Ethnikos Piraeus The Ports Second Club

Ethnikos Piraeus The Ports Second Club

By Steve Kountourou 

When you mention the port of Piraeus to any Greek football supporter, the first club most tends to think of understandably is Olympiakos. The port side team from an urban area of Athens has dominated Greek football for them as long as the sport has been played in the country. But many nowadays forget that there was once another club portside that predates Thrylos and one that maybe, if still in the first tier, could be seen as the Erythrolefki's most local rivals. I am of course referring to Ethnikos Piraeus. 

Seen even to this day as the second Piraeus club, Ethnikos were once a mainstay in the Greek topflight. Helping to found the league system way back when, coming close to matching their Piraeus rivals on occasion in the league and would go on to be one of the only clubs in Greece never to be relegated before the 1990s, before their demise towards the end of the century and fall into obscurity. But for this week I intend to resurrect this historic club from the 4th tier of Greek football and look back at when there were most certainly two teams in the port.   

Early Years and Greek Cup Victory 

The club was founded under the name Keravnos on the 21st of November 1923 and just over a year later they were renamed again to Young Boys Titan. But for the third and final time, after a merger with Peiraikos Podosfairikos Omilos, they finally renamed themselves to Ethnikos Omilos Filathlon Pireos. After the founding brothers of Ethnikos split in two, one group stayed at the club for the upper class Ethnikos, while the other group formed the club that later down the line would evolve to become the club for the more working class people, Olympiakos. 

 

Eventually, Ethnikos began to compete in the Piraeus Championship, winning the regional tournament in 1928 and entering the Panhellenic Championship. The winners of the Athens, Piraeus and Macedonian groups would all qualify for the finals. In the final group round to determine the champion, Ethnikos fell short to Thessaloniki side Aris by a single point, finishing second ahead of Athens side Atromitos. After winning the Piraeus Championship again in 1929 over rivals Olympiakos, Ethnkios would claim their biggest piece of silverware to date. 

 

During the second ever Greek Cup played during the 1932/33 season the Piraeus side reached the final after seeing off the likes of defending champions AEK, Apollon Athens, later renamed Apollon Smyrni, and port rivals Olympiakos in the semi final. In an exciting final against Aris, the final finished 2-2 with neither side able to be separated after extra time and a replay was set for a month after the first final match was played. During the replay, it was Ethnikos that emerged victorious in a 2-1 win that handed them the Greek Cup. 

 

The rest of the 1930s would see Ethnikos for the most part, overtaken by Olympiakos as the best side in Piraeus with Thrylos winning their first six championships in that time. Ethnikos on the other hand came so close and yet so far on a couple of occasions to seal their first league title coming closest in 1934/35 when they finished as winners of the Piraeus group and top of the semi final southern group to play Aris in the final, only for the championship to be abandoned. A couple of years later, War broke out in Europe and it would not be till the 1950s that Ethnikos would truly challenge for a league title.

Mid 50s, Near Misses and Controversy  

After the end of WWII and the beginning of the 1950s, Ethnikos continued to be pipped to the post by Olympiakos as Thrylos would finish ahead of them in the Piraeus group to reach the next round of the Panhellenic Championship. But despite this Ethnikos could take pride in the fact that they were for the most part, comfortably the second best team on the port. Perhaps under a more traditional league format, they might have achieved more in that time with what many view as the team's best period in their history. Ethnikos perhaps came closest to the title midway through the decade, where they reached the final league round in 1955/56 only missing out by a single point to rivals Olympiakos for the title. 

The very next season, however, Ethnikos found themselves top of the final league table and on course to win their first ever league title, only for them to be controversially stripped of the opportunity with four games of the championship still to be played. The club had been accused of allegedly contacting Hungarian star players Ferenc Puskas and Sandor Kocsis which was illegal in Greek football at the time. As punishment for their supposed crime, Ethnikos was docked four points and were not allowed to finish the season which resulted in Olympiakos and Panathinaikos finishing level on points and playing each other in a playoff to decide the champion. After two legs Olympiakos came out on top to clinch another league trophy. 

 

The rest of the decade would see Ethnikos reach the final league standings on each occasion but fail to hit the heady heights of the previous two campaigns. By 1959/60 Greek football went through a huge restructure and the Alpha Ethniki era began. 

Alpha Ethniki Years and Consistency

The 1960s was the beginning of an era of consistency from Ethnikos as the side from Piraeus was a mainstay in the Alpha Ethniki. The club never finished outside of the top ten during this period with their best finish being 5th in 1962/63. They even came close on two consecutive occasions to another Greek Cup final, losing out in 197/68 in the semi finals to defending champions Panathinaikos 2-0 and the following campaign where they narrowly lost 4-3 after extra time to local rivals Olympiakos who were also defending champions that season. 

 

At the start of the 1970s, Ethnikos were more of a mid table side finishing slightly lower than previously but still maintaining their status as a top ten side. They did come close to the Greek Cup final once more, this time losing out to PAOK in the semi final 3-2 after extra time. It would be during the 1974/75 season however where the Piraeus side put up their first genuine title challenge of the modern era. Having finished the midseason as winter champions it looked as though Ethnikos could finally win their first ever league title. But after a slump in form in the second half of the campaign, they dropped down to 4th and just missed out on European qualification to PAOK by a single point. 

 

Despite this disappointment, Ethnikos remained remarkably consistent and did not fall lower than 10th place for a second consecutive decade. They even entered the Balkans Cup after missing out on the UEFA Cup place but were unable to win any of their games. 

 End of the Century and Demis

 

 The wheels started to come off of the Ethnikos train by the 1980s. By this point, Greek football officially became professional and despite finishing 7th consecutively in 1979/80 and 1980/81 that would be as good as it got for the Piraeus side in the league. The very next season Ethnikos finished outside of the top ten for the first time in the Alpha Ethniki in 13th place. They would attempt to stabilise with a couple of mid table finishes but by the mid 85/86 the team would miss out on relegation on the head to head in 12 place as 11th to 15th all finished on 24 points, a narrow escape. 

Their final top ten finish came in the 1987/88 season after a failed push for Europe saw them finish 7th. The writing was on the wall for Ethnikos Piraeus by the end of the decade as the club finished in the bottom three in 1988/89 but thanks to winning a relegation playoff barely stayed up. They would also make their last cup run to date, reaching the semi finals only to again be knocked out by Panathinaikos The next season, however, there would be no saving the Piraeus side as they were finally relegated, finishing rock bottom of the league and tasting the drop for the first time in their long history.

 

The 90s would be a much more turbulent time for Ethnikos. They started by bouncing back from the Beta Ethniki the very next season and were promoted as champions before dropping back into the second tier in 1991/92. Two seasons later the Piraeus side would return to the top flight via the final promotion place and be able to stabilise themselves in the Alpha Ethniki without succumbing to relegation. This success was short lived however and rather than building on their great escape, in 1995/96 they faced the drop once more. 

 

Now being more of a yoyo club in Greek football the club would be promoted for the final time to date and after only one more season in the Alpha Ethniki, the club from Piraeus was relegated for the last time in 1998/99 meaning that Ethnikos never managed to see themselves in the first tier going into the new millennium. Instead, the club suffered back to back relegation by also dropping from the Beta Ethniki to the Gamma Ethniki Greece's third tier. A couple of seasons later things went from bad to worse as by 2003/04 Ethnikos Piraeus were languishing in the Delta Ethniki, the fourth tier of Greek football. 

 

In more recent times the club’s fortune has been mixed, to say the least. After fighting their way back to the Beta Ethniki for the 2006/07 season a few years later they attempted to push for promotion back to the first division and qualify for the playoffs. Sadly they just missed out on their long awaited return to what is now known as the Greek Super League. The very next campaign was cut short for the Piraeus side as they were found guilty of forgery and forcibly relegated back to the Delta Ethniki for the 2011/12 season. They have then been relegated again to the amateur fifth tier of Greek football, the lowest in the club’s long history. 

 

After winning back to back Piraeus championships as well as the Piraeus cup during the 2010s, Ethnikos in 2020/21 finds themselves back in the Gamma Ethniki which is now confusingly Greece’s fourth tier with former first tier side Panionios who has also suffered the same fate in recent years. Whether we ever see Ethnikos Piraeus back in the first tier where it belongs like all the other historical Greek clubs that have faced troubles of their own in the last couple of decades only time will tell but I hope that it is sooner rather than later.

Hellas Football 

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