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Full title: ΠΑΕ Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως
Year of foundation: 1924
Country and city: Greece, Athens
Stadium: Spyros Louis
Colors: yellow-black
Nickname: double headed eagles
Website: aekfc.gr
Greek football is mainly known for its hot derby between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, two of the country's most famous teams. But every year one very interesting team breathes down their backs. We are talking about the AEK football club from the glorious city of Athens.
Stone Forest tells you the fascinating story of a yellow-black team that is sure to take leading roles in their country in the near future.
Athens city
Athens is the capital of Greece. They are located in the historical region of the country, in Attica (southeastern region of Central Greece). The city is the main economic, cultural and administrative center of Hellas.
Why Athens? This name was received in honor of the goddess of war and wisdom, Athena. The names of many important philosophers in Greek history are associated with the city - Socrates, Plato, Aristotle - they all laid the foundations of European philosophy, and Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were at the origins of drama.
The population of Athens is 3,753,783, which is more than a third of the population of the entire country.
The main attractions of the city are the unique monuments of national fine art. The Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeological Museum have a good representation of sculpture, especially from the Archaic period. The main monuments of medieval icon painting and artistic crafts are collected in the Byzantine Museum, which is a tasty morsel for every tourist.
Sports, of course, are very valuable in the country. It is not for nothing that the 1986 and 2004 Olympics were held in Athens. Despite the heavy expenditures in terms of preparations in 2004, the city was quickly transformed into one of the most modern cities in the world. In terms of attendance, the 2004 Olympics took second place in the entire history of the modern Olympic Games, second only to Sydney (3.5 million spectators in Athens versus 5 million in Sydney).
The main sport in the country is football, but basketball is close behind. The popularity of basketball in the country began to grow after 1968, when the local club AEK won the Cup Winners' Cup. And when the Greek basketball team won the European Championship in 1987 and 2005, people simply became infected with the love of this ball game.
Club stadium
The Double Eagles play their home matches at the Olympic Stadium (Spyros Louis). The arena was opened in 1982, but in the period from 2002 to 2004 it was reconstructed in connection with the Summer Olympic Games. The stadium seats 69,618 spectators, and, of course, it is always packed to capacity, especially when the country's main team plays there.
Among the significant events associated with this arena, we note the closing ceremony of the 2004 Olympics and the Champions League final between Milan and Liverpool, which took place in 2007.
History of FC AEK
In 1924, a group of Greek refugees from Constantinople decided to meet at a local sports store in the heart of Athens and found the AEK club, the full name of the Athletic Union of Constantinople.
The club was created with the aim of providing sports and cultural development to refugees who were settled in the new suburbs of Athens. In the first game, the new team defeated the local Ajax. Don’t be surprised, then Greece had its own Ajax.
The first president of the “yellow-blacks” was Konstantinos Spanoudis. This is how a local journalist and friend of the Prime Minister of Greece rose to the level of club president. It was he who asked the government to give the team land to build its own stadium. And in 1930, the Nikos Goumas stadium became the team’s home arena. That same year, AEK played its first match in the new arena, drawing with Olympiacos itself.
In 1931, the club was already content with its first trophy - it was the Greek Cup, in the final of which the Aris club was defeated with a score of 5:3. The main stars of this “AEK” were Kostas Negrepontis, Kleanthis Maropoulos, Tryphon Dzanetis and Spyros Sklavounos. Despite the club's dominance in the early 1930s, titles did not come to the team until 1939. The first double in the history of the club was made (winning the national championship and cup).
In the 60s, the main striking force of the club was striker Kostas Nestoridis, who became the top scorer in Greece 5 times in a row. Largely thanks to him, AEK again won the Greek Cup in 1964 and 1966. And in 1968, taking into account the victory in the championship, it became the first Greek club to reach the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup.
With the arrival of Lucas Barlos as president (in 1974), changes awaited the club. The team, at the invitation of Barlos, was led by Czech-Dutch specialist Frantisek Fardhonka. He managed to assemble the best lineup in the history of AEKA. The backbone of his team consisted of the best Greek football players at that time.
In 1976, the Double Eagles, led by Mimis Papaioannou, managed to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, becoming the first club in Greek history to do so. In the semi-finals there was a disappointing defeat from Juventus, which ended up winning the cup.
In 1978, AEK did a double, winning the championship and the Greek Cup. In the same year, construction of the Nikos Goumas stadium was completed. A covered stand was added to it, which later became the main one for the club's fans, known as the Original 21.
In the early 90s, the “yellow-blacks” were the main dominant force in the country. After all, they won three Greek championships in a row (1992, 1993, 1994). In the 1989-1990 season the Greek Cup was won, and in 1991 the Mediterranean Games Cup was added to the team's trophy collection.
And in 1994, AEK became the first Greek club to start in the group round of the updated Champions League. Having knocked out the Scottish club Rangers in the playoffs, the Greeks ended up in Group D, where Ajax and. Having lost 4 matches and drawn 2, AEK took last place in the group and said goodbye to the Champions League.
When the Yugoslav Dusan Bajevic first came to the club (there were two more after that), the team won two Greek Cups and one national Super Cup. In the second parish, two more national cups were won. And having worked for the club for a long time, Dusan left the post of head coach in 2010.
On October 7 of the same year, Manolo Jimenez, who was well known from his work in Spain, took over the leadership of AEK. He managed to win the Greek Cup with the team in his first season.
In 2012, an unpleasant incident occurred with the club. Due to the economic crisis, the “Yellow-Blacks” were relegated from the Greek Super League for the first time in history, and then ended up in the third division altogether, as they were unable to enter the second division due to financial problems. The situation is very reminiscent of the story of the Torpedo football club from Moscow.
AEK is now back playing in the Greek Super League, which it returned to in 2015. The club also continues to regularly participate in European cups. The team is led by the same Manolo Jimenez (who returned to the club after wandering). Among the more or less famous players of the club, we can note forward Marko Livaja, known for his performances for Rubin, and Ognjen Vranjes, who also played in Russia at one time. And of course, it is worth noting Dmitry Chigrinsky, who almost gained a foothold in Barcelona itself.
Russian trace
The Greek club has a wealth of experience playing against our teams. AEK flew to Moscow 9 times for matches against Russian clubs. The first time was back in 1976, in the UEFA Cup, the Greeks defeated Dynamo Moscow. In the early 1990s, Spartak Moscow became a victim of the “yellow-blacks”.
In recent history, the “double-headed eagles” played against “Lokomotiv” in 1998 and 2011; in 2004, 2005, 2010, “AEKA” crossed paths with St. Petersburg “Zenith”, and in the summer of this year the Moscow “army team” almost fell under the strong Greek guys. Almost all the leading clubs in Russia felt the power of the Greek club from the capital of Greece.
The most famous players of FC AEK
- Traianos Dellas
- Eidur Gudjohnsen
- Ognjen Vranjes
- Uh-huh Almeida
- Dmitry Chigrinsky
AEK club trophies
- Greek Champions – 1939, 1940, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1978, 1979, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994
- Greek Cup winners – 1932, 1939, 1949, 1950, 1956, 1964, 1966, 1978, 1983, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2011, 2016
- Greek League Cup Winners – 1990
- Greek Super Cup Winners – 1989, 1996