User:Abudabanas/sandbox

History

Football first appeared in Greece in 1894 and began to spread after the 1896 Olympiad, which was included in the games program. Many clubs started to establish football divisions while the first purely football clubs were also founded. The first years, until 1912, championship was organised by the Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics (SEGAS). This championship was actually a local tournament among clubs from Athens and Piraeus.

After the Balkan Wars and World War I, two football associations were formed, one organising a football league in Athens and Piraeus, and one doing the same in Thessaloniki. These were the Athens-Piraeus FCA (EPSAP) and the Macedonia FCA (EPSM). In 1923, a Panhellenic Champion was determined by a play-off game between the Athens-Piraeus and the Thessaloniki champions. Peiraikos Syndesmos won 3–1 against Aris. This panhellenic final was not repeated the following year as the EPSAP was split into the Athens FCA (EPSA) and Piraeus FCA (EPSP) following a dispute.

Panhellenic Championship (1927–1959)

On 14 November 1926, the Hellenic Football Federation was founded and the first official Panhellenic Championship was held in the period 1927–28, in which, however, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens did not participate due to conflicts with the EPO.

The initial events were held with teams from Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, excluding the provincial ones. Previously, the local championships of the cities were held and in the final phase, sometimes only the first ones qualified, sometimes the first two or the first three teams. In the championship of 1938-39, which was held in two groups, teams outside Athens-Thessaloniki (Doxa Drama, AEK Kavala and Filippi Kavala) participated for the first time. The maiden presence of provincial teams in a single group of the Panhellenic Championship took place in 1953-54 with the participation of Panachaiki from Southern Greece and Niki Volou from Central and Northern Greece. Rssf has made an all-time ranking of the teams during that period.rssf.com

National League (1959–1979)

In 1959 the Alpha Ethniki – the precursor of the current Super League – was set up as a national round-robin tournament. After several months of talks, the 1959–60 championship was the first nationwide league competition. It started on Sunday 25 October 1959 with the participation of 16 teams. The creation of a championship in the form of a single permanent national division rather than the way they have been held until then with the participation of the teams selected by the local competitions was a requirement of both the State and UEFA. The first wished to establish a fixed number of matches every Sunday in Greece to stimulate interest in PRO-PO while UEFA wished to nominate national champions with strict criteria and through joint events for all states. The Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) was obliged to proceed to the abolition of the competitions of the Football Clubs Associations (EPS) of Greece as qualifying stages for the Pan-Hellenic Championship. The first place was taken by Alpha Ethniki, a single division with clubs from all over the Greek territory and a stable participation, with the exception of those who would be relegated at the end of the season. The initial design provided for a number of teams well above the 10th of the 1958–59 Pan-Hellenic Championship and in particular 18 which, as the expanded division calendar would cover almost all the available dates of the year, would no longer participate in its local competitions their EPSs. Those would be the qualifier for the upcoming national division and not the participation in the final round of the current championship, so their significance was significantly reduced. On Saturday, 10 October 1959 at the General Assembly of the HFF, ie with the participation of all the members of the Association of Football Associations and in the presence of the General Secretariat of Sports (GGA) and representatives of the Karamanlis government, became the first national division of Greek football. The 1st game was set for 15 days. According to the general Assembly of HFF on 29 August 1959, it was decided that the newly created Alpha Ethniki would consist of 18 teams, with their determination being made in accordance with the positions in the local EPS competitions in the period 1958–59. The HFF, at its decisive General Assembly on Saturday, 10 October, decided to reduce the number of teams to 16 so that the racing program will not be extended in the summer. After the end of the first event in the summer of 1960, the teams did not increase despite HFF's initial intention, with the number 16 being considered the ideal for a championship in Greece and only 18 in 1967.

The teams that participated in the first championship of the Alpha Ethniki were the following:

• The top four of the Athens FCA Championship: Panathinaikos, Panionios, AEK Athens and Apollon Smyrnis.
• The top four of the Piraeus FCA Championship: Olympiacos, Ethnikos Piraeus, AE Nikaia and Proodeftiki.
• The top four of the Macedonia FCA (Thessaloniki) Championship: Aris, PAOK, Apollon Kalamarias and Iraklis.
• The top two of the North Group of the Regional Championship: Doxa Drama and Megas Alexandros Katerini.
• The first of the two Sub-Groups of the South Regional Championship: Pankorinthiakos and Panegialios.

On 25 October 1959, the Alpha Ethniki was launched. The history of the first unified football league began in the 1959-60 season with the creation of the A’ National Division, the form of which has generally been maintained to this day.

Professional league (1979–present)

On 19 January 1979 a bill was passed in the Hellenic Parliament under which football clubs became Football Incorporated Companies (PAE or ΠΑΕ in Greek). The Association of Football Incorporated Companies (EPAE, ΕΠΑΕ in Greek), under the supervision of the HFF, has since held the responsibility to hold the championship, with Makis Ithakisios being elected its first president. Initially the shares were owned by the sports union to which the football club belonged. Yet soon after, prominent Greek businessmen (shipowners, oil magnates, bankers etc.) began acquiring the newly formed PAEs by buying the majority of their shares, and then increasing their share capital, thus turning Greek football into a fully commercialised and highly profitable business for the decades to come.

In 2000–01 and for a single season, the championship was renamed Upper Category. It was an attempt to restructure the Greek football leagues, which included a gradual reduction of the teams in the Greek league and was announced at the end of 1999 by the then president of the Football Association of Societies (E.P.A.E.) Viktoras Mitropoulos. It was based on a plan developed on behalf of EPAE. the international company "Deloitte & Touche". However, it was never completed and a simple renaming of the leagues was only valid for the 2000–2001 season, which was abolished the following season.

Formation of Super League (2006)

During the 2006-07 season, the Hellenic Football Federation agreed to the withdrawal of the 16 member clubs of the A’ National League from the EPAE, so that they could establish a cooperative association of football clubs under the name ‘Super League Greece’, which succeeded EPAE in the organisation of the Greek first division championship. With the new football restructuring of 2019, from the 2019-20 season, the professional football association Super League was renamed to “Super League 1”. On 16 July 2006, the collaboration of Super League was founded. Members of the co-partnership are the PAE's that have the right to participate in the professional football championship of the First Division. The main activity of the copartnership is the organization and conduct of the First Division's Championship according to the regulations and decisions of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) and the supreme international football confederations (UEFA, FIFA). From the 2007-08 season, the play-offs were established for European qualification (places 2-5). In 2019, the professional football association "Super League Greece Limited Liability Company" was renamed to "Super League 1 Greece Limited Liability Company". Playoffs determine the champion, among the top six teams in the league. At the same time, the use of the V.A.R. was established.