- Apollon Smyrnis F.C.
Infobox Football club
clubname = Apollon Smyrnis
fullname = "Gymnastikos Syllogos
Apollon Smyrnis"
(Gymnastic Club
Apollon of Smyrna)
nickname = "I Ble" (the blue)
"Apollonistes" (Apollonians) "Elafra Taxiarhia" (Light Brigade)
founded = 1891
ground =Georgios Kamaras Stadium Athens ,Greece
capacity = 14.200
chairman = flagicon|Greece Aristidis Kamaras
secretary= flagicon|Greece Panagiotis Katavelos
mgrtitle = Head Coach
manager = flagicon|Greece N Karoulias
league = Fourth Division (Group 8)| season = 2006-07
position = Third Division ("South" Group), 14th
(relegated)
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=191970|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=191970|body2=191970|rightarm2=191970|shorts2=191970|socks2=191970Apollon Smyrnis, officially known as GS Apollon Smyrnis (Greek: Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Απόλλων Σμύρνης - Gymnastikos Syllogos Apollon Smyrnis), the "Gymnastic Club Apollon of Smyrna", is a Greek association football club based in the city of
Athens ,Greece .The club currently compete in the
Gamma Ethniki South,Greece 's third-tier football league.History
Apollon Smyrnis is the oldest Greek sports club, established in 1891 by a high priest called Christostomos, Emmanuel Samios and other former members of "Orfeas" who came from
Smyrna ,Asia Minor as immigrants due to theAsia Minor Disaster in 1922. The clubs first name (while the founders were still inSmyrna ) was "Orfeas Smyrnis" and it was founded in 1890. Its colors areblue andwhite because Apollon's founders wanted to honor theFlag of Greece . The club's first badge was aswastika -like cross but just afterWorld War II it was changed (due to the notorious use as a Nazi symbol) and the new badge decided to be the Greek ancient godApollo 's head in blue and white colors.The clubs first home ground was located in a place near the building of the
Greek Parliament called "Stiles Olympiou Dios" (Pillars of Olympian Zeus). Apollon stayed there for about 25 years, and after theWorld War II the clubs house was transferred in anAthens neighborhood called "Rizoupolis" and built a stadium there, which is calledGeorgios Kamaras Stadium , after a club legend called Georgios Kamaras. The club has four departments: The football department called "Apollon Smyrnis FC", a basketball club called "Apollon BC", a volleyball club and a fighting department. The most known (and probably the most successful) department is Apollon's football club. Apollon FC participated inAlpha Ethniki championship for many years, except seasons 1969/70, 1972/73, 1974/75, 1986/87. The team won the local Athens Championship 4 times: 1924, 1928, 1938, 1948 and 1958The seasons 1994/95 and 1995/96 are the most successful club's seasons: In 1994/95 Apollon qualified for the 1995-96 UEFA Cup (preliminary round) where he played against
Olimpija Ljubljana .Georgios Kamaras Stadium was not suitable for the game and Apollon played inAEK Athens home ground,Nikos Goumas Stadium . Apollon won 1-0 inAthens in front of 10.000 Apollon fans but unfortunately lost 3-1 inLjubljana (Olimpia scored 2 goals in the last 15 minutes) and Apollon was eliminated. In these matches many people noticed a young striker (he was just 21 years old) who almost ten years after this moment would become European football Champion: his name wasDemis Nikolaidis The following season (1996-1997) Apollon FC, under Giannis Pathiakakis coaching and thanks toDemis Nikolaidis 's integral scoring performances, participated after an excellent season in theGreek Cup final, but they lost 7-1 toAEK Athens . After these great seasons, Apollon's glory started to fade and as a result, in 2000/2001 season Apollon was relegated inBeta Ethniki and in 2005 relegated toGamma Ethniki (South Group).Apollon have gone since the 1930s under the nickname "The Light Brigade" (Greek: Ελαφρά Ταξιαρχία), named after the 1936 Hollywood movie release [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027438/ The Charge of the Light Brigade] , after winning the 1938 regional Athens championship.
Titles
They have won the Athens championship a few times (1924, 1938, 1948, 1958) but have yet to win a national title.
Apollon have been crowned
Beta Ethniki champions in 1970, 1973 and 1975.They currently play in the
Delta Ethniki (Greek Fourth Division D).Trivia
*Apollon have gone since the 1930s under the nickname "The Light Brigade" (Greek: Ελαφρά Ταξιαρχία), named after the 1938 Hollywood movie release [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027438/ The Charge of the Light Brigade] , after winning the 1938 regional Athens championship.
*Since 1910 the team's badge was a swastika-like cross. But after the Nazi invasion in Europe it was changed with
Apollo 's head for obvious reasons.*The last time an Apollon FC player was an active member of the
Greek national football team was onMay 8 ,1996 (Demis Nikolaidis , Greece - Georgia 2-1). Since then, no Apollon FC player is a national football team member.*
Georgios Kamaras Stadium was in bad shape during the 90's, but it was renovated in 2001 fromOlympiakos FC . Olympiakos used this stadium as home ground until Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium was constructed in 2004.*Shareholder and team president was from the early 90's until 2005 the businessman Kostas Alamanos. He helped Apollon to participate in the UEFA Cup and in the Greek Cup final and for many years, he was the beloved of Apollon fans. But after these successful seasons, Alamanos became
Persona non grata for Apollon fans mainly because he sold many of the team's best footballers (Demis Nikolaidis , Blendar Kola and Theofilos Karasavidis) and released most of the remaining team as free agents. The team was unable to recover from these losses, and in 2000 were relegated. That's why Apollon fans are calling Alamanos "The Unmentionable".Notable former players
;flagicon|Greece Greece
*Kostas Antoniou
*Christos Ardizoglou
*Kostas Chalkias
*Filipos Darlas
*Giorgos Kamaras
*Giorgos Karagounis
*Theofilos Karasavidis
*Thanasis Kolitsidakis
*Vasilis Kyriakou
*Antonis Minou
*Tasos Mitropoulos
*Demis Nikolaidis
*Sotiris Ninis
*Eleftherios Poupakis
*Giannis Dontas
*Giorgos Athanasiadis
*Mihalis Vlahos
*Theofilos Karasavidis
*Aris Karasavidis
*Kostas Batsinilas
*Dimos Kavouras
*Kostas Mavridis
*Pantelis Konstantinidis
*Takis Ikonomopoulos ;flagicon|Albania Albania
*Bledar Kola
*Arjan Bellaj ;flagicon|Argentina Argentina
*Nestor Errea ;flagicon|Bulgaria Bulgaria
*Ivan Russev ;flagicon|Cameroon Cameroon
*Nicolas Dikoume ;flagicon|Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
*Frantisek Stambacher ;flagicon|Germany Germany
*Walter Kelsch ;flagicon|the Netherlands Holland
*René van de Kerkhof ;flagicon|Iran Iran
*Alireza Mansourian ;flagicon|Poland Poland
*Józef Wandzik
*Zygmunt Kukla ;flagicon|Serbia Serbia
*Zoran Ciric ;flagicon|United States of America United States of America
*Frank Klopas External links
* [http://www.apollongs.gr/ Official Club Page]
* [http://www.apollonistis.com Apollon Smyrnis Fansite]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.