly picked up several important points and climbed some points in the score, but
second day after the 89th birthday of the club, welcomed the Panthrakikos and only needed the victory to
stayed in the 87th minute of the match, and once it was scored, 0-1 of her fans entered the pitch,
forcing the referees to stop the fight. On April 21, 2013, AEK was officially demoted, as it was defeated
with a score of 1-0 from Atromitos in Athens and now any hopes left for staying in the category were eroded.
New season Melissanides (2013–σήμερα)
Due to the group's large financial debts, it was decided in the 2013-14 period not to compete in the Football League, where it had originally
downgraded, but to participate in the first amateur amateur category, in the Foumbling League 2 (formerly 3rd National Division) and bankrupt
as a Societe Anonyme, so as to get rid of most of its debts. The team was taken over by businessman Dimitris
Melissanidis, who had previously worked with the club, with a view to her return to the Super League, her consolidation
AEK easily gained its foothold for the Football League in the period 2013-14, while initiating plans and initial efforts
to start work in New Philadelphia to build her new stadium. Towards the end of the season, AEK FC was placed under a regime
and finally, on 23 May 2014 the "Athletic Union of Constantinople - AEK Football Societe Anonyme" was deleted by General
Commercial register. On July 18, 2014, the formation of the Soccer Societe Anonyme, under the name "Athletic Union of Constantinople
- AEK Football Societe Anonyme '.
In the 2014-15 season he took the first position of the South League of the Foumbol League and without being defeated in the regular championship,
the first team in history to score the undefeated second level B '. The following playoffs were highlighted
also first, ensuring her return to the Super League after two years of absence.
2015–16
With her return to the big category she finished third in the regular season of the championship, participating in the playoffs (with the
the top of the year was the conquest of the Cup (2015-16), dominating the
final of Olympiacos with 2-1, five years after his last success in the same institution, coached by Stelios Manola.
2016–17
In the championship of the 2016-17 season he finished second in the playoffs (fourth in the regular season), securing
her participation in the Champions League qualifiers. In the Cup he reached for the second consecutive year until the final, where he was defeated by
PAOK with 2-1.
Colors, emblem, fans
The colors of AEK are yellow and black. Yellow suggests hope after the uprooting of thousands of refugees in 1922, but
has its roots in the Byzantine Empire, while the black signifies the pain of that generation, which was forced to move to the urban centers
of Greece. The emblem of the club is the two-headed eagle, a symbol associated with the Byzantine Empire and the Palaiologue Dynasty,
who holds a sword and a ball. Over the years, AEK emblem has undergone several modifications. In 1993, the circle surrounding it
the bicephal eagle was replaced by the shield. In 2014, a change was made to the font and a cross was added to the sphere.