AEK H.C.

AEK
Full name	AEK Handball Club
Nickname(s)	Énosis (Union) Vasílissa (Queen) Kitrinómavri (The Yellow-Blacks) Dikéfalos Aetós (Two-Headed Eagle)
Founded	2005 (2005)
Arena	G. Kassimatis Indoor Hall Marousi, Athens, Greece
Capacity	1,000
President	Alexandros Alexiou
Head coach	Nikos Grammatikos
League	Handball Premier
2017–18	Handball Premier, 2nd
Home Away
Website Official site

Active departments of AEK Athens
Football Basketball Volleyball (Men's) Handball Water Polo Volleyball (Women's) Futsal Athletics Cycling Table tennis Boxing Fencing Field hockey Rugby Chess Muay Thai MMA Weightlifting

AEK Handball Club [ˈaek] is the handball department of the major Greek multi-sports club A.E.K. It was established in 2005. The club is commonly known in European competitions as AEK Athens.

History

The department Handball of A.E.K. founded by a decision of the General Assembly of A.E.K. on 12 July 2005.

On 5 August 2005, the Greek Handball Federation accepted a merger through absorption of the association's Board of handball GA Ilioupolis with AEK Handball Club.

During the period 2006–07, AEK Handball Club acquired the 3rd position in A1 (Greek Men's handball championship) and gained the participation at European Cups for the first time. President of AEK HC for the period 2006–07 was Nikos Georgantzoglou and coach was Giannis Arvanitis, assistant also coach of the Greek national handball team.

During the period 2007–08, AEK participated at EHF Cup (European Handball Federation Cup) and eliminated by Dinamo Baumit Bucuresti at second round.

On 31 May 2009, again with Nikos Georgantzoglou as a president and Giannis Arvanitis as a coach, AEK HC won the 1st Greek men's handball cup winning Filippos 33–31 in Serres.

For the period 2009–10 AEK participated at EHF Cup Winners' Cup.^[1]

For the third round of EHF Cup Winners' Cup, AEK HC played against BSB Izmir on 14 November 2009 in Athens (losing 24–29) and on 21 November 2009 in Smyrni (draw 22–22). During the period 2009–10, AEK H.C. terminated at 4th position of A1, gaining its European participation for 2nd consecutive time and for 3rd in general. In addition, AEK H.C. participated at the final-four of Greek men's handball cup on 29 May 2010 in Lamia, but the semi-final game against PAOK did not take place due to fan "fights".

For the second round of European Challenge Cup (2010–11), AEK HC won HC Dinamo Minsk 31–25 in Athens and lost 32–27 in Minsk and therefore AEK has been advanced to the top 16 teams. For the third round (phase of 16), AEK defeated Sporting Lisboa at penalties. AEK lost 27–23 in Lisboa, but won 27–23 in Athens and so the game went on penalty-kicks, where AEK advanced to the top 8 with final score 32–27. For the Quarter-Final (phase of 8), AEK played against Partizan of Beograd and disqualified.^[2]

On 7 May 2011, AEK won the Final of (Greek Men's handball championship) and became the Greek Champion (1st) for 2011. AEK needed only the win against PAOK at Thessaloniki and was losing by one goal (22–21) 30 seconds before the final whistle but with great will and power scored twice (the final goal at the exact second of the final) and gained the first championship of its history just 6 years from their establishment. ^[3] AEK participated to the first round of the EHF Champions League for the period 2011–12 and also to the first round of Challenge Cup, losing to Lions (Holland).

On 17 March, 2012, AEK participated to the final game of the Greek men's handball cup against PAOK, but lost the game 26–24. AEK participated to the EHF Cup for the period 2012–13 but was eliminated by Diomidis in the first round, losing both games at Argos and Athens.

On 3 March 2013, AEK HC won the 2nd Greek men's handball cup in its history, winning PAOK 27–23 in Kerkyra (Corfu). ^[4] The same year on the 1st of June, AEK HC won its 2nd Greek Championship playing against Diomidis.^[5]

On 19 March 2014, AEK HC won the 3rd Greek men's handball cup in its history, winning Diomidis 18–16 in Athens. ^[6]

On 29 March 2015, AEK HC participated to the final of the Greek men's handball cup for 5th time in a row, against PAOK, but lost the game 27–29. On Greek Championship finished 3rd.

On 14th and 20th May 2018, AEK HC played to the final games of EHF Challenge Cup 2017–18.

Current squad

Season 2018–2019^[7]

Number	Player	Birth Date	Height (m)	Position
7	Dionysis Georgiadis (c)	07/04/1987	1.83	Left Extreme
8	Giannis Bekiaris	15/01/2000	1.97	Pivot
9	Stathis Zampounis	05/05/1990	1.84	Left Extreme
10	Panagiotis Nikolaidis	02/04/1990	1.95	Left Inter
11	Orfeas Tsakalos	13/08/2000	1.97	Left Inter
13	Thanos Siggaris	13/10/1991	1.96	Goalkeeper
15	Maroš Baláž	22/10/1989	1.92	Right Inter
16	Radule Radulović	30/01/1988	1.83	Goalkeeper
19	Alexandros Alvanos	09/04/1980	1.88	Left Inter
20	Garyfallos Bagios	26/04/1994	1.71	Right Extreme
21	Lars Jakobsen	10/09/1987	2.01	Left Inter
22	Anastasios Papadionysiou	11/08/1990	1.88	Pivot
23	Bampis Dompris	23/07/1994	1.85	Play Maker
24	Christodoulos Mylonas	13/05/1995	1.90	Right Inter
30	Julios Argyrou	14/11/1984	1.86	Play Maker
31	Laurynas Palevičius	30/04/1990	1.82	Right Extreme
33	Giorgos Mantzopoulos	16/04/1998	1.87	Play Maker
44	Eldin Vražalica	07/08/1990	1.93	Pivot
77	Christos Balaskas	14/04/1999	1.97	Pivot

Technical and managerial staff

Job	Name
Head coach	Nikos Grammatikos
Assistant coach	Andreas Troupis
Goalkeeping coach	Dimitris Kaffatos
Physiotherapist	Pavlos Kalavazis
Statistician	Rania Karagianni

Notable players

Notable coaches

• Giannis Arvanitis
• Kostas Toutsis
• Nikos Grammatikos

Honours and Achievements

• Greek Championship
  • Winners (2): 2010–11, 2012–13
  • Runners-up (3): 2012, 2014, 2018
• Greek Cup
  • Winners (3): 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14
  • Runners-up (3): 2011, 2012, 2015
• EHF Challenge Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2017–18
• Double
  • Winners (1): 2012–13

Arenas

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2007–08	EHF Cup	R2	Dinamo Baumit București	30–29	22–36	52–65
2009–10	EHF Cup	R3	Izmir BSB SK	24–29	22–22	46–51
2010–11	EHF Challenge Cup	R3	SKA Minsk	31–25	27–32	58–57
		16	Sporting CP	32–27	23–27	55–54
		QF	RK Partizan Beograd	23–24	22–28	45–52
2011–12	EHF Champions League	QR	RK Partizan Beograd	25–26		4th
			Tatran Presov	23–40
2011–12	EHF Cup	R2	OCI-Lions	25–27	24–26	49–53
2012–13	EHF Cup	R1	A.C. Diomidis Argous	29–30	18–30	47–60
2013–14	EHF Champions League	QR	HC Dinamo Minsk	21–25		3rd
			Besiktas JK	34–30
2013–14	EHF Cup	R3	Lugi HF	22–24	23–25	45–49
2015–16	EHF Challenge Cup	R3	A.C. Filippos Verias	34–36	22–32	56–68
2017–18	EHF Challenge Cup	R3	London GD	41–21	40–16	81–37
		16	Göztepe SK	32–23	25–29	57–52
		QF	Berchem HC	32–25	32–18	64–43
		SF	AM Madeira Andebol SAD	23–23	29–21	52–44
		F	AHC Potaissa Turda	27–26	22–33	49–59

Sponsorships

• Great Sponsor: Elliniki Etaireia Graniton
• Official Sport Clothing Manufacturer: Macron
• Official Broadcaster: ERT3

References

External links

Official websites

• Official website (in Greek)
• AEK H.C. at HHF (in Greek)
• AEK H.C. at EHF (in English)

Media

• Official Facebook page