Asteras Tripoli F.C.

Early years

Asteras was founded in 1931, in the area near Tripoli's railway station and was formally recognised forthwith. However, the club stayed inactive and during 1932 all football clubs in Tripoli were temporarily dissolved. At the same time, Minas Tsavdaris founded a football club and named it "Keramikos" after his home area.^[1] Despite his efforts, Keramikos was never formally recognised, and in 1938 Tsavdaris decided to transfer all of the club's players to Asteras Tripolis, which was still legally recognised.^[1] This signified the revival of the club and Asteras managed to compete in the inaugural season (1939–40) of the regional Arcadian League. However, the subsequent German occupation of Greece ended all league competitions abruptly and the club was dissolved once again.

Post-World War II

After World War II, Asteras was reformed under the name "Neos Asteras" and was accordingly recognised by Tripoli's courts on 23 June 1947.^[1] Asteras won five consecutive titles in the Arcadian League (1957–62). The team won consecutive promotions and managed to play for two seasons in the Greek Second Division (1961–63), thus becoming the first team from Tripoli to ever participate in such a high division.^[1] In the summer of 1963, Asteras merged with Aris–Atromitos and the new team was named "Athlitikos Omilos Tripolis" (Athletic Club of Tripoli, AOT). AOT's function was based in Asteras' statute and the new club continued its activities until 1968, when it was dissolved once again and was subsequently merged with Arcadikos to form Panarkadikos.

Recent history and era of success

Asteras was reformed again in 1978.^[1] The club participated in the regional Arcadian League until 2003. At 2001 the club entered a new era and led an outstanding streak of performances. They remained unbeaten at home for over 5 years (from 2001 to November 2006) and they managed to move up four divisions, earning the promotion for the Greek Super League as Second Division champions on 12 May 2007.

Asteras made a spectacular start in their first season in the Super League. Their first ever win was against Panathinaikos (1–0^[2] in Tripoli) and their first away win against OFI in Crete (3–0).^[3] The season was marked by some outstanding performances with the most memorable being the 1–0 home victory against champions Olympiacos. They also managed to win 2–1 against AEK Athens and 2–0 against PAOK at home. Asteras Tripolis became the first and only newly promoted Superleague team that managed to beat Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, PAOK (home and away) and AEK Athens in its first ever appearance in the top division.

Coach Paulo Campos left Asteras on 24 February 2008 with assistant manager Panagiotis Tzanavaras taking over for the rest of the 2007–08 season. Asteras finally ended 7th, missing the European spot in the last games. In the summer of 2008 Asteras announced Carlos Carvalhal as their new manager. He was sacked in mid-season due to poor results which led the team near the relegation zone.^[4] He was succeeded by former AEK Athens caretaker manager, Nikos Kostenoglou. In 2009 Asteras signed the Argentine former Internazionale assistant Mario Gómez as their new coach.

The 2012–13 season was the most successful in Asteras' history. They finished third in the Super League (and fourth in the play-offs), securing a place for the 2013–14 Europa League. Meanwhile, they reached the first Greek Cup final in their history, losing 1–3 to Olympiacos after extra time.^[5]

Emblem versions

First

2005–06 Gamma Ethniki winners[6][7]

2006–08 Beta Ethniki winners[8][9] [10]

First match in Superleague Greece[11][12]

2008–09 Greek Cup Semi-finals[13]

2009–12[14]

First match in UEFA Europa League qualifying phase[15]

2013–14[16]

2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage[17] and 3d position in Superleague Greece

2015–16 UEFA Europa League group stage[18]

2016–17

Alternative

1978[19]

2005–06[20]

2009–10

2010–12[21][22]

2012–13 Greek Cup Final[23][24]

2013–14

First match in UEFA Europa League group stage[25]

2016–17

Kit suppliers

Kit provider	Period
Umbro	2003–06
Lotto	2006–12
Nike	2012–17
Macron	2017–

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 2 August 2018, Source: uefa.com

Rank	Team	Points
119	Östersund	10.000
120	Apollon Limassol	9.500
121	Asteras Tripolis	9.500
122	Dinamo Minsk	9.000
123	HJK	9.000

By season

Last update: 27 July 2018

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Inter Baku	1–1	1–1	2–2 (4–2 p)
		3Q	Marítimo	1–1	0–0	1–1 (a)
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Rapid Wien	1–1	1–3	2–4
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	2Q	RoPS	4–2	1–1	5–3
		3Q	Mainz 05	3–1	0–1	3–2
		PO	Maccabi Tel Aviv	2–0	1–3	3–3 (a)
		Group C	Tottenham Hotspur	1–2	1–5	3rd place
			Beşiktaş	2–2	1–1
			Partizan	2–0	0–0
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	Group K	Schalke 04	0–4	0–4	3rd place
			APOEL	2–0	1–2
			Sparta Prague	1–1	0–1
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Hibernian	1–1	2–3	3–4

Notes

• 1R: First round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round

Notable wins

Domestic competitions

• Super League
  • Third place (1): 2014–15
• Greek Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2012–13
  • Semifinals (2): 2008–09, 2011–12
• Football League
  • Winners (1): 2006–07
• Gamma Ethniki
  • Winners (1): 2005–06
• Delta Ethniki
  • Winners (1): 2005
• Arcadian Championship
  • Winners (8): 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1988, 1990, 2003
• Arcadian Cup
  • Winners (4): 1989, 1990, 2004, 2005
• Arcadian Double
  • Winners (1): 1990

International competitions

• UEFA Europa League
  • Group Stages (2): 2014–15, 2015–16
  • Qualifiers (2): 2012–13, 2013–14
  • The club will participate in the 2018–19 Europa League, starting from the 2nd qualifying round.

Current squad

As of 3 September 2018^[26]

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Nikos Papadopoulos 2 DF Patricio Matricardi 3 DF Christos Tasoulis 4 DF Triantafyllos Pasalidis 5 DF Kostas Triantafyllopoulos (vice-captain) 6 MF José Luis Valiente 7 MF Marc Fernández 8 MF Juan Munafo (3rd captain) 10 MF Martín Tonso 11 FW Michalis Manias (4th captain) 14 MF Franco Bellocq 16 MF Lucas Salas 17 MF Walter Iglesias (captain) 19 MF Kosmas Tsilianidis 20 MF Christos Albanis 21 MF Panagiotis Tzimas 22 MF Martín Rolle 23 FW Nikos Kaltsas

No. Position Player 24 MF Georgios Kanellopoulos 25 DF Nikos Michelis 27 DF Giannis Kotsiras 28 FW Tasos Douvikas 29 MF Kyriakos Glezos 30 GK Giorgos Athanasiadis 31 FW Alexandros Tereziou 32 MF Manolis Dine 33 DF Ángel Martínez 35 GK Vasilis Tsimopoulos 37 DF Valentinos Vlachos 38 DF Robert Kumadey 45 DF Giannis Christopoulos 77 DF Giorgos Kyriakopoulos 80 DF Grigoris Fotopoulos 90 FW Giannis Bastianos 96 DF Panagiotis Diamantopoulos 99 GK Antonis Tsiftsis

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player 40 MF Alhassane Soumah (at Doxa Dramas until 30 June 2019) 42 DF Giorgos Antzoulas (at Fiorentina until 30 June 2019) 67 DF Georgios Zisis (at Aiginiakos until 30 June 2019)

No. Position Player 81 FW Alexis Nikolakopoulos (at Aiginiakos until 30 June 2019) 98 GK Konstantinos Kapetanos (at Akritas Chlorakas until 30 June 2019) — FW Omiros Syrengelas (at Panargiakos until 30 June 2019)