APOEL FC

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APOEL FC

Full name

Aθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος
Eλλήνων Λευκωσίας

Athletic Football Club of
Greeks of Nicosia

Founded

1926

Ground

Neo GSP Stadium,
Nicosia, Cyprus
(Capacity 23,404)

Chairman

Kyriacos Zivanaris

Manager

Marinos Ouzounidis

League

Cypriot First Division

2006-07

1st





Home colours





Away colours

APOEL FC (Greek: ΑΠΟΕΛ; Aθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Eλλήνων Λευκωσίας, Athlitikos Podosfairikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias, Hellenic Athletic Football Team of Nicosia) is a Cypriot multisport club, based in Nicosia, Cyprus. With an overall tally of 19 league plus 18 cup titles APOEL is in trophy terms the most successful football team in the country.

1 History
2 Stadium
3 Supporters
4 Current Squad
- 4.1 Squad Changes for 2007/08 season
5 Technical Team
6 Notable Former Players
7 Selected Former Managers
8 Achievements
9 Records
10 UEFA Rankings
11 References
12 External links

Founded on November 8, 1926 as POEL (standing for Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias, or, Football Club of the Greeks of Nicosia), the club is a founding member of the Cyprus Football Association. The club's formation came about when a group of forty people, with a common vision, met and set the foundations for creating a football club that would represent all the Greeks of the capital and whose base would be in Nicosia. The meeting took place at a traditional confectionery, owned by Charalambos Hadjioannou, down town in Ledra Street and the first president of the club was Giorgos Poulias.

After a journey to the football (soccer) club in Alexandria, Egypt in 1927 the General Assembly of 1928 decided the players showed that they were not just good footballers but also excellent track and field athletes. Hence it was decided to create a track and field team in addition to the football team. The name APOEL was adopted to reflect this, with the 'A' standing for 'Athletic'.

In 1934, APOEL played a constructive role and helped immensely in setting up the Cyprus Football Association and was one of the founding members. Two years later the APOEL football team celebrated its first championship title of the official Cyprus football league, the first of many trophies APOEL would celebrate in the years ahead. Politics, however, would soon spark conflict within the team and in 1948 the club was divided over its position regarding the Greek Civil War. This led to the withdrawal of certain members and athletes of the club who went on to create Omonia Nicosia Football Club in 1948. This newly created team was to become the arch rival of APOEL and until today there has been a traditional animosity between the fans of the two teams.

More conflicts led to further struggles for APOEL. Athletes belonging to the club frequently participated in national clashes. During the 1955-59 national up-rise against the British, many of APOEL's athletes and members of the club were active members of EOKA (the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), the most outstanding example being Michalakis Karaolis who was hanged by the British colonial authorities. It was during this period that the APOEL football team had their closest brush with relegation as most of their football players were actively taking part in the national struggle.

The football team were quickly back to full strength, however, and made their debut appearance in European Competitions (the first not only for APOEL but for any Cypriot team) in 1963, when they faced the Norwegian team SK Gjøvik-Lyn in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Two victories for APOEL over both legs (6-0, 1-0) marked APOEL's successful European debut, as they became the first Hellenic team to progress in a European Competition.

Other triumphs followed in the early 1970s. In 1973 the domestic double was achieved with coach Panos Markovic. The following year APOEL became the first Cypriot team to avoid relegation from the pan-Hellenic Greek Championship (Until the mid-1970s the champions of Cyprus played in the Greek Football League the next year). From 1974 till today APOEL counts 8 Championships (1980, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2007), 10 Cups (1976, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2005) and 6 Super Cups (1984, 1986, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2002). From 1936 till 2005 APOEL counts 45 titles: 19 Championships, 18 Cups and 8 Super Cups.

1973 also saw triumphs for the basketball side of APOEL, who gained their first trophy by winning the national cup. Three years later in 1976 they succeeded in winning the first basketball championship. The volleyball side of the club experienced their most successful period between 1979 and 1985 when they won six championships and five cups. APOEL achieved a celebratory double in 1995/96, the season of their 70th anniversary, by winning the national championship, finishing unbeaten in the process, as well as winning the basketball championship. Most recently, in 2002, the football team embarked on an impressive European run, playing ten games before being knocked out, an impressive feat for a Cypriot club.

The Apoel FC Academy is considered as one of Apoel's most valuable assets. It has produced many quality cypriot players. Some of them still remain in the team whilst more and more come through every season. Many of these players have also competed at international level with the Cyprus National Football Team, and gone on to bigger clubs such as Olympiacos and Panathinaikos FC.

Main article: GSP Stadium

APOEL plays in the 23,400 seater New GSP Stadium since October 23, 1999. APOEL played in the Makario Stadium from 1978 until 1999 and in the Old GSP Stadium before that.

APOEL is one of the most popular teams in Cyprus. APOEL fans are right-wing in their majority but there are no strong ties between the organised fans and any political party. That wasn't always the case but during the past years they have actively avoided association with any political party. During political elections the organised fans post "My [Political] Party is APOEL" (in greek) on banners outside the fan club, stickers etc.

Main supporter groups include PAN.SY.FI (Greek: ΠΑΝ.ΣΥ.ΦΙ) and Pirates. PAN.SY.FI was founded in 1979 and has branches in all major cities in Cyprus and also in other countries. The PAN.SY.FI (and most ultras) wear orange jackets (or T-shirts). The first game they sported the orange jackets was during the first round of the 1992-93 championship against AEL Limassol in Makario Stadium.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Michalis Morfis
2	DF	Andreas Papanastasiou
4	DF	Michalis Kapsis
5	DF	Daniel Florea
6	MF	Emerson
7	MF	Rubens Torres
8	DF	Bark Seghiri
9	FW	Nikos Machlas
10	MF	Ricardo Fernandes
11	MF	Marios Louka
12	GK	Jane Nikolovski
15	DF	Marios Antoniades
17	MF	Marinos Satsias (captain)
18	DF	Demetris Daskalakis

No.	Position	Player
19	DF	Marios Elia
20	MF	Constantinos Makrides
21	FW	Marco Tavares
22	MF	Miltiadis Sapanis
23	MF	Helio Pinto
24	DF	Christos Kontis
26	DF	Nuno Morais
31	FW	Zé Carlos
33	MF	Chrysis Michael
35	GK	Tasos Kissas
40	MF	Giorgos Economides
69	FW	Nemanja Corović
77	DF	Panayiotis Panayiotou
--	DF	Altin Haxhi

Machlas

Satsias

Zé Carlos

Makrides

Fernandes

Michael

Kapsis

Florea

Morfis

Kontis

Morais

APOEL FC Possible Lineup for 07/08 Season.

In:

No.	Position	Player
26	DF	Nuno Morais (Signed from Chelsea FC ^[1])
12	GK	Jane Nikolovski (Signed from NK Slaven Belupo)
6	MF	Emerson (Signed from AEK Athens ^[2])
21	FW	Marco Tavares (Signed from Porto Alegre Futebol Clube)
14	FW	Evilasio da Costa (Signed from Porto Alegre Futebol Clube)
31	FW	Zé Carlos (Signed from SC Braga ^[3])
7	MF	Rubens Torres (Signed from Clube 15 de Novembro)
69	FW	Nemanja Corović (On Loan from AEL FC)
--	DF	Altin Haxhi (Signed from Ergotelis FC)

Out:

No.		Position	Player
		FW	Rónald Gómez (loan return to Deportivo Saprissa)
		FW	Marios Neophytou (to AEK Larnaca)
		DF	Giannis Sampson (to AEL FC)
		FW	Esteban Solari (to UNAM Pumas)
		DF	Stelios Okkarides (to Apollon Limassol)
		GK	Panayiotis Kythreotis (to ASIL Lysi)
		MF	Manuel Francisco Barreto (Released)
		FW	Evilasio da Costa (Released)