Xanthi F.C.

AO Xanthi
Full name AO Xanthi Football Club
Nickname(s) Akrítes (Frontiersmen)
Short name AOX
Founded 1 January 1967 (1967-01-01)
Ground Xanthi FC Arena
Capacity 7,422
Owner Christos Panopoulos
Chairman Aristides Pialoglou
Manager Milan Rastavac
League Super League
2017–18 Super League, 6th
Website Club website

AO Xanthi Football Club (Greek: Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek football club, based in the city of Xanthi. The club currently competes in the Super League Greece.

History

The club was formed in 1967 from the merger of two local clubs: A.P.S. Aspida Xanthi (was founded in 1922) and Orfeas (was founded in 1903). The name of the team was Xanthi Athletic Club, officially up to 1991. In 1991, Viamar S.A., the official importer of Skoda vehicles in Greece, bought the club from its previous owner and renamed it to Skoda Xanthi Athletic Club. In 2016 the cooperation was ended and the club's name returned to its original.

The club is well set up in terms of their financial support and youth setup. Xanthi participated in the UEFA Cup or Europa League in 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2013–14 seasons. In the 2004–05 season, Xanthi finished fourth in the A Ethinki (first division, today Super League), the club's best performance in many years.

Xanthi's first appearance in the first division was in 1989.

Crest and colours

Crest

In the early years, the team's emblem consisted exclusively of Democritus. A new emblem with small changes was introduced in 1985. The emblem was retained in this form until 1991 when elements of VIAMAR SA, a new owner of the club, were added. In 1996, Skoda's brand was added. A further change in the emblem took place in 2001, with the addition of the soccer ball, while in 2007 a different version of the particular emblem was presented. In 2012 a new emblem was presented, in which the bust of Democritus was now in the middle.

Colours

Xanthi's colours are red and white.

Stadium

Xanthi FC Arena

Xanthi left their old stadium, the Xanthi Ground (capacity 9,500), located near the centre of the city, for the Xanthi FC Arena in 2004. Their new stadium sited 8 km outside the city, near Pigadia village, has a capacity of 7,422, however has only 3 stands. When the final stand is finally built, the new capacity will be around 9,000 seats. The stadium is located in the same place as the sports center of the Thracian Club, a real jewel for Greek football. The sports center includes, among other things, seven stadiums, as well as the hotel "Le Chalet". The construction of the stadium itself, costing € 6,500,000.

The first game at the Xanthi FC Arena took place on September 18, 2004, with the team of Xanthi being imposed 3–1 on Aris Thessaloniki for the 1st match of Alpha Ethniki Championship for the 2004–05 season.

The stadium was officially inaugurated by the Brazilian legend Pelé on May 12, 2005.[1][2]

On January 16, 2005, and before the game with Ionian a fan of Xanthi, Stamatis Georgoudakis lost his life. Since then the Gate B-C has been named after the stadium. The ticket record was played with Panathinaikos on January 20, 2007 with 6,642 spectators. In the summer of 2016, the stadium was renamed "Xanthi FC Arena".

Honours

Greek Cup

League history

Sources:[3][4]

European matches

Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate
2002–03 UEFA Cup First round Italy Lazio 0–0 0–4 0–4
2005–06 UEFA Cup First round England Middlesbrough 0–0 0–2 0–2
2006–07 UEFA Cup First round Romania Dinamo București 3–4 1–4 4–8
2013–14 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round Northern Ireland Linfield 0–1 2–1 (aet) 2–2 (a)
Third qualifying round Belgium Standard Liège 1–2 1–2 2–4

Players

Current squad

As of 22 August 2018[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Greece GK Athanasios Garavelis
4 Portugal DF Dinis Almeida (on loan from Monaco)
5 Greece DF Dimos Baxevanidis (vice-captain)
6 Spain MF Pablo de Lucas (4th captain)
7 Netherlands FW Jeffrey Sarpong
8 Mauritania DF Khassa Camara
9 Serbia MF Aleksandar Kovačević
10 Serbia MF Petar Đuričković
11 France MF Sofiane Khadda
14 Greece GK Panagiotis Stathakis
15 Greece DF Okan Chatziterzoglou
16 Greece FW Giannis Fakis
17 Greece DF Konstantinos Thymianis
18 Argentina FW Matías Castro
No. Position Player
19 Equatorial Guinea FW Kike
20 Serbia GK Živko Živković
21 Greece DF Konstantinos Fliskas (captain)
23 Greece FW Okan Suleiman
24 Greece FW Petros Orphanides
26 Slovakia FW Erik Jendrišek
27 Senegal DF Salimo Sylla
30 Greece DF Dimitrios Meliopoulos
31 Greece DF Christos Lisgaras (3rd captain)
32 Spain DF Jorge Casado
35 Greece FW Vasilios Fasidis
40 Greece GK Georgios Tzelepis
77 Cape Verde FW Brito
97 Greece MF Rafail Melissopoulos

Retired numbers

Personnel

Executive
Owner Greece Christos Panopoulos
Chairman Greece Aristides Pialoglou
Vice-Chairman Greece Giorgos K. Stratos
Chief executive officer Greece Nikolaos Epitropou
Board Member Greece Giorgos Berberoglou
Board Member Greece Nikos Damkalis
First team staff
Sport director Greece Giannis Papadimitriou
Head coach Serbia Milan Rastavac
Assistant coach Serbia Milos Velebit
Assistant coach Vacant
Goalkeeper coach Greece Alekos Maladenis
Sports science & medicine manager Greece Christos Bikos
Strength & conditioning coach Greece Tasos Sideridis
Physiotherapist Greece Valantis Chatzigiannis
Caretaker Greece Chousein Tsitak
Under-20s & academy coaching staff
Academy manager Greece Periklis Kalogiannis
Academy goalkeeping coach Greece Nikos Kalaitzis
Under 20s lead coach Greece Kostas Prodromitis
Under 17s lead coach Greece Kostas Bedrelis
Under 15s lead coach Vacant

Former personnel

Co-trainer

Director of Sport

Managerial history

References

  1. ↑ "Pelé: "The most modern sports center"". sport-fm.gr. Retrieved 13 May 2005.
  2. ↑ "Pelé: "Well done in Xanthi!"". tanea.gr. Retrieved 13 May 2005.
  3. ↑ Abbink, Dinant & Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (2003-08-07). "Greece – Final Tables 1959–1999". RSSSF.
  4. ↑ Abbink, Dinant & Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (2005-05-18). "Greece – List of Second Level Final Tables". RSSSF.
  5. ↑ "Skoda Xanthi squad" (in Greek). Superleague Greece. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
Official websites
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