Kavala F.C.

AO Kavala
Full name Αθλητικός Όμιλος Καβάλα
(Athletic Club Kavala)
Nickname(s) Argonauts
Light Brigade of the North
Short name AOK
Founded 1965 (1965)
Ground Anthi Karagianni Stadium
Capacity 10,500
Chairman Giorgos Loupelis
Manager Pavlos Dermitzakis
League Gamma Ethniki
2017–18 Gamma Ethniki (Group 1), 3rd
Website Club website

Kavala Football Club[1] (Greek: Αθλητικός Όμιλος Καβάλα), the Athletic Club Kavala, is a professional association football club based in the city of Kavala, Macedonia, Greece.

History

Logo of Kavala F.C. until 2012

The club was formed in 1965 from the merger of Phillipoi Kavala, Iraklis Kavala and A.E. Kavala.[2]

They have had a few runs in the top division of the Greek League. They were promoted to Alpha Ethniki for the first time in 1969 and stayed up for 6 years (1970 – 1975). They returned to top division in 1976 and played again for six seasons.

In 1982 the club were relegated to the Beta Ethniki (second tier of Greek football). After 11 years in Beta Ethniki and one year in Gamma Ethniki (third tier – 1988–89) they were promoted to Alpha Ethniki. There "black" period began for the team in which they played only in Beta Ethniki and Gamma Ethniki.

2009–2010 Season

Wilson Oruma
Charles Itandje

In 2009 they signed Miltiadis Sapanis and EURO 2004 winner Fanis Katergiannakis. Kavala were promoted for the first time in 9 years to Greeces top division. In their quest to remain in the top flight they have signed Pepe Reina's back up at Liverpool, Charles Itandje and recently acquired Brazilian Denílson (January 2010 transfer window) a 2002 World Cup Winner. Additional season signings include Craig Moore, Željko Kalac, Ebi Smolarek, Diogo Rincón, Sotiris Leontiou, Serge Dié, Wilson Oruma and Frédéric Mendy. This combined with coach Aad de Mos meant that Kavala set the league alight. They subsequently achieved notable victories in the 2009–2010 season against Iraklis FC, Panionios, AEK FC and Panathinaikos FC.

2010–2011 Season

Ending in 6th place, the team entered the transfer season. In July, the Spanish goalkeeper, Javier Lopez Vallejo (who played in Real Zaragoza) was added to the roster. The team's owner sought the new manager throughout Europe and settled on the Serbian coach Dragomir Okuka who lasted until November, when he was replaced by Henryk Kasperczak. In Kasperczak's debut as a coach, Kavala beat AEK, 2–1, in what was considered a very good appearance.

But in March 2011, Kasperczak, retired as the coach of this team, and he was replaced by Ioannis Matzourakis, who was the coach in Kavala FC team in the seasons 1985–1986. Kavala finished 7th and later faced the threat of relegation to Football League (Greece) due to the match-fixing scandal.[3] After an appeal, the team managed to avoid relegation by starting the new league with 8 points less.[4] On 23 August, however, the Professional Sports Committee stripped both Kavala and Olympiakos Volou from their professional licence and demoted them to the Delta Ethniki.[5]

2011–2012 Season

Kavala competed in Delta Ethniki Group 1. They only finished 4th, but were promoted two divisions to the Football League for 2012/13 after it was ruled that their demotion to Delta Ethniki in 2011 was as a result of government intervention and should not have been implemented by the football authorities.[6]

2013–2014 Season

Ιn September 2013 Germans investors take the management of Kavala F.C..The agreement provides that the new investors will "catch" and a significant part of its debts to old players.

Indeed, the Germans will be able to buy a majority stake of the shares of FC paying €500,000 clause of the first season and €700,000 for the second, respectively.

Crest

The emblem of the club is the ancient trireme, as Christos Batsis designed it. For a while, the emblem contained the then name of the "Puma Nea Kavala Football Club" team.

Stadium

Anthi Karagianni Stadium

The Anthi Karagianni Municipal Stadium (Greek: Δημοτικό Στάδιο Ανθή Καραγιάννη), formerly the Kavala National Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Kavala, Greece. It is the homebase of Kavala FC. The stadium was built in 1970, and currently has a seating capacity of 10,500. It is named after the paralympic athlete, Anthi Karagianni, who won three silver medals in the 2004 Paralympic Games.

Players

Current squad

As of 20 August 2018

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

No. Position Player
Greece GK Georgios Dimizas
Greece GK Spyros Vrontaras
Greece DF Dimitris Toskas
Greece DF Savvas Toumanidis
Serbia DF Tryfon Kasmeridis
Greece DF Alexandros Zeris
Serbia DF Odusseas Lyberakis
Greece DF Theocharis Psaltis
No. Position Player
Greece MF Athanasios Tzitzifakos
Greece MF Grigoris Papadopoulos
Greece MF Vasilios Gavriilidis
Serbia MF Vaggelis Kerthi
Serbia MF Stelios Blios
Serbia MF Sven Jajcinovic
Greece MF Alexandros Tsoutsis
Serbia MF Argyris Barettas
Greece FW Georgios Gemistos
Greece FW Nikolaos Valavanopoulos
Serbia FW Iordanis Adamakis

Personnel

Pavlos Dermitzakis was appointed manager in 2018
Technical staff
President Greece Giorgos Loupelis
Curator of Football Greece Argyris Spanidis

Coaching Staff

[7]

Coaches

Ioannis Topalidis, manager (2013)
Aad de Mos, manager (2009–2010)

Record Players

Name Apps
Greece Georgios Mallios154
Greece Georgios Koltsis118
Greece Georgios Peglis112
Greece Konstantinos Vakirtzis107
Greece Anestis Athanasiadis107
Poland Leszek Pisz99
Greece Kyrillos Kallimanis90
Greece Ivan Mitev84
Greece Anastasios Tsapanidis82
Greece Panagiotis Logaras75
Name Goals
Poland Leszek Pisz26
Nigeria Benjamin Onwuachi24
Greece Nikos Soultanidis23
Greece Anestis Athanasiadis21
Greece Georgios Papandreou21
Greece Georgios Nasiopoulos19
Greece Georgios Mallios8
Poland Bartosz Tarachulski8
Ivory Coast Serge Dié7
Greece Dimitrios Orfanos7

Source:

Honors

Domestic Titles and honors

Achievements

  • Greek Cup
    • Semi-finals (3): 1964–65, 1994–95, 2009–10

League Participation

  • Superleague Greece: 1969–1975, 1976–1982, 1994–1995, 1996–2000, 2009–2011
  • Football League: 1965–1969, 1975–1976, 1982–1989, 1990–1994, 1995–1996, 2000–2001, 2002–2003, 2008–2009, 2012–2014
  • Gamma Ethniki: 1989–1990, 2001–2002, 2003–2008, 2014–present
  • Delta Ethniki: 2011–2012

League history

Sources:[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ Kavala FC uefa.com
  2. ↑ "Kavala's History". Archived from the original on 2009-05-21.
  3. ↑ "Relegation for Olympiakos Volou and Kavala" (in Greek). Contra.gr. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Olympiakos Volou and Kavala escape relegation" (in Greek). Contra.gr. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Olympiakos Volou and Kavala to Delta Ethniki" (in Greek). Contra.gr. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  6. ↑ http://www.epo.gr/News.aspx?a_id=43060&NewsType=21
  7. ↑ "Coaching".
  8. ↑ Abbink, Dinant & Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (2003-08-07). "Greece – Final Tables 1959–1999". RSSSF.
  9. ↑ Abbink, Dinant & Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (2005-05-18). "Greece – List of Second Level Final Tables". RSSSF.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.