Hellas Football

Panionios Greek Football Pioneers Part 5 First tier Return, New Millennium, and The Fall of a Pioneer By Stephen Kountourou, After a season in the Gamma Ethniki, Panionios returned to the top flight of Greek football, narrowly coming third behind Levadiakos and two points behind champions Naussa. The rest of the 1990s saw the panthers attempting to reestablish themselves in the Alpha Ethniki, with the Nea Smyrna side finishing 9th place in their first season back in the first division. The 1995/96 season brought more heartbreak for the Panionios. They found themselves relegated again as they ended their disappointing campaign second from bottom, currently their lowest finish to a league season. This was followed by another bounce back promotion to the top flight, finishing the 1996/97 Beta Ethniki season as champions, not a major honour but a league title nonetheless. The end of the century would prove to be a more successful period for the Istorikos. With the help of th...

Panionios, Greek Football Pioneers Part 4 Title Misses, Cup Highs and Relegation Lows By Stephen Kountourou, The 1970s saw one of the most successful periods for Panionios. They started the decade with a bang, in 1970/71, as they narrowly missed out on the first league title in their history after finishing second, five points behind AEK Athens. In an official league structure, this is the highest Panionios have ever finished a domestic season. They have unfortunately not come any closer to a league title since. They did however, qualify for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history while also winning their first continental trophy in the Balkans Cup, a competition that represented clubs from the Balkan states, and over a two leg final, defeated Albanian side Besa Kavaje to win the competition. The very next season saw the side from Nea Smyrna cause one of the biggest upsets in their history, by defeating Spanish giants Atletico Madrid over two legs in the first round...

The Panathinaikos-Argentinian connection:  By Antonios Theodosis Throughout the illustrious history of Greek football giants Panathinaikos, the club like its adversaries, has seen its fair share of foreign talent come in through the ranks. It appears however that the Greens have had a particular affinity towards Argentinian players. The club has seen a host of memorable Argentines wear the green shirt throughout the decades. Many of these players have become club legends and fan favorites. Examples include: Juan Ramon Rocha, Juan Jose Borelli, Juan Ramon Veron, Oscar Alvarez, Ezequiel Gonzalez, and Sebastian Leto. The list could go on with many more Argentines finding themselves at the Athenian giants, however these players in particular are some of the most notable to dawn the “trifili.” Many of these players bled for the jersey and were essential figures in the club’s biggest accomplishments, cementing their legacies at the club and in the hearts of the Panathina...

Panionios, Greek Football Pioneers Part 3  Kick off to Life League and a Taste of Europe By Stephen Kountourou. Throughout the mid 1920s, popularity in football saw a huge increase with the formation of the Greek Football federation in 1926. The first official League was formed a year later in 1927, known as the Panhellenic Championship. Sports clubs who had been formed years before were too embracing the beautiful game as part of their sporting activities. The vast majority of the domestic league seasons from the league's formation, until the end of the 1950s were played with inconsistent numbers of teams per league season. Some League tables would have as little as two or three to as many as eight or ten with teams appearing and disappearing. This was due to the teams having to qualify for the national championship via their local football competitions. With Olympiakos, Panathinaikos and AEK refusing to participate, the first official league was played between Aris...

Panionios, Greek Football Pioneers Part 2 Music, Athletics and Humble Beginnings  By Stephen Kountourou Panionios, or Orpheus Music and Sports Club as it was formerly known, was formed by the Greeks of Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire, now known as Ismir, in 1890. Before football came to Greece and its wider communities, the primary activity of the club originally was music, having been named after the legendary musician of ancient Greece, Orpheus.  Later however, club members who wanted the focus to be more on sport and athletics, withdrew from the organisation. Some formed a new club named Gymnasium while others formed what would become Panionios oldest rival Apollon Smyrni. Gymnasium organised the first Panionian Games in 1896 and the next year in 1897 they competed in the foundation of SEGAS, Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association, along with 25 athletics clubs from Greece and two from neighbouring Cyprus.  While it was not the most popular sport at the...

Panionios Greek Football Pioneers - Part 1 By Stephen Kountourou. Every country's football heritage has a beginning. Football began in England with Sheffield FC, the first ever football club and slowly began to spread across the globe. Other pioneers like Genoa in Italy, Recreativo de Huelva in Spain, BFC Germania 1888 in Germany and Havre AC in France followed suit as the first football clubs of their respective countries.  Since 2013, the world wide network known as the Club of Pioneers was founded with its aim to connect with the oldest existing football clubs. By building this global network by promoting the importance of football history, the oldest existing clubs of their country and professional and amateur game. They do this by holding the Pioneers Cup, which was competed for, inconsistently over the 2010s, all for the values of integrity, respect and community in football. But while there are official members of the Pioneers from all over the globe, one ...

Lefteris Milos: AEL’s Northern-Epirote Cult Hero  By Michael For the club representing Thessalia and Alexander the Great’s horse, Bucephalus, AEL are enduring tough times under the ownership of Alexis Kougias. However, AEL enjoys remembering past glories such as winning the Greek Cup in 1985 and 2007, the historic 1987-1988 championship winning season, and even memorable European nights coming up against Dynamo Moscow in the 1985-1986 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup quarterfinal, marking their first appearance in the 1988-89 European Cup (Now called UEFA Champions League) and UEFA Cup 1 st Round tie knocking out Premier League side Blackburn Rovers to qualify for the Group Stages. Furthermore, the aftermath of winning the Alpha Ethniki in 1988 in historic fashion witnessed the collapse of the Crimsons in the space of 8 years up until 1996 earning relegation to the Beta Ethniki. Star players either aged or departed the club as the squad started to thin and vulnerable, therefore AEL ...