Pierikos F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Pierikos


fullname = "SFK (Syndesmos
Filathlon Katerinis) Pierikos"
nickname = "Melanolefkoi
(meaning Black and Whites)"
founded = 1961
ground = Municipal Stadium of Katerini
Katerini, Greece
capacity = 6200(all seated)
chairman = flagicon|Greece Ioannis Dumos
manager = flagicon|Greece Soulis Papadopoulos
league = Second Division
"Β΄ Εθνική"
season = 2006-07
position = 1st (Third Division) (promoted)
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=000000|body2=000000|rightarm2=000000|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000

Pierikos is a football club based in Katerini, Greece.

History of the club

The foundation

The club was founded on the 11th of April, 1961 from the merger between Megas Alexandros (meaning Alexander the Great) Katerinis and Olympos Katerinis. Megas Alexandros had played in the 1st Division of Greek football in its first season (1959-60) but finished in the 15th position and thus relegated in the 2nd Division.Neither Megas Alexandros nor Olympos gained promotion in the following season. Unification of the two clubs has seen as the only way for the city of Katerini to have a team in the 1st Division. Therefore Pierikos was born.

The 1960s (The Golden Era)

*In its first season (1961-62) Pierikos took the place of Megas Alexandros in the 2nd Division.It played in the Group of Western and Central Macedonia and finished 1st. Therefore it was able to play in the 2nd Division play-offs. In the final Pierikos won 2-0 in a match against Olympiakos Kozanis and gained promotion to the 1st Division.In this season Pierikos scored 108 goals and conceded 28.
*In its first season (1962-63)in the 1st division Pierikos finished in the 9th position scoring 36 goals and conceding 37. His biggest win was a 4-0 against Aris Salonica FC. Pierikos also Played in the Greek Cup final this season.The club suffered a 3-0 defeat by Olympiacos CFP.
*In the 1963-64 season Pierikos finished in the 7th position. Its biggest wins were, a 5-1 against Doxa Dramas and a 4-0 against Ethnikos Piraeus.The club scored 34 and conceded 42 goals.Pierikos also played in the Greek Cup Semi-Final this seasonwhere was suffered a 3-1 defeat by AEK Athens FC. This was as Final because the otherSemi-Final between Olympiacos CFP and Panathinaikos FC never ended and therefore
AEK Athens FC was awarded the Greek Cup by E.P.O.
*The 1964-65 season is, probably, the best season in the History of Pierikos. Pierikos finished in the 5th position scoring 39 and conceding 39. Its biggest win was a 4-0 against Niki Volou.
*In the 1965-66 season Pierikos finished in the 8th position. Its biggest win was a 5-1 against AO Trikala. The club scored 40 and conceded 40 goals.
*In the 1966-67 season Pierikos finished in the 14th position. Its biggest win was a 4-1 against Vyzas Megaron. The club scored 36 and conceded 51 goals.
*In the 1967-68 season Pierikos finished in the 5th position. Its biggest win was a 9-1 against Olympiakos Nicosia.This is the biggest victory of the club, in the 1st Division, ever. The club scored 42 and conceded 46 goals.
*In the 1968-69 season Pierikos finished in the 9th position. Its biggest win was a 5-1 against Apollon Smyrnis(Athinas). The club scored 31 and conceded 37 goals.

The 1970s

*In the 1969-70 season Pierikos finished in the 7th position. Its biggest win was a 3-0 against Olympiakos Nicosia. The club scored 45 and conceded 44 goals.
*In the 1970-71 season Pierikos finished in the 12th position. The club didn't manage to win any single game by more than one goal. The club scored 31 and conceded 43 goals.The club started showing signs of fatigue.
*And these signs became totally clear in the 1971-72 season. Pierikos finished in the 16th position(out of 18 clubs) and thus relegated from the 1st Division. Its biggest wins were a 3-0 against Olympiakos Nicosia, a 3-0 against Panionios and a 3-0 against Olympiakos Volou. The club scored 26 and conceded 48 goals.
*In the 1972-73 season Pierikos participated in the Northern Group of the 2nd Division (the 2nd division was then divided into 3 groups). The club finished in the 4th position of the group managing to score 49 goals and conceding 32.
*In the 1973-74 season Pierikos participated in the Northern Group of the 2nd Division again. The club finished in the 2th position of the group. Its biggest win was a 6-0 versus Doxa Dramas.
*In the 1974-75 season Pierikos participated in the 2nd division and gained promotion to the 1st Division.
*In the 1975-76 season Pierikos participated in the 1st Division. The club finished in the 11th position. It scored 26 and conceded 38 goals.Its biggest wins were a 3-0 against PAS Giannina and a 4-1 against Iraklis Thessalonikis.
*In the 1976-77 season Pierikos finished in the 12th position. Its biggest wins were a 4-1 against Aris Thessalonikis, a 4-1 against Panserraikos and a 5-2 against Apollon Smyrnis(Athinas).
*In the 1977-78 season Pierikos finished in the 17th position and relegated from the 1st Division. Its biggest wins were a 4-0 against Panachaiki GE and a 4-0 against AO Egaleo. In this season Pierikos scored 46 goals and conceded 56. The club had the 4th best offense in the division but also the worst defense by far.
*The 1978-79 season is a black page in the history of the club. Pierikos plays in the Northern Group of the 2nd Division (the 2nd Division was then divided in two groups, each one having 20 clubs). The club finished in the 1st position scoring an amazing 93 goals in 38 games and conceding only 24 goals. In that season Pierikos also scored a fantastic 10-1 victory against Makedonikos Thessalonikis.But in the end of the season Pierikos was accused of bribing players of Niki Volou in a 3-0 away victory. After these claims the club was relegated to the National Amateur Division (3rd Division) instead of getting promotion to the 1st Division.

The 1980s

* In the 1979-80 season Pierikos played in Group D of the National Amateur Division (3rd Division). The club finished in the 1st position of Group D and gained promotion to the 2nd Division. In that season Pierikos won 12-0 in a home game against AO Artaki, which is the biggest league victory of the club ever. In the Greek Cup scores an amazing 16-0 against minnows Arahos. This is the biggest victory of the club ever.
* In the 1980-81 season Pierikos played in the Northern Goup of the 2nd Division. Unfortunately for Pierikos, Iraklis Thessalonikis played in the same group. Iraklis is one of the biggest clubs in Greece, and that was the only season that Iraklis didn't play in the 1st Division. Iraklis was relegated because of accusations of bribing. Pierikos finally finished in the 2nd position with 58 points. In that season Pierikos scored 50 and conceded 34 goals. Its biggest win was a 4-0 against Agrotikos Asteras.
* In the 1981-82 season played in the 2nd Division.
* In the 1982-83 season Pierikos played in the 2nd Division. The club finished in the 5th position scoring 52 goals and conceding 42.
* In the 1983-84 season Pierikos played in the 2nd Division. Pierikos finished in the 2nd position and got promoted to the 1st Division. The club collected 49 points out of 38 games by winning 22 of its 38 games, drawing 5 and losing 11. It collected the same points with Panachaiki GE but Panachaiki won the title on aggregate. The club scored 71 goals and conceded 45.
* In the 1984-85 season Pierikos plays in the 1st Division. The never managed to play near an acceptable level through the whole season. It only managed to win 3 games in 30 games and finally it finished in the 16th (and last) position and got relegated It scored 29 and conceded 77 goals.
* In the rest of the decade the club managed nothing more than midde-table mediocrity in the 2nd Division. In some seasons the club managed to avoid relegation in the last match.

The 1990s

*In the 1989-90 season Pierikos had another mediocre season in the 2nd Division.
*But in the 1990-91 season the club finished in the 3rd position of the 2nd Division and won promotion to the 1st Division. The club grabbed the 3rd position on the last mathcday of the championship, after a 3-0 home win against Proodeftiki. In that season Pierikos scored 52 and conceded 31 goals. The club managed to win 15 of its games drawn 10 and lost 10. The season-high win was a 8-0 home win against AO Kavalas.
*In the 1991-92 season the club finished in the 11th position in the 1st Division. The club scored 41 and conceded 56, while collecting 30 points out of 34 games.
*In the 1991-92 season the club finished in the 16th position in the 1st Division and thus "'relegated". Pierikos won its last game by a 3-2 scoreline against AO Skoda Xanthi. Edessaikos, another relegation candidate club, also won its last match against AS PAOK Salonica in the home of PAOK. It was PAOK's first home defeat of the season.
*In the rest of the 1990s Pierikos experienced, midde-table mediocrity in the 2nd Division and even managed to get relegated to the 3rd Division by the end of the decade.

Modern History

*In the 2001-02 season Pierikos was relegated from the 3rd division for the first time in the history of the club.
*The next three seasons Pierikos played in the Regional Championship (4th Division - 10 Groups) and struggled to get promotion to the 3rd Division. The club finally made it in the 2004-05 season when it finished 1st in the 3rd Group (football clubs from Florina, Grevena, Imathia, Kozani, Kastoria and Pieria) of the Regional Championship and won promotion to the 3rd Division.
*In the 2005-06 season Pierikos played in the Northern Group of the 3rd Division. The club finished in the 4th position of the group.
*In the 2006-07 season Pierikos played in the Northern Group of the 3rd Division. The club finished in the 1st position of the group and after collecting 75 points out of 32 games. The club got promoted to the 2nd division. The biggest win of the season was a 4-0 encounter against title contenders Lamia AS. The club scored 64 goals and conceded 23.

2007-2008 season

*Pierikos started in fascinating manner in the 2007-2008 season. In the first matcday Pierikos won Kastoria by 3-0 (Pierikos' biggest win in the season) at home. In the second matchday Pierikos played again at home and won 2-1 versus PAS Giannina. After that Pierikos' manager Giorgos Vazakas resigned and the team was unable to find its starting form under guidance of German manager Thomas Kost.
*In a game against ASK Olympiakos Volos the match referee showed 9 yellow cards, 2 red cards to the players of Pierikos plus a dubious penalty for ASK Olympiakos Volos (saved by the goalkeeper of Pierikos). Besides the team playing with 9 players, almost all of them having yellow cards, Pierikos was able to hold the match in a 0-0 score until the 68th minute. Then the referee Sidiropoulos gave a dubious foul, just outside the Pierikos area which ended up in the net making the score 1-0. After the 80th minute 3 players of Pierikos got out of the game for getting injured (Serginho 82', Garozis 84', Kalambakas 89') and thus Pierikos had just 3 players on field. The final whistle had gone in the 89th minute of the game. In the end 48 fouls where given against Pierikos, while only 8 against ASK Olympiakos Volos
*A disciplinary committee decided that the game should be recorded as a 3-0 win by ASK Olympiakos Volos, plus Pierikos should have 3 points deducted. Their decision was based on the assumption that the Pierikos' players was making up their injuries in their game against ASK Olympiakos Volos.
*Pierikos struggled until the end of the season to avid relegation to the 3rd Division, and finally managed it after an away win against Ionikos in the last matcday by 1-0.
*The team finally ended the league in the 13th position (out of 18 teams) gathering 42 points. The team scored 28 goals (the leagues 3rd worst scoring record) and conceded 31 This was the 3rd best defence after the league champions Panserraikos(conceded 19 goals) and the league runner-up Thrasyvoulos (conceded 27).

Notable players (International Caps/International Goals)

*flagicon|Greece Yiannis Christoforidis (2/0)
*flagicon|Greece Nikos Pantazis (1/0)
*flagicon|Greece Dinos Kampas (3/0)
*flagicon|Greece Nikos Kalampakas (3/0)
*flagicon|Greece Lakis Papaioannou (38/2)
*flagicon|Greece Yiorgos Kostikos (35/3)
*flagicon|Greece Asteris Giotsas (3/0)
*flagicon|Greece Kostas Konstantinidis (38/1)
*flagicon|Greece Thomas Kyparissis (14/2)
*flagicon|Slovenia Janez Pate (6/3)
*flagicon|Greece Yiorgos Chatzizisis (2/0)

Current squad 2007/08

External links

* [http://www.pierikos.gr Official Website]
* [http://www.epo.gr Greek Football Assosiation]

References