Larissa F.C.

Infobox Football club
clubname = Larissa F.C.
nickname = "Vyssini" (Maroons)


fullname = "PAE Athlitiki Enosi Larissas 1964"
(Athletic Union of Larissa 1964 FC)
founded = 1964
ground = Alkazar Stadium,
Larissa, Greece
capacity = 13,108
chairman = flagicon|Greece Konstantinos Piladakis
manager = flagicon|Greece Marinos Ouzounidis [ [http://www.sportingreece.com/kb/article.asp?fIndex=1703 Ouzounidis named as new Larissa boss] ]
league = Super League Greece
"(Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα)"
season = 2007-08
position = Super League Greece, 6th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=800000|body1=800000|rightarm1=800000|shorts1=800000|socks1=800000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2= _basketballblankborder|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=800000|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=000000

AEL 1964 (Greek: Αθλητική Ένωση Λάρισας 1964 - Athlitiki Enosi Larissas 1964), the "Athletic Union of Larissa 1964", is a Greek association football club based in the city of Larissa, capital of Greece's Thessaly region. The club is also known, unofficially, as Larissa.

The team currently competes in the Super League Greece.

History

The club was founded as "Athlitiki Enosi Larissas" in 1964, the result of a merger of four local clubs - Iraklis Larissas, Aris Larissas, Toxotis Larissas and Larissaikos. It quickly rose to the first division. However, after winning the 1988 championship, the club fell into decline and by 2000 it had been relegated to the third division, going through bankruptcy. In 2003, the club was forced to change its name to AEL 1964 as a result of the bankruptcy.

However, the 2004-2005 season proved to be very fruitful for the club, winning the second division (achieving double promotion) and advancing to the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup. AEL has had a couple of good seasons in the First Division ever since. They have been particularly successful in the Greek Cup, even advancing to the final for the first time in 23 years.

Titles: 1 Championship and 2 Cups

AEL 1964 is the only countryside based team (i.e., outside of the Athens and Thessaloniki metropolitan areas) to win the Greek Alpha Ethniki (now Super League Greece) Championship in 1988. The club also won the Greek football Cup twice, in 1985 by beating PAOK FC in the final (4-1) and in 2007 by beating Panathinaikos 2-1. Before that, AEL 1964 failed to win the Greek Cup twice, going down in the finals of 1982 and 1984 against Panathinaikos.

= 2007 Greek Cup winners =

AEL lifted the 2007 cup for their second time in their history after beating favourites Panathinaikos by a one goal margin [ [http://www.scorespro.com/lives2/goals.php?f=194654 Panathinaikos - Larisa : 1-2] Match report from Scorespro.com] . Two goals gave underdog AEL the Cup by stunning their opposition who were in the midst of a disappointing season both nationally and in Europe. The first goal came early in the match as at the third minute AEL won a free kick which was taken by Georgios Fotakis and headed in by striker Jozef Kozlej. Just before the end of the first half Panathinaikos won a penalty and Dimitris Papadopoulos stepped up to make the score even on the 44th minute. As the match was approaching its end Henri Antchouet scored with a strong shoot after an excellent long pass from Georgios Fotakis to give AEL the lead. AEL then kept the lead, sealing a glorious day for the unlikely winners. The 10,000 AEL fans deliriously celebrated the goal as the opposing fans felt the disappointment of having to end the season trophyless despite high expectations.

Stadium

AEL currently plays at the Alkazar stadium, AEL's home since 1964. However plans have been approved to build a new ground on the same site. The new AEL Arena will increase the capacity for AEL fans from 13,108 spectators to 21,000 and it will probably be completed in early 2009.

Current squad

"As of October 4 2008"* for recent changes please see Larissa F.C. squad changes

Youth team

Coaching and medical staff

*Manager: flagicon|Greece Marinos Ouzounidis
*Assistant Manager: flagicon|Greece Georgios Karagiannis
*Fitness Coach: flagicon|Greece Christos Mourikis
*Goalkeeping Coach: flagicon|Greece Christos Michail
*Chief Scout: flagicon|Greece Nikolaos Kotsovos
*"'Youth Team Manager:
*Youth Team Coach: flagicon|Greece Konstantinos Katsaras
*Youth Team Fitness Coach: flagicon|Greece Christos Kapelianis

Notable former players

;flagicon|Greece Greece
*Giorgos Agorogiannis
*Alexandros Alexandris
*Efstathios Chaitas
*Ioannis Galitsios
*Theofanis Gekas
*Michail Ziogas
*Vassilios Karapialis
*Konstantinos Kolomitrousis
*Dimitrios Koukoulitsios
*Thomas Kyparissis
*Konstantinos Maloumidis
*Christos Michail
*Lefteris Milos
*Georgios Mitsibonas
*Dimitrios Mousiaris
*Theologis Papadopoulos
*Takis Parafestas
*Nikolaos Patsiavouras
*Georgios Plitsis
*Dimitris Salpigidis
*Athanasios Tsiolis
*Ioannis Valaoras
*Theodoros Voutiritsas;flagicon|Brazil Brazil
*Cleyton
*Paolo Da Silva

;flagicon|Cameroon Cameroon
*David Embe

;flagicon|Côte d'Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire
*Ibrahima Bakayoko

;flagicon|Cyprus Cyprus
*Nektarios Alexandrou
*Efstathios Aloneftis

;flagicon|France France
*Christian Bassila

;flagicon|Gabon Gabon
*Henry Antchouet

;flagicon|Germany Germany
*Marco Foerster

;flagicon|Poland Poland
*Krzysztof Adamczyk
*Jan Karaś
*Kazimierz Kmiecik
*Janusz Kupcewicz

;flagicon|Portugal Portugal
*Hélder Cristóvão

;flagicon|Romania Romania
*Dennis Şerban
*Ştefan Stoica

;flagicon|Slovakia Slovakia
*Jozef Kožlej

;flagicon|Turkey Turkey
*Tümer Metin

Notable European campaigns

ponsors

The main sponsor of Larissa F.C. is On Telecoms, a triple play (telephone, internet and television) telecommunications provider.

References

External links

Official Sites
* [http://www.ael.gr Official site]
* [http://www.goal4replay.net/VideoSelection.asp?Ln=En&ID=156 Larissa TV channel from Goal4Replay.net] en icon gr icon

Fans
* [http://www.monsters-larissa.gr monsters larissa supporters]
* [http://www.larissafc.com larissafc-com]
* [http://www.ael-fans.com ael-fans]
* [http://www.marcelo-sarmiento.com Marcelo Sarmiento's site]