Attilio Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 Club History The five-man Andrianopoulos brothers founded Olympiacos CFP in 1925, composing the forward line which would dominate the fledgling Greek championship in the 1930s. All would move into local and national politics, their influence helping promote the club and organize the funding and construction of their home stadium Karaiskaki in the 1950s, another period of lengthy domestic success for the red-and-whites. A relatively lean period in the 1960s was reversed by ambitious club president Nikos Goulandris, who bought star names to knock Panathinaikos FC off their perch in 1973, the first of three straight titles. A financial scandal in the early 1980s - at a time of four straight title wins - knocked the club back, and allowed a motivated AEK Athens FC side under talismanic Bosnian Serb coach Dusan Bajevic to rule the roost. In 1992, mobile-phone millionaire and owner of the Olympiacos basketball team, Socrates Kokkalis bought the football club and cleared all its debts. In 1996, Kokkalis pulled the surprise coup of buying Bajevic from AEK; with fellow Serbians Ilija Ivic and Sinisa Gogic up front, Olympiacos strode to the title by 12 clear points over AEK in Bajevic's first season in charge. With Grigoris Georgatos and another Serbian, playmaker Predrag Djordjevic, coming to the fore, Olympiacos took another title in 1997/98, and equipped themselves well in the UEFA Champions League the following season. Winning a tricky group over Ajax FC, Porto FC and NK Croatia (now Dinamo) Zagreb, Olympiacos lost to a late Antonio Conte goal for Juventus FC in the quarter-finals. Although dominant at home, failure to match this progress the following season - and integrate expensive foreign stars Giovanni of Brazil and Slovenia's Zlatko Zahovic - saw Kokkalis and Bajevic fall out in late 1999. Meanwhile, Karaiskaki was proving a little shabby for prestigious European fixtures, and the club were looking to move to a new stadium, a 40,000 all-seater stadium in nearby Rendis. The Olympic Stadium began to play host to Olympiacos, and their gradual march to an unbroken run of seven league titles. For 2002/03 and 2003/04, with the Olympic stadium under reconstruction and Rendis still under negotiation, Olympiacos play at Rizopoulis, home of modest Apollon Athens FC. On the pitch in the first of those two seasons, veteran striker Alexios Alexandris continued to score a hatful of goals, and Olympiacos pipped Panathinaikos to the title thanks to a 3-0 victory for the reigning champions in the season's penultimate round. Working-class heroes Olympiacos CFP are by far the most successful club in Greek football history. Traditionally a blue-collar side based around the port of Piraeus, Olympiacos are nicknamed 'Thrylos' or Legend, after the classic side of the 1930s which won a hatful of titles. The club have since enjoyed two periods of domestic dominance: The six straight championship wins of the 1950s, and now, seven consecutive titles up until 2003. Indeed they have more championships to their name than arch-rivals AEK Athens FC and Panathinaikos FC put together. Yet European progress has proved elusive, an unfortunate UEFA Champions League quarter-final defeat by Juventus FC in 1998/99 the best effort so far. Olympiacos thrive in Greece A look at Alpha Ethniki champions Olympiacos CFP by UEFA.com Period of success With a name inspired by the noted aviator Notis Kamperos, Olympiacos CFP were formed in the small port of Piraeus in Athens on 10 March 1925 following the merger of Piraeus Football Club and Piraeus Fans' Club. Since then, 'The Legend' have dominated Greek football in an almost unbroken period of success, having been crowned champions a record 32 times, adding a record 20 Greek Cups by 2003. Six of the best The Olympiacos story took off in the era of the famous Andrianopoulos brothers in the 1930s. Yiannis, Dinos, Giorgos, Vassilis, Leonidas and Stelios formed a potent forward line during that decade and the original 'legends' guided the team to six league championships before the second world war. Dominance continues When football returned to Greece, two more titles followed immediately and Olympiacos's dominance continued throughout the 1950s, when they claimed seven championships and seven cups, including three consecutive domestic doubles between 1957 and 1959. Nothing much changed in the 1960s as another two championships and five cups found their way into the Piraeus club's trophy cabinet. Goals galore Olympiacos continued along their supreme path in the 1970s when a spectacular side assembled by club president Nickos Goulandris won their third championship hat-trick between 1973 and 1975. In a record performance in the 1973/74 season the team scored 102 goals in just 34 league matches, including a club record 11-1 victory against Fostiras FC. Period of turmoil Although the success continued into the 1980s the end of the decade marked a period of turmoil with the administrations of Giorgos Koskotas and Argyris Saliarelis, who were both later jailed for financial offences, precipitating an economic crisis. This only ended when Socrates Kokkalis, owner of the Olympiacos basketball side, took over in 1992 and cleared a heap of debts, albeit with government support. Lean decade Despite conquering Greece time and again, Olympiacos endured a ten-year spell without winning the league between 1987 and 1997. After struggling to make much of an impact on the European stage, however, they did manage to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1992/93, losing to Club Atletico de Madrid. Back to their best The appointment of Dusan Bajevic as coach in 1996 - after his departure from arch-rivals AEK Athens FC - saw Olympiacos wrest control again. The championship drought came to an end in 1996/97, the first of seven consecutive league titles up to 2002/03, the last gained under former player Oleh Protasov from Ukraine. Title record The recent title feats of Olympiacos eclipsed the legendary run of six successive championships between 1954 and 1959, setting a new Greek record. During this latter period they have regularly participated in the UEFA Champions League and in their best performance, in 1998/99, reached the quarter-finals before losing to Juventus FC. New arena In 1982, Olympiacos moved to Athens' OAKA Spiros Louis stadium, leaving behind the Greek Olympic Committee-owned Karaiskaki stadium. However, they are to return to their traditional home at the beginning of the 2004/05 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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