Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus (Greek: Olumpiakos S.Ph.P. Greek pronunciation [olibia'kosThe Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus (Greek pronunciation: [) commonly referred to in the media as Olympiacos as well as Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club that is based at Piraeus, Attica. A member of the major multi-sports club Olympiacos CFP (Olympiakos Syndesmos Filathlon Peiraios, "Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus") The club's name is derived from the historic Olympic Games and , along with the emblem of the club that is that of the laurel-crowned Olympic athlete, represent their belief in the Olympic ideals of the ancient Greece. Their home stadium is Karaiskakis Stadium, a 32,115-capacity stadium located in Piraeus.
The club was founded on March 10, 1925, Olympiacos is the most successful club in Greek football history. It has achieved 47 League titles and 29 Cups (18 doubles) and four Super Cups, all records. In total, 79 national awards, Olympiacos is 9th in the world for total titles that a football team has won. Olympiacos' dominance is further proven by the fact that all the other Greek clubs have won a 39 League titles. Olympiacos has the record for the highest number of consecutive Greek League titles won, with seven consecutive wins twice (1997-2003 between 2011 and 2017) which broke their earlier record for six consecutive titles from the 1950s (1954-1959) in the 1950s, when Olympiacos was aptly dubbed Thrylos. (Greek: Thrulos, "The Legend").
After winning the 2014-15 title in the League, Olympiacos became the only football club worldwide to have been awarded at least five consecutive titles five times throughout their history. This is a feat which was celebrated by FIFA with a letter of congratulations of the president, Sepp Blatter. Olympiacos are the one Greek club that has achieved the national cup five times in a row Cups (1957-1961) and as well as six League championships without losing (1937 and 1938, 1948 1953, 1951 and 1955). Olympiacos are among only three clubs that have not been dropped from the top tier of Greek football. And by winning the title in 2012-13 the 40th time they have won they also added an additional star to their crest, each is a representation of the 10 League titles.
In European tournaments, Olympiacos best performances are their participation during their participation in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in 1998 and 1999, but they lost their semi-final place in the final moments of their first leg game against Juventus in the quarter-finals, and in the cup winners' cup of the UEFA Cup quarter-finals of 1992-93. The Red-Whites are the top-ranked Greek football club on the UEFA rankings, with the 37th spot within Europe in the ranking for five years and 30th spot in the ten year ranking in 2021. They are also one of the original participants of the European Club Association. Olympiacos was the winner of the Balkans Cup in 1963, at time when it was thought to be to be the second-highest priority regional event after it was the European Cup, becoming the first Greek team to be a winner of an international championship.
Olympiacos is among the top adored soccer club of Greece and is also the most well-known club among the inhabitants of Athens and gaining huge supporters from Greek communities across the world. With 83,000 members registered in April 2006, Olympiacos was ranked 9th on the list of clubs that have the highest paying members in the world. this number increased to 98,000 members in 2014. Olympiacos have a long-running battle with Panathinaikos and Panathinaikos, who play at Panathinaikos "derby of the everlasting rivals" one of the most iconic football game in Greece and among the most famous in the globe.
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Olympiacos was established on 10 March 1925 within the Athenian port city of Piraeus. The initial goal of the club according to the statutes, was the improvement and enhancement of athletes' potential to participate in athletic competitions as well as the propagation of the Olympic sporting ideal, and the encouragement of sportmanship and fanship among youngsters in line with the egalitarian ideals and an ethical, healthy, and social base. The members of "Piraikos Omilos Podosfairikos" (Sport and Piraeus Football Club) as well as "Piraeus Fan Club FC" were able to agree, at an historical meeting,[30] dissolve both clubs to create an all-new club that would bring this fresh idea and enthusiasm to the local community. Notis Kamperos, a senior officer in the Hellenic Navy, proposed the name Olympiacos and the image of an laurel-crowned Olympic winner to be the symbol that the newly formed club would use. Michalis Manouskos, a well-known Piraeus industrialist, extended the name to include its complete and current state, Olympiacos Syndesmos Filathlon Pireos. Apart from Kamperos and Manouskos among the notable founders were Stavros Maragoudakis, a director of the post office; Nikos Andronikos, a merchant; Dimitrios Sklias, a Hellenic Army officer; Nikolaos Zacharias, a lawyer; Athanasios Mermigas who was a notary public Kostas Klidouchakis who was the first goalie in the club's history Ioannis Kekkes who was a stockbroker, and, most importantly and most importantly, the Andrianopoulos family. Andrianopoulos is the family of well-established Piraeus merchants was a key player in the creation of Olympiacos. The five brothers Yiannis, Dinos, Giorgos, Vassilis and Leonidas Andrianopoulos improved the standing that the football club enjoyed and helped bring it to the level of its present fame. Yiannis, Dinos, Giorgos and Vassilis were the first players to play, and Leonidas the smallest of the five began his career later and was a player in the team for eight seasons (1927-1935). The team's offensive line comprised of five brothers became famous, and eventually achieving the status of a legend. Soon Olympiacos enjoyed huge popularity and became the most prosperous and well-supported soccer club in Greece. At the time their fans were mostly of the working-class as the team's base being at Neo Phaliron Velodrome, before changing to the current Karaiskakis Stadium. They were Piraeus Champions in 1925 and 1926.
In 1926 in 1926, it was in the year 1926 that the Hellenic Football Federation was founded and held The Panhellenic Championship in the 1927-1928 season. It was the inaugural national tournament in which the regional champions of EPSA league (Athens), EPSP league (Piraeus) and EPSM league (Thessaloniki) were competing for the national title in play-offs and with Aris being the first winner. This was also the inaugural Panhellenic Championship was organized in the same manner until 1958-1959. However, in the following season (1928-29) there was a conflict in the midst of a dispute between Olympiacos with the Hellenic Football Federation and as it turned out that the club was unable to take part in the tournament in the second season, with Panathinaikos along with AEK Athens deciding to follow Olympiacos. In the course of that season the three played games of friendly matches with one another and eventually created a group known as P.O.K.
In the meantime, the team continued to dominate the Piraeus Championship, winning the 1926-27, 1928-29and 1930-31 and 1929-30 championships. The club also began to establish themselves as the top player in Greek football. They achieved a record of staying unbeaten in every Greek clubs for 3 straight season (14 March 1926 until 3 March 1929) which included six draws and 30 wins during 36 match. The results received a rousing response from the Greek press, who named Olympiacos Thrylos ("Legend") in the very first instance in the history of football. In the fourth Panhellenic Championship took place in 1930-31. It saw Olympiacos triumphantly winning their first Greece championship for their national team, the very first time in history and it was a significant moment that marked the start of a very prosperous era of Olympiacos history. Olympiacos performed a fantastic performance in the tournament and won the title effectively, with 11 wins two draws and just one loss. They scored 7 wins in seven matches at home, defeating Panathinaikos, AEK Athens, Aris, Iraklis and PAOK by the same score: 3-1. The only game that was different was against Ethnikos in which Olympiacos scored 4 goals and prevailed with a score of 4-1. Apart from players like the Andrianopoulos brothers as well as Kostas Klidouchakis, the other prominent players from the initial period of the history of Olympiacos (1925-1931) included Achilleas Glymatikopoulos, Lalis Lekkos, Philippos Kourantis, Nikos Panopoulos, Charalambos Pezonis, and Kostas Terezakis.
The beginning of the new decade was marked by a dramatic increase in the popularity of the Panhellenic Championship across Greece. In October 1931 Giorgos as well as Yiannis Andrianopoulos who were famous players and founders of Olympiacos were both retired from playing football. But, new heroes came to the forefront in the form of Giannis Vazos Christoforos Raggos Theologos Symeonidis Michalis Anamateros Spyros Depountis Aris Chrysafopoulos Nikos Grigoratos Panagis Korsianos, as well as the famous twins Giannis as well as Vangelis. the club was awarded five Championships during nine seasons (1932-33 1933-34, 1933-34 1935-36, 1936-37 1937-38) and, by the time 1940 arrived, Olympiacos had already won six Championships in the initial eleven years in the Panhellenic Championship. Particularly Giannis Vazos Christoforos Raggos as well as Theologos Symeonidis formed an impressive group of attackers. They scored many goals, and becoming the most famous of them all. Giannis Vazos was a player for 18 years with Olympiacos (1931-1949) He was able to score scores of 450 goals over three64 matches (179 goal in 156 matches) in the team's history. He is the second-highest scorer for the club as well as winning his Greek Championship top scorer award four times (1933 1937, 1936, as well as 1947).
The club also won the 1937-38 and 1936-37 Championship championships without losing. In the Greek Cup, the team failed to win the tournament in the first four years of its existence despite several impressive wins , such as the record-breaking home victory of 1-6 against Panathinaikos at the Leoforos Stadium in 1932 (V. Andrianopoulos 16', 64", 88' Raggos 24' Vazos 70' and 69'), which is the biggest victory for an away team in the history of this derby.
On the 28th of October, 1940 Fascist Italy attacked Greece and a number of Olympiacos players were part of with the Hellenic Army to fight against the Axis invaders. Chistoforos Raggos suffered a serious injury in his left leg during January 1941 and was not allowed to play football for the rest of the season. Leonidas Andrianopoulos suffered severe frostbite during his time at the Albanian front and was almost killed as did Nikos Grigoratos suffered a laceration to that leg at the Battle of Klisura. Additionally, after the German invasion in Greece, Olympiacos players joined the Greek Resistance and fought ferociously in the fight against Nazis. Olympiacos teammate Nikos Godas, an emblematic player for the club played captain in the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and fought the Germans across numerous different fronts. Godas was executed wearing an Olympiacos shorts and a shirt, according to his last desire: "Shoot me and kill me by putting my Olympiacos shirt and don't blindfold me. I would like to see the colors of my team prior to the last shot." Michalis Anamateros was an active participant in The Greek Resistance who was executed in 1944. Olympiacos was a victim of a heavy price in the conflict that destroyed the country and the Axis occupation, and the subsequent Greek Civil War and the club's development was put on hold for a time.
Following WWII, Olympiacos saw many of its most important players from the prewar period retire, and there were many important changes made to the roster of the team. Olympiacos captain and frequent scorer Giannis Vazos remained with the team, as did Giannis Chelmis. Numerous new important players joined the club, including Andreas Mouratis, Alekos Chatzistavridis, Stelios Kourouklatos and Dionysis Minardos. When regular matches began and the Piraeus club began to regain their position as the top team within Greek football. From 1946 until 1959, Olympiacos took 9 of eleven Greek Championships (1947, 1948 1951, 1951 and 1955 and 1957 1959) which brought the home team 15 Championship titles in the course of 23 seasons completed in the Greek League. Six consecutive Greek Championships taken by Olympiacos between 1954 and 1959 was an unparalleled feat in Greek football's history. It's an all-time record that continued for 44 years to Olympiacos won seven consecutive Greek Championships from 1997 until 2003.
In addition, during the same time (1946-1959) the club was able to win eight Greek Cups out of 13 editions (1947 1951 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957 1959) and thus completed six Doubles (1947 1951, 1954 1957, and and 1959) with three were in succession (1957-1959). It was the legendary Olympiacos team from the 1950s, which included prominent players like Andreas Mouratis, Ilias Rossidis, Thanasis Bebis, Ilias Yfantis, Babis Kotridis, Kostas Polychroniou Giorgos Darivas Babis Drosos Antonis Poseidon Savvas Theodoridis Kostas Karapatis Mimis Stefanakos Thanasis Kinley Stelios Psychos Giannis Ioannou Themis Moustaklis Vasilis Xanthopoulos Dimitris Kokkinakis, Giorgos Kansos, Kostas Papazoglou and Aristeidis Papazoglou were the key players to mark Olympiacos the era of absolute dominance in Greek football, which boosted the popularity of the club as well as propagated the message of Olympiacos the club's superiority throughout Greece. Therefore, after the club's record-breaking performance during the era of trophy-rich 1950s, the team earned unambiguously the name Thrylos, which translates to "The legendary".
On the 13th of September, 1959, Olympiacos was the first team to play at the top of Europe against Milan in the 1959-60 European Cup and became the first Greek club to ever play in European competitions. The first match was played on the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus and Olympiacos scored the first goal thanks to a goal scored by Kostas Papazoglou (1-0) the goal is the very first goal scored by the Greek team (and by an Greek player too) in European tournaments. Milan's prolific goal scorer Jose Altafini equalised the match by scoring a header in the 33rd minute following a cross from Giancarlo Danova. Ilias Yfantis scored a stunning goal that made sure that Olympiacos the lead within the first 45 minutes the match, as he took control of the ball within Cesare Maldini as well as Vincenzo Occhetta and unleashed a powerful volley that smashed the ball in an empty net (2-1). Altafini had his second strike by scoring the ball in the 72nd minute (72nd minute) following a free kick from Nils Liedholm. The game ended at 2-2, with Olympiacos having a superb display against Italian champions despite the fact they didn't have any foreign players on their squad and Milan was home to four top international players, including Altafini, Liedholm, Juan Alberto Schiaffino and Ernesto Grillo. In the second game, Milan defeated the match 3-1 (Giancarlo Danova 12 26 85', Giancarlo Danova 12', Psychos the 68') and qualified for the next round even despite Olympiacos excellent performance, particularly in the second period.
Olympiacos began their 1960s with being the winners of the 1960 and the 1961 Greek Cups, thus completing five consecutive Greek Cup wins, which is the most successful achievement of its kind in Greek soccer history. In the decade of 1960 the team was formed using players from the 1950s as well as some new and important players like Giannis Gaitatzis, Nikos Gioutsos, Pavlos Vasileiou, Vasilis Botinos, Giannis Fronimidis, Christos Zanteroglou Grigoris Aganian, Stathis Tsanaktsis, Mimis Plessas, Giangos Simantiris, Pavlos Grigoriadis, Savvas Papazoglou Stelios Besis Sotiris Gavetsos, Tasos Sourounis Vangelis Milisis Orestis Pavlidis, Panagiotis Barbalias and, last but not least Giorgos Sideris, a prolific goal scorer Giorgos Sideris who was the leading scorer in the history of the club with 493 goals scored in 519 games across the various competitions (224 scores in two84 Greek Championship matches).
It was in 1963 that Olympiacos was the very first Greek team in history to take home a non-domestic tournament by winning the Balkans Cup, which marked the first time that Olympiacos had won an international trophy by anyone Greek soccer club. It was the first time that a Greek club won a major international trophy. Balkans Cup was a very popular international tournament during the 1960s (the final in 1967 attracted 42.000 spectators) and was the second-most crucial international tournament for club teams in the Balkans (after the European Champions Cup). Olympiacos was the top team in his group following several notable victories, defeating Galatasaray 1-1 on the Karaiskakis Stadium (Stelios Psychos 49'), as well as FK Sarajevo (3-2) and FC Brasov (1-0), winning two draws away with Galatasaray (1-1) at Mithatpasa Stadium (Metin Oktay 78 Aristeidis Papazoglou 6') and FK Sarajevo in Kosevo Stadium (3-3). The final was played Levski Sofia, winning the first game in Piraeus (1-0 Giorgos Sideris 37') and losing the second game at Vasil Levski Stadium by similar scores. In the third final, which was decisive, held in Istanbul (a neutral stadium), Olympiacos beat Levski 1-1 at Mithatpasa Stadium with a goal by Mimis Stefanakos in the 87th minute. They they won the Balkans Cup.
The team went on to take home the 1963 and 1965 Greek Cups, completing seven Greek Cup titles in nine years. The period 1959-1965 was not a great year in the eyes of Olympiacos during their quest for the Greek Championship, as the team failed to claim the title for six consecutive years. The poor performance of the team led Olympiacos board to appoint legendary Marton Bukovi as the club's head coach. He was joined by Mihaly Lantos (prominent player of the Hungary national team in the 1950s, popularly referred to for his role as "Mighty Magyars" or "Aranycsapat") as his assistant coach. The revolutionary Hungarian coach, the pioneer of the formation 4-4 (along together with Bela Guttmann as well as Gusztav Sebens) was a superb player and a fan of aggressive football and intense training sessions. Bukovi's innovative tactics and revolutionary training techniques transformed Olympiacos and made them a formidable attacking team that was constantly in player movement and a solid combination game that had amazing football. Under the guidance of Bukovi and the impressive performances of the key players like Giorgos Sideris Nikos Gioutsos, Kostas Polychroniou, Vasilis Botinos, Aristeidis Papazoglou Pavlos Vasileiou, Giannis Gaitatzis, Christos Zanteroglou, Grigoris Aganian, Mimis Plessas, Giannis Fronimidis, and Orestis Pavlidis, Olympiacos won 2 consecutive Greek Championships (1966, 1967). They took the title in 1966 with four draws and 23 wins over 30 games. In the final game away against Trikala An estimated 15,000 exuberant Olympiacos supporters poured in the town in Trikala to celebrate the victory (0-5) in addition to the Championship title, which was won after seven years.
The following season, 1966-67, Olympiacos had won 12 of their first 14 games in the league. This was the highest record ever recorded in Greek football. It was in effect for 46 years until 2013. Olympiacos under Michel's direction beat his record by winning 13 of the first 14 games in the season 2013-14. They took home the title with a convincing performance and had some memorable wins, including the 4-0 crushing victory over the arch-rivals Panathinaikos on the Karaiskakis Stadium (Vasileiou 17', Sideris 20', 35' and 72'), where Olympiacos performed superb football but missed many chances to win a greater score. Bukovi was a legend to the fans of the club and his team was the Olympiacos team from 1965 to 1967 was legendary. A unique anthem was composed to commemorate Bukovi's Olympiacos and gained popularity across Greece: "Tou Mpoukobi ten Omadara, Te lene Olumpiakara" ("Bukovi's formidable team is known as Olympiacos").
Just before the close of the 1966-67 season an army coup was held and the Colonels took over control of Greece creating an absolute dictatorship. The dictatorship of the Colonels was a disaster for Olympiacos. The club's president in December of 1967 Giorgos Andrianopoulos who was the legendary club president for thirteen years (1954-1967) was ejected of the presidency of the club through the military dictatorship. Additionally, the regime stopped the move from Giorgos Koudas Olympiacos and, a day later, another blow hit the team: Marton Bukovi who was already an icon and the architect of the team's great 1965-67 squad was evicted from Greece under the military dictatorship. He was called communist. He was exiled from Greece on the 21st day of December 1967, as did Mihaly Lantos.
Another chapter started in 1972, following Nikos Goulandris took over as head of the team. He reinstated all of the well-known members of the Olympiacos board who had been removed due to the dictatorship of the army (including Giorgos Andrianopoulos) and began the process of determining the membership and established a new and reliable Board of Directors. It appointed Lakis Petropoulos as the team's head coach and signed top players, forming a fantastic team that includes key players like Giorgos Delikaris Yves Triantafyllos, Julio Losada, Milton Viera, Panagiotis Kelesidis, Michalis Kritikopoulos, Takis Synetopoulos, Romain Argyroudis Maik Galakos Nikos Gioutsos, Giannis Gaitatzis, Vasilis Siokos, Thanasis Angelis, Lakis Glezos, Petros Karavitis Kostas Davourlis Giannis Kyrastas, Dimitris Persidis, Lefteris Poupakis and Babis Stavropoulos. Under Goulandris the presidency of Goulandris, Olympiacos won the Greek Championship three consecutively (1972-73 1973-74, 1974-75) and also won winning the Greek Cup in 1973 (beating PAOK by 1-0 at the end of the game) as well as the Greek Cup in the Greek Cup in 1975 (beating Panathinaikos 1-0 in the final) to mark the achievement of two Doubles in three years. In the 1972-73 campaign, Olympiacos took the title after not conceding more than 13 goals over 34 games that is an all-time record for a single season in Greek soccer history. The most successful year for the team, however was the 1973-74 season when Olympiacos were the champions of the league with 27 wins and 7 draws in just 34 games and scored an all-time records of 102 goals while losing only 14.
In European tournaments, they were able to beat Cagliari during their 1972/73 UEFA Cup, a major factor in Italian football in the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s (1970 Serie A Champions, 1972 Serie A title contenders) and boasting top Italian international players such as Gigi Riva Angelo Domenghini, Enrico Albertosi Pierluigi Cera, Sergio Gori and Fabrizio Poletti. Olympiacos had the advantage of beating Cagliari twice, winning 2-1 at Piraeus as well as 1-0 at Cagliari making them the first Greek football team to beat Cagliari on Italian turf. In the following round, they played the defending champions Tottenham Hotspur, who were undefeated in 16 consecutive games across all European tournaments. Olympiacos were unable to get past Spurs however they were able to win 1-0 in Piraeus that ended Spurs' undefeated streak. It was also the first time in history that a team from an Greek football team against an English team. The following year, Olympiacos entered the 1974-75 European Cup and were selected to face Kenny Dalglish's Celtic which was one of the top clubs in European football at the time and semi-finalists from that previous year's tournament. The first game was played at Celtic Park where Celtic had never lost and had an unbeaten streak of 36 consecutive home matches across all European tournaments (27 wins and 9 draws) between 1962 and 1974. Olympiacos scored the first goal with Milton Viera's goal in the 36th minute, but Celtic winning at the end of the game. The draw at home allowed Olympiacos the lead and they won the game in Piraeus following a stunning victory by 2-0 over the Scottish Champions, with Kritikopoulos and Stavropoulos hitting the net. The next round was the one in which they were drawn against Anderlecht to make the quarterfinals of the competition. Anderlecht took the lead in the first leg 5-1, and Olympiacos were unable to complete the task. In the second game in Greece the Greeks, however, Olympiacos put on a strong performance and came close to the winning score in a game that was decided by the referee Karoly Palotai's decision. Olympiacos defeated Anderlecht 3-1, and Palotai denied four Olympiacos goals, and failed to award at least three distinct penalties incurred by Anderlecht players. Stavropoulos was given an red card with no justification. The game is referred to by the Greeks in Greece in the country as being known as"Palotai massacre" in Greece "Palotai massacre" with Olympiacos being closer to one of most dramatic turnarounds ever in European Cup history.
After Goulandris demitting from his presidency at the end of 1975 The team experienced an essentially dry time during the second half into the 1970s. But, during 1981, in the summer the Greek championship was made into a professional affair and Stavros Daifas was appointed the president and owner for the team. Olympiacos became the most dominant team in Greek football with four titles won times in succession (1980 1981, 1982 and 1983) with players such as the relentless goal scorer Nikos Anastopoulos, Martin Novoselac, Vicente Estavillo, Thomas Ahlstrom, Roger Albertsen, Maik Galakos, Tasos Mitropoulos, Takis Nikoloudis, Nikos Sarganis, Nikos Vamvakoulas Giorgos Kokolakis Vangelis Kousoulakis, Petros Michos, Takis Lemonis, Christos Arvanitis, Petros Xanthopoulos Stavros Papadopoulos, Meletis PERSIAS, Giorgos Togias and Kostas Orfanos. Kazimierz Gorski was the renowned Polish coach, guided Olympiacos in winning the title for 1980 championships in 1981, 1980 and 1983 (winning and also the 1981 Double, which was the 9th double in Olympiacos history) while Alketas Pantagoulias who was also the director of the Greece national team as well as also the United States national team as well and led the team to the title in 1982 following an impressive 2-1 victory (Estavillo 6'; Anastopoulos 70') against the arch-rivals Panathinaikos at the Championship final game in Volos. With Panagoulias as the head coach, Olympiacos were crowned champions in 1986 and 1987 and also had an impressive roster of players who were in the early 80s, such as Anastopoulos, Mitropoulos, Michos, Xanthopoulos and other strong players such as Milos Sestic, Giorgos Vaitsis, Jorge Barrios, Andreas Bonovas, Alexis Alexiou and Vasilis Papachristou.
Olympiacos was in its most difficult times in the latter half of the 1980s to the mid-'90s. In the middle of the 1980s, Olympiacos fell into the hands of Greek businessman George Koskotas who was soon charged and found guilty of embezzlement. This left Olympiacos deeply in debt. The club experienced an administrative turmoil until 1993 which was the year that Sokratis Kokkalis took over as the majority shareholder and president of the club. After he was elected the presidency of the club, Kokkalis agreed a settlement to settle all of the club's debts. He also began reforming and reorganising the club. On the field the team, despite all the managerial and financial problems, along with the absence of a strong managerial leadership prior to Kokkalis arrival, endured nine seasons without winning a league title between 1988 and 1996 despite the top foreign players who played for the club during the time, including Lajos Detari Oleh Protasov, Juan Gilberto Funes, Bent Christensen, Hennadiy Lytovchenko, Yuri Savichev, Andrzej Juskowiak, Daniel Batista, Fabian Estay and the core that was formed by solid Greek players such as Vassilis Karapialis, Kiriakos Karataidis, Giotis Tsalouchidis, Nikos Tsiantakis, Giorgos Vaitsis, Minas Hantzidis, Theodoros Pahatouridis, Savvas Kofidis, Chris Kalantzis, Giorgos Mitsibonas, Ilias Talikriadis, Alekos Runtos, Panagiotis Sofianopoulos Ilias Savvidis as well as Michalis Vlachos. The period is referred to as Olympiacos"stone years.. However, the club did bring its 1991 (beating OFI Crete 4-2 in the final) and 1992 Greek Cups (beating PAOK 2-0 in the second stage of the double-final in Piraeus) and also being the host of that 1991 Greek Super Cup, beating AEK 3-1 in the final. The squad, with the direction of famous Ukrainian manager Oleg Blokhin, was able to get to the quarter-finals in the 1992-93 winner of the Cup. They were eliminated by Arsene Wenger's Monaco following a gruelling victory at home at Stade Louis II with a late goal scored by Giorgos Vaitsis. They also played an indifferent drawing at Karaiskakis Stadium in the second stage. The team was not able to make it through to the semi-finals however, because they were defeated at the hands of Atletico Madrid (1-1 drawing at home; 3-1 defeat at Madrid).
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The year 1996 saw Socratis Kokkalis took over Dusan Bajevic as their head coach. In 1996, Olympiacos had already a extremely strong team, including players such as Kyriakos Karataidis Vassilis Karapialis Grigoris Georgatos Alexis Alexandris, Giorgos Amanatidis, Nikos Dabizas, and Ilija Ivic. After the arrival of Bajevic, Kokkalis opted to strengthen the team substantially to build an extremely strong squad that would rule Greek football for a long time to come. The club bought the highly rated players Predrag Dordevic as well as Stelios Giannakopoulos of Paniliakos in a bid that beat AEK Athens , and Panathinaikos as well as signing Refik Sabanadzovic Andreas Niniadis, Giorgos Anatolakis and Alekos Kaklamanos. He also the club brought Olympiacos Academy product Dimitris Eleftheropoulos returned from his loan stint at Proodeftiki. With all of these players in the front, Olympiacos strode to the 1996-97 title with 12 points clear over AEK in addition to 20 more points more than the third Panathinaikos in the first season of Bajevic's tenure as manager; it was the premier Greek Championship in nine seasons which brought to an end"the "stone time" and officially launching Olympiacos the era of dominance. In the following season, 1997-98 Dimitris Mavrogenidis Sinisa Gogic Ilias Poursanidis as well as the Ghanaian forward Peter Ofori-Quaye moved to the club. Olympiacos took home in the 1997-1998 Championship. Bajevic's side, along with AEK and Panathinaikos and AEK, were close in the table, however eventually Olympiacos won a crucial away victory against Panathinaikos (0-2) as they enjoyed their second consecutive Championship with a three-point more than Panathinaikos. Olympiacos took part as the only time they have participated at the UEFA Champions League group stage and finished third in a tough group which left Porto in fourth while Real Madrid, the eventual champions, won the group and made it to the quarter-finals.
The 1998-99 campaign was definitely one of the most successful season during Olympiacos history. They were the winners of in the 1998-99 Greek Championship quite convincingly, having a 10 point advantage over AEK and 11 points better than third-placed Panathinaikos as well as celebrating the domestic doubleby bringing their 1998-1999 Greek Cup after a convincing 22-0 victory over the arch-rivals Panathinaikos at the end of the game (Mavrogenidis 54' And Ofori-Quaye 90'), despite the fact that they played more than 60 minutes of the match with only the help of ten players. In European tournaments, they were in their 1998-99 UEFA Champions League group stage and were drawn in the same group as Ajax, Porto and Croatia Zagreb. They were the winners of the group and made it to the quarterfinals and scored 11 points, including 3 wins at home in the face of Ajax (1-0), Porto (2-1) and Croatia Zagreb (2-0) and two draws away with Porto (2-2) in addition to Zagreb (1-1). In the quarter-finals of this tournament, they played Juventus in the opening game taking place being played in Turin. Juventus scored 2-0 in the first leg however, Olympiacos scored an important home goal during the 90th minute the match, thanks to a penalty from Andreas Niniadis, a goal that resulted in those 10.000 Olympiacos fans who travelled to Italy to explode into joyous exuberant celebration. In the second game at Athens, Olympiacos totally dominated the game and scored the goal that placed them in the driver's seats in the 12th minutes in which Sinisa's powerful shot hit the the net following Grigoris Georgatos's brilliant cross. They also missed a fantastic chance to make it 2-0 after Giorgos Amanatidis' slender header from a short distance was saved in the 88th minute by Michelangelo Rampulla. Olympiacos maintained their ticket to the semi-finals with him till the 85th minutes in which Juventus did not create any opportunities in the match, levelled the score following a critical error made by Dimitris Eleftheropoulos who was the team's hero throughout the previous matches. Despite the huge disappointment of the way that the chance to reach the semi-finals was not achieved and the absence of Olympiacos to the Champions League quarter-finals, their most successful European campaign, and the domestic double, was the end of a highly prosperous campaign for their club, possibly the most successful in their lengthy time.
The following four seasons (1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 and 2002-03) Olympiacos signed world-class players with a huge impact, such as Giovanni, Zlatko Zahovic and the World champion Christian Karembeu, as well as other top players like Par Zetterberg, Ze Elias, Nery Castillo, Christos Patsatzoglou Lampros Choutos, and Stelios Venetidis. The additions to the roster strengthened the already solid roster of previous seasons of great success, and under the direction of coaches such as Giannis Matzourakis Takis Lemonis, and Oleg Protasov (Bajevic was a player who had left this club by 1999). Olympiacos won 7 successive Greek Championships (1997-2003), surpassing their previous records of just six (1954-1959). Olympiacos have won the seventh time in a row following an amazing conclusion to 2003-2002 Greek League: Olympiacos was playing the arch-rivals Panathinaikos on matchday 29 who dominated the table by three points difference. Olympiacos had to beat Panathinaikos with two clear goals to beat their competition in the race for the championship. Olympiacos defeated Panathinaikos with a 3-0 score (Giovanni 3, Giannakopoulos 15' 48') in a dominant performance of football in Rizoupoli and celebrated their all-time record of winning seven straight Championships that was an aspiration and an historic goal for the team and, more importantly, for supporters.
In 2004 Olympiacos hired Dusan Bajevic, and signed the 1999 World Footballer of the Year and 2002 World Champion Brazilian superstar Rivaldo and legendary 2004 European Champion Antonis Nikopolidis. The season's end was a success with Olympiacos having won the national double and putting together an impressive Champions League display, gathering 10 points in a tough group that included Liverpool, Monaco and Deportivo de La Coruna and losing their qualification to knockout during the final 4 minutes of the final match against final European champions Liverpool at Anfield. Bajevic quit the club, as did it was the Norwegian manager Trond Sollied was brought to replace him. The club hired Cypriot forward Michalis Konstantinou from Panathinaikos, 2004 European champion defender Michalis Kapsis from Bordeaux and the multi-faceted box-to-box Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure. In the 2005-06 season, Olympiacos were victorious in all four derbies played against their biggest opponents, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens the only time they have done it in the 1972-73 season. The total goal score in these four games was 11-3 in favor of Olympiacos. They also defeated AEK Athens 3-0 in the Greek Cup Final to clinch their second straight double. They were also able to beat the record of 16 consecutive matches during the tournament, surpassing the previous record of theirs.
After a record-breaking campaign in 2006, during the summer moves, Trond Sollied signed Michal Zewlakow, Julio Cesar and Tomislav Butina as well as other players. However, he failed to perform to the standards of the 2006/07 Champions League and was replaced by Takis Lemonis at the conclusion of the 2006. Lemonis took over to the club's young superstar Vasilis Torosidis and was the captain of Olympiacos to their third consecutive championship however, they were unable to win the Greek Cup after a surprise loss to PAS Giannina.
The summer of 2007 Olympiacos had a number of very expensive transfers such as Luciano Galletti, Darko Kovacevic, Raul Bravo, Lomana LuaLua Cristian Ledesma, and Leonel Nunez. The club also brought in strong Greek defenseman Paraskevas Antzas and signed the extremely skilled youth forward Kostas Mitroglou of Borussia Monchengladbach. In addition, they made the most lucrative deal in Greek football's history by selling midfielder-striker Nery Castillo Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk, for the record price that was EUR20 millions ($27.5M). Due to an agreement in Castillo's contract, Olympiacos received EUR15 million and the remainder of EUR5 million going direct to the player. In addition, there was a dispute with the club and Rivaldo due to the fact that Olympiacos didn't want to extend the contract of the player even though Rivaldo played a significant role in the club's winning campaigns as well as in Greece as well as abroad. The former Olympiacos footballer Ilija Ivic was chosen to be the team's soccer director. The team didn't start with a good performance during the Greek championship, however, it produced a remarkable display at the Champions League, qualifying for the final 16 when they placed third in their group. They were level at 11 points to the winners of their group Real Madrid, eliminating Werder Bremen and Lazio. But the team's poor results in league and the loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for the knockout phase, led Club owner Sokratis Kokkalis to dismiss the coach Takis Lemonis. The assistant manager of the team, Jose Segura, coached the team throughout the rest part of the year. Olympiacos won two championships, Cup and the Greek Championship and Cup, however, Segura resigned from the club at the close of the season.
The summer of 2008 saw Olympiacos had a number of notable transfers including signing Dudu Cearense Avraam Papadopoulos Diogo Luis Santo, and Matt Derbyshire and appointed Ernesto Valverde as their new coach. He was given an agreement for three years worth around EUR6 million. The 2008-09 season was a disaster for Olympiacos and the team losing their first couple of official matches, including against Anorthosis Famagusta in their Champions League third qualifying round and then being removed from the tournament which led to a spot at the UEFA Cup first round, in which Olympiacos defeated Nordsjaelland to make it through Group Stage. The team also had a great start during the 2009-09 Super League Greece, winning every game at home however, they faced difficulties away. They won both the Greek Championship and the Greek Cup and celebrated the 14th time in Olympiacos history. After a stunning UEFA Cup run at home and some impressive wins over Benfica (5-1) as well as Hertha BSC (4-0), the team made it through into Round 32 playing French team Saint-Etienne.
At the end of summer 2009 Olympiacos have signed some of the biggest players including Olof Mellberg of Juventus for EUR2.5 million, [86] midfielder Jaouad Zairi from Asteras Tripolis, and Enzo Maresca, who was from Sevilla. Other players were brought back after loan periods like the former Real Madrid defender Raul Bravo, Georgios Katsikogiannis and midfielder Cristian Ledesma. Olympiacos hired the former Brazil famous Zico the coach. The team began the 2009-10 season with great success since they qualified to participate in their Champions League final 16, finishing second in Group H just three points ahead of Arsenal even though they were without a lot of first-team players because of injuries. They took on Bordeaux for the last 16 but they lost their first game in the home stadium (0-1). In the second match despite the lead that Bordeaux had taken early, Olympiacos leveled the match and missed several great chances to score a second goal but ultimately losing in the final minutes of the game (1-2). In the domestic league, Olympiacos won 2-0 in a derby victory over the arch-rivals Panathinaikos in which the striker Kostas Mitroglou scoring two goals. This was however only one of the highlights in a poor season for the team and they did not just lose the title to Panathinaikos and were knocked out in four the six post-season matches and ended up finishing last on the 5th spot of the league table. This result was the worst position since they were placed 8th in 1988. This it meant that the club had to begin the Europa League campaign from the second qualifying round of the following season.
In the year 2010, Evangelos Marinakis, a successful shipping magnate, purchased the club from Sokratis Kokkalis. The initial year under his administration Marinakis was appointed the fan favorite Ernesto Valverde as coach (who returned for a second stint at this club) and hired players with international connections like Albert Riera, Ariel Ibagaza, Kevin Mirallas, Marko Pantelic, and Francois Modesto. The result was that Olympiacos was awarded the Greek title for the 38th time in the club's history, beating 13 points of the second-placed Panathinaikos.
In the 2011-12 season the roster of the team was strengthened by players such as Jean Makoun, Pablo Orbaiz, Ivan Marcano, Rafik Djebbour and Djamel Abdoun. Alongside Ernesto Valverde as their coach for the second time in a row, Olympiacos had a very prosperous campaign, both in the country as well as internationally. They took home each of the Greek league as well as the Greek Cup to complete the 15th domestic double in Olympiacos' history. For European events, Olympiacos performed well in their Champions League campaign, having been placed in Group F with Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Marseille. Despite scoring an impressive nine points, which included two awe-inspiring wins over Arsenal as well as Dortmund in their home stadiums (both with a score of 3-1) as well as an away win over Marseille (0-1) However, they were unable to progress to knock-out phase following Marseille's controversial 3-3 away victory in Dortmund in game 6. which saw Marseille score two goals within the final fifteen minutes of game to overcome initial 2-0 Dortmund advantage. Olympiacos continued to play in the Europa League where he was chosen to face Rubin Kazan. The Greek champions defeated the Russian team with two wins (1-0 at each of Kazan in Kazan and Piraeus) and advanced to face Metalist Kharkiv in the Last 16 of the tournament. They prevailed in the opening match at home in Ukraine by 1-0 with David Fuster scoring the winning goal (0-1) however, in the second match despite their lead early and the abundance of missed opportunities (they struck the woodwork twice during the first quarter) the Greeks conceded two goals over the final minutes of the match and were eliminated from the quarterfinals.
The end of the season Ernesto Valverde announced his decision to return to Spain which ended his second stint as a successful coach at Olympiacos. The club named that they had hired the Portuguese Leonardo Jardim as their new coach. The team was very successful throughout the Greek league, and enjoyed an impressive Champions league season, scoring nine points in Group B after a win against Arsenal (2-1 in the home of Arsenal) as well as Montpellier (1-2 at home, 1-2 in Montpellier and 3-1 at Piraeus). Despite their relatively strong performances, Leonardo Jardim was replaced by Michel, the Spanish director along with Real Madrid legend Michel. The team then went on to celebrate their 16th time in their history that they had won a double when they won the 40th Greek Championship, 15 points ahead of second PAOK in addition to winning their 26th Greek Cup after a 3-1 victory over Asteras Tripolis at the end of their final. This 40th Greek championship trophy gave Olympiacos their fourth Star above the emblem of the club that was a huge ambition for the team and particularly for supporters.
It was expected that the expectations of 2013-14 would be extremely impressive, especially following being signed by players like striker Javier Saviola, Joel Campbell, Roberto, Alejandro Dominguez, Vladimir Weiss, Delvin N'Dinga, and Leandro Salino. Olympiacos enjoyed a successful season , both internationally and domestically. In Europe they were dragged into Group C in the 2013-14 Champions League alongside Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica and Anderlecht. Following a good performances in their group Olympiacos came second in the group with 10 points and made it to the Last 16 at the expense of Benfica (1-0 victory in Piraeus one-sided draw at Lisbon) as well as Anderlecht (0-3 victory in Brussels and 3-1 victory from Piraeus). In the 16th round they were scheduled to face Manchester United. Olympiacos had a good performance, took the lead in the first leg by an easy score of 2-0 (Alejandro Dominguez's 38' and Campbell 55') In a game that they were completely dominant and failed to make it a 2-0 lead. Despite the advantage of two goals that brought them within striking distance of a quarter-final spot as the only time in their history since 1999. Olympiacos fell 3-0 at the end of their match at Old Trafford, having missed an incredible double opportunity to make it a 2-0 score within the first 40 seconds of the match. The Greek champions kept fighting throughout the last 10 minutes to score an important away goal however, they failed to score. While the ticket to the quarterfinals went to the club's grasp, Olympiacos' overall performance and the fact that the team was able to make it to the knockout round (round of 16) of the Champions League for the third time in the space of six years (2007-08 2009-10 and 2013-14) was a highly impressive European campaign. In the domestic arena, Olympiacos won their history's 41st Greek Championship very convincingly, 17 points clear of the second-placed PAOK.
In the season 2014-15, Olympiacos entered the 2014-15 Champions League group stage with hopes of repeating the previous year's success. They were in the group with Atletico Madrid Juventus along with Malmo FF. They performed well in the group and managed to beat the runners-up from last year's tournament Atletico 3-1 and eventually finalist Juventus 1-1 on The Karaiskakis Stadium, but they were not able to qualify for knockout phase in the final game. Olympiacos defeated Malmo FF 4-2 at home however, Juventus were drawn against Atletico in Italy and securing the vital one point needed to be qualified. If Olympiacos and Juventus had finished with the same number of points, Olympiacos would have qualified because of the highest overall scores (away goals) of their two matches (1-0 Olympiacos win in Piraeus and a 3-1 Juventus victory at Turin). Third place in the group handed Olympiacos the chance to play in the next round of the UEFA Europa League, where they were knocked out by ultimate third-placed Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. On the domestic front, the team enjoyed an excellent season, and they achieved seventeen times in the history of their team. They took home the 42nd Greek Championship with 12 points more than the first Panathinaikos and also their 27th Greek Cup, beating Skoda Xanthi 3-1 in the final.
The 2015-16 season kicked off with a new coach replacing Marco Silva, who replaced Marco Silva took over the coaching duties of his fellow countryman Vitor Pereira. [91] The team was strengthened by the elite player Esteban Cambiasso as well as a host of players who have European experience in competition, such as Kostas Fortounis Felipe Pardo, Seba, Manuel Da Costa, Brown Ideye and Alfred Finnbogason. In a gruelling Champions League group that included Bayern Munchen, Arsenal and Dinamo Zagreb, Olympiacos managed to score 9 points with the 3-2 win away to their fellow Gunners on the Emirates Stadium, considered by many to be among the club's biggest European wins in the last two years, along with two wins over Dinamo (1-0 home and away, 2-1). The last matchday saw the team play Arsenal in the Karaiskakis stadium. They needed either a 1-0 or 2-1 loss to the Gunners as the most likely scenario, to make it to the knockout stage of the tournament based on the rule of away goals which was a 2-1 loss. Red-Whites ended up losing 3-0. They went on to continue their European journey through the UEFA Europa League, where they were eliminated by Anderlecht in the knockout phase. However, despite all of this, Olympiacos broke the record for the most European championship wins won by an Greek club, winning an impressive 97 victories over the 96 wins of the second-placed Panathinaikos at the end of summer of 2016. On the national level, Olympiacos had perhaps their most successful year in recent memory and the team was able to claim its third Greek Championship, and 6th consecutiveon the final day of February 2016. which is considered to be a record for national teams for the first time in a league season in which a championship is won. The team was able to complete their league season with a 30 point advantage against their arch rivals Panathinaikos and finished second. The team's score of 85 points over 30 matchdays and a 28-1-1 overall result breakdown that included 13 away wins as well as an unbeatable 15 wins in 15 home games can also be considered to be an all-time record for the country. Although, despite their hopes of completing their double in the Greek Cup, they failed to achieve this year's Greek Cup as they finished second to their opponents AEK following a 2-1 defeat during the championship final.
The 2016-17 season turned out to be a turbulent one for the club despite the addition of key players such as Oscar Cardozo, Tarik Elyounoussi, Alaixys Romao, Aly Cissokho, and Marko Marin. The major issues that emerged was the team's shocking removal from Israeli club Hapoel Be'er-Sheva after an aggregate loss of 1-0 during the 3rd qualifying stage of the UEFA Champions League, and the frequently changing of managers, which led the club to have been guided by five players during the course of the year: Marco Silva, Victor Sanchez (responsible for the club's exclusion of Hapoel), Paulo Bento, Vasilis Vouzas and Takis Lemonis. This team's UEFA Europa League journey was not as successful as previous European campaigns, beginning with a gruelling 3-1 aggregate win (1-1 prior to the extra period) in the final against Arouca during the finals. The season continued by securing the team's spot in the group stage, but only in second place to APOEL (in the group that also comprised Young Boys and Astana) before an incredibly heavy 5-2 aggregate loss in the knockout stage to Besiktas in the final 16 of the knockout phase (with goalkeeper Nicola Leali being highly responsible for 4 five goals conceded [9595) even though they had made it to the final 32 with the 3-0 aggregate victory against Osmanlispor. The frequent changes in the manager affected the team's consistency and pace in domestic competitions too. In the first instance, Olympiacos failed to qualify for the Greek Cup final after being defeated by AEK which advanced through rules of away goal following the aggregate score was 2-2. Furthermore although the Reds have won their fourth Greek Championship and their seventh consecutively for two times in Greek sports history were able to do it by having the advantage of six points (67 to 61) over PAOK.
At the beginning of the 2017-18 campaign, the board decided to sign the former Anderlecht director Besnik Hasi to lead Olympiacos towards stage one of the UEFA Champions League group stage after a long absence. After his appointment, Hasi strengthened the squad by adding players such as Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe Guillaume Gillet, Mehdi Carcela, Jagos Vukovic, Bjorn Engels, Uros Durdevic, Emmanuel Emenike and Panagiotis Tachtsidis.
The aggregate wins in the face of Partizan (5-3) as well as Rijeka (3-1) during the final two qualifying rounds secured the Red-Whites their place in the group D of the competition which is considered to be the most difficult of all in Olympiacos' European history due to Barcelona, Juventus and Sporting CP being the main opponents. [96The team suffered A painful defeat of 2-3 at the defeat of Sporting in Thrylos' European season opener and losing 3-2 to AEK even though they were 2-0 ahead and causing Hasi's removal from the club, and his successor Takis Lemonis. Lemonis decided to concentrate on getting the team back on track in their domestic tournaments, at a point that Olympiacos ended up being removed from Europe before their Christmas holiday for the first time since the past 12 years. After a draw at home in the Champions League against Barcelona and five defeats the Red-Whites were able to gain one point in the entire Champions League group stage campaign as an affront to the club following the seven earlier UEFA Champions League campaigns (2007-08 2009-10, 2009-10 and 2011-12 2012-13, 2013-14 2014-15 and 2015-16) and in which they earned at minimum 9 points in each in all of their groups (11 points from 2007 to 2008, 10 points during 2009-10 and 9 points in 2011-12 and 9 points in 2012-13, 10, points in 2013-14 and 9 points in 2014-15, and nine points during 2015-16) and three qualifying for the knockout stage (Last 16,) of the tournament. Despite their single point elimination from the group stage and the most shaky European record of an Greek club in past history of European competitions are both attributed to AEK Athens. AEK's zero (0) points campaign in the Group E for the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League and AEK's 0 (0) point effort also in Division H from the 2004-2005 UEFA Cup which is a low-level UEFA competition. Panathinaikos has also played a one point campaign in the Group G in the 2016-17 UEFA Europa League. While they were at the Super League lead halfway through the season, Lemonis was dismissed on the grounds of instability in the dressing room and Oscar Garcia was subsequently appointed with the aim of a greater attacking effectiveness and discipline. On the other hand, domestically Olympiacos' Greek Cup season ended in the quarterfinals and was the third year in which they did not take home the Cup. Then, in the Super League the Red-Whites conceded the trophy in the hands of AEK three matchdays prior to the finalization, end of a streak of seven consecutive titles and led to the dismissal of Garcia after just two months as the club's helm. Christos Kontis ending the season as interim manager. Portuguese Pedro Martins was appointed as head coach to head Olympiacos for the upcoming season of 2018-19.
After four years and winning three League championships for this club Martins quit Olympiacos in August 2022. Spanish superstar Carlos Corberan was appointed as the new head coach.
In 1925, the union of two clubs from Piraeus, Athlitikos Podosfairikos Syllogos Pireos and Omilos Filathlon Pireos, gave birth to the football club. It was baptized by the Olympiacos Club of fans of Piraeus with a name that was derived by Piraeus's Ancient Olympic Games, the morality and the competition with the glory of sportsmanship and the fair-play ideals that were portrayed by Ancient Greece. In the end, as a result of Notis Kamperos's suggestion the club adopted the laurel-crowned adolescent as its emblem, symbolizing an Olympic Games winner, a emblem that was subject to minor modifications over time. The colors of white and red were chosen as the colors of the crest. Red to symbolize the triumph and passion and white for purity and virtue.
The standard kit for the club is the shirt featuring white and red vertical stripes and white or red socks and shorts. The shirt has come in various shapes throughout the time of the club's existence including with thin or broad stripes. The second most commonly used shirt is the one with all-red followed by the all-white version. Olympiacos has also used a range of other colors in its time as an away kit or third kit, the most famous being the monotint silver or black one. The most popular kits used by Olympiacos in their time are listed below (the year of each is indicated)
Since 1979, the year football became a professional sport and professional in Greece, Olympiacos had a specific kit manufacturer , and from 1982, a specific shirt sponsor, too. The table below shows the details of Olympiacos kit makers and shirt sponsors according to the year:
Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
---|---|---|
1979 | Umbro | — |
1980 | Puma | |
1980–1982 | ASICS Tiger | |
1982 | Adidas | |
1982–1984 | ASICS Tiger | Fiat |
1984–1985 | Travel Plan | |
1985–1988 | Puma | Citizen |
1988 | Toyota | |
1989 | Bank of Crete | |
1989–1990 | — | |
1990–1992 | Diana | |
1992–1993 | Umbro | |
1993–1994 | Lotto | |
1994–1995 | Adidas | Ethnokarta MasterCard |
1995–1997 | Puma | |
1997–2000 | Aspis Bank | |
2000–2005 | Umbro | Siemens Mobile |
2005–2006 | Puma | Siemens |
2006–2009 | Vodafone | |
2009–2010 | Citibank | |
2010–2013 | Pame Stoixima | |
2013–2015 | UNICEF | |
2015– | Adidas | Stoiximan.gr |
The Karaiskakis Stadium, located in Neo Faliro in Piraeus, is the present (since the year 2004) and the traditional stadium of Olympiacos. With the capacity of 32,115 it is the world's largest football stadium in the world and the second-largest football stadium in Greece. It was first constructed in 1895, as Neo Phaliron Velodrome, to host cycling events for The 1996 Summer Olympics at Athens and the field was covered in curm. Olympiacos began using the stadium since its inception in 1925. In 1964 the stadium was rebuilt and then named in honor of Georgios Karaiskakis, a former military commander during the Greek War of Independence, and an athletics track was built around the field.
Olympiacos quit the Karaiskakis Stadium temporarily to play home games at the new Athens Olympic Stadium in 1984. After a five-year usage (1984-1989) in the largest stadium in Greece The team then returned to their original home which they played in until 1997. At that point, Olympiacos returned in Athens Olympic Stadium. Athens Olympic Stadium which is where they remained for another time which lasted for five seasons (1997-2002). In 2002 Olympiacos were informed that the Olympic Stadium was shut down to make way for renovations in the wake of the 2004 Summer Olympics and Olympiacos moved to the Georgios Kamaras Stadium in Rizoupoli the home of Apollon Smyrnis, for the next 2 seasons (2002-2004).
In the meantime it was discovered that in the meantime, the Karaiskakis Stadium had fallen in decay and was no longer suitable for football games. In 2003, the use of the stadium was transferred to Olympiacos for the purpose of building an all-football stadium, which would use for the football competition during the 2004 Olympics. In exchange, Olympiacos got exclusive use of the stadium until 2052, paying the entire cost of maintenance and giving 15% of the revenues in return to the Greek State. The stadium that was built before was destroyed during the early spring of 2003, and the new one was constructed on June 30, 2004 for a the price that was EUR60 million. Today, the Karaiskakis Stadium is one of the modern soccer fields in Europe and also hosts museums of Olympiacos as well as a host of other facilities within.
Olympiacos fans are a traditional group that comes in the town of Piraeus in Greece, where the team is located and large portions of the of the Athens region. The popularity of the club grew during the 1950s, after winning consecutive titles and setting numerous records. The club became the top-rated football club in the nation. In the past, Olympiacos used to represent the working class, however it has always been a magnet for fans from all classes of society and their fan base isn't tied to any particular social group now.
Olympiacos is among the top adored Greek club, according to UEFA and many polls and studies. Numerous magazines and newspapers polls place Olympiacos among the top soccer club across Greece with a range of between 30-40% among the supporters and around 30% of the population, which is about three and a quarter millions of fans in Greece. The club is extremely popular in Piraeus in the region where more than 50% of the population support Olympiacos and their support across the entire city of Athens exceeds 30% of their fans and makes them the third most popular team across Athens, the Greek capital. The club is also among the top favored club among the middle class, with 37% support and across all age categories and also among female and male supporters. The vast majority of their supporters come from the left and right on the political spectrum. In addition to Athens, Olympiacos is the most loved team in Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly Additionally, they have the highest all-time average number of fans of all time in Greek football, topping the attendance charts in all of the seasons of Super League Greece history.
The year 2006 was the time that Olympiacos had been ranked among the top ten clubs with the highest paying members in the world. being in ninth position just behind Real Madrid. In April of 2006 the club had 83,000 members registered. Olympiacos as well as Red Star Belgrade fans have established a strong bond and are known as"the "Orthodox Brothers". Typically, Olympiacos supporters from several fan-clubs go to Red Star's games particularly against their former rival Partizan and in reverse. Recently it has been reported that fans of the Orthodox Brothers have started to include supporters of Spartak Moscow in their club.
Olympiacos fans are famous for their passion and unwavering loyalty to the team and the atmosphere during home games being regarded as intimidating. In the time Olympiacos took on Newcastle United at home in the 2004-2005 UEFA Cup, the match was broadcast live on the United Kingdom on Channel 5 and the commentator on the game was the former England player Tony Cottee, who was constantly commenting on how wonderful that the crowd was. In the course of the match, he was asked if it was the most edgy stadium he'd ever seen and replied: "I'd have to say that it's probably. It's common to hear about various venues and the vibe there, but once you've been there, you see it seems... However, this is the authentic one." The seasoned Czech international forward Jaroslav Plasil also gave a further testimony to the hostile environment generated by Olympiacos supporters at home prior to his team Bordeaux travel to their home stadium, the Karaiskakis Stadium, where he was a player in his time at Monaco and added, "It was one of the most intense environments I've ever seen in a stadium. I'm sure it'll be a little tense for us. The Olympiacos fans really do assist the team." A former Paris Saint-Germain superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic expressed his gratitude for Olympiacos supporters following the game between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympiacos on September 17th, 2013 "They were playing in front of their amazing fans. Olympiacos supporters were amazing. One of my friends Olof Mellberg performed here and talked with me about the fans. I've never been able to see the live show however now I know. It's amazing. It's an enormous benefit to Olympiacos." PSG the billionaire owners Nasser Al-Khelaifi said, "I have big respect for the fans here. I've never had fans like Olympiacos fans before in my life." PSG as well Brazil world-class player Lucas Moura in an interview with goal.com said that Olympiacos home stadium was the most heated and intense stadium he's ever played at.
The history of Karaiskakis Stadium and Olympiacos was filled with the greatest tragedy that ever struck Greek sports, which is known as the Karaiskakis Stadium disaster. On the 8th of February, the year 1981 Olympiacos played AEK Athens for a league game that ended in a 6-0 win, an unimaginable victory for the hosts team of Piraeus. In the final minutes of the match the thousands of Olympiacos supporters at Gate 7 rushed to the exit to reach the main entrance to the stadium and cheer on the players, however the doors were closed and the turnstiles remained were in place, making exit nearly impossible. When fans continued to descend out of the stands, not able to comprehend what was happening the steps of Gate 7 were a death trap. People were injured, fans sustained serious injuries and 21 young people were killed mostly from the suffocation.
In honor of this tragic anniversary, every year on February 8, it is held a funeral ceremony at the stadium in honor of the fans who died during the tragedy. The ceremony will be attended by thousands supporters each year, who singing in unison, "Aderphia, zeite, Eseis mas Odegeite." (Adhelfia, zite, esis Mas odhiyite "Brothers You live in the same place, and You are our guide that guide us." ."). In the tribune area of the stadium, which Gate 7 is currently, some seats are painted black, instead of red, creating"7" in the shape of "7" while there is a monument on the eastern part of the stadium that bears the names of the 21 supporters who were killed that day in the stadium.
Although this tragedy affected only the fans of Olympiacos however, other teams do pay respect to those who were killed and also believe that the incident is tragic not only for one team, but the entire nation. The past has seen foreign teams, like Liverpool as well as Red Star Belgrade, have paid tribute to the victims of the tragedy.
In the past, Olympiacos' main rival is Panathinaikos and their famous Derby of the eternal enemies is a traditional local derby that takes place in Attica The most renowned game on the calendar of Greek football and the most popular in the globe. Both clubs are among the most successful, winning in total more than 67 League championships (Olympiacos 47; Panathinaikos 20), and also the most adored soccer clubs of Greece. It also encompasses cultural, social and regional variations; Olympiacos, coming from the well-known port of Piraeus is extremely popular among the middle class and working classes and Panathinaikos is located in the downtown area of Athens was seen as the club of middle and higher classes of society, but the distinction has diminished in recent years and both clubs enjoy alike fan bases. The most recent scandals to be reported include the death of a fan in 2007 during an organized confrontation between hooligans occasion of a volleyball match against the clubs which led to a major commotion in Greece and also the cancellation of a derby due to riots in the Athens Olympic Stadium, which caused massive fires that engulfed parts of the stadium.
Olympiacos has a long-standing relationship to AEK Athens, in one local derby in the Greek capital, along with another members of the Big three, but also with PAOK in the most intense rivalry between cities in Greece among the most renowned teams of the two major Greek cities of Athens as well as Thessaloniki, the rivalry erupted in the 1960s due to the sake of soccer player Giorgos Koudas. The most popular rivalry was the Piraeus derby, which was played between Olympiacos as well as Ethnikos Piraeus the second most successful soccer clubs in the area but the match has since been canceled because of Ethnikos being a constant presence in lower divisions over the past years. It is still a derby in water polo in which Olympiacos and Ethnikos play at the highest level.
Olympiacos is a long-running participant in UEFA competitions, launching on the 13th of September, 1959 in a match against Milan to compete in the 1959-60 European Cup, the first ever Greek club to participate in an European competition. Olympiacos were also the only Greek club to progress to the next stage in the same European competition, evicting Zaglebie Sosnowiec in an appearance in the 1963-64 European Cup Winners Cup. The best of their European games are during the 1998-1999 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, which they were beaten to an opportunity to play in the semi-finals in the final minutes to Juventus as well as at the time of the 1992-93 European Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinals, falling to Atletico Madrid.
Olympiacos is the top-ranked Greek football club on the UEFA rankings, having occupied the 37th position on the list of Europe in the ranking for five years and the 31st position in the ten-year rankings as of the year 2019. They also are the Greek team that has the most wins across all European tournaments, and are also top of the league with the highest number of wins at home and away. And they are they are the Greek group with highest number of games played at European levels, celebrating their 200th game on February 23rd, 2010 with Bordeaux as part of 2009.10 of the UEFA Champions League first knockout round. Olympiacos is also the home of the record for attendance at all times for an Greek club, with 75,263 fans in the 1982-1983 European Cup match against Hamburg at the Athens Olympic Stadium.
Olympiacos has been eliminated (in knockout matches or groups stages) teams like Milan, Arsenal, Ajax, Benfica, Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, Celtic, Werder Bremen, Anderlecht, Monaco, Deportivo La Coruna, Hertha BSC, Cagliari, PSV Eindhoven, GNK Dinamo Zagreb and Standard Liege among others. They've played the majority part of the span of their European time in the UEFA Champions League, where they are well-known for their home-based dominance team. They have also played some time-tested sequences, including the 15 consecutive UEFA Champions League unbeaten home matches since they first joined the new format. Manchester United stopped their record in their fifth consecutive tournament as well as their 15 wins over their 19 UEFA Champions League home matches between 2009-10 and 2014-15. They have a long collection of home wins against the traditional European giants in addition to UEFA Champions League winners like Real Madrid, Milan, Liverpool, Manchester United, Ajax, Juventus, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Benfica, Porto, Celtic, Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique Marseille, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Leverkusen, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Red Star Belgrade, PSV Eindhoven and many more. Olympiacos also been awarded their first Balkans Cup in 1963, at a time that it was considered to be the second most important competition in the region , following it was the European Cup, becoming the first Greek soccer club in the world to take home an International tournament.
From 2007 until 2016 Olympiacos played seven times at from 2007 to 2016 in UEFA Champions League Group Stage and scored at minimum 9 points in each one of the seven groups. They qualified three times for the knockout phase (Last 16,) of the tournament (2007-08 2009-10, 2013-14).
European Team |
Competition | Season | Pld | W | D | L | GF/GA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Olympiacos | European Cup / UEFA Champions League | 35 | 186 | 66 | 36 | 84 | 222–283 |
Olympiacos | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 9 | 33 | 14 | 6 | 13 | 43–47 |
Olympiacos | UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | 26 | 114 | 48 | 21 | 45 | 166–149 |
Results | Total | 67 | 333 | 128 | 63 | 142 | 431–480 |
Season | Achievement | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
European Cup / UEFA Champions League | |||
1974–75 | Last 16 | eliminated by Anderlecht 1–5 in Brussels, 3–0 in Patras | |
1982–83 | Last 16 | eliminated by Hamburg 0–1 in Hamburg, 0–4 in Athens | |
1983–84 | Last 16 | eliminated by Benfica 1–0 in Athens, 0–3 in Lisbon | |
1998–99 | Quarter-finals | eliminated by Juventus 1–2 in Turin, 1–1 in Athens | |
2007–08 | Last 16 | eliminated by Chelsea 0–0 in Piraeus, 0–3 in London | |
2009–10 | Last 16 | eliminated by Bordeaux 0–1 in Piraeus, 1–2 in Bordeaux | |
2013–14 | Last 16 | eliminated by Manchester United 2–0 in Piraeus, 0–3 in Manchester | |
European Cup Winners' Cup | |||
1961-62 | Last 16 | eliminated by Dynamo Žilina 2–3 in Piraeus, 0–1 in Žilina | |
1963–64 | Last 16 | eliminated by Lyon 1–4 in Lyon, 2–1 in Piraeus | |
1965–66 | Last 16 | eliminated by West Ham United 0–4 in London, 2–2 in Piraeus | |
1968–69 | Last 16 | eliminated by Dunfermline Athletic 0–4 in Dunfermline, 3–0 in Piraeus | |
1986–87 | Last 16 | eliminated by Ajax 0–4 in Amsterdam, 1–1 in Athens | |
1990–91 | Last 16 | eliminated by Sampdoria 0–1 in Piraeus, 1–3 in Genoa | |
1992–93 | Quarter-finals | eliminated by Atlético Madrid 1–1 in Athens, 1–3 in Madrid | |
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | |||
1989–90 | Last 16 | eliminated by Auxerre 1–1 in Piraeus, 0–0 in Auxerre | |
2004–05 | Last 16 | eliminated by Newcastle United 1–3 in Piraeus, 0–4 in Newcastle | |
2011–12 | Last 16 | eliminated by Metalist Kharkiv 1–0 in Kharkiv, 1–2 in Piraeus | |
2016–17 | Last 16 | eliminated by BeÅiktaÅ 1–1 in Piraeus, 1–4 in Istanbul | |
2019–20 | Last 16 | eliminated by Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–1 in Piraeus, 0–1 in Wolverhampton | |
2020–21 | Last 16 | eliminated by Arsenal 1–3 in Piraeus, 1–0 in London |
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Rank | Club | Points gained in season | Total | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | |||
33
|
Anderlecht | 10.000 | 11.000 | 16.000 | 6.000 | 3.000 | 46.000 |
33
|
Athletic Bilbao | 10.000 | 17.000 | 9.000 | 10.000 | – | 46.000 |
35
|
Olympiacos | 11.000 | 10.000 | 10.000 | 5.000 | 8.000 | 44.000 |
36
|
Wolfsburg | 16.000 | 24.000 | – | – | – | 40.000 |
37
|
Club Brugge | 19.000 | 4.000 | 4.000 | 1.500 | 11.000 | 39.500 |
Rank | Club | Points gained in season | Total | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | Bonus | |||
29
|
Roma | 9.000 | 16.000 | 1.500 | – | – | 12.000 | 14.000 | 13.000 | 25.000 | 17.000 | – | 107.500 |
29
|
CSKA Moscow | 20.000 | 14.000 | 16.000 | 1.500 | 6.000 | 8.000 | 7.000 | 7.000 | 17.000 | 9.000 | 2.000 | 107.500 |
31
|
Olympiacos | 16.000 | 1.000 | 16.000 | 10.000 | 18.000 | 11.000 | 10.000 | 10.000 | 5.000 | 8.000 | – | 105.000 |
32
|
Villarreal | 7.000 | 23.000 | 4.000 | – | – | 12.000 | 23.000 | 9.000 | 8.000 | 16.000 | – | 102.000 |
33
|
PSV Eindhoven | 12.000 | 18.000 | 16.000 | 5.000 | 5.000 | 6.000 | 18.000 | 6.000 | 1.000 | 6.000 | 5.000 | 98.000 |
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Top 10 Most Capped Players
Rank | Player | Nationality | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Predrag ÄorÄeviÄ | 491 | |
2 | Kyriakos Karataidis | 440 | |
3 | Georgios Anatolakis | 362 | |
4 | Alexis Alexandris | 332 | |
5 | Kostas Polychroniou | 305 | |
6 | Dimitris Mavrogenidis | 302 | |
7 | Giorgos Sideris | 285 | |
8 | Georgios Amanatidis | 282 | |
9 | Vassilis Karapialis | 275 | |
= | Stelios Giannakopoulos | 275 | |
10 | Grigoris Georgatos | 273 |
Top 10 Goalscorers
Rank | Player | Nationality | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Giorgos Sideris | 224 | |
2 | Alexis Alexandris | 170 | |
3 | Predrag ÄorÄeviÄ | 156 | |
4 | Nikos Anastopoulos | 119 | |
5 | Giovanni | 94 | |
6 | Stelios Giannakopoulos | 86 | |
7 | Kostas Mitroglou | 82 | |
8 | Youssef El-Arabi | 81 | |
9 | Kostas Fortounis | 79 | |
10 | Ilija IviÄ | 73 |
.
Position | Staff |
---|---|
Head coach | Míchel |
Assistant coaches | Adrián González Morales |
Huan Mantia | |
Analysts | Giannis Vogiatzakis |
Iosif Loukas | |
Fitness coach | Christos Mourikis |
Goalkeepers' trainer | Panagiotis Agriogiannis |
Rehabilitation trainer | Kike Sanz |
Position | Staff |
---|---|
Team manager | Avraam Papadopoulos |
Kit takers | Pavlos Pitsilidis |
Dimos Meris | |
Football department liaison office | Spyros Bitsakis |
Interpreter | Marina Tsali |
Position | Staff |
---|---|
Chief scout | José Anigo |
Scout | Simos Havos |
Scout | Giannis Theodorou |
Position | Staff |
---|---|
Club doctor | Christos Theos |
Head of physiotherapy | Dimitris Skordis |
Physiotherapists | Nikos Lykouresis |
Panagiotis Sivilias | |
Sifis Klidis | |
Masseur | Aristidis Chelioudakis |
Position | Staff |
---|---|
President | Evangelos Marinakis |
Vice presidents | Giannis Moralis |
Michalis Kountouris | |
Christos Mistriotis[156] | |
Konstantinos Karapapas | |
Vice president and managing director | Dimitris Agrafiotis |
Members | Ioannis Vrentzos |
Konstantinos Barbis | |
Andreas Nasikas | |
Giorgos Pavlou | |
Sport director | Christian Karembeu |
Technical director | José Anigo |
Years | Name |
---|---|
1925–1950 | Michalis Manouskos |
1950–1954 | Thanasis Mermigas |
1954–1967 | Giorgos Andrianopoulos |
1967–1975 | Nikos Goulandris |
1975–1978 | Kostas Thanopoulos |
1978–1987 | Stavros Daifas |
1987–1988 | Giorgos Koskotas |
1988–1992 | Argyris Saliarelis |
1992–1993 | Stavros Daifas |
1993–2010 | Sokratis Kokkalis |
2010–2017 | Evangelos Marinakis |
2017–2021 | Giannis Moralis |
2021–present | Evangelos Marinakis |
.
Outline | Record |
---|---|
Champions in a row | 7 (1997–2003, 2011–2017) |
Undefeated Champions | 6 (1936–37, 1937–38, 1947–48, 1950–51, 1953–54, 1954–55) |
Series of five or more consecutive Championships | 5 (World Record) (1933–1938, 1954–1959, 1997–2003, 2005–2009, 2011–2017) |
Record win | 11–0 (vs Fostiras, 1973–74) |
Most wins in a season | 30 (1999–00) |
Most goals scored in a season | 102 (1973–74) |
Fewest goals conceded in a season | 13 (1972–73) |
Longest sequence of wins | 17 (1st day of 2015–16 – 17th day of 2015–16) |
Longest sequence of unbeaten matches | 58 (3rd day of 1972–73 – 27th day of 1973–74) |
Olympiacos F.C.
Greece
Olympiacos is one of the more well-known soccer club of Greece as well as being the most popular club in the inhabitants of Athens and gaining strong supporters from Greek communities throughout the world.
The total market value of the Olympiacos team is 89,25 million euros, which is the highest of any team in the Super League. The market value for Olympiacos athletes is 279 million with their top prize asset being Fortounis valued at 10 million.
Established on March 10, 1925, Olympiacos is the most successful club in Greek football history. They have been awarded 45 League titles as well as 28, Cups (18 doubles) and four Super Cups, all records. With 75 national trophies to its name, Olympiacos ranks 9th in the world for the total number of titles won by a football team.
The Derby of the eternal rivals (Greek: Ntermpi ton aionion antipalon) is also known as Mother of all battles (Greek: Metera ton makhon) is a soccer local derby played in the Athens - Piraeus urban zone that is contested by the top clubs in Greece, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos.
The four words that are in the red circle refer to their full names and are in Greek (Olympic Club of Piraeus' Fans). In the year (1925) was when the club was founded. Four stars came into the club in 2013 the year that Olympiacos were awarded their 40th national title.
Olympiacos CFP is a Greek Super League team that is a part of FIFA 23. The players of the club's FIFA 23 Ratings are yet to be released, but in FIFA 22 Tomas Vaclik had the highest FIFA Rating, followed by Konstantinos Fortounis in second and Yann M'Vila was third.
FIFA 20 Olympiacos CFP Greece A'Ethniki.
Karaiskaki Stadium
The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, commonly called"the Karaiskakis Stadium, is a football stadium located in Piraeus, Attica, Greece as well as the home ground for the Piraeus team Olympiacos. With an area of 32,115 people, it is the biggest stadium for football only and second-largest football stadium in Greece.