Apollon Limassol

Infobox Football club
clubname = Apollon Limassol


fullname = "Απόλλων Λεμεσού"
"Apollon Limassol"
nickname = Θεός (GOD), Θρύλος (legend)
founded = 1954
ground = Tsirion,
Limassol, Cyprus
capacity = 14,400
chairman = flagicon|Cyprus Frixos Savvides
manager = flagicon|Germany Thomas von Heesen
league = Cypriot First Division
season = 2007-08
position = 5^th
pattern_la1=_blueshoulders|pattern_b1=_blueshoulders|pattern_ra1=_blueshoulders
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b2=_whiteshoulders|pattern_ra2=_whiteshoulders
leftarm2=333399|body2=333399|rightarm2=333399|shorts2=333399|socks2=333399

Apollon Limassol ( _el. Απόλλων Λεμεσού) is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams.

History

Football Team

Apollon F.C. was founded in Limassol on April 14th, 1954. The Club was accepted into the second division on October 16th, 1955 after its membership application had been approved by the Cyprus Football Association (C.F.A).

In its first year Apollon suffered 8 defeats in 8 matches the second division. Just before the next season (1956-57) a crisis erupted in AEL, a first division team based in Limassol, and as a result, most of the players left AEL and joined Apollon. After this, Apollon won the regional group in the second division and subsequently the play-offs to then be promoted to the first division. This took place in 1957 and ever since Apollon has been competing in the first division. Things were not easy however for the newly promoted club. Apollon couldn't reach a satisfactory position in the rankings and was struggling in the middle of the table for many years. But in the mid-60's things changed.

In 1965 Apollon reached the Cup Final. A year later, Apollon was in the Final again, won the Cup, and triumphantly took the trophy back to Limassol. Apollon managed to maintain its Cup title in 1967. After celebrating these titles, Apollon had to wait another 15 years to start making history once again. In 1982 Apollon reached the Cup Final once again, and that marked the beginning of a new era. In the last 15 years Apollon won the league title three times (1991, 1994, 2006), and was the runner-up four times (1984, 1989, 1993, 1996). Since then Apollon won the Cup another 5 times (1966, 1967, 1986, 1992, 2001), and was the Cup finalist four times (1987, 1993, 1995, 1998).

Last season, 2005-06 Apollon won the league title undefeated and earned a club record of 64 points. Apollon had 19 wins and 7 draws in 26 matches and this went down in Cypriot Football history due to fact that it was the fourth team in the Cyprus Championship that won the title unbeaten. *

* Apollon was the only undefeated team in Europe, running an unbeaten streak since March 12th, 2005 (30 games).

Volleyball team

Founded member of Cyprus Volleyball Federation, the women's team participated in three Championship finals (1999, 2001, 2003) and in five Cup finals (1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003) but lost all of them by AEL Limassol. In 2003, the team lost both Championship and Cup finals by AEL again, however since AEL won the double, they participated in the Super Cup and on September 23, 2003 they won their first trophy, the Super Cup in their own Stadium by beating AEL Limassol 3-0.

upporters

Apollon is among the most popular football teams in Cyprus. The fans are quite demanding and loyal to the Club and Apollon F.C. is included in the first top-ticket-selling teams of the league. More than 10.000 Apollon fans traveled from Limassol for the 2001 Cup Final that took place in Nicosia (more than 10.000 tickets were sold). This number also beat the previous top record for a team traveling for an away game to Nicosia.Celebrations for winning the League championship for the 1993/94 season following the victory against Omonoia F.C. More than 15.000 fans overflowed the Stadium to see Apollon clinch the title in the final game of the season.Celebrations following the victory against Omonoia F.C. at the 1992 FA Cup Final in Tsirio stadium. More than 20.000 fans attended the game.

Stadium

Football

The team's current stadium is the 14,400 seater, Tsirion Stadium, also known as the Olympia Stadium (G.S.O). Tsirion Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Limassol, Cyprus. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Apollon Limassol, AEL Limassol and Aris Limassol. The stadium was built in 1975 with the help of the generous contributor and great philanthropist, Mr. Petros Tsiros, thus the name of the stadium. Apollon Limassol currently uses the West Stand of the stadium but most of the times is overcrowded therefore also use the East Stand of the stadium.

Basketball

Apollon has its own Indoor Hall, the Apollon Stadium, with capacity of 2,600 and as it was said it hosted the Southern European Regional Challenge Cup Final Four. In the Cup Final, AEL Limassol beat KK Igokea 82-92 and became the first Cypriot team to win a European Trophy.It is home of Apollon's basketball and volleyball team.

Trophies

Football

*sport honours|Cypriot Championship|3|1991, 1994, 2006
*sport honours|Cypriot Cup|5|1966, 1967, 1986, 1992, 2001
*sport honours|LTV Super Cup|1|2006

Basketball

*sport honours|Cypriot Basketball Cup|1|2002
*sport honours|Cypriot Supercup|1|2004

Volleyball (women)

*sport honours|Cypriot Super Cup|1|2003

Current squad

Transfers 2008/09

InOut

Club officials

Board of Directors

*Chairman and Press Representative: Frixos Savvides
*Honorary Chairman: Phivos Vakis
*Vice president - Head of Football Team and Planning Department: Nicos Kirzis
*Vice President - Head of Financial Department: Kyriakos Panagides
*Vice President - Head of New Stadium Committee: Theodoros Antoniou
*Marketing Department and Public Relations: Charis Kimonos
*Marketing Department and Public Relations: Giorgos Pitsillides
*Administration of Personnel Department: Kostas Polidorides
*Responsible for projects: Charalambos Antoniou
*Responsible of Medical Team: Yiannos Ioannou
*Legal Advisor: Yiannis Christodoulou
*Legal Advisor and assistant to the Press Representative: Pavlos Aristodimou

Coaching Staff

* Technical Manager: Christakis Christoforou
* Manager: Thomas von Heesen flagicon|Germany
* Assistant Manager: Giorgos Iosifides flagicon|Cyprus
* Goalkeeping Coach: Giorgos Nicolaou flagicon|Cyprus
* Fitness Coach: Andreas Nicolaou flagicon|Cyprus
* Assistant Fitness Coach: Constantinos Papaconstantinou flagicon|Cyprus
* Team Supervisor: Christos Iosifides flagicon|Cyprus
* Team Supervisor: Sokratis Sokratous flagicon|Cyprus
* Safety and Athletic Equipment Officer: Kyriakos Vassiliou flagicon|Cyprus

Medical Staff

* Club Doctor: Dr. Yiannos Ioannou flagicon|Cyprus
* Assistant Club Doctor: Dr. Savvas Chronis flagicon|Greece
* Orthopedist: Dr. Stephen Iosifides flagicon|Cyprus
* First Team Physiotherapist: Panayiotis Georgiades flagicon|Cyprus
* Assistant First Team Physiotherapist: Tomas Toward flagicon|England

ponsorship

*Official Shirt Sponsor - Columbia Ship Management Ltd
*Official Sport Clothing Manufacturer - Lotto
*Official Athletism Sponsor - Libra Holidays Group
*Official Stadium Sponsor - Sisamos Group of Companies
*Official Communication Sponsor - MiVision
*Official Sport Drink - Gatorade

Other Sponsors

*Mitsubishi Motors
*Singular Logic
*Marfin Laiki
*Filuet Group
*Splash Water
*CYTA
*Photo Stern
*Krystalo 3D Creations

*NTV
*Pizza Express
*Blue Oven
*cyprint
*Proton
*COMPASS DEVELOPERS
*TOYOTIRES

Notable Former Managers

*flagicon|Netherlands Gerard van der Lem
*flagicon|Poland Jerzy Engel
*flagicon|Romania Ilie Dumitrescu
*flagicon|Finland Martti Kuusela
*flagicon|Macedonia Toni Savevski
*flagicon|Germany Bernd Stange
*flagicon|Montenegro Momčilo Vukotić
*flagicon|Republic of Ireland Ronnie Whelan
*flagicon|Bosnia and Herzegovina Nenad Starovlah
*flagicon|Israel Yossi Mizrahi

Former Players

External links

* [http://www.apollon.com.cy Official Website]
* [http://www.apollonas.net/ apollon limassol Forum]
* [http://www.apollong1.com. Official Fans Website]
* [http://www.fygas.org/ APOLLON FYGAS KAI FTIAGMENOS WEBSITE]