Apollon Limassol

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
No. Position Player
2 Slovenia DF Marko Barun
3 Argentina DF Federico Domínguez
4 Nigeria MF Waheed Akanni Oseni
5 Hungary MF Gábor Korolovszky
6 Morocco MF Abdelkarim Kissi
8 Cyprus MF Athos Solomou
9 Uruguay FW Ignacio Risso
10 Argentina FW Gastón Sangoy
11 Bulgaria FW Hristo Yovov
14 Cyprus MF Christos Marangos
15 Montenegro DF Duško Đurišić
16 Cyprus DF Giorgos Merkis
17 the Czech Republic GK Aleš Chvalovský
19 Cyprus MF Alexandros Garpozis
20 Nigeria MF Haruna Babangida

No. Position Player
21 Cyprus DF Christos Theophilou (captain)
22 Cyprus DF Stelios Okkarides
23 Georgia (country) DF Levan Maghradze
25 Cyprus FW Stamatis Pantos
26 Cyprus MF Christos Nicolaou
28 Portugal GK André Queirós
30 Cyprus FW Andreas Avraam
33 Cyprus GK Sofronis Avgousti
44 Cyprus MF Giorgos Sielis
55 Cyprus DF Michalis Paschali
60 Argentina MF Daniel Quinteros
90 Brazil FW David
99 Cyprus DF Petros Konnafis
TBD Senegal FW Serigne Diop (on trials)


Transfers 2008/09

In
No. Position Player
Brazil FW David (from Doxa Katokopias)
Morocco MF Abdelkarim Kissi (from Enosis Neon Paralimni)
Bulgaria FW Hristo Yovov (from Aris Limassol)
Cyprus GK Sofronis Avgousti (loan return from AEK Larnaca)
Cyprus MF Giorgos Sielis (from Chaidari F.C.)
Montenegro DF Duško Đurišić (from SC Paderborn 07)
Argentina MF Daniel Quinteros (from Club Atlético Banfield)
Portugal GK André Queirós (from D.Sandinenses)
Senegal FW Serigne Diop (from Metalurh Donetsk)
Argentina DF Federico Domínguez (from Gimnasia La Plata)

Out
No. Position Player
Romania MF Bogdan Andone (to Alki Larnaca)
Israel MF Lior Asulin (loan return to Hapoel Tel Aviv)
Cyprus GK Michalis Fani (on loan to ASIL Lyssi)
Cyprus MF Michalis Demetriou (on loan to APOP Kinyras Peyias)
Cyprus DF Periklis Moustakas (on loan to APOP Kinyras Peyias)
Romania DF Adrian Iencsi (to CS Otopeni)
Argentina MF Mariano Torresi (loan return to Godoy Cruz)
Bulgaria GK Ventsislav Velinov (to PFC CSKA Sofia)

Club officials

Board of Directors

* Chairman and Press Representative: Frixos Savvides
* Honorary Chairman: Phivos Vakis
* Vice president - Head of Football Team and Planning Department: Nicos Kirzis
* Vice President - Head of Financial Department: Kyriakos Panagides
* Vice President - Head of New Stadium Committee: Theodoros Antoniou
* Marketing Department and Public Relations: Charis Kimonos
* Marketing Department and Public Relations: Giorgos Pitsillides
* Administration of Personnel Department: Kostas Polidorides
* Responsible for projects: Charalambos Antoniou
* Responsible of Medical Team: Yiannos Ioannou
* Legal Advisor: Yiannis Christodoulou
* Legal Advisor and assistant to the Press Representative: Pavlos Aristodimou

Coaching Staff

* Technical Manager: Christakis Christoforou
* Manager: Svetozar Šapurić Serbia
* Assistant Manager: Giorgos Iosifides Cyprus
* Assistant Manager: Slobodan Pauvić Serbia
* Goalkeeping Coach: Giorgos Nicolaou Cyprus
* Fitness Coach: Andreas Nicolaou Cyprus
* Assistant Fitness Coach: Constantinos Papaconstantinou Cyprus
* Team Supervisor: Christos Iosifides Cyprus
* Team Supervisor: Sokratis Sokratous Cyprus
* Safety and Athletic Equipment Officer: Kyriakos Vassiliou Cyprus

Medical Staff

* Club Doctor: Dr. Yiannos Ioannou Cyprus
* Assistant Club Doctor: Dr. Savvas Chronis Greece
* Orthopedist: Dr. Stephen Iosifides Cyprus
* First Team Physiotherapist: Panayiotis Georgiades Cyprus
* Assistant First Team Physiotherapist: Tomas Toward England

Sponsorship

* Official Shirt Sponsor - Columbia Ship Management Ltd
* Official Sport Clothing Manufacturer - Lotto
* Official Athletism Sponsor - Libra Holidays Group
* Official Stadium Sponsor - Sisamos Group of Companies
* Official Communication Sponsor - MiVision
* Official Sport Drink - Gatorade

Other Sponsors

* Mitsubishi Motors
* Magistrato Gardens LTD
* Marfin Laiki
* Petrolina
* Viofos
* CYTA
* Makis Tselios

* Bupa
* Pizza Express
* Blue Oven
* AYRA
* Proton
* CYFAST

Notable Former Managers

* the Netherlands Gerard van der Lem
* Poland Jerzy Engel
* Romania Ilie Dumitrescu
* Finland Martti Kuusela
* the Republic of Macedonia Toni Savevski
* Germany Bernd Stange
* Montenegro Momčilo Vukotić
* Ireland Ronnie Whelan
* Bosnia and Herzegovina Nenad Starovlah
* Israel Yossi Mizrahi

Former Players

* Cyprus Christos Marangos
* Cyprus Nicos Papavasiliou
* Cyprus Constantinos Makrides
* Cyprus Marios Charalambous
* Poland Pawel Sibik
* Poland Stefan Majewski
* Poland Łukasz Sosin
* Slovenia Marinko Galič
* Slovenia Mladen Rudonja
* England Craig Hignett
* England James Panayi (2003)
* Scotland David Kenny (1983-92)
* Russia Yevgeny Ivanov
* Kazakhstan Viktor Zubarev (2000-02)
* the Netherlands Bernard Schuiteman
* the Netherlands Humphrey Rudge
* the Netherlands Stefano Seedorf
* the Netherlands Beau Molenaar

* Iran Ferydoon Zandi
* Iraq Hawar Mulla Mohammed
* Iraq Haidar Obeid Jassim
* Iraq Jassim Swadi
* Iraq Mahdi Karim
* Iraq Mohammad Nasser
* Romania Florin Cârstea
* Romania Ion Sburlea
* Senegal Louis Gomis
* Spain Antonio Soldevilla
* Serbia Amir Teljigovic
* Serbia Dejan Pekovic
* Serbia Zoran Masic
* Hungary Gábor Zavadsky
* Albania Rudi Vata
* Albania Roland Zajmi
* Algeria Karim Mouzaoui
* Portugal Felipe Duarte

* Portugal Helio Pinto
* Argentina Leandro Alvarez

Links

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