Ethnikos Olympiakos Volos F.C.

Olympiakos Volou

Full name	Olympiakos Volos 1937 FC
Nickname(s)	Erythrolefkoi (Red-Whites)
Founded	1937
Ground	Panthessaliko, Volos (Capacity: 22,700)
Chairman	Panagiotis Mpotsivalis
Manager	Javi Gracia
League	Delta Ethniki [1]
2010–11	(relegated due to Koriopolis)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Olympiakos Volou Football Club (Greek: Ποδοσφαιρικός Σύλλογος Ολυμπιακός Βόλου ), is a Greek football club based in the city of Volos. Founded in 1937, it currently waits for the decision of the courts for playing in Delta Ethniki.

History

In 1938 Olympiakos achieves the biggest distinction made from a provincial team at the time, succeeding to enter the final eight in Greek Football Cup.

In 1947 Olympiakos wins its first Thessalian championship. The year 1954 is very successful for the team. Furthermore Olympiakos make a great win over Doxa Dramas in an away game and Olympiakos becomes Panprovincional champion of Northern Greece and wins its ticket to the Panhellenic Championship, where they take the decent 5th place.

The 1955 year then became a notable one in the club history: while the city of Volos was damaged by some earthquakes, Olympiakos Volou had a scheduled Greek Cup match to play in Athens against AEK for the Greek Cup in Athens. Due to the city being heavily damaged and due to lack of media information, it seemed Olympiakos Volou would not have managed to get to Athens in time. However, the team ultimately managed to arrive in the Greek capital city and even eliminated AEK by beating them 0–1 and go further to the quarter-finals.

In 1960 the team reached the round of 16 in Greek Cup. In 1961 it merged with local club Ethnikos Volos, with Ethnikos-Olympiakos Volou being the new denomination, despite this the team is still commonly referred as Olympiakos Volou. In the same year Olympiakos wins the Central Greece championship and had the opportunity to win the promotion in A' Ethniki through a play-off match, whict the team lost.

In 1962–63 Olympiakos completed the B' Ethniki league in a remarkable fifth place. In the following season the team ended first, together with Trikala, but lost the promotion once again in a play-off match. This was followed by a fourth and a second place in the two next seasons, before Olympiakos finally managed to get promoted to the top flight in 1966, after winning the Panthessalian championship and then defeating Panelefsiniakos and Kavala on play-offs.

The first top flight campaign for the club was however not successful, as Olympiakos was relegated in B Ethniki. Despite this, the club promptly managed to recover from that, and get back to the top flight in the very next season after winning Veria in a two-legged play-off. The same year Olympiakos reached the Greek Cup round of 16. Another relegation followed in 1968, after the club ended the league in 16th place.

In the year 1970 Olympiakos won again B' Ethniki and returned in the A' Ethniki for the third time. In 1971–72 the club finished in 13th place its top flight campaign, a result confimed also in 1972–73 ends in the 13th place.

In the following season, the club ended in 14th place, which would normally have allowed Olympiakos Volos to stay in the first division; nevertheless the Greek federation decided to reduce the number of top flight teams, thus being relegated to the second tier. In the year 1975–76 Olympiakos ended in third place and even eighth the next season, the latter being the worst placement for the club from the creation of B' Ethniki. In 1977 the club had a much more impressive season, losing the promotion only in the final game to Larissa. Third and sixth place in the two following seasons preceded a 1980 campaign ended in a runner-up placement, only behind Iraklis Thessaloniki; a result that was confirmed the following season, where Olympiakos Volou lost promotion to Makedonikos, another Thessalonicean club.

After a fifth place in 1983–84, Olympiakos Volou were relegated in Gama Ethniki in 1984–85 after 21 years in the two Greek professional divisions club after another Volos-based team, Niki Volou, lost a game against Veria which saved the Imathian team from relegation at Olympiakos Volou place and then a big competition created between the two local teams.

The club returned to the second tier only 1986, and even returned to the top flight in 1988. In 1988–1989, the team was strengthened with the addition of Hungarian scorer Imre Boda, who won the league topscorer title, being instrumental in keeping his side into the top flight, ending season in 11th place. Olympiakos returned to the second tier only the following season, ending the 1989–90 season in 17th place. In the 1990s, the club did not achieve any notable success, being relegated once again to third division and staying there for four seasons before to return to the second tier in 1998–1999.

In 2000 Olympiakos made good appearances but due to some unlucky results at the end of the year, it only ended up in seventh place, which was followed by an eighth place the next year. At the same time the club administration began facing financial problems and started collapsing. As a result of that, the club had to start from fourth division, a first time in such a lower tier for the club in 2003. It promoted to Gamma Ethniki in 2005–2006 and Beta Etniki in 2006–2007 season.

Olympiakos finally became champion of Beta Ethniki two years later, in the 2009–2010 season, and returned to the top league after an absence of 20 years. The club had a good first season and finished 5th, qualifying for the Europa League for the first time in their history.

On July 28, 2011, Olympiacos Volou was relegated to the Football League due to the ongoing match fixing scandal in Greece.^[2] They stayed at the Superleague Greece after an appeal though, with 10 points deducted.^[3] They were also excluded from the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round.^[4] On 23 August, however, the Greek Professional Sports Committee (EEA) under the guidance of the Interior Minister of Tourism and Culture Pavlos Geroulanos stripped both Kavala and Olympiakos from their professional licence and demoted them to the amateur Delta Ethniki therefore canceling the self-administered state of football supported by FIFA.^[1]

Honours

• Beta Ethniki: 1961–62, 1966–67, 1970–71, 2009–10
• Gamma Ethniki: 1985–86, 1998–99
• Pan-provincial Championship: 1954–55

European Cup History

• Qualified for the first time in history
• Q = Qualifying
• PO = Play-Off

Season Competition Round Club Home Away 2011–12 Europa League Q2 Rad 1–1 1–0 Q3 Differdange 03 3-0 3-0 PO PSG Excluded due to match-fixing[4] Facilities From the early years until 1968 Olympiakos Volou was playing in the field of Volos shooting club, near the river of Anavros. The club tried to buy this area without success. In 1968 the club moved to EAK Volou which has a capacity of 9,000 spectators. In 2010–11 season Olympiakos Volou moved to Panthessaliko Stadium which has a capacity of 22.700 seats.[5] The club owned a training football ground in Alli Meria Volou which was confiscated by the state due to debts. Today, relieved from the past's debts and thanks to new property, constructed a new training center in Volos' suburb of Aisonia. Notable former players Imre Boda (first scorer in Greek top division with the club, Hungarian international) Vasilis Botinos (12 games with Greece) Vasilis Karaiskos Giwrgos Karamihalos Paschalis Seretis Takis Synetopoulos (17 games with Greece) Vasilis Vasilakos (4 games with Greece) References ^ a b "Olympiakos Volou and Kavala to Delta Ethniki". Contra.gr. http://www.contra.gr/Soccer/Hellas/Superleague/olympvolou/sth-d-ethnikh-olympiakos-voloy-kai-kavala.1338610.html. Retrieved August 25, 2011.  (Greek) ^ "Relegation for Olympiakos Volou and Kavala". Contra.gr. http://www.contra.gr/Soccer/Hellas/Superleague/stimena/ypovivasmos-gia-olympiako-voloy-kai-kavala.1308626.html. Retrieved August 2, 2011.  (Greek) ^ "Olympiakos Volou and Kavala escape relegation". Contra.gr. http://www.contra.gr/Soccer/Hellas/Superleague/stimena/glitwnoyn-ton-ypovivasmo-olympiakos-voloy-kai-kavala.1324803.html. Retrieved August 25, 2011.  (Greek) ^ a b "Differdange to replace Olympiacos Volou". UEFA. 11 August 2011. http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfirst/matchorganisation/disciplinary/news/newsid=1659221.html. Retrieved 15 August 2011.  ^ "Olympiakos Volou moves to Panthessaliko for the new season". Contra.gr. http://www.contra.gr/Soccer/Hellas/Superleague/article1065156.ece. Retrieved August 2, 2011.  (Greek) External links Official website (Greek) Unofficial site (Greek) Super League team profile (Greek) EPAE team profile (Greek)