Messiniakos

Messiniakos

Full name	Messiniakos Football Club
Founded	1888
Ground	Messiniakos Stadium Kalamata
Chairman	Stavros Papadopoulos
Manager	unknown
League	Gamma Ethniki (South Group)
2006-07	Beta Ethniki, 17th

Founded in 1888, Messiniakos Gymnastic Club (Greek: Μεσσηνιακός Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος) is the oldest athletic club in Greece. Messiniakos' traditional colours are green and white.

Messiniakos has made a name of itself in many sports (football, volleyball, athletics, weight-lifting etc.) and has produced very good athletes, such as OFI's Brazilian footballer Davidson and Louis Tsatoumas in track and field, who is one of the biggest hopes for Greek athletics. The club used to be home to the Papaflessia international athletics meeting. The volleyball team had excellent appearances in the First Division, but is not participating at the current time.

The football team participated in the Second Division in the 2006-07 season. Its president is international businessman Stavros Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos is the former owner of Kalamata and Apollon Kalamaria. He bought both those teams when they were in the Third Division and Second Division, respectively, and invested substantial money into those teams and eventually took both those teams up to the first division.

Papadopoulos has shown he has the same plan for Messiniakos. He bought the team a few years back when it was just a local team, not even in Fourth Division. He has invested money into the team and brought in talented young players. During this time the team has achieved promotion from a non-league team all the way up to the second division, but has been relegated to the Third Division for the upcoming season after finishing in second last place in 2007.