Iraklis F.C.
| Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής Θεσσαλονίκης
Gimnastikos Syllogos Iraklis Thessaloniki |
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| Nickname(s) | Γηραιός / Gireos (The Old one) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1908 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Lysimachos Kaftanzoglu Stadium, Thessaloniki, Greece |
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| Capacity | 27,770 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Antonis Remos |
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| Manager |  Ivan
Jovanović |
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| League | Super League Greece (Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα 2007) |
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| 2006-07 | Super League Greece,13th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Iraklis F.C. (Greek: Ηρακλής) is a Greek association football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Nicknamed (Greek: Γηραιός), The Old one, the club claims to be the oldest football branch of any Greek sports club, having been established in 1908 and tracing it's roots as back as 1905. It is named after Hercules (Greek: Ηρακλής), the mythical Greek demigod.
Early roots
G.S.Iraklis was established in 1899 as the "Friends of the Arts" Club. The organization was not originally conceived as an athletic group, instead dedicating itself to literature and music. In 1903, however, the members of the club decided to include sports in their activities, constructing a gym and creating swimming and cycling teams. At the time, football was a new sport, but rapidly increasing in popularity, so a football team was soon founded. The first official game was held on April 23, 1905.
Club Foundation
The club soon faced financial problems. In 1908, the "Friends of the Arts" Club merged with the Olympia Club, giving birth to Iraklis.On November 29, 1908, Iraklis' first article of association was enacted. As its colors, the club selected blue and white, to resemble the Greek flag. The complete name of the club was "Ottoman Hellenic Club of Thessaloniki - Iraklis" (at that time, the city of Thessaloniki was under Ottoman rule, so the club was forced to include the adjective Ottoman in its name. The word was dropped immediately upon the city's liberation in 1913).
Early years
During the first Greek Championship Games after World War I, Iraklis was considered a model team. As years passed, the club maintained it's status at the top level of the newly-born Greek football, winning the Panthracian games in 1923. Also in 1923, Iraklis established its first junior teams. All Football in Greece was suspended from 1941-1945 during the German occupation and Greek championship also from 1947-1949 due to the Greek Civil War.After the war period, the club was constantly competing with Aris for the Thessaloniki championship, which gave upon its winner the right to participate in the Greek championship. Iraklis participated in the 1947 Greek Cup final, where was defeated 5-0 by the dominant Greek team of that era ,Olympiakos . In the 1950s, the team solidified its position among the top teams in Greece along with Olympiakos, Panathinaikos,PAOK, AEK, and Aris. Nevertheless, the club struggled with financial difficulties in an ailing Greek economy. Thessaloniki, where many refugees from the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 had settled, was particularly damaged by the economic downturn. The highlight of the decade was the 1957 Greek Cup final, in which Iraklis was once again defeated by Olympiakos, 2-0.
A new era
In the 1960s, the format of the Greek Championship was changed to its present structure. Iraklis was, at the onset of the decade, one of the most consistent performers in the league. However, as the club endeavored to maintain a solid financial position, it became less competitive for the championship title. The organization faced another major setback as Iraklis -and Thessaloniki's only private- stadium was purchased by the state in a compulsory deal to expand the city's Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The club plays at the state-owned Kaftanzoglio Stadium ever since.
Glory years
The 1970s were arguably Iraklis' peak years. A solid roster was assembled, featuring several players from the club's youth ranks, including Fanaras, Nikoloudis, Zafiridis, Gesios, Papaioannou and Haliabalias. The club acquired Vassilis Hatzipanagis, an already member of the USSR national team of Greek descent. Hatzipanagis who was later voted the best football player in Greek history and was honored as so in the UEFA Jubilee Awards, with his unique style attracted huge audiences to Iraklis games.He had an immediate impact upon his arrival as he was involved in all 4 goals of Iraklis in Greek Cup final of 1976,(a 6-5 penalty win - 4-4 in regular time - against Olympiakos) either by assisting or scoring.
Downturn and resurrection
The 1980s began with a scandal for Iraklis. Pellios, a player of local rival PAOK, accused a member of the Iraklis board of trying to bribe him before the second leg of the 1980 Greek Cup semifinal. The incident was very controversial, especially as Iraklis had already won the first (away)leg by 1-0. Despite the team's progress to the 1980 Greek Cup final (losing 5-2 against underdogs Kastoria) and even though finishing 8th in the final table , the team was demoted by the Greek football federation to the second division for the first and only time in it's 100 history.Iraklis instantly returned to First division after an unforgettable 1980-81 season - even though star player of team Vassilis Hatzipanagis refused to play out of protest for the decision to relegate the historic club over controversial and unproven charges - in which the team broke all division records for the largest home and away victories and most goals scored.In 1983-84 Iraklis reached its best league position to date, finishing in third place overall.In 1985 the team won the Balkans Cup with an aggregate victory (5-4) against FC Argeş Piteşti. 15,000 fans travelled to Athens to support Iraklis in the 1987 Greek Cup final - considered the largest away crowd in Greek history-,unfortunately to see their team lose 3-1 on penalties(1-1 regular time) to OFI Crete.
Decline
The 1990s were a period of reconstruction for the club, as aging players either left the club or retired. Hatzipanagis' retirement in 1990 had a major negative impact on the team's success. Fans began calling for a change in the club's management, as club president Petros Theodoridis began selling the team's most talented players (Christos Kostis , Giorgos Anatolakis , Savvas Kofidis etc).Iraklis competed in 1990 against Valencia in the UEFA Cup, being eliminated in overtime at Mestalla.
Presidential changes and downfall
The team was sold in 2000 to prominent Greek businessman Evangelos Mytilineos for almost $3,000,000. The new club president's first move was the surprising sale of highly rated striker Michalis Konstantinou to Panathinaikos. Newly appointed coach Giannis Kyrastas was widely considered Greece's best, remained at the charge of the team for only one and very disappointing season.Angelos Anastasiadis was appointed as the new coach, and even though this was considered a controversial move due to his history as a member of rival club PAOK his tenure was a very successful one as the team qualified twice in a row for the UEFA Cup on a very small budget. In 2004, Mytilineos announced his desire to leave the team and therefor it's sale to Giorgos Spanoudakis , (a jobless friend of his from schoolyears, who didn't for sure have any credidentials to run a football club of this calibre) for just $1, although heavily in debt. Spanoudakis initiated a series of expensive and unsuccessful deals ( Nikos Machlas, Cezary Kucharski , Giuseppe Signori ) , driving the team close to bankruptcy. He later tried to get rid of the team by selling it to an unknown businessman named Dimitris Houlis.After a 5 month period where Houlis controlled the team The Greek football commission finally annulled the transfer, raising questions in the media regarding its handling of the previous one between Mytilinaios and Spanoudakis too.
Ups and downs
In 2004, Savvas Kofidis, famous as a player of the team in 80'ies, became its manager. In 2005-06, he led Iraklis to an acclaimed 4th place finish, playing effective and attractive football but with debts of almost $8,000,000 to players, coaches, and the state, Spanoudakis started the 2006/7 season attempting to reconcile Iraklis finances by selling Joel Epalle and Panagiotis Lagos who were instrumental in the previous year's success.Next year Kofidis resigned as manager of a considerably weakened team after Iraklis lost 7 and drew 2 of his first nine games in Greek Super League and additionally was eliminated from the UEFA Cup in extra time by Wisla Krakow.Eventually the 2006-07 season ended with in a hard breaking fashion as the team gained it's survival to Greek Super League only in the last matchday after breaking an 39 matches unbeaten home run of Skoda Xanthi.
Change of fortunes
In July 13th 2007 Spanoudakis eventually resigned and the team passed to the hands of a consortium of local businessmen with prominent Greek singer Antonis Remos(a life long fan of the team)as their leader giving fans the hope that at last Iraklis will be in the right path.Today the new owners are trying to stabilize the team financially having already paid the debts to Giusseppe Signori (almost 1,000,000 $) and to other players and lenders from the past.
Rivalries
Iraklis shares a rivalry with PAOK after the Pelios case and the subsequent demotion to second division.Traditionally there is a big rivalry with Aris FC as the latters were established by member of Iraklis board who were kicked out of the team back in 1914.They adopted the name Ares for their new team as to oppose to Heracles.In the last years this rivalry is being fumed after several incidents between the teams and especially after Iraklis by winning in the second to last matchday of the 2004/05 season in Aris home ground sent them to second division.
Notable Players
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+ = passed away
Current Roster
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Out on loan
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Foreign players 2007/2008
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Honours
- Greek Cup: 1
- 1976
- Balkan Cup: 1
- 1985
Runners Up
- Greek Cup: 4
- 1947,1957,1980,1987
External links
- Iraklis Thessaloniki FC - Official website (in Greek & English)
- Iraklis Thessaloniki fans forum (in Greek)
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