Ionikos. The Long Awaited Return

Ionikos. The Long Awaited Return

By Stephen Kountourou 

In football, there are plenty of feel good stories. Teams overachieving to win an unexpected league title, sides with the budget of a cheese sandwich going to the latter stages of a major European competition, or the long awaited return of a former first tier side from the depths of the footballing pyramid. For me, the story of Ionikos FC is one of those feel good moments from this season just after the plucky side from Piraeus finally returned to the super league after a 14 year hiatus. 

This also marks the first time that two Piraeus teams will compete in the first division of Greek football since Ionikos themselves were last relegated. While the Kuanolevkoi may have the most decorated history in Greek football, their full-time previous tenure in Greece's top flight was certainly a memorable one. They are still seen by many neutrals as a welcome return to the first division after years away so for this week I will be taking a look at the port side, from their early years to their golden era of the 90s and early 2000s to the baron years in the lower depths of Greek football, all the way up to the 2020/21 campaign and their eventual return to the Super League. 

Early History and Golden Era 

After a merger in 1965 between Aris Piraeus and Nikaia Sports Union by the first president of the new club Alex Meraklidis, Athitkos Omilos Ionikos Nikaias was born. The team began life in the Beta Ethniki for the 1965/66 season where they would finish a respectable 5th place. After ten years of competing in the second tier of Greek football, Ionikos would suffer the first relegation of their history to the local Piraeus FCA Championships. It looked as though it might be an early fall into obscurity for the Kuanolevkoi but thankfully after three seasons of attempting to return to the second tier they finally did so at the third time of asking.

 

However, the return was short-lived as the club would see themselves relegated again, this time to the recently formed Gamma Ethniki. It took a couple of seasons but Ionikos climbed back into the second tier. Four seasons later, Ionikos finally began to move forward as a club by winning a promotion to the Alpha Ethniki for the first time in their history. This is viewed by many fans of Ionikos as the beginning of the golden era for the club.

 

During the 90s Ionikos would become a bit of a yo-yo club with their debut into the Alpha Ethniki being a narrow escape from relegation before the following campaign seeing them finish in the bottom three and taste the drop. Their fortunes would change by 1994/95, after narrowly staying up in the Alpha Ethniki, as they would go on to cement themselves as a more consistent first tier side. The Piraeus side would finish 8th twice in 95/96 as well as reaching the heady heights of 5th in two successive campaigns, their joint best finishes in the first division to date. The second of those seasons in 1998-99 would result in Ionikos qualifying for European competition for the first time in the club’s history. 

 

The Kuanolevkoi drew French side Nantes in the UEFA Cup First Round. Sadly that would be the furthest the Greek side as they were knocked out 1-4 over two legs. This would not be the only milestone for Iionikos at the turn of the millennium, as the team would reach an unlikely Greek Cup final with an opportunity to claim a first major trophy. After an extraordinary run through Greece's second competition to the final at the Olympic Stadium, they fell at the last hurdle after being well beaten by AEK 3-0.

 

Years in the Lower Divisions 

After another successful campaign during the 200/01 season where Ionikos placed 6th, the 2000s were more of a mixed bag for the Piraeus side as they consistently finished mid-tablefull-time and never really challenged to break back into the top half of the table again. During the final edition of the Alpha Ethniki, the club narrowly escaped relegation by a single point. A near miss but it was certainly telling signs of things to come. Their final campaign in the first division was a torrid one. After being docked points on a couple of occasions and losing 25 games, the club finished rock bottom of the league table and was relegated after amassing only 4 points out of 30 matches.  

 

The end of the 2000s would go from bad to worse for Ionikos. The Kuanolevkoi missed out on promotion back to the Super League during the following campaigns after which they narrowly escaped relegation from the Beta Ethniki. At the turn of the decade in 2010/11 Ionikos were one of several clubs that were stripped of their professional licence by the Professional Sports Committee and despite accumulating enough points to stay up, were further punished with relegation down to the Delta Ethniki.  

 

Two seasons later, Ionikos were able to climb up a league into the Gamma Ethniki. There they would stay for much of the 2010s, normally finishing in the top half and just missing out on promotion every time. Despite qualifying for the 18/19 playoffs and winning their two legged ties against Aiolikos FC, the Greek football pyramid restructure meant that Ionikos remained in the division for another season, as the football league replaced the Gamma Ethniki as the 3rd tier. 

 

2019/20 was the season Ionikos fans would finally see their side promoted after coming so close for several years. With the disruption of the COVID19 pandemic rocking football in the country, the third division did not manage to complete a full domestic season. After 20 games it was announced that all teams who had finished in their respective positions would be promoted to the newly formed Greek Super League 2 with no relegation. Ionikos being in 2nd after 23 matches played saw themselves go up to the second tier, one league away from the promised land.

2020/21 Season and Super League Return

As the pandemic continued to spread around the world it also had a profound effect on Greek football. While the 2020/21 Super League season was able to begin in early September, the low leagues in the country were postponed until further notice by EPO. Even with other nations' lower divisions all being started in Europe, it would not be until the turn of the year on the 16th of January 2021 when the Super League 2 was finally allowed to commence. During the regular season, sides competed against each other twice a week and after 22 matches it was Ionikos, under the helm of Dimitrios Spanos, who was 6 points ahead of second place Xanthi going into the league split.

 

The playoffs saw each team play once meaning the second half of the season would last only five games. The Piraeus side began the playoffs in poor form, losing three on the bounce and recovering to beat Diagoras Rhodos 3-5 on the penultimate match of the campaign. By the final game of the season, Ionikos had been caught up by the chasing pack which meant either them, Xanthi or Levadiakos who were due to play each other would be crowned champions and gain automatic promotion to the Super League.

 

After a goalless first half against opponents Ergotelis, Ionikkos were dealt a huge blow as the Cretans took the lead thanks to a goal from Sotirios Kokinis to put their promotion hopes in huge doubt. With just over 15 minutes left of the game, the Kuanolevkoi equalised through Husein Mumin to give Spanos men some hope. They were dealt another blow less than a minute later, as Xanthi went 1-0 ahead in their game against Levadiakos to put them top of the table. 

The team's despair turned to euphoria with less than ten minutes of normal time remaining as Giorgios Manalis put Ionikos 2-1 up and back on top of the league standings. The side from Piraeus held on and as the full time whistle went Spanos and co celebrated that they had finally taken Ionikos back to the top flight for the first time in 14 years. After years of struggling on the lower echelons of Greek football, it certainly is one of the feel good stories to see plucky Ionikos FC back to compete with the big boys. 

Hellas Football 

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