Kastoria FC, The Little Team That Could

Kastoria FC, The Little Team That Could

By Stephen Kountourou When it comes to the beautiful game, everybody loves an underdog story. A small, unfamiliar side, going on an incredible run which ultimately leads glory for the unlikely heroes, with every natural loving to see the established giants beaten at their own game. This is just as prominent in cup competitions. With most formats consisting of two legged knockout rounds, on the path to the final, this gives smaller teams the chance to become giant killers against their much larger and historically successful opponents and their fans, some of their greatest memories that they can forever cherish.

Examples range from, Wimbledon FC winning the FA Cup over giants Liverpool, FC Porto winning the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League and Greece upsetting the odds to win Euro 2004. These are just some of the greatest and most famous upsets in cup competitions. But when it comes to the Greek Cup, Greece's domestic cup competition, there are few exceptions of this. Ethinkos Piraeus, Iraklis, OFI Crete, Aris, Panionios and AEL Larissa have all had surprising runs to winning the Greek Cup, with the rest of the cup wins shared between the established big four.

But while they were surprise winners, one team, I would argue, truly caused the biggest shock in the long history of the Greek Cup while also becoming the very first team outside of Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece's two biggest cities, to do so. A side that had not done anything particularly spectacular before or since their mammoth achievement, Kastoria FC. In this blog I will be taking a look at this club in the western Macedonian reign of Greece, briefly looking at their golden period, their rise to the Alpha Ethniki and how they caused an all mighty upset by winning their first and only major piece of silverware.   

Formed in 1963, after the merging of three local clubs Aris, Atromitos and Orestias, to form one strong club which would represent the municipality of the same name, Kastoria FC would begin life in the Beta Ethniki. There, the Fur Traders would stay for the first 11 years of their existence, finishing unspectacularly in mid table of the Northern division table with a couple of near misses on promotion. They reached the Alpha Ethniki, as champions of the second tier in the 1973/74 season. From this point, the Macedonian club would begin what their supporters see as their golden era.

In their debut season in the top flight of Greek football, they were able to stay up and finish a respectable 11th place, thanks to their surprisingly strong home form. They lost only one game at their Municipal stadium, defeating both Thessaloniki giants, Aris and PAOK in the process. In the following seasons, Kastoria FC would usually find themselves in the lower mid table in the Alpha Ethniki. Despite never coming close to challenging for the title or a European place, supporters still see this as the golden period for the club as this was the longest time the Fur traders participated in the top flight in their history while also putting together their most talented ever squad. By 1979/80, they had properly established themselves as a first division club and this was the season where they would cause their biggest shock. 

The domestic season as a whole for Kastoria FC was pretty unremarkable. They finished 14th in the league and had been deducted one point with the only noteworthy result being a 1-0 win at home over eventual champions Olympiakos. It was the Greek Cup that made this the clubs greatest season in their history. They kicked off their cup run by defeating Ethnikos Piraeus 0-1 in extra time, a pretty big result against a team that were consistently finishing in the top of half of the league table every season. The following round they comfortably beat Macedonian rivals Kavala, in an even match up at the time, as both clubs finished in similar places in the domestic league table, but Kastoria got the better of their opponents. 

After brushing aside lower tier Olympiakos Loutraki 1-5 in the third round, Kastoria FC reached the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup, already a huge achievement for the club. But more was yet to come. The Fur Traders were drawn against fellow first division side in AEL Larissa, besting their Thessaly opponents over two legs to reach the Semi finals. There they were given a dream draw against second tier Makedonikos, who themselves had achieved a great cup run. Over two legs they claimed a 4-1 aggregate against their Thessaloniki opponents and with that, Kastoria FC reached the final of the Greek Cup. Their opponents in the Iraklis, had previously defeated their city rivals PAOK in the semi finals and with Greece's greatest ever player, Vassilis Hatzipanagis, at the forefront of their attack, Kastoria went into the Cup final very much the underdogs. 

With this being the first Greek Cup final in the Alpha Ethniki era to not contain any teams from the big 4, the match began. With nearly 9 and a half thousand fans in the Nikos Goumas Stadium in Athens, they did not have to wait long for a goal, with Iraklis striking first, winning a penalty in the 14th minute, which was scored by Nikos Kalambakas. With the side from Thessaloniki 1-0 up it looked as though it could have remained that way going into half time. That was until Kastoria FC equalised through Lakis Simaioforidis in the 40th minute, with both sides going into half time at 1-1. The second half began in the best possible way for the Macedonian underdogs as, Ioannis Dintsikos, scored only minutes after the restart, putting Kastoria FC ahead. A third from forward Dimitris Tsironis put them in a commanding 3-1 lead, with their first major trophy now in sight. Iraklis, despite their efforts, could not break down their opponents with their own talented players, until the 80th minute when Giannis Mavrodoulakis pulled one back, making it 3-2 and giving them a brief period of hope to salvage the game and take it at least to extra time. Tsironis on the other hand, had other ideas, scoring a further two more times, completing his hat trick and all but assuring Kastoria FC a huge cup win for the Club.

Being one of the most surprising victors, in Greek Cup history, little Kastoria FC were crown champions, giving their fans the greatest moment in the history, one that would live long in the memories of both the players and their fans. But, sadly, the golden era was coming to a close. 

Three seasons after their Greek Cup victory and finishing 8th in 1981/82, their best finish to a domestic season, 1982/83 would bring relegation for the Fur Traders, as they finished bottom of the league table, returning to the Beta Ethniki for the first time in 9 years. They would spend a further 9 years languishing in the second tier until 1992 when they were actually relegated again, this time to the Gamma Ethniki. By 1996, Kastoria FC saw two promotions in the two seasons and rocketed back to the Alpha Ethniki. Their top flight return would be short lived however, as they finished bottom of the table with only 8 points and won one game all season. This is the joint worst points tally in the history of the league, a record that would be equalled by Ethnikos Piraeus 2 seasons later. It must be noted that this the worst points tally for sides that had not previously been deducted points.

The rest of Kastorias recent history has seen them yo-yoing between the second, third and fourth tiers of Greek Football. They currently have fallen even further, into the regional leagues, truly a sad time for a side that, 40 years previous, had been the little team that could, winning the Greek Cup and causing a huge upset that is still remembered to this day. Hellas Football Follow @greekfan2004