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Olympiacos F.C.

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Olympiacos
File:Olympiakos4.svg
Full nameOlympiacos CFP
(Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς)
Nickname(s)Thrilos(θρύλος) (The Legend)
Founded1925
Ground"Georgios Karaiskakis" Stadium,
Piraeus, Athens
Capacity33,500
ChairmanGreece Sokratis Kokkalis
ManagerNorway Trond Sollied
LeagueAlpha Ethniki
(Πρωτη Εθνικη - First National Division)
2004-05Champion

With 222 officially recognized titles, Olympiacos CFP (Ολυμπιακός ΣΦΠ) is one of the biggest multisport clubs in Europe. Olympiacos' departments include Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Waterpolo and Athletics and the club is a leading force in all of them. Olympiacos is the only Greek sports club to have done the Treble (that is Greek Championship, Greek Cup and European Championship in the same year) in two different sports. Olympiacos is the most popular club in Greece.

A Bit of History

Olympiacos was founded on March 10, 1925, when the members of the "Piraeus Football Club" and the "Piraeus Fan Club" decided, during a historical assembly, to dissolve the two clubs in order to establish a new unified one. Notis Kamberos announced the name "Olympiacos" and Michalis Manouskos completed it to its full name, "Olympiacos Fan Club of Piraeus". The players of the newly founded Olympiacos were excellent. The Andrianopoulos brothers, however, were those who significantly raised the reputation of the club and added glory to it. Children of a prosperous family, they made the name of Olympiacos known all over Greece. Yiannis, Dinos, Yorgos, and Vassilis were the first to play. Leonidas made his appearance later on, while Stelios played for a short time. The club's offensive line, made up of the five brothers, soon became legendary and, hence, Olympiacos is also known as Thrilos (Legend). The team's emblem is a laurel-wreath-crowned-teenager.

Olympiacos immediately caught the attention of locals, with the team filling the Piraeus Velodrome (now the Karaiskakis stadium); their fanbase consisted mainly of the working class.

Football Club

With an outstanding 34 national championships in 70 seasons, no Greek team has been as successful as Olympiacos in this area. According to the current (May 2006) world club ranking of the International Federation of Football and Statistics, Olympiacos is No. 68 in the World. (AEK is No.125 and Panathinaikos is No.130).

History

National History

In 1926 the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) was founded and in 1927 tried to organize the first Greek Championship. However in that season Olympiacos came to a dispute with the Hellenic Football Federation and did not participate.

Panathinaikos and AEK Athens FC decided to follow Olympiacos and together they formed a group called P.O.K.. During that season they played fiendly games with each other. The second Greek Championship took place in 1929/30 only with three teams (the champions of the local leagues of Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki).

From the season 1930/31 (which started in January of 1931) and on, the best teams from the country finally participated. Olympiacos won the Greek Championship for the first time in that season.

In 1940 Olympiacos had already won 6 Championships in 11 seasons and by 1960 they had won 15 Championships in 23 seasons as well as 9 National Cups making for 6 Doubles. In fact, with key performers such as Andreas Mouratis, Elias Rossidis, Thanassis Bebis, Elias Yfantis, Kostas Polychroniou, Giorgos Darivas and Savas Theodoridis, Olympiacos won six consecutive titles from 1953/54 to 1958/59.

It is worth mentioning that Olympiacos for several seasons was not allowed to make use of the Karaiskaki Stadium and, with permission from Panathinaikos, found a temporary home in “Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium”.

The 60s and the early 70s were not as fruitful for Olympiacos, the club having won just 5 Championships and 8 Cups.

Another glorious chapter began in 1972, after Nikos Goulandris became president. He appointed Lakis Petropoulos as coach and signed star players Giorgos Delikaris, Yves Triantafyllos, Julio Losada, Milton Viera and Dimitris Persidis. The highlight for that side was the 1973/74 season, when Olympiacos won the league with record points (59) and goals (102).

Olympiacos experienced its darkest days from the mid-1980s until the mid-90s. In the mid 80s Olympiakos came into the hands of Greek businessman George Koskotas. Soon Koskotas was accused of and convicted for embezzlement, leaving Olympiacos deep in debt. On the pitch, the team without a serious management went nine seasons without a league title (1986/87 to 1996/97).

The situation improved after Socrates Kokkalis took over Olympiacos's shares in 1993. Having agreed to a settlement of the club's debts with the Greek government, Kokkalis slowly resurrected the team.

In 1996 Kokkalis appointed Dusan Bajevic, who had just left AEK Athens FC following a clash with the management team regarding financial issues and uncertainty. The same season Kokkalis signed for the reds all the young talents he could find in the Greek market, such as Predrag Djorgevic, Grigoris Georgatos, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Giorgos Anatolakis, Dimitris Mavrogenidis, Alexis Alexandris, Giorgos Amanatidis, Andreas Niniadis. Most of these still play for Olympiacos today. Starting then, Olympiacos won seven consecutive Championships (beating their own record of 6), even after Bajevic had left in 1999.

In the 2003/04 season, Olympiacos finished second.

Last season (2004/05) Olympiacos appointed again Dusan Bajevic and transferred World Champion Brazilian Rivaldo. The end of the season found Olympiacos with both domestic trophies (Championship and the Greek Cup) but without their manager Dusan Bajevic, as he resigned.

Therefore Olympiacos appointed Trond Sollied.

During the season 2005/06, Olympiakos achieved to win all the 4 derbies against its major rivals, Panathinaikos and AEK, something only achieved once more, during the season 1972/73.

They beat their 2nd biggest rival Aek Athens 3-0 in the greek cup final to clinch their 2nd straight double

European Campaigns

Despite their unrivalled domestic domination, Olympiacos consistently are yet to impress well at European level. The mere thought that arch-rivals Panathinaikos FC have a stronger record in UEFA club competition (having played in one European Champion Clubs' Cup final and three European Cup or UEFA Champions League semi-finals), makes them desperate for glory on the continental stage.

Olympiacos's best moments at this level came with appearances in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals - where they lost to Club Atlético de Madrid - and in the last eight of the 1998/99 Champions League, when Juventus FC beat them.

The reason for this lies undoubtedly in the team’s inability to win matches outside of Greece. Amazingly, after appearing in the UEFA Champions League for 9 straight years, Olympiacos has yet to win an away group match, which usually isn’t enough for qualification but it has produced two remarkable campaigns.

In 1998-1999, last Olympiacos was drawn in Group A for the UEFA Champions League, along with Ajax Amsterdam, FC Porto and Dinamo Zagreb “Thrylos” typically won all 3 home games, but also managed to secure 2 away draws and a ticket to the quarter-finals.

There they met Juventus F.C.. In the first leg at Delle Alpi, Juventus beat Olympiacos 2-1 which meant that Olympiacos only needed a 1-0 victory to proceed to the semi-finals. A vintage performance, scoring early with Sinisa Gogic and never allowing their opponents to create chances, was 5 minutes away to making that scenario come true. Dimitris Eleftheropoulos, Olympiacos’ goalkeeper, however, misjudged the flight of the ball in a seemingly harmless cross and Juventus had the last laugh and escaped with a 1-1 draw, which was the beginning of the “Late-Goal Curse” that superstitious supporters firmly believe hangs upon the team, especially in away matches.


Olympiacos’ supporters couldn’t believe how they fumbled such a huge opportunity to play in the semi-finals and even though they recognized Eleftheropoulos’ efforts up to that point, great efforts that won him the UEFA Champions Leagu Goalkeeper of the Competition even, they still held him responsible for the disqualification and to this day there is no conversation about the ’98-’99 campaign without a mention of the keeper’s error.

Arguably the most impressive incident supporting this folklore tale is the 2001-2002 UEFA Champions League away match against Deportivo de La Coruña, where Olympiacos managed to turn the game around and led 1-2 from 1-0, when, literally in the last seconds, with the referee ready to whistle for full-time, Eleftheropoulos miscommunicated with his centre-back in another innocent lob and gave away an easy, as unlikely, goal to the opposition forward for the final 2-2 draw.

In 2004-2005 Olympiacos was drawn in Group A once again, this time against Liverpool FC, AS Monaco FC and Deportivo. Rivaldo made an inspiring debut for Olympiacos, in Spain against his former Spanish team Deportivo but “Thrylos” only managed to get a draw. The team predictably won all three home games in the freshly renovated Georgios Karaïskákis Stadium, notably with the same score, 1-0, meanwhile losing 2-1 away against AS Monaco.

With one match to go and in a very bizarre combination of results, Olympiacos were in danger of being one of only 2 teams that have managed to collect 10 points and not qualify for the next round. They went to Anfield to play the last match against Liverpool FC and in order to progress they had either to not lose, or to score and not lose by more than one goal.

Rivaldo turned back the years to show the capacity crowd why he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1999. He opened the score with a foul for the 0-1 Olympiacos lead, which was the Half time result. Despite that Olympiacos needed to receive three goals in the second half to be eliminated, Liverpool achieved to score those three goals (3-1) which marked the premature end of yet another Olympiacos UEFA Champions Leaguen Campaign. Liverpool FC were the ones to progress and they, incidentally, went on to actually lift the trophy, producing a similar display in the final.

Olympiacos’ 2004-2005 European effort didn’t end there however, as they were seeded to continue in the UEFA Cup. They were drawn against French team FC Sochaux for the round of 32 and proceeded thanks to 2 more 1-0 victories. In the round of sixteen they faced Newcastle United and were easily eliminated with two losses, thus putting an end to the club’s second most successful European Campaign.

With more national titles than Panathinaikos, AEK Athens FC and PAOK FC combined, it is European success that Olympiacos’ fans most long for. With next year’s UEFA Champions League final set to be played in Greece’s own OAKA Spyros Louis “Thrylos” might have one extra reason to finally deliver.


Current Roster:

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Attackers

Manager:


Historic Players

Football Club Honours

(Total Titles: 59)

  • 34 Championships: 1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006
  • 22 Cups: 1947, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2005, 2006
  • 3 Super Cups: 1980, 1987, 1992
  • 1 Balkan Cup: 1963

source: Hellenic Football Federation http://www.epo.gr

Olympiacos Basketball Club

Olympiacos won the first of its nine Greek League titles in 1949. It would also add seven Greek Cup titles to its trophy case, but it was in the 1990s that the Reds made their biggest mark. The middle of that decade belonged to Olympiacos, not only in Greece, but all around the continent. Head coach Ioannis Ioannidis led Olympiacos to four consecutive Greek League titles between 1993 and 1996, and to the Euroleague final in 1994 and 1995. It is worth mentioning that in order to advance to the two finals Olympiacos played with archrivals Panathinaikos and won both games.

Dusan Ivkovic came to the bench in 1997, when it was the most successful year in the history of Olympiacos Basketball Club as they won the Triple Crown, i.e. all competitions in which they participated; Greek League, Greek Cup and Euroleague (by beating Barcelona 73-58 in Rome. Olympiacos is the only Greek team to have achieved this and one of the very few in the history of European Basketball. At the Euroleague final, the most valuable player of the game was David Rivers (Olympiacos' playmaker). The same year they played against Chicago Bulls and it was a game between the European Champion and the NBA Champion. Again Olympiacos is the only Greek team in history that played such a match. During that game Olympiacos never used a zone defence, although it was played according to European basketball ruling and was defeated naturally by the team of one of the greatest basketball players ever, Michael Jordan (Olympiacos - Chicago Bulls: 78 - 104).

Although there was a return to the Final Four in 1999, a few years went by before the Reds won another trophy. A drought ended in 2001-02 with a Greek Cup victory, while Olympiacos also reached the Greek League finals and came within a victory of the Euroleague Final Four. In 2004-05, an ever-changing roster made life tough for Olympiacos. The Reds couldn't reach the Euroleague Top 16 and, despite rallying to make the Greek League playoffs, bowed out in the quarterfinals series. But if there is one truth about great, historic teams, they never stay down for long. No one should forget that within the last decade, the Reds knew exactly what it took to win it all. Returning to the very elite of European basketball is the goal in 2005-06 for Olympiacos, a proud club coming off one of its most difficult seasons in recent years. Its rich history, including a Euroleague title in 1997, will help guide Olympiacos as it tries to overcome a 2004-05 season that was full of roster changes and inconsistency.

To conclude with we must say that Olympiacos B.C. has been voted as the Best Team of the 90s in Europe by FIBA

Basketball Club Honours

(Total Titles: 17)

  • 9 A1 Championships: 1949, 1960, 1976, 1978, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
  • 7 Cups: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1994, 1997, 2002
  • 1 Euroleague: 1997

Current roster

Point Guard

  • 04. United States Tyus EDNEY
  • 05. Greece Manolis PAPAMAKARIOS
  • 10. Serbia and Montenegro Ivan KOLJEVIC
  • 33. Greece Nikos ARGYROPOULOS

Shooting Guard

  • 08. Lithuania Renaldas SEIBUTIS
  • 09. Greece Nikos CHATZIS
  • 31. Greece Dimitris KALAITZIDIS

Small Forward

  • 12. Greece Nikos BARLOS
  • 13. Greece Panayiotis VASILOPOULOS
  • 16. Greece Georgios PRINTEZIS
  • 24. United States Quincy LEWIS

Power Forward

  • 14. Greece Lazaros AGADAKOS
  • 20. Croatia Andrija ZIZIC

Center

  • 21. Greece Sofoklis SCHORTSIANITIS

Olympiacos Volleyball Club

The men's volleyball department is among the oldest and most historic departments of the Club. It was established in 1930 and is almost a "permanent resident" at the top of Hellenic Volleyball, having won 21 National Championships and 10 Hellenic Cups. Olympiacos Volleyball team is ranked among the top European teams with a constant presence at the European Championships finals and two Cup of Cups in 1996 & 2005.

(Total Titles: 33)

  • 21 Championships: 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
  • 10 Cups: 1981, 1983, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001
  • 2 European Cups: 1996, 2005

Actual Roster

Libero (2)
4 Georgios Koulieris
Setters (2)
6 Vassilis Kournetas
15 Kostas Stivahtis
Middle Blockers (3)
8 Akis Chaziantoniou
10 Antonis Tsakiropoulos
18 Georgios Papazoglou
Wing Spikers (5)
1 Kostas Christofidelis
11 Charalambos Tzigidis
12 Tomislav Coskovic
17 Kleomenis Roumeliotis
Opposites (2)
3 Guy-Roger Nanga
4 Apostolos Armenakis

<br\> The women's volleyball department was established in 1988 and includes a Women's, Youth and Adolescent's division. It initially participated in the local Piraeus Leagues but within seven years managed to raise itself by six divisions and reach the top one. The team won it's promotion from A2, to the A1 top division this season 2005/06. source: Hellenic Volleyball Federation http://www.volleyball.gr

Historical Volley Ball Players

Some of the club's famous volleyball players include:

  • Ioannis Laios
  • Thanassis Moustakidis
  • Bengt Gustavsson
  • Dimitris Kazazis
  • Stafanos Polyzos
  • Stelios Prosalikas
  • Marcos Milinkovic
  • Hernan Gomez
  • Osvaldo Hernandez
  • Ioannis Triadafyllidis
  • Stelios Amarianakis
  • Giorgos Dragovic
  • Lorenzo Bernardi

Olympiacos Water Polo Club

Olympiacos is among the founding members of the Hellenic Federation of Swimming Fans. Today the Federation has been renamed to Hellenic Federation of Swimming. The Pireaus home team is the first in the history of Hellenic water polo that won the Hellenic National Championship. This was in 1927, when the first unofficial Hellenic water polo championship took place, and in 1928 the official Hellenic National Championship was established. During the 70 year history of water polo Olympiacos boasts a brilliant course marked with Championships and success both in Greece and abroad.

(Total Titles: 32)

  • 19 Championships: 1933, 1934, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1969, 1971, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
  • 9 Cups: 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006
  • 1 European Champions League: 2002
  • 1 European Super Cup: 2002

The greatest moment in the club's history was its victory in the 2002 European Champions Cup, after beating Honved in the final. Olympiacos had also played in the final of the previous year, as well as two European Cup finals in the late 90's. In 2002, Olympiacos also won the European Super Cup, after beating in the final the European Cup-Winner.

The women's water polo department was established in 1990 and has won the Hellenic Championship twice, in 1995 and 1997. It should be noted that, both years, the team participated in the European Champions Cup and achieved some very good results.

  • 2 Greek Championships: 1995, 1998

Swimming Department

The swimming department was established roughly at the same time as Olympiacos S.C. itself, in 1925. The club is considered a "champion for life" in swimming and has produced legendary athletes, who were prominent in Greece and distinguished themselves in European and World Events.

(Total Titles: 47)

  • 47 Greek championships - 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

Sailing Department

The sailing department was established in 1963 and since then, has won Olympic distinctions (3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals), 2 gold medals in World Championships as well as 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal in European Championships. It should be noted that the sailing department successfully organized the FINN World Championships in 1998 and 2002 at the club's new marine training facilities in Alexandras Square, Piraeus. The leading athlete in the FINN Category is World Champion and Olympiacos athlete, Aimilios Papathanassiou.

Table Tennis Department

The Table Tennis Department (Ping-Pong) was established in 1959 and has both a Men's and a Women's division. From 1962 to1967 they won every single women's Hellenic Championship, while from 1967 to 1986 they won all Hellenic Championships in the mixed categories. In the last few years, having benefited by the sponsorship of Thrilos SA, they have emerged even more confidently in title - challenging and have achieved important distinctions both in the men's and in the women's divisions.

(Total Titles: 30)

Men Single (4): 1980, 2003, 2004, 2005
Men Cup (3): 2003, 2004, 2005
Women Single (14): 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1975, 1981, 1982, 1983, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006
Women Cup (9): 1965, 1966, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2001, 2005, 2006

Boxing Department

The boxing department was established in 1948 and from 1968 until 1975 kept winning the Hellenic Championship. In 1970 they won the title in all categories! The department continues to produce athletes of the highest standards and often Pan-hellenic champions, while it boasts international achievements, as in the case of Vassilis Papoutsakis and Constantinos Petropoulos, who won 2nd place in their categories at the European Championship in 2001 and Vaggelis Papoutsakis 3rd place at the World Championship in 2001.

(Total Titles: 1)

  • 1 Championship 1971


Track & Field Department

The track and field department was established in November 16, 1953 and since then it has produced Olympic medalists as well as World, European, Medditeranean, Balkan and Pan-Hellenic Champions. The department boasts some of the best athletes in the track and field events both in Greece and worldwide. Cases in point are Kenteris, Thanou, Maniani, Voggoli, Xanthou, Meletoglou, Dimotsios, Doupis, Polias, Polymerou, Papadias, Devetzi, Halkia, Karastamati, Iltsios, Redoumi, Papagianni and more

Shooting Department

The shooting departments is amongst the most upwardly mobile departments of Olympiacos. Its ranks include World Champion Yorgos Salavadakis, while Olympiacos athletes N. Sakelaropoulos, K. Savorianakis and Stylianos Karabinakis are part of the Hellenic National Team

Weight Lifting Department

The weightlifting department began its activities in 1960 and is made up of the Men's, Adolescents, Youth and Children's divisions, while five of the club's athletes are part of the Hellenic National Team. To name a few of our athletes, Christos Spyrou (7th place at the Sydney 2000 Olympics), Yorgos Vitsaras, Efthymis Vitsaras, Dionyssis Bazinas, Kimonas Stavrou. The Department participates in all three divisions of the Pan-hellenic Championship (A, B, C).

Wrestling Department

The wrestling department has been functioning for more than 30 years and includes the Men's, Adolescents and Children's divisions. In 1976-77 Olympiacos wrestling team won the Hellenic Championship and that same year participated in the European Cup. It should be noted that the wrestling department has produced distinguished athletes. The younger generation is continuing the tradition of success such as Xenofon Koutsioumbas 3rd place at the Men's World Championship in 2001 and 3rd place at the European Championship in 2003 and Yorgos Koutsioumbas 3rd place at the Adolescent's World Championship in 2001 and 6th place at the European Championship in 2002.

  • 3 Championships 1977, 2005, 2006


Tennis Department

The tennis department was established in 1998 and is already successful, considering it has won a few distinctions in the children's and adolescents' tournaments where it has participated so far

Rowing Department

The Rowing Department was established in 1927 and it boasts big achievements and distinctions in the Hellenic and European Championships. The department includes rowing, canoe-kayak, kayak polo and kayak slalom. The new marine training facilities of Olympiacos in Alexandras Square have boosted the athletes of the department, who now train under excellent circumstances, that help them achieve their athletic goals

Template:Champions League 2005/06

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