Larissa Conquerors of Greece Part 1

Larissa Conquerors of Greece


Combining Clubs, Promotion, and Golden Beginnings
By Stephen Kountourou
In Greece, the league title throughout history, has been shared between the biggest clubs, from the largest cities in the country. Olympiakos currently have amassed 44 league titles, with the side from Piraeus being the most successful football club in Greece. Elsewhere in Athens, Panathinaikos have previously won 20 titles in their history  and are a fair distance away from their eternal rivals haul of trophies. Fellow capital side AEK are next with 12 titles to their name. Heading up north to Thessaloniki, PAOK and rivals Aris are next on the list, with the two sides each winning three titles apiece. In short, Greek football has almost never seen a side win a league title that was not from a major city. That is, with one exception. A lone club from the central reign of Thessaly, who defied the norm of the five biggest clubs in Greece and shocked the country by going on to win their one and only league title.To this day it is seen by many as the biggest upset in the league's near 100 year history. I am talking of course, about AEL Larissa, conquerors of Greece. In celebration of the sides historic title win 32 years ago this May, I will be taking a look at the crimsons and how they went from division two, to the pinnacle of Greek football in just the first 24 years of their existence as a football club. 

The club started life on the 17th of May, 1964 in Thessaly's biggest city of Larisa. With football teams from the central Greek city and surrounding area struggling in the lower leagues, multiple sports clubs from municipalities came together to help create a super club, one that would be able to properly represent the city more competitively in Greek football. With contributions of resources and people from the likes of Iraklis Larissa, Larssiakos, Apollonas, Sagittarius, Aris Larissa, Doxa Emporoipalilon, Pelasgiotida and Olympos completing this family for clubs, they would band together to help form what is now known as Athlitiki Enosi Larissa FC, or Athletic Union of Larissa. With the football fans in Larissa hopeful that this would finally end their cities football mediocrity, they had no idea that their dreams would become reality and beyond. 

The merging of clubs in Greece by multiple entities to create a bigger club was traditionally to help put all their resources together to eventually make a push for the first division. At first it was a slow process for the newly formed side. Larissa made their debut in the Beta Ethniki, Greece's 2nd tier, at the start of the 1964/65 season where they finished 5th place, missing out on promotion but a very respectable finish for the new side. A few near misses followed with the side finishing as high as third place the next season. After ten years in the chase for promotion and, at times even fighting to stay in the 2nd division, Larissa, under Yugoslavian manager Stevan Karanflovic, finally made it to the promised land of the Alpha Ethniki in 1973, less than ten years after the crimsons were first formed as a club.

In their debut season in the first tier they managed another impressive result for such a young club with a 9th place finish. This however was followed by an immediate drop back into the Beta Ethniki, as they finished rock bottom of the league. They would spend the next few seasons attempting to gain promotion back to the first tier and on the third time of asking, the Thessalian side returned to the finished the season as champions and regained a spot in the top flight. This would be the beginning of what many Larissa fans describe as the golden era of their club. 
On the 6th of September 1979, tragedy would hit the club as well as Greek football. Three, first team Larissa players, Dimitrios Mousiaris, Dimitrios Koukoulitsios and Giannis Valaoras, who were highly touted to be some Greece best and brightest players in the future, were travelling down to Athens by car, as they were running late for their training session, before Greece's up coming match against the Soviet Union. However with the slippery road and driving at high speed, Mousiaris lost control of the car and it collided with a bus. Mousiaris and Koukoulitsios, tragically lost their lives with Valaoras being pulled from the wreck, thankfully with only minor injuries and survived the ordeal. Despite this horrible event, and after his recovery physically and emotional at the loss of his friends and teammates, Valaoras would go on to represent Larissa for the vast majority of his career, becoming a club legend, the clubs all time top goal scorer and a key player in the future glories of Larissa. 

The 80s began with a bang for Larissa as league performances in the Alpha Ethniki started to improve. They managed to reach their first Greek Cup final in 1982, narrowly losing the match 1-0 to Panathinaikos. League performances also started to make other fans in Greek turn their heads. The very next season, they jumped all the way up to second place in the 1982/83 season, only five points behind winners Olympiakos. A huge achievement for a club who had only been promoted three seasons previously and signs of future glory for them. 

This gave fans of the Thessalian club their first taste of European football, with Larissa entering the UEFA Cup in 1983/84. They would go no further then the first round however. After a 2-0 win against Budapest Honved, they succumbed to 3-0 loss in the second leg to the Hungarian side, with midfielder László Dajka scoring a hat trick in extra time to send Larissa out of the competition. The very same season saw the club reach another Greek Cup final, knocking out AEK Athens on route. Their luck finally ran out at the last hurdle as they once again saw defeat to Panathinaikos. With the Prasini winning a league and cup double and entering the European Cup, this gave Larissa, as cup finalists, another chance to prove themselves in the cup winners. 

1984/85 would be the season the crimsons really started to show their true colours. Not only had Larissa established themselves as a top 6 side at this point, but they would go on a huge run to the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners Cup, knocking out Hungarian side BFC Siófok and Swiss side Servette FC. Unluckily they themselves would be knocked out over two legs, 1-0 on aggregate to, then Soviet side, Dynamo Moscow. Another huge strides for the club came in the season as, on the third time of asking, Larissa would finally win their first Greek Cup with a huge 4-1 win over PAOK. If Larissa fans thought this was the pinnacle for their still relatively young club, they, along with the rest of Greece, were in for a serious shock.

Hellas Football.
Follow @greekfan2004

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