Apollon Smyrnis F.C.

History

Smyrna era (1891–1922)

Apollon Smyrnis was founded in 1891 by former members of club Orpheus. Orpheus (subsequently Panionios) had been founded one year earlier in 1890. Among the founders of Apollon were prominent residents of Smyrna such as Chrysostomos of Smyrna and Vasilis Samios.

Roughly in the year 1893, the athletic department was organised. The first games of Smyrna took place in 1894, organized by the English sports fans of Bornova, a district in İzmir nowadays. In these games the athletes of Apollon achieved a lot of first victories. The person with the most wins was Theologos Anastasoglou, a glorious athlete who later became Olympic champion; he was most likely the best athlete from Apollon. The Games were always organized by English sports fans until 1903, with the attendance of the Gymnastic Association Apollon Smyrnis.

The third anniversary of the foundation of Apollon was celebrated joyously. Chairman N. Koulmasis gave the speech of the day, while the famous S. Pittakis spoke of Delphi and recited the anthem to the god Apollo. There was a special pedestal on which had been set up an altar to praise the god Apollo, while eight youths dressed in chlamydes sang the Pindariko anthem to Apollo.

In 1894, with the election of its new presiding board, Apollon adopted as its emblem three runners and at the same time it established an excursion department. Of the first excursions that were organized, one was to Ephesus and another to Aydın, in which the Russian scholar and historical Frigkol took part.

In 1894, the council of the Gymnastic Association of Apollon (Apollon Sports Club) was composed of chairman Mathaios Provatopoulos and Th. Vatidi, Jakovos Koulampidis, Grig. Sofianopoulos, G. Oikonomidis, A. Koulampidis and C. Papadimitriou. During this season the team acquired a privately owned ground. Initially, only its members fought on these. Later, however, it organized games in which other associations could also take part.

Apollon acquired its own stadium in 1894. Fourteen years before, in 1880, Ioannis Damvergis with Apostolos Psaltof, Stefanos Papamihalis and I. Makroulidis, all students of the Evangelic Faculty of Smyrna, created an off-hand gym in some open space, known with the name "love arena". After they opened the ground, they set up a perimeter using ropes because of a lack of money. Then, with hard economising, they bought a horizontal bar and other gymnastic equipment. The youth of Smyrna exercised there paying a symbolic price. Makroulidis was made cashier. This primitive gym constituted the precursor of the gym of Apollo, but was also the fountain for the later great athletes of the association. For this reason, the creator of this gym, Apostolos Psaltof, was called the "grandfather'" of Apollon.

Apollon in Athens (1922–)

After the Greco-Turkish War and the expulsion of the Greeks from Asia Minor, Apollon moved to Athens. The club's first home ground was located at a place near the Greek Parliament called "Stiles Olympiou Dios" (Pillars of Olympian Zeus). Apollon stayed there for about 25 years, and after World War II the club's house was again transferred to an Athens neighbourhood called "Rizoupoli" and a stadium was built there, Georgios Kamaras Stadium, named after club legend Georgios Kamaras.

The club has four departments: the football department called "Apollon Smyrnis FC", a basketball club called "Apollon BC", a volleyball club and a fighting department. The best known (and probably the most successful) department is the football club. Apollon FC participated in the Alpha Ethniki championship for many years, with the exception of seasons 1969–70, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1986–87. The team won the local Athens Championship five times, on 1924, 1928, 1938, 1948 and 1958.

Seasons 1994–95 and 1995–96 are the club's most successful seasons:

In 1994–95, Apollon qualified for the 1995–96 UEFA Cup (preliminary round) where they played against Olimpija Ljubljana. Georgios Kamaras Stadium was not suitable for the game, so Apollon played in AEK Athens' home ground, Nikos Goumas Stadium. Apollon won 1–0 in Athens in front of 10,000 fans but lost 3–1 in Ljubljana and was eliminated (Olimpia scored 2 goals in the last 15 minutes). In those matches, many people noticed a young striker (just 21 years old at the time) who would become European football Champion almost ten years after; his name was Demis Nikolaidis.

The following season, 1995–96, Apollon under the coaching of Giannis Pathiakakis and thanks to Demis Nikolaidis' capital scoring performances, reached the Greek Cup final after an excellent season, where they lost 7–1 to AEK Athens. In the same season, Apollon made one of the biggest victories in his history, defeating Olympiacos at Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium with 0–3, with an amazing goal of Demis Nikolaidis. After these great seasons, Apollon's glory started to fade and as a result, in the 1999–00 season Apollon was relegated to Beta Ethniki. Then, in 2005 it was relegated to Gamma Ethniki (South Group) and finally, in 2007, to Delta Ethniki (Group 8).

Stadium

In 1880, Ioannis Dammergis, along with Apostolos Psaltoff, Stefanos Papamichalis and I. Makroulidis, created a snapshot in an open space, known as the "love of talani". In this stadium, young people from all over Smyrna were hired paying a penny. Makroulidis was appointed a treasurer. This primitive gym (fenced with a cloth rope) was the precursor of Apollon's gymnasium, as well as the hive for the later great athletes of the club. That's why the creator of this gymnasium, I. Psalof, called him "grandfather" of Apollon. Later, Apollon Smyrnis gymnasium moved to a place in front of the Greek Orphanage and then built a large and modern gym in the area of Tryfonas, near the famous theater "Terpsithea". In 1904, Apollon Smyrnis took over the organization of the Bornova Sports Games. For sports needs, Apollon renovates the Bornova stadium under the architect B. Liti and acquires a 400-meter track and capacity for 6,000 spectators.

With the destruction of Smyrna, Apollon Smyrnis was uprooted and came to Athens. The first station of his Odyssey, the Columns of Olympian Zeus. In an existing stadium, the team first moved into the new home. There they were first seat. There they took the first EPSA champion. But it remained only until 1924.

The second station is Rouf. The seat of the team is transferred and stays there until 1946. The current municipal stadium testifies about the location of the then facilities. Though then the stadium was adjacent to the church of St. Vasilios, which stands out in the background of photography. At this headquarters they once again took an EPSA champion.

In 1946 the club's installations were expropriated by the Railway Company and Apollon moved to Rizoupoli, next to Columbia's facilities.

The stadium is inaugurated on October 17, 1948. Initially, the stadium of the current officials was built. In 1962 the opposite stand with the gates 8,9 and 10 was "found". And in 1971–72, the horseshoe of the stadium was constructed. Today, the capacity of the Rizoupoli Stadium is 14,200 seated spectators. And it now bears the name "Georgios Kamaras Stadium" in memory of one of the top footballers that the club has made.

Trivia

Apollon have gone since the 1930s under the nickname "The Light Brigade" (Greek: Ελαφρά Ταξιαρχία), named after the 1938 Hollywood movie The Charge of the Light Brigade, after winning the 1938 regional Athens championship.

Since 1910 the team's badge was a swastika-like cross. But after the Nazi invasion of Europe it was changed to Apollo's head for obvious reasons.

The last time a player of Apollon Smyrni was an active member of Greece was on May 8, 1996 (Demis Nikolaidis, Greece–Georgia 2–1). Since then, no player of Apollon has been a member of the national team.

Georgios Kamaras Stadium was in bad shape during the 1990s, but it was renovated in 2002 by Olympiacos. Olympiacos used this stadium as their home ground until Karaiskákis Stadium was constructed in 2004.

Kostas Alamanos was shareholder and team president from the late 1970s until 2005. He helped Apollon reach the UEFA Cup preliminary round and the Greek Cup final and for many years, was beloved by Apollon fans. But after these successful seasons, Alamanos became persona non grata for the fans, mainly because he sold many of the team's best footballers (Demis Nikolaidis, Blendar Kola and Theofilos Karasavvidis) and released most of the remaining team as free agents. The team was unable to recover from these losses, and in 2000 were relegated. That's why Apollon fans are calling Alamanos "The Unmentionable".

Still today Apollon is the 9th team with respect to number of appearances in the top league of Greece (37/53).

Crest and colours

The first emblem of the club, since 1894, was the three runners.

In 1910, the football club's emblem becomes the ancient Greek conveyor, which will be removed even before World War II, given its already negative identification with National Socialism and Adolf Hitler.

In the first post-war years, club jerseys simply write GSA (Gymnastics Association of Apollon).

Later, the club's emblem is adopted with the bust of the god Apollo. The current crest depicts the head of Apollo Citharoedus (or Musagetes). The colours of the club are cyan (light blue) and white.

First

Honours

S Shared record

League statistics

Managers

Manol Manolov (July 1, 1979 – June 30, 1980)

Tomislav Kaloperović (July 1, 1988 – June 30, 1989)

Gerhard Prokop (July 1, 1989 – June 30, 1990)

Walter Skocik (July 1, 1990 – June 30, 1991)

Christos Archontidis (July 1, 1998 – Sept 3, 1999)

Stathis Stathopoulos (July 1, 2011 – March 20, 2012)

Giannis Georgaras (March 19, 2012 – June 30, 2012)

Bledar Kola (July 21, 2012 – Aug 7, 2012)

Alexandros Vosniadis (Aug 7, 2012 – Oct 8, 2013)

Babis Tennes (Oct 10, 2013 – Nov 11, 2013)

Lawrie Sanchez (Nov 17, 2013 – June 16, 2014)

Nikos Kostenoglou (July 1, 2014 – December 8, 2014)

Alexandros Vosniadis (December 12, 2014 – November 2, 2015)

Babis Tennes (Nov 3, 2015 – March 29, 2016)

Konstantinos Panagopoulos (Apr 2, 2016 – Apr 18, 2016)

Georgios Vazakas (Apr 18, 2016 – Jun 6, 2016)

Dimitrios Spanos (Jun 9, 2016 – Dec 24, 2016)

Apostolos Mantzios (Dec 29, 2016 – June 20, 2018)