GREEK FOOTBALL Experimental Senior-High School of Patras CLASS B - PATRAS 2017 NIKIFOROS GIAKOUMELOS TERRY KARABALIS ANTONY KOSTOPOULOS GREEK SUPERLEAGUE •THE HIGHEST FOOTBALL LEAGUE IN GREECE •IT CONSISTS OF 16 TEAMS, PLAYING 2 MATCHES AGAINST EACH OTHER IN A YEAR • 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). GREEK SUPERLEAGUE •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 Thessaloniki. 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. •In 1959 the Alpha Ethniki - the precursor of the current Superleague - was set up as a national round-robin tournament. •Today the league season consists of 15 home & away matches with every of the 15 other teams.. The top 5 teams qualify for European Competitions, while the 3 bottom teams are relegated. GREEK CUP • THE CUP INVOLVES CLUBS OF ALL STANDARDS TO PLAY AGAINT EACH OTHER, AND THAT ‘S WHY THERE ARE A LOT OF SURPRISES. • FROM 1931 THAT STARTED UNTIL THE 90s, IT WAS OPTIONAL FOR A TEAM TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CUP. GREEK CUP • UNTIL 1969, WHEN PENALTIES WERE APPLIED, IN CASE OF A DRAW EITHER THERE WAS A SECOND LEG OF THE MATCH OR IT IS DECIDED WITH THE HELP OF A COIN. • IT CONSISTS OF EIGHT PHASES, SOME OF THEM ARE INCLUDED IN THE GROUP STAGE PROCEDURE. GREEK SUPERLEAGUE AND GREEK CUP WINNERS SUPERLEAGUE GREEK CUP OLYMPIAKOS 27 OLYMPIAKOS 43 PANATHINAIKOS 18 AEK 15 PANATHINAIKOS 20 PAOK 4 AEK 11 LARISA 2 ARIS 1 PAOK 2 PANIONIOS 2 LARISA 1 IRAKLIS 1 OFI 1 ARIS 1 ETHNIKOS PIREAUS 1 KASTORIA 1 Panathinaikos Panathinaikos F.C. also known simply as Panathinaikos or with its full name Panathinaikos A.O. are a Greek professional football club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos can literally be translated as "Panathenaic," which means "of all Athens." The name "Panathinaikos" was inspired by the ancient work of Isocrates, Panathenaicus, where the orator praises the Athenians for their democratic education and their military superiority, used for the benefit of all Greeks • Today a part of Panathinaikos A.O., is the oldest active football club in Greece, initially founded only to practice this sport. Created in 1908 as "Podosfairikos Omilos Athinon" by Georgios Kalafatis , they play in the Super League Greece, being one of the most successful clubs in Greek football and one of three clubs which have never been relegated from the top division. Amongst their major titles are twenty-six Greek Championships, twenty- one Greek cups, achieving eight times the Double, and five official Greek Super cups. They are also the only club that won a championship undefeated, going without a loss in a top-flight campaign ,a feat that no other club in Greece has ever been able to achieve. Panathinaikos at C.L • In the 1984–85 season, Panathinaikos, with coach Jacek Gmoch and stars Dimitris Saravakos, Velimir Zajec, Juan Ramón and Ioannis Kyrastas, made a run in Europe, eliminating Feyenoord, Linfield and IFK Göteborg to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they were knocked out by Liverpool. • In 1987-88, they made it also to the quarter-finals of the UEFA cup, eliminating Juventus, Auxerre and Budapest. Saravakos was top scorer of the competition. National team The Greek national football team represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece's home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus. Greece is one of only ten national teams to have been crowned UEFA European Champions. • At the UEFA Euro 1980 Greece made their first appearance in a major tournament and although they did not make it through the group stage, their qualification to the then eight- team tournament gave them a position in the top eight European football nations that year. Greece had to wait until 1994 to experience their first FIFA World Cup participation, but after an undefeated qualifying run they produced a poor performance in the final tournament, losing all three group matches without scoring. • The UEFA Euro 2004 marked a high point in Greece's football history when they were crowned European champions, in only their second participation in the tournament, against all the odds. The Greeks, dismissed as rank outsiders before the tournament, defeated some of the favourites in the competition including defending European champions France and hosts Portugal, with Greece beating the latter in both the opening game of the tournament and again in the final. Their triumph also gave them a qualification for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. • Since that victory Greece have qualified for the final tournaments of four out of six major competitions entered, reaching the quarter- finals at the UEFA Euro 2012 and the round of 16 at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Moreover, they occupied a place in the top 20 of the FIFA World Rankings for all but four months in the decade following the 2004 triumph, and reached an all- time high of eighth in the world from April to June 2008, as well as in October 2011. .