Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C.
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| Full name | PAE Athlitiki Enosi Larissas 1964 (Athletic Union of Larissa 1964 FC) | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Vasilissa tou Kampou The Queen of Lowland | ||
| Founded | 1964 | ||
| Ground | Alkazar Stadium, Larissa, Greece | ||
| Capacity | 13,108 | ||
| Chairman |  Konstantinos Piladakis | ||
| Manager | Marinos Ouzounidis [1] | ||
| League | Super League Greece (Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα) | ||
| 2007-08 | Super League Greece, 6th | ||
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AEL 1964 (Greek: Αθλητική Ένωση Λάρισας 1964 - Athlitiki Enosi Larissas 1964), the Athletic Union of Larissa 1964, is a Greek association football club based in the city of Larissa, capital of Greece's Thessaly region. The club is also known, unofficially, as Larissa.
The team currently competes in the Super League Greece.
History
The club was founded as Athlitiki Enosi Larissas in 1964, the result of a merger of four local clubs - Iraklis Larissas, Aris Larissas, Toxotis Larissas and Larissaikos. It quickly rose to the first division. However, after winning the 1988 championship, the club fell into decline and by 2000 it had been relegated to the third division, going through bankruptcy. In 2003, the club was forced to change its name to AEL 1964 as a result of the bankruptcy.
However, the 2004-2005 season proved to be very fruitful for the club, winning the second division (achieving double promotion) and advancing to the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup. AEL has had a couple of good seasons in the First Division ever since. They have been particularly successful in the Greek Cup, even advancing to the final for the first time in 23 years.
Titles: 1 Championship and 2 Cups
AEL 1964 is the only countryside based team (i.e., outside of the Athens and Thessaloniki metropolitan areas) to win the Greek Alpha Ethniki (now Super League Greece) Championship in 1988. The club also won the Greek football Cup twice, in 1985 by beating PAOK FC in the final (4-1) and in 2007 by beating Panathinaikos 2-1. Before that, AEL 1964 failed to win the Greek Cup twice, going down in the finals of 1982 and 1984 against Panathinaikos.
2007 Greek Cup winners
AEL lifted the 2007 cup for their second time in their history after beating favourites Panathinaikos by a one goal margin[2]. Two goals gave underdog AEL the Cup by stunning their opposition who were in the midst of a disappointing season both nationally and in Europe. The first goal came early in the match as at the third minute AEL won a free kick which was taken by Georgios Fotakis and headed in by striker Jozef Kozlej. Just before the end of the first half Panathinaikos won a penalty and Dimitris Papadopoulos stepped up to make the score even on the 44th minute. As the match was approaching its end Henri Antchouet scored with a strong shoot after an excellent long pass from Georgios Fotakis to give AEL the lead. AEL then kept the lead, sealing a glorious day for the unlikely winners. The 10,000 AEL fans deliriously celebrated the goal as the opposing fans felt the disappointment of having to end the season trophyless despite high expectations.
Stadium
AEL currently plays at the Alkazar stadium, AEL's home since 1964. However plans have been approved to build a new ground on the same site. The new AEL Arena will increase the capacity for AEL fans from 13,108 spectators to 21,000 and it will probably be completed in early 2009.
Current squad
As of October 4 2008 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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* for recent changes please see Larissa F.C. squad changes
Youth team
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Coaching and medical staff
- Manager:
Marinos Ouzounidis - Assistant Manager: Georgios Karagiannis
- Fitness Coach: Christos Mourikis
- Goalkeeping Coach: Christos Michail
- Chief Scout: Nikolaos Kotsovos
- Youth Team Manager:
- Youth Team Coach: Konstantinos Katsaras
- Youth Team Fitness Coach: Christos Kapelianis
Notable former players
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Notable European campaigns
| Season | Round | Notes | |
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| Cup Winners Cup | |||
| 1984-85 | Quarterfinal | eliminated by FC Dynamo Moscow | |
| UEFA Cup | |||
| 2007-2008 | Group Stage Round 2 | eliminated by AZ Alkmaar, FC Nuremberg, and Everton FC | |
| Intertoto Cup | |||
| 2006 | Runner-Up | eliminated by Kayserispor | |
Sponsors
The main sponsor of Larissa F.C. is On Telecoms, a triple play (telephone, internet and television) telecommunications provider.
References
- ^ Ouzounidis named as new Larissa boss
- ^ Panathinaikos - Larisa : 1-2 Match report from Scorespro.com
External links
Official Sites
Fans
| 2024–25 clubs | |
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| Former clubs |
*only in pre-HFF championships |
| Former clubs (from Cyprus) | |
| Competition | |
| Statistics and awards | |
| Associated competitions | |
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| Overview | |
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| National teams | |
| League competitions |
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| Cup competitions | |
| Miscellaneous | |