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Apollon Limassol (Greek: Απόλλων Λεμεσού) is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. History Football Team Apollon F.C. was founded in Limassol on April 14th, 1954. The Club was accepted into the second division on October 16th, 1955 after its membership application had been approved by the Cyprus Football Association (C.F.A). In its first year Apollon suffered 8 defeats in 8 matches the second division. Just before the next season (1956-57) a crisis erupted in AEL, a first division team based in Limassol, and as a result, most of the players left AEL and joined Apollon. After this, Apollon won the regional group in the second division and subsequently the play-offs to then be promoted to the first division. This took place in 1957 and ever since Apollon has been competing in the first division. Things were not easy however for the newly promoted club. Apollon couldn't reach a satisfactory position in the rankings and was struggling in the middle of the table for many years. But in the mid-60's things changed. In 1965 Apollon reached the Cup Final. A year later, Apollon was in the Final again, won the Cup, and triumphantly took the trophy back to Limassol. Apollon managed to maintain its Cup title in 1967. After celebrating these titles, Apollon had to wait another 15 years to start making history once again. In 1982 Apollon reached the Cup Final once again, and that marked the beginning of a new era. In the last 15 years Apollon won the league title three times (1991, 1994, 2006), and was the runner-up four times (1984, 1989, 1993, 1996). Since then Apollon won the Cup another 5 times (1966, 1967, 1986, 1992, 2001), and was the Cup finalist four times (1987, 1993, 1995, 1998). Last season, 2005-06 Apollon won the league title undefeated and earned a club record of 64 points. Apollon had 19 wins and 7 draws in 26 matches and this went down in Cypriot Football history due to fact that it was the fourth team in the Cyprus Championship that won the title unbeaten. * * Apollon was the only undefeated team in Europe, running an unbeaten streak since March 12th, 2005 (30 games). Volleyball team Founded member of Cyprus Volleyball Federation, the women's team participated in three Championship finals (1999, 2001, 2003) and in five Cup finals (1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003) but lost all of them by AEL Limassol. In 2003, the team lost both Championship and Cup finals by AEL again, however since AEL won the double, they participated in the Super Cup and on September 23, 2003 they won their first trophy, the Super Cup in their own Stadium by beating AEL Limassol 3-0. Supporters Apollon is among the most popular football teams in Cyprus. The fans are quite demanding and loyal to the Club and Apollon F.C. is included in the first top-ticket-selling teams of the league. More than 12.000 Apollon fans traveled from Limassol for the 2001 Cup Final that took place in Nicosia (more than 10.000 tickets were sold). This number also beat the previous top record for a team traveling for an away game to Nicosia.Celebrations for winning the League championship for the 1993/94 season following the victory against Omonoia F.C. More than 15.000 fans overflowed the Stadium to see Apollon clinch the title in the final game of the season.Celebrations following the victory against Omonoia F.C. at the 1992 FA Cup Final in Tsirio stadium. More than 20.000 fans attended the game. Stadium Main article: Tsirion Stadium Football The team's current stadium is the 14,400 seater, Tsirion Stadium, also known as the Olympia Stadium (G.S.O). Tsirion Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Limassol, Cyprus. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Apollon Limassol, AEL Limassol and Aris Limassol. The stadium was built in 1975 with the help of the generous contributor and great philanthropist, Mr. Petros Tsiros, thus the name of the stadium. Apollon Limassol currently uses the West Stand of the stadium but most of the times is overcrowded therefore also use the East Stand of the stadium. Basketball Apollon has its own Indoor Hall, the Apollon Stadium, with capacity of 2,600 and as it was said it hosted the Southern European Regional Challenge Cup Final Four. In the Cup Final, AEL Limassol beat KK Igokea 82-92 and became the first Cypriot team to win a European Trophy. It is home of Apollon's basketball and volleyball team. Trophies Football * Cypriot Championship: 3 1991, 1994, 2006 * Cypriot Cup: 5 1966, 1967, 1986, 1992, 2001 * LTV Super Cup: 1 2006 Basketball * Cypriot Basketball Cup: 1 2002 * Cypriot Supercup: 1 2004 Volleyball (women) * Cypriot Super Cup: 1 2003 Current squad
In Out Club officials Board of Directors * Chairman and Press Representative: Frixos Savvides Coaching Staff * Technical Manager: Christakis Christoforou Medical Staff * Club Doctor: Dr. Yiannos Ioannou Cyprus Sponsorship * Official Shirt Sponsor - Columbia Ship Management Ltd Other Sponsors * Mitsubishi Motors * Bupa Notable Former Managers * the Netherlands Gerard van der Lem Former Players * Cyprus Christos Marangos * Iran Ferydoon Zandi * Portugal Helio Pinto Links
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