Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C.
current = Iraklis F.C. season 2008-09


fullname = Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής
Θεσσαλονίκης
Gimnastikos Syllogos Iraklis
Thessaloniki
Gymnastic Club Iraklis
Thessaloniki
nickname = "Γηραιός" / "Gireos" (The Old one)
founded = 1908
ground = Lysimachos Kaftanzoglu Stadium,
Thessaloniki, Greece
capacity = 27,770
chairman = flagicon|Greece Antonis Remos
manager = flagicon|Spain Ángel Pedraza
league = Super League Greece
"(Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα)"
season = 2007-08
position = Super League Greece, 10th
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pattern_la2=_borderonwhite|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=_borderonwhite
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Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. (also known as Iraklis, or The Old one) is a Greek football club from Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, branch of Gymnastic Club Iraklis Thessaloniki. It is named after Heracles (Greek: Ηρακλής), the mythical Greek demigod. The club plays in the Greek Super League and is one of the most historic clubs in the Greek football, the oldest in Thessaloniki and one of the oldest in Greece. The club was a founding member of Thessaloniki Football Federation (now defunct) as well as the Hellenic Football Federation. With the exception of one season, the club has spent its entire history in the top flight of Greek football. The club has won one Greek Cup in 1976, and one Balkans Cup in 1985.

Iraklis FC was founded in 1908, as "Ottoman Hellenic Club of Thessaloniki - Iraklis" (at that time, the city of Thessaloniki was under Ottoman rule, so the club was forced to include the adjective Ottoman in its name) though it traces it's roots back in 1905 when the "Friends of the Arts" Club (merged with "Olympia" in 1908 to produce Iraklis) gave its first footbal game. After a lean period in the post-war years they became one of the powers to be reckoned in Greek football especially after securing the services of Vassilis Hatzipanagis in 1975 - an already member of the USSR national team of Greek descent who was later voted the best football player in Greek history and was honored as so in the UEFA Jubilee Awards. After a golden era from mid 70ies to late 80ies the club began downturn partly because of the impact the bosman ruling had in domestic football market and partly because it fell victim of what many have described as mismanagement of the team's fortunes by untrustworthy presidents.

The club's colours have traditionally been blue and white, to resemble the Greek flag and remained the same -although in different variations- through history. Similarly, the club have changed location over time; the team's first stadium was located in what is now Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, central-east Thessaloniki, but in 1960 they moved further east across the city to state owned Kaftanzoglio Stadium after the team's one was purchased by the state in a compulsory deal to expand the city's university. As of 2008 there are plans in development for Iraklis to build their own stadium in Chortatzides, east Thessaloniki where the club owns land.

Iraklis nowadays has a modest in numbers and diverse fanbase, who holds a string of long-standing rivalries with few other clubs; the most notable of these is with neighbours Aris and P.A.O.K., with whom they regularly contest the Thessaloniki derbies.

History

Iraklis was conceived first in 1899, as the "Friends of the Arts" Club. The organization was not originally supposed to be an athletic group, instead dedicating itself to literature and music. In 1903, however, the members of the club decided to include sports in their activities, constructing a gym and creating swimming and cycling teams. At the time, football was a new sport, but rapidly increasing in popularity, so a football team was soon founded. The first official game was held on April 23, 1905. The club soon faced financial problems. In 1908, the "Friends of the Arts" Club merged with the Olympia Club, giving birth to Iraklis. On November 29, 1908, Iraklis' first article of association was enacted.

During the first Greek Championship Games after World War I, Iraklis was considered a model team. As years passed, the club maintained its status at the top level of the newly-born Greek football, winning the Panthracian games in 1923. Also in 1923, Iraklis established its first junior teams. All Football in Greece was suspended from 1941-1945 during the German occupation and Greek championship also from 1947-1949 due to the Greek Civil War. After the war period, the club was constantly competing with Aris for the Thessaloniki championship, which gave upon its winner the right to participate in the Greek championship. Iraklis participated in the 1947 Greek Cup final, where was defeated 5-0 by the dominant Greek team of that era, Olympiakos. In the 1950s, the team solidified its position among the top teams in Greece along with Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, PAOK, AEK and Aris. Nevertheless, the club struggled with financial difficulties in an ailing Greek economy. Thessaloniki, where many refugees from the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 had settled, was particularly damaged by the economic downturn. The highlight of the decade was the 1957 Greek Cup final, in which Iraklis was once again defeated by Olympiakos, 2-0.

In the 1960s, the format of the Greek Championship was changed to its present structure. Iraklis was, at the onset of the decade, one of the most consistent performers in the league. However, as the club endeavored to maintain a solid financial position, it became less competitive for the championship title. The organization faced another major setback as Iraklis -and Thessaloniki's only private- stadium was purchased by the state in a compulsory deal to expand the city's Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The club plays at the state-owned Kaftanzoglio Stadium ever since. The 1970s were arguably Iraklis' peak years. A solid roster was assembled, featuring several players from the club's youth ranks, including Fanaras, Nikoloudis, Zafiridis, Gesios, Papaioannou and Haliabalias. The club acquired Vassilis Hatzipanagis, an USSR national of Greek descent. Hatzipanagis who was later voted the best football player in Greek history with his unique style attracted huge audiences to Iraklis games. He had an immediate impact upon his arrival as he was involved in all 4 goals of Iraklis in Greek Cup final of 1976, a 6-5 penalty win (4-4 in regular time) against Olympiakos, either by assisting or scoring.

The 1980s began with a scandal for Iraklis. Pellios, a player of local rival PAOK, accused a member of the Iraklis board of trying to bribe him before the second leg of the 1980 Greek Cup semifinal. The incident was very controversial, especially as Iraklis had already won the first (away) leg by 1-0. Despite the team's progress to the 1980 Greek Cup final (losing 5-2 against underdogs Kastoria) and even though finishing 8th in the final table, the team was demoted by the Greek football federation to the second division for the first and only time in its 100 history. Iraklis instantly returned to First division after an unforgettable 1980-81 season -even though star player of team Vassilis Hatzipanagis refused to play out of protest for the decision to relegate the historic club over controversial and unproven charges- in which the team broke all division records for the largest home and away victories and most goals scored. In 1983-84 Iraklis reached its best league position to date, finishing in third place overall. In 1985 the team won the Balkans Cup with an aggregate victory (5-4) against FC Arges Pitesti. 15,000 fans travelled to Athens to support Iraklis in the 1987 Greek Cup final -considered the largest away crowd in Greek history-, unfortunately to see their team lose 3-1 on penalties (1-1 regular time) to OFI Crete.

The 1990s were a period of reconstruction for the club, as aging players either left the club or retired. Hatzipanagis' retirement in 1990 had a major negative impact on the team's success. Fans began calling for a change in the club's management, as club president Petros Theodoridis began selling the team's most talented players (Christos Kostis, Giorgos Anatolakis, Savvas Kofidis etc). Iraklis competed in 1990 against Valencia in the UEFA Cup, being eliminated in overtime at Mestalla.

The team was sold in 2000 to prominent Greek businessman Evangelos Mytilineos for almost $3,000,000. The new club president's first move was the surprising sale of highly rated striker Michalis Konstantinou to Panathinaikos. Newly appointed coach Giannis Kyrastas was widely considered Greece's best, remained at the charge of the team for only one and very disappointing season. Angelos Anastasiadis was appointed as the new coach, and even though this was considered a controversial move due to his history as a member of rival club PAOK his tenure was a very successful one as the team qualified twice in a row for the UEFA Cup on a very small budget. In 2004, Mytilineos announced his desire to leave the team and therefor it's sale to Giorgos Spanoudakis (a jobless friend of his from schoolyears, who didn't for sure have any credidentials to run a football club of this calibre), for just $1, although heavily in debt. Spanoudakis initiated a series of expensive and unsuccessful deals (Nikos Machlas, Cezary Kucharski, Giuseppe Signori), driving the team close to bankruptcy. He later tried to get rid of the team by selling it to yet another unknown businessman named Dimitris Houlis. After a 5 month period where Houlis controlled the team, The Greek football commission finally annulled the transfer, raising questions in the media regarding its handling of the previous one between Mytilinaios and Spanoudakis too.

In 2004, Savvas Kofidis, famous as a player of the team in 1980s, became its manager. In 2005-06, he led Iraklis to an acclaimed 4th place finish, playing effective and attractive football but with debts of almost $8,000,000 to players, coaches and the state, Spanoudakis started the 2006/7 season attempting to reconcile Iraklis finances by selling Joel Epalle and Panagiotis Lagos, who were instrumental in the previous year's success. Next year Kofidis resigned as manager of a considerably weakened team after Iraklis lost 7 and drew 2 of his first nine games in Greek Super League and additionally was eliminated from the UEFA Cup in extra time by Wisła Kraków. Eventually the 2006-07 season ended with in a hard breaking fashion as the team gained it's survival to Greek Super League only in the last matchday, after breaking an 39 matches unbeaten home run of Skoda Xanthi.

In July 13, 2007, Spanoudakis eventually resigned and the team passed to the hands of a consortium of local businessmen, with prominent Greek singer Antonis Remos (a life long fan of the team) as their leader.Today the new owners are trying to stabilize the team financially having already paid the debts to Giusseppe Signori (almost 1,000,000 $) and to other players and lenders from the past.

Crest

Iraklis crest has changed through times. It currently depicts the demigod Heracles resting upon his club, a scene inspired by a statue dating from the Hellenistic era. Before that the badge was a big H which is the first letter of the word Iraklis (Ηρακλής) in Greek.

Colours

Football kit box
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pattern_b = _stripesonwhite
pattern_ra = _white_hoops
leftarm = 0000FF
body = 0000FF
rightarm = 0000FF
shorts = 0000FF
socks = FFFFFF
title = Iraklis FC home colours.

For all team's history the colours are blue and white as recognition of the colours of Greek flag given the fact that Iraklis was established under Ottoman occupied Thessaloniki. The team is known in Greece as "Κυανόλευκοι", which means "the cyan blue and whites". Iraklis away colours are usually either white or orange. Traditionally, Iraklis shirt is vertical hooped but through times was also all blue, all white, chess-like, horizontal hooped among others.

tadiums

Iraklis was the first Greek team to have its own private facilities as early as of second decade of 20th century. Later it established its own stadium in then east-Thessaloniki, where the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki currently lies. In 60ies the state annexed the stadium in order the university to be expanded and Iraklis plays ever since in state-owned Kaftanzoglio Stadium producing a travesty, as both Aris and PAOK (other city rivals) were given their own private stadiums, resulting in Iraklis being the sole "homeless" team, even though it was the only who had actually built facilities on its own.

Iraklis mother association, G.S. Iraklis Thessaloniki, also owns a big piece of land in the highly regarded east extremity of the city called Chortatzides and Mikra. It is believed that in one point in the future the team will built there its own stadium.

upporters

Iraklis was well supported right from the start of its establishment. Even though the football section wasn't the most popular among club loyals in the very first years, it soon became the "flag" of the association as football became more and more popular. In 70ies and 80ies, teams fan base reached a peak as Kaftantzogleio was packed with fans who came to see the team. In 1971 Iraklis set the Thessaloniki record of most fans in a stadium with 45,634 tickets official sold. In 1987 Greek Cup final in Athens against OFI Crete 15,000 Iraklis fans travelled setting the record for away fan movement in Greece.

Unfortunately, due to 90ies and 00ies mediocre years and due to the retirement of players who attracted crowds with their play (like Vassilis Hatzipanagis), many Iraklis fans got alienated and attendance dropped considerably.

In contrast to Aris and PAOK supporters attachment to the team was always local from inside the city, especially from the rich center and east parts of the city. Iraklis fans were perceived by the rivals as the high earning political and cultural elite of the city.

Ownership and finances

Greek football became professional in 1979, so the team started to be run by individuals who owned stakes at the club by that year, as previously all the sporting parts of the club were run by the board of the mother amateur association of "G.S. Iraklis Thessaloniki". In early 80ies Iraklis was bought by Giorgos Theodorides who remained at the helm of the club since 2000. He then sold the club to prominent Greek business magnet Evagellos Mytillineos for 3 m dollars, who in turn controversially sold the club to his friend Giorgos Spanoudakis for just 1 Euro. Spanoudakis had neither the financial capability nor the ability to run a football club of this calibre. As of 2008, an investment group led by well known Iraklis fans and popular Greek singer Antonis Remos took charge of the management of the club and wants to take full control of the club in near future.

Current squad

"As of August 30 2008"Fs player|no=7|nat=Spain|name=Kiko Ratón|pos=FW (See: )

Managerial history