The 10th of March, 1925 is written in golden letters in the history of Greek and world sports! It was the founding of the biggest Greek club, Olympiacos! This is the team that became the LEGEND of Greek Sport and a sense of identity for working class people. For the WINNERS of life.
The truly original name OLYMPIACOS SINDESMOS FILATHLON PIREOS (Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus) was decided unanimously by members of the club and solved all the discussions that prevailed in finding a commonly accepted name. The name was proposed by Notis Camperos who, through the new club’s name, wanted to express power, athleticism, ethos, noble competition and, of course, the Olympic ideal.
The club’s colours were, according to the historians of those days, Yannis Andrianopoulos’ idea. Red, which symbolises the passion for victory, but also white, which symbolizes purity and noble rivalry.
OSFP was the result of merging two existing teams: APS Piraeus and OF Piraeus.
The founders were all self-made entrepreneurs in the big port.
The Andrianopoulos’ family owned a merchant house which was then headed by Andreas Andrianopoulos. His children are active in all sports. In direct understanding with other prominent personalities in the society of Piraeus, they created a sports club to challenge the dominance of the Piraeus Association, an old Piraeus’ cub, with multifaceted activity (literary, educational, cultural, athletic).
Among the founders, distinguished faces included businessman Michael Manuskos, higher officer of the Hellenic Navy Notis Camperos, Postal Director Stavros Maragoudakis, Trader Nikos Andronikos, Army Official Dimitrios Sklias, Lawyer Nikolaos Zacharias, Notary Athanasios Mermigas, Economist Ioannis Kekkes and, of course, the Andrianopoulos merchants, along with multifaceted activity in Piraeus society.
The first historic game was held on April 30th, 1925. It was a match between the team of the French warship Jean D’Arc at the velodrome, which was our Olympiacos’ first home ground!
The final score was 6-0 to Olympiacos, which, at the beginning, is associated with the Andrianopoulos, five brothers who made history playing at the same time, as they honoured both the sacred red-and-white jersey and the Greek National team.
The strength of our club was, from the very beginning, after its foundation, our many fans, who showed their support even in friendly matches! Against Panathinaikos, at the stadium of Alexandras Avenue, against Ethnikos at the velodrome, against Apollon or AEK at the Rouf Stadium…
Our supporters were always there and showed their support to the team! There were many times our fans returned to Piraeus on foot, celebrating a significant success. They passed through the main streets of the capital to celebrate the victory over the Athenians, descended onto Piraeus Street and ended up chanting in central Piraeus and even further into the remote slums. These were the moments of vindication, the recognition brought by the victory against the Athenian rivals!
It was very early in the 20th century that the Legend (as our club was rightly named later on) began to build the huge, as it has evolved over the years and decades, trophy house, that we are constantly expanding until this day…
It was only in 1931 that we won the first championship in our history, which was organised in accordance with the model of the national championship, as it returned several times later to be finalised in 1959 with the creation of the National Championship.
Our club was beginning to be noted as the greatest football power in the country, in accordance with the general consensus amongst fans. We had consecutive successes against all our opponents and the name OLYMPIACOS had begun, very early, to be huge! The rush of the world coming to our Olympiacos’ games was impressive, as everyone wished to see our team playing…
Simultaneously, the name OLYMPIACOS is on the lips of all travellers starting from Piraeus Port and they carry the red & white message throughout all of Greece and the rest of the world. An athletic superpower was born in the Great Port…
Every opponent of Olympiacos knew what was waiting for them. In the first National Championship in season 1930-31, Olympiacos scored never before seen triumphs in the velodrome, as well as in the other stadiums in Athens and Thessaloniki. Almost everyone lost 3-1 to Olympiacos in the velodrome! Panathinaikos, AEK, Aris, Apollon, Iraklis and PAOK. The only exception was Ethnikos, who was defeated 4-1!
All this, these great achievements, were a huge source of inspiration for Mimi X. Vassiliadis, who wrote the lyrics, and for Yaggos E. Laoutaris, who composed the music of our first hymn of Olympiacos! “One, two, three goals, everywhere panic! Triumph, victory, Olympiacos!”. A hymn sung by players and fans with clenched fists and tears in eyes! A hymn that moved, shook and electrified all Greece. It echoed all over Piraeus, all over Greece.
Lyrics: Mimis X. Vasiliades
Music: Yaggos E. Laoutaris
GET OUT OF OUR WAY
GET OUT OF OUR WAY, OLYMPIACOS IS STEPPING ONTO THE FIELD!
WINGED FEET, HEART IN OUR CHEST
THAT GAVE MANY TRIUMPHS, LIKE STORIES
THEY PLAY WITH TECHNIQUE, POWERFUL WOLVES
AND VICTORY REOPENS ITS WINGS!
SOMEONE PASSES, ANOTHER SHOOTS
THE ENEMY PANICS,
THIS ONE IS KEEPS AN EYE, THIS OTHER ONE IS MARKING,
TRIUMPH, VICTORY, OLYMPIACOS!
GET OUT OF OUR WAY,
GET OUT OF OUR WAY, OLYMPIACOS IS STEPPING ONTO THE FIELD
OLYMPIACOS, OLYMPIACOS, OLYMPIACOS, SPECIAL LADS,
VICTORIOUS LADS!
STRENGTH, ART, FIERCE HEART
ONE, TWO, THREE GOALS PANIC EVERYWHERE
TRIUMPH, VICTORY, OLYMPIACOS!
RED-WHITE, WELL-KNOWN FLAG
KNOWN EVERYWHERE FOR THEIR VICTORY
CHAMPIONSHIP, FRIENDLY
PIRAEUS, TRIUMPH, OLYMPIACOS
VICTORY IS ALWAYS THEIR AIM
PRIDE ON THEIR FOREHEADS
THEY COME ONTO THE FIELD, SILENCE!
RED-WHIYE OLYMPIACOS!
SPECIAL LADS, VICTORIOUS LADS
STRENGTH, TECHNIQUE, FIERCE HEART!
ONE, TEO, THREE GOALS PANIC EVERYWHERE
TRIUMPH, VICTORY, OLYMPIACOS!
WHITE LIGHTNING, RED LIGHT THUNDER EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER, AT THE PIRAEUS TURF
THE “OLYMPIAKOS” FLOWER BLOSSOMS
SPECIAL LADS, VICTORIOUS LADS,
STRENGTH, TECHNIQUE, FIERCE HEART
ONE, TWO, THREE GOALS PANIC EVERYWHERE
TRIUMPH!
VICTORY!
OLYMPIACOS!
After the first championship, in 1931, Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus continued with successes, titles and feats. We won again the championship in 1932-33 (despite the bankruptcy of Greece, according to what the newspapers wrote then), leaving Aris and AEK behind, while in 1933-34, we were once more champions, defeating Iraklis on both home and away matches. At the same time, we had one win after the other in the international matches, playing against Wiener from Austria and St. Gallen from Switzerland. In the 1934-35 season, the championship started but was never completed because of, on the one hand, the organization of the 4th Balkan Football Cup and, on the other, the tense atmosphere, due to political and military riots, that “forced” the Hellenic Football Federation to interrupt it.
The following season (1935-36) was remarkable for the club. OLYMPIACOS thrashed Panathinaikos 6-1, in the match that opposed the teams and our fans marched all across Athens to celebrate! The eleventh year in the history of Olympiacos (1936-37) meant the 10th Championship of Piraeus and the 5th Panhellenic Championship, remarkably won without losing any points, since our team ended the season unbeaten. The following season (1937-38), having Giannis Vazos on an inspired streak, our Olympiacos thrashed all the rival defenses with his goals, which brought yet another championship down to the biggest port of the country. Also unbeaten! In a total of twelve competitions, we had then conquered 6 titles in total!
The Second World War followed. On October 27, several of our players travelled to Patras to play a match between players from Piraeus’ teams, against players from Patras’ teams, for the City Championship. They didn’t have the chance to get back home, as the Hellenic-Italian War was declared on the dawn of the following day. Our Olympiacos suffered the consequences with the death of players, who lost their lives either during the Occupation, during lashes known as Dekemvriana (like Anamateros) or later, in the Civil War, which followed (like Nikos Godas, who, in his last wish, asked to be executed wearing the Olympiacos’ jersey!)… Under such circumstances of generalized war clash, football seemed like a luxury. Players and fans were – provenly – in the category of the recruitables and recruited, so there were no chances for playing football. It was a dark period for Greece as a whole…
As the fire of war was burning down Greece, the “Storm of Piraeus”, as the newspapers of those times named our team so as to express the combativeness and the impetus that exists in the club’s dna, became a symbol of resistance and, of course, never played any friendly match with the Nazis invaders like other clubs.
With the end of the wars, the liberation of Greece and the gradual return to normality, our club was ready to continue having a leading role…!
The war is over. However Greece continues going through hard times, due to domestic problems, with the Civil War raging. Olympiacos continues on his path towards the top. In the 1946-47 season Olympiacos returned to the successes in a triumphant way, winning the Championship and the Cup! It was a landmark for the biggest club in Greece, as this was the first DOUBLE of our history! Objectively in the first period in which the Championship was normalized, the bases for building the great Olympiacos, a sample of what the following years would bring, were set! The sequel to the triumphs happened in the 1947-48 season, as we were crowned for the eighth time champions, leaving behind Apollon and PAOK.
The period from 1950 to 1960 was the golden decade of Olympiacos. In ten years, our team won seven championship titles and many more Cups, as well as 5 doubles! Indeed, it was the most decisive decade, in which our Olympiacos won the tenth championship of their history, reaching a unique achievement for the time and “sewing” the first star on his glorious and honorable jersey! In 1954, we won the double (Championship and Cup) and reached the ten championships mark, starting, at the same time, a unique historical record, for those times, of 6 consecutive championship titles!
This record is the origin of our team’s eternal nickname: “LEGEND”.
In 1954, when Olympiacos completed the first series of ten championship titles, we ended ahead of our eternal rival, Panathinaikos, unbeaten, with eight wins and two draws, 33 goals scored and three conceded, gathering 28 points against Panathinaikos’ 25.
Since 1950, when the radio signal was broadcast in Greece, the red-and-white team grows into mythical proportions!
Players who were heroes, giants of our history took their place in the Pantheon of Olympiacos:
Giannis, Giorgos, Dinos, Vassilis and Leonidas Andrianopoulos, Kleidouchakis, Lekkos, Pezonis, Grammatikopoulos, Vazos, Helmis, Anamateros, Rossidis, Kotridis, Darivas, Drossos, Theodoridis, Yfantis, the great Bebis and the giant Mouratis…
Names that cause awe and respect. An invitation for giants to those who wrote the most thrilling sport history.
The 10th of March, 1925 is written in golden letters in the history of Greek and world sports! It was the founding of the biggest Greek club, Olympiacos! This is the team that became the LEGEND of Greek Sport and a sense of identity for working class people. For the WINNERS of life.
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Our Olympiacos, the team from Piraeus, became the team of all Greeks. It was the period when Olympiacos became the LEGEND, creating continuous generations of Olympiacos fans, with awesome achievements! On other fields, our fans applauded more than on our own stadium, recognizing our competitive superiority. At the same time, the interest of football fans all over Greece had a great interest for the matches of our Legend.
Before the start of the first National Championship, in the 1959-60 season, our Olympiacos’ honours included 15 titles in 23 competitions, 8 cup conquests and 6 doubles! A unique success, which was due to the great players who wore the red-white shirt throughout this period.
In this period our team makes the record of the six consecutive championships (1954 which we mentioned above, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959), and our club gets into the conscience of the Greeks as the LEGEND, making proud our supporters who are everywhere!
On the way to the second star, the second series of ten honorable championships.
We were also Cup winners in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, thus conquering 5 consecutive Greek Cups, while achieving three consecutive doubles (1957, 1958, 1959)!
Other feats in this period were the conquests of the Easter Cup (1957, 1959), the Christmas Cup (1956, 1958, 1959) and the Solidarity Cup (1955).
It is noteworthy that in 1958-59 our team was drawn to face Besiktas on the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, but political reasons did not allow the trip to Turkey and the European debut, which came a little later, during the season, against AC Milan (September 1959)!
Triumph, victory, success are now synonyms of the Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus. Day by day, year after year, every season that passes, the Legend was getting bigger and bigger! In fact, in September 1959 he made his European debut against the huge AC Milan, in the first match of that season! It ended with a 2-2 tie and the Italians still remember the giant of Greek football!
About a month later, the Legend begins his duties in the first National Championship of the first division, having played first against Argonaftis, Atromitos Piraeus and Panelefsiniakos, in his last games in the Piraeus Championship!
Olympiacos conquers the Greek Cup that season (3-0 against Panathinaikos) and 3 times in 4 years: 1959-60, 1960-61 (3-0 against Panionios) and 1962-63 (3-0 against Pierikos). At the same time, the Legend was crowned Cup Winner also in the 1964-65 season, defeating Panathinaikos 1-0 in the final, thanks to goals from “Fontakas” Sideris! In the 1959-60 season we also won the Christmas Cup.
Simultaneously, Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus continued his European feats and participations. Specifically, we participated in the Cup Winners’ Cup, the Balkan Cup and the European Champions Cup. We had many friendly matches with international teams, including Barcelona, Partizan, Gremio, a team with players from Roma and Lazio, Steaua, Spartak Moscow, Galatasaray, Levski, among others.
The history stood still on 4/7/1961 for the unforgettable match with Pele’s team, Santos.
The historic victory of the Legend 2-1 against the unbeaten legendary Santos with the greatest player of all time, was sung and praised by everyone, making Olympiacos known throughout the football world.
Antonis Possidonas, one of the countless big players who wore the legendary jersey of Olympiacos, scored one of the two goals against the team of the huge Brazilian star. The other one was scored by Tassos Sourounis, with an unbelievable shot 25 meters away! In the newest hymn of our Olympiacos, this great football night is still celebrated, as is the legendary man-to-man of Kostas Polychroniou on the “Black Diamond” of the Brazilian National team.
This was followed by the years of the great Bukovi, the great Hungarian coach, from 1965 until 1967. Olympiacos was crowned Greek champion in the 1965-66 season, as well as 1966-67! A team of incredible offensive players, Giorgos Sideris, Nikos Gioutsos, Vassilis Botinos, Pavlos Vassiliou and Aristidis Papazoglou. Our team won its opponents, with great scoring and was rightfully crowned champion in both years. Here are some of the great matches from these two seasons, which marked forever the Legend’s huge history: 5-0 against Ethnikos, 2-0 against AEK, 3-0 against Aris away, 4 -1 against Proodeftiki, 4-0 against Ethnikos, 4-0 against AEK in Karaiskakis Stadium, 3-0 in Egio against Panegialios, 5-0 in Trikala and the title was won for the 1965-66 season! 3-0 against Apollon, 4-1 in Megara against Byzantas, 3-0 against Panionios and Panserraikos on Karaiskakis Stadium, 6-0 against Iraklis, 4-0 against Panathinaikos, 4-0 against Proodeftiki and one more title for the LEGEND!
Bukovi was unable to stay in a military regime and was deported to his country (Hungary).The images of people crying and cursing show well what his departure meant.
Bukovi’s team held for many years a record, with 11 consecutive wins at the start of the Championship. This record was beaten by the contemporary Olympiacos team coached by Marco Silva!
From 1967 to 1974, the country lived through a tough dictatorial period. In those years, although many things were against Olympiacos, our team won titles, but not those who it really deserved…
The imposition of the Military Junta had devastating consequences for our OLYMPIACOS, as Bukovi was sent away and his great team, “the Bukovi’s Team”, as it stayed in history, was dismembered.
There are many testimonies of the Junta’s hostile attitude towards OLYMPIACOS, the club that most of all expresses the hard working people.
An historical moment occurred in a Panathinaikos-Olympiacos match on Alexandras Avenue, where military officials interrupt the match and scolding Sideris so that he didn’t play with such passion!
In 1968, however, the Legend doesn’t end without a title, winning the Greek Cup, against Panathinaikos, with a goal by Vassilios granting a 1-0 victory! The return to success comes in the 1970-71 season, with the conquest of the Cup, defeating PAOK 3-1 in the final! That same year at Karaiskakis Stadium, there was the first massive reaction against the dictator Papadopoulos during the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup between Chelsea and Real Madrid.
The period of President Nikos Goulandris, which followed, filled our supporters with joy. Three golden years, as they are often called! Great international players made incredible records in the 1973-75 period: victories, results and goals, as well as title conquests! Three championships and two Cups were added to the already enormous title list of our Legend, who was constantly filling the trophy room with cups! 1972-73 is a great year for our Olympiacos, as we won both the championship and the Cup (1-0 against PAOK, a goal by Angelis), reaching the SEVENTH DOUBLE in the history of our club, gathering 94 points, with only one loss throughout the Championship. Simultaneously, we had a record of defensive performance, with only 13 goals conceded in 34 matches. To giva an idea, we mention some great matches: 5-0 against Trikala, 3-0 against Fostirsa, 3-0 against Egaleo, 3-0 against Ethnikos, 4-0 against Atromitos, 5-1 away against AEK, 1 -0 away against Panathinaikos with a goal by Romen Argyroudis, 6-0 against Panserraikos … This Legend was a real treat!
In the 1973-74 season our Olympiacos wins “just” the championship, establishing a record with 102 goals scored and 14 conceded, having a higher goal difference! For example, Olympiacos got a 6-0 win in Egaleo, defeated 6-0 in Paserraikos in Karaiskakis Stadium, 5-1 against Apollon Kalamaria, 3-0 against PAOK in Karaiskakis Stadium, 8-2 against Apollon, 5-0 against Egaleo, 11-0 against OFI, 4-0 against AEK, 4-0 against Aris, 4-0 against Apollon, 4-0 against Kavala … A dream team!
The second legendary star!
Moving forward to the 1974-75 season, Olympiacos wins the double once more, defeating 1-0 Panathinaikos in the final with a goal by Davourlis and the championship is red-and-white again! At the same time, the Legend of the Greek football sows the second star on his jersey, completing in 1975 20 champion titles, having already left behind his opponents and gaining speed for another series of ten and many more feats in the future! With a 2-1 point system, the Legend left AEK in the second place in a 34 match-days championship, with 24 wins, 9 draws and just 1 loss. Our team scored 65 goals and conceded 21, finishing with 57 points, against 55 of AEK.
A period written by giants of the fields such as Moustaklis, Psychos, Possidon, Gavezos, Stefanakos, Polychroniou, Kostas and Aristidis Papazoglou, Sourounis, the “kids” Tzanetoulakos, Plessas, Milisis, Savvas Papazoglou, Simantiris, Pavlidis, Vassiliou, Botinos, Fronimidis, Aganian, Stoligas, Siokos, Angelis, Synetopoulos, Delikaris, Karavitis, Yv Triantafyllos, Losanta, Glezos, Viera, Argyroudis, Persidis, Zanteroglou!
About whom will you talk about first? About the great Davourlis, the incomparable Gaitatzis, the thrilling Gioutsos, who made the crowds go crazy with the famous line “come in, Gioutsos”, the invincible Kelesidis or the unique “Fondakas”, our team’s offensive scare spreader Georgos Sideris, who concentrated on his characteristics the identity of the club with his offensiveness and strength…
Our Olympiacos, the team from Piraeus, became the team of all Greeks. It was the period when Olympiacos became the LEGEND, creating continuous generations of Olympiacos fans, with awesome achievements! On other fields, our fans applauded more than on our own stadium, recognizing our competitive superiority. At the same time, the interest of football fans all over Greece had a great interest for the matches of our Legend.
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In 1979 a group of eminent shipowners took over the team’s destiny! Among them is Miltiadis Marinakis, father of Olympiacos leader Evangelos Marinakis, who contributed the most also from the position of General Chief. In the summer of 1979 the 1st National Championship became professional, for the first time in history, and OLYMPIACOS was the winner, In the famous play-off in Volos, against Aris! The season began with Veselinovic on the bench, while later on Kazimierz Gorski took over. The first four professional championships and Consecutive Concerts (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) belong consecutively to the honours of OLYMPIACOS CLUB OF FANS OF PIRAEUS. The four-year golden year of President Stavros Daifas, as this period is usually known, with players such as Arvanitis, Galakos, Michos, Novoselac, Nikoloudis, Lemonis, Anastopoulos, Mitropoulos, Persias, Kousoulakis, Kokolakis or Vamvakoulas.
In 1980 Olympiacos adopts his new anthem, written by Spyros Valsamakis and Sotiris Kilimantzos and sung by Christos Voliotis. It was named “Legend of the Fields” and reflected the magnificence of our club, from his foundation to eternity! Its lyrics speak to the heart of each one of our fans, as they combine the old days with the new age of our team, the glorious past and the huge successes and victories, with the bright future that follows, full of pride and glory!
The new anthem fascinates our fans from all over, the eternal power of our Olympiacos, our fiery fans… “that never give in”! The “Crowned with laurel” of Greek sport is identified, through the anthem, with will, passion and, above all, with fair play. Olympiacos means to always try and fight for victory. Until the last minute!
LEGEND OF THE PITCHES, OLYMPIACOS
CROWNED WITH LAUREL GREAT AND EMINENT
YOU HAVE YOUR POWER OLYMPIACOS,
YOUR FIERY FANS WHO NEVER GIVE IN.
OLYMPI…, OLYMPI…, OLYMPIACOS
MY TEAM, MY GREAT TEAM,
MY BIG LOVE,
MY GREAT OLYMPIACOS!
GLORY TO YOUR LADS OLYMPIACOS
MUCH PRAISED, KNOWN ALL OVER THE WORLD.
THEY QUIVER HEARING YOUR NAME, OLYMPIACOS
YOU ARE STILL REMEMBERED BY PELE’S SANTOS.
OLYMPI…, OLYMPI…, OLYMPIACOS
MY TEAM, MY GREAT TEAM,
MY BIG LOVE,
MY GREAT OLYMPIACOS!
In 1981 Olympiacos reaches the 9th double of its history, winning the Greek Championship and Greek Cup titles, but this year historically could never be written in golden letters since in everyone’s hearts and memories it has been recorded as the year of the greatest tragedy both for the Club and for Greek football. In the game against AEK, on February 8 1981, 21 fans lost their lives in the Georgios Karaiskakis’ “Gate 7” section.
The championship is in Match Day 20 and AEK is two points behind Olympiacos. The stadium is sold out. The sun was at its highest point when our fans started entering the field, despite the fact that the game started at 3:15 pm. The stadium was packed from early on, the songs were leading the way for the celebration that would follow with the great match. No one could guess what would happen after…
Olympiacos’ line up was: Sarganis, Kyrastas, Vamvakoulas, Papadopoulos, Novoselac, Kousoulakis, Persias, Nikoloudis, Anastopoulos, Orfanos and Galakos. On the other side was AEK, with great footballers like Ardizoglou, Bajevic and Mavros.
Olympiacos triumphs over AEK 6-0 with 3 goals by Maik Galakos and 3 by Kousoulakis, Orfanos and Vamvakoulas. The victory turned Karaiskakis into a real volcano. Our most enthusiastic fans, from Gate 7, are running out of the stadium to celebrate this huge win.
The gate however wasn’t open as it should had been, so that they could leave safely… Hundreds of people became a mass on the stairs leading to this damned gate. Someone slipped and then everyone started to fall one on top of the other, causing asphyxiation. The songs of triumph became cries of agony, pain and despair. 21 dead and dozens injured was the tragic result. 21 fans who are now the Angels of the Legend.
Panagiotis Toumanidis, 14 years old
Konstantinos Sklavounis, 17 years old
Ilias Panagoulis, 17 years old
Gerasimos Amitsis, 18 years old – an AEK fan
Ioannis Kanellopoulos, 18 years old
Spyridon Leonidakis, 18 years old
Ioannis Spiliopoulos, 19 years old
Nikolaos Filos, 19 years old
Ioannis Dialynas, 20 years old
Vasileios Machas, 20 years old
Efstratios Loupos, 20 years old
Michail Kostopoulos, 21 years old
Zografia Chairatidou, 24 years old
Spyridon Andriotis, 24 years old
Konstantinos Karanikolas, 25 years old
Michail Markou, 27 years old
Konstantinos Billas, 28 years old
Anastasios Pitsolis, 30 years old
Antonios Kouroupakis, 34 years old
Christos Chatzigeorgiou, 34 years old
Dimitrios Adamopoulos, 41 years old
BROTHERS, YOU’RE ALIVE! YOU SHOW US THE WAY…
Back to the titles
After a small … break, the next title for our Olympiacos comes in 1987, when we win the championship, with ten points difference from the runner up Panathinaikos. Since then, began the so-called “stone years”, the period of the deep competitive crisis of our Olympiacos, which lasted until the mid-1990s.
The arrival of Lajos Detari, in 1988, caused a storm of enthusiasm among our numerous fans (an immense crowd welcomed the great player then), but things didn’t come as we expected, resulting in two cups (1990, 1992) and super cup (1992) being the only titles celebrated by the Olympiacos family, until 1996…
In the 1992-93 season, however, our team reaches, for the first time in its history, the quarter-finals of an European competition (namely, the Cup Winners’ Cup), where we were eliminated by the Spanish side Atletico Madrid, after we had celebrated a great qualification against Monaco, with a win in this principality of France (with a goal by Georgos Vaitsis)!
In 1993, Socratis Kokkalis took over our team’s presidency. After some years of drought, with Socrates Kokkalis leading the team, the glory days came again, as the Legend swept the titles in Greece. From 1997 to 2003, our team conquered 7 consecutive championships, breaking the legendary record of 6 consecutive championships, which gave the team the nickname “Legend”. In 1999, the team achieves the double and is a breath away from the semi-finals of the Champions League but is eliminated in the quarter-finals by Juventus.
Leaving Karaiskakis, for a while…
On May 25, 1997, our Olympiacos plays his last match in old Karaiskakis Stadium with it as its official home field. It got a 6-0 victory against Kavala, in a match which turned into a fiesta for winning the title, the first after the “stone years”. It’s a historical moment for the legendary Karaiskakis Stadium, before Olympiacos moves into a new era. From the 1997-98 season, “we move” to the Athens Olympic Stadium (OAKA), which we use as home field for the next years. However, we played some championship matches in the old Karaiskakis as… away team, like against Athinaikos (2-1), against Ethnikos (3-1) and we made once more a fiesta, with Veria being in the paper the home team, on May 18, 1998, as we win another title in the old Karaiskakis! Also in the following seasons, until the old Karaiskakis was demolished, our Olympiacos played there some matches, with our opponents using the Faliro located stadium as their home field.
The third star on the red-and-white jersey!
The 2001 championship is also remarkable. Our team conquers it and, doing so, completes another series of ten titles, reaching a total of 30 (!) and “sewing” the third star in our jersey! That season, the Legend leaves Panathinaikos second in a 30 matches championship, achieving 25 wins, having 3 draws and only 2 defeats. It scored 84 goals and conceded 22, gathering 78 points, against 66 points (12 less!) of Panathinaikos.
This period was marked by the presence of world class stars and huge personalities of Greek football!
The great scorer Anastopoulos, Novoselac, Vamvakoulas, Sargakis, Galakos, Kousoulakis, Funes, Detari, Michos, Papadopoulos, Mitropoulos, Lemonis, Orfanos, Estavillo, the drible man Milos Sestic, Xanthopoulos, Persias, Tsalouchidis, the one of a kind Oleg Protasov, Litovchenko, Savichev, Tsiantakis, Estay, Christensen, the CAPTAIN Koulis Karataidis, Ilia Ivic, VASSILIS KARAPIALIS, and, of course, the other members of the team that wrote the LEGEND of the 7 Championships: the captain of captains Predrag Djordjevic, Giannakopoulos, Eleftheropoulos, the world class Georgatos, Alexandris, Anatolakis, Mavrogenidis, Gogic, Niniadis, Amanatidis and the WIZARD of our soul, the unique Giovanni!…
In 1979 a group of eminent shipowners took over the team’s destiny! Among them is Miltiadis Marinakis, father of Olympiacos leader Evangelos Marinakis, who contributed the most also from the position of General Chief.
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Our Olympiacos is crowned champion once more in 2001-2002, while in the 2002-03 season our team moves from OAKA to Rizoupoli. We stay there for two years and some great European successes are recorded there, such as the 6-2 against Leverkusen and the 3-0 against Galatasaray.
On May 30, 2003, the old Karaiskakis Stadium was completely demolished. In fact, a bit was still standing, the historic Gate 7, which fell on that day, in an atmosphere of emotion and worship, from the friends of our team who were there. At the same time, this is the year that our Olympiacos seals the seventh consecutive title, breaking the record of the legendary team of the 1950s, with the 2003 championship. The rebuilding of the new Karaiskakis Stadium begins, which opens its gates in the summer of 2004, to host the sequel of OLYMPIACOS CLUB OF FANS OF PIRAEUS’ history. Our Legend plays its first match in the new Karaiskakis against Kallithea and wins 2-1, on September 19th, 2004!
Over the next 5 years, our team continues its already successful course with 5 Championships (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) and 4 doubles (with the cups of 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009) but also a good presence on the European competitions. Several great players, such as Stoltidis, Toure, Nikopolidis, Júlio Cesar, Galletti, Kovacevic, Raul Bravo, Marchena, Dudu, Torosidis, Pantos, Ledesma, Lua Lua, Belluschi, Mitroglou, including the world class Karembeu and Rivaldo, wore Olympiacos’ jersey, in this period, which ends in 2010…
On June 18th, 2010, the presidency goes to Evangelos Marinakis, a man raised and nurtured within the ideals of OLYMPIACOS. Growing up in the family of the LEGEND, our club’s leader lived from early age inside OLYMPIACOS and all that he represents, next to his late father, Miltiadis Marinakis, who had been General Chief of the Football Department since the end of the seventies. The first year of Mr. Evangelos Marinakis in the presidency crowns OLYMPIACOS champion, since the President of Olympiacos himself did all the necessary transfer moves so that our team has the best roster and return to the titles and the feats! He brought to the port players such as Modesto, Riera, Rommedahl, Pantelic, Djebbour, Maniatis, Fuster, the huge Ariel Ibagaza, but also others who changed history! The team’s operation changes at all levels and reaches the standards of the European Elite teams.
Mr. Marinakis also implemented and continues to implement a Corporate Social Responsibility policy, setting new bases and strategy in all actions towards society, standing on principles and foundations that have existed since the founding of our club! The historical “Match Against Poverty”, in cooperation with the United Nations, to support those affected by the natural disasters of Haiti and Pakistan, the Global Partnership with Unicef and the enormous contribution of our club to the vaccination of hundreds of thousands of children around the world, the great intervention in the refugee issue at the Port of Piraeus, the support to the “ELPIDA” Foundation, the “Argo” Foundation and other ongoing and everyday actions show our club’s effort to return the love it receives to the people by supporting them in difficult times. Evangelos Marinakis’ vision of an Olympiacos that will have also a comforting and supporting role in society has already become a practice and is recognized by all Greeks.
The competitive superiority of our Olympiacos against our opponents was captured through our team’s 2010-11 season and its natural consequence was the conquest of the title of champion and the return to success, an achievement that happened for the 38th time in the long history of the club.
With Ernesto Valverde staying in the lead for one more season, Olympiacos was preparing to go back to the road of success. The roster was reinforced with substantial additions like Fejsa, Colin Kazim-Richards, Yeste, Makoun, Orbaiz, Marcano, and others, so that the already well built body is even stronger. With the return of our Olympiacos to the UEFA Champions League, the year would bring great European nights for our fans and Karaiskakis would be… on fire!
Also in the 2011-12 season, our team clearly demonstrated its immense difference from opponents in the Greek championship. Playing attractive football and managing to combine it with the results he wanted, OLYMPIACOS was crowned again champion! In Ernesto Valverde’s last season on our team’s bench, however, just the championship… wasn’t enough. We eliminated everyone we found on our way to the conquest of the Greek cup and, beating Atromitos in the final at the Olympic Stadium, we also conquered this title, reaching the 15th double in our history!
Olympiacos is now starting to make big wins at the Champions League level in major European fields. Away win against Marseille, win against Dortmund in Karaiskakis and Arsenal’s “submission” with 3-1 at our Faliro stadium were some of the great results achieved by Ernesto Valverde’s “red-and-whites” in the 2011-12 season. The outstanding performances in the UEFA Champions League continued in the UEFA Europa League. The details prevented our team from getting even higher in this competition and progress to the quarter-finals. At the end of the season, Ernesto Valverde’s era was over. The Spaniard left Olympiacos’ bench, leaving behind titles and friends for life.
Ernesto Valverde was replaced by Leonardo Jardim. The Portuguese coach came in the summer of 2012, but did not finish the season at the command of our Olympiacos, with the Administration looking for the “factor of excellence” from the man sitting on the bench. The Portuguese was replaced by former Spanish player Michel Gonzalez. A great figure of both Spanish and European football in general, the former star and leader of Real Madrid, with many feats in his record, undertook to continue the project and to follow Evangelos Marinakis’ vision for our team. He led our Olympiacos to the 40th championship title in the club’s history, conquering also the 26th cup, beating Asteras Tripolis 3-1 in the final!
This way, our Olympiacos during this season (2012-2013) made the 16th double of his history, continuing on the path of glory, feats and titles, sewing at the same time, in a magnificent party, the fourth star in his glorious red-and-white jersey. The Legend ended first in 30 games with 24 wins, 5 draws and just 1 defeat, 77 points against the runner up PAOK, 15 points behind (62). Also, with 64 goals for and 16 against, he was the best defense and the best attack in the championship! Olympiacos had players in his roster players such as Carroll, Megyeri, Torosidis, Avraam Papadopoulos, Manolas, Maniatis, Abdoun, Djebbour, Fejsa, Pantelic, Machado, Mitroglou, Greco, Fetfatzidis, and Dimitris Siovas, as well as other quality players, written with golden letters, in the history of our club!
That season’s cup, before ending in the hands of the winners, passed, in a deeply historical moment, through the glorious way formed by the previous 39 cups that Olympiacos had conquered until then, and, for the first time, they all appeared together in the Legend’s castle!
A magnificent picture that remained and will forever remain engraved in our fans’ minds. The third championship of Mr. Evangelos Marinakis, in as many years of presidency, was clearly historical.
Of course, our story does not stop here but it continues being written… Entering the path towards the fifth star, Olympiacos was launched, on the hands of Mr. Marinakis, to even more titles, but also European achievements and great “red-and-white” nights!
A galaxy of world class football stars wore the red-and-white jersey: Ze Elias, Castillo, Belluschi, Raul Bravo, Zewlakow, Albert Riera, Galletti, Darko Kovacevic or Mellberg!
But also World champion Christian Karembeu, Yaya Toure and Kevin Mirallas, “Captain” Ariel Ibagaza, Pantelic, Rivaldo, the Golden Ball holder and World champion with Brazil! That besides important Greeks, such as Maniatis, Torosidis, Avraam Papadopoulos, Siovas or Manolas.
The fourth star now shines over the sky of Piraeus. OLYMPIACOS continues on the road of glory and success… A team, a FAMILY, the IMAGE OF UNION. The road for the 5th star had just begun…
Our Olympiacos is crowned champion once more in 2001-2002, while in the 2002-03 season our team moves from OAKA to Rizoupoli. We stay there for two years and some great European successes are recorded there, such as the 6-2 against Leverkusen and the 3-0 against Galatasaray.
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Europe, Behold your legend!
The pinnacle of Olympiacos in Europe, up to this point in the club’s history, came in the 2023-24 season, when the Legend won the UEFA Europa Conference League and the Youth team won the UEFA Youth League. After finishing third in their UEFA Europa League group, where they competed with West Ham, Freiburg, and Bačka Topola, the “red-and-whites” continued in the UEFA Europa Conference League. There, they initially eliminated Ferencváros, followed by a legendary comeback against Maccabi Tel Aviv. At “G. Karaiskakis” Stadium, Olympiacos was defeated 1-4 in the first match, but in the second match in Serbia, they won 6-1 in extra time and qualified for the quarter-finals of the tournament. In the quarter-finals, the team from Piraeus faced Fenerbahçe, winning 3-2 at home and advancing in Turkey after a penalty shootout. In the semi-finals, Olympiacos faced Aston Villa, whom they eliminated with an aggregate score of 6-2 (2-4 in England and 2-0 at “G. Karaiskakis” Stadium). The Legend thus reached the final and faced Fiorentina in Nea Filadelfeia, winning 1-0 in extra time, becoming the first Greek team to win a European trophy!
However, for this season, the UEFA Europa Conference League was not the only European trophy for Olympiacos. Earlier, the Legend’s Youth team won the UEFA Youth League! The U19 team of Olympiacos, after eliminating Lecce, Gabala, Inter, Lens, and Bayern Munich, advanced to the Final Four of the tournament. In the semi-finals, they advanced over Nantes in a penalty shootout, and in the final, they defeated Milan 3-0 to win the Youth Champions League!
On the road to the fifth star!
The 4 stars, which now adorn the honoured red-and-white striped jersey, over the Adolescent crowned with laurel, are a tremendous proof of the greatness of this team, this club, this IDEA! In the 2013-14 season, we reached the 41st championship of our glorious history, in a year full of records and historical moments. In Europe, our team, after taking the qualification to the UEFA Champions League’s round of 16, leaving Benfica and Anderlecht out of the competition, triumphed in G. Karaiskakis 2-0 over the great Manchester United and was a “breath” away from the qualification to the quarter-finals in Old Trafford. Its overall performance, as Evangelos Marinakis himself pointed out, allows us to “keep on dreaming“!
The most glorious club in Greece, our Olympiacos, in October 2013 added another important page in its history: we presented our cooperation with UNICEF, which proves that our club is a protagonist also outside the pitch. The UNICEF logo appeared in the front of the red-and-white jersey and the country’s greatest sports organization added its strength to teams like Barcelona and Boca Juniors in UNICEF’s effort to provide a better present and future to children in Greece and all around the world. With the help of Olympiacos and his leader, Mr. Evangelos Marinakis, hundreds of thousands of children have been and continue being vaccinated in Greece and around the world and will be able to hope for a better tomorrow. Since then, a series of actions have begun, always led by our Olympiacos.
In the 2014-2015 season our team continued to write history by participating in the UEFA Champions League. It achieved victories that forced Europe to bow to the grandeur of the most glorious Greek club. At the opening of the group A of the biggest club competition, in a magical night, the Legend forced the finalist of the tournament and Spanish champion, Atletico Madrid, to a defeat, beating it 3-2 at Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium. The next… victim of our Olympiacos was the Italian champion, Juventus, who lost 1-0 in our stadium in Faliro. The Legend in the group stage finale defeated the Swedish champions Malmo 4-2 in Piraeus and completed the group stage with 9 points. Thus, we continued representing Greek football in the UEFA Europa League.
In the beginning of January there was a change in the technical leadership of Olympiacos. Michel’s position at the bench was taken by Portuguese Vitor Pereira, who had won championships with Porto. The Portuguese coach, with major successes in his resume, took over to continue the project and lead our Olympiacos to new successes, which happened, with our team winning the double for yet another year!
The 2015/16 season finds Olympiacos quite changed, as there is a new coach (Marco Silva replaced his compatriot Vitor Pereira), as well as great players such as Esteban Cambiasso. As the matches started, the Legend begins to walk on a road of success, breaking the record of the Boukovi team (note: best start of a season, with 11 consecutive wins) with 17 consecutive wins and making an amazing year with 28 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat! He also made the record for faster, in terms of calendar, securing the title, on 28/2/2016! The season is characterized by another good preformance in the UEFA Champions League and, of course, by the epic 3-2 victory against Arsenal in London.
With Evangelos Marinakis as president, the Legend wears an “European armor” and manages to reach the 24th place in UEFA rankings, the highest position in the history of our club. At the same time, it participates as an equal member of the European football elite in the ECA Council, alongside with teams such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, etc.
The 2016/17 season brings our Olympics to the 7th consecutive championship and 44th in the history of our club. An important achievement for the team, as the corresponding record for the period 1997-2003 was equalled.
The leader of Olympiacos, Evangelos Marinakis, also reached an incredible achievement, equalizing the unbelievable record of 7 consecutive Championships starting this unthinkable achievement from the very first year of his leadership!
In the UEFA Europa League we reached the round of 16, achieving a remarkable performance and important victories.
In the next season (2017-18), the Legend went back to the UEFA Champions League’s group stage! We stood against giants of the European and World football, such as the huge Barcelona, Juventus, and the very strong Sporting Lisbon. Our Legend’s draw against Ernesto Valverde’s armada, Barcelona, an old acquaintance and always beloved, is definitely among the highlights of our club’s history.
The summer of 2018 found our Legend in a radical renewal of the roster and with the coming of Mr. Pedro Martins to the bench. In a year of transitions, with great changes, the splendour of the Legend was confirmed hugely. The historical qualification, against the European football monster, AC Milan (winning 3-1 in the last round of the UEFA Europa League group stage in Karaiskakis!!!), gave Olympiacos the greatest qualification of his history in what concerns the opponent’s name and clearly demonstrated which team best promotes Greek football in Europe. This is also evidenced by the fact that we are continuously the first Greek team in the UEFA ranking, with a huge difference from the next Greek team. At the same time, the first place on the ticket selling shows how much the fans embraced our team’s new effort and that we’re setting the foundations for a new empire!
For the 2019/20, Olympiacos is back in their rightful place, i.e. the Greek Champion’s throne. Despite being the only club to still represent Greece in European competitions past the qualifying stage, our side has proven its undeniable superiority on the pitch. They were the first Greek team to ever make it to the UEFA Champions League group stage after 3 qualifying rounds; our journey went on in Europa League as the Legend registered another impressive qualification against hosts of Arsenal. At home, our side finished top place at the end of the league’s regular season as a sign of what was to follow during the Super League’s Play-offs. In this mini-championship, our club extended their the lead (18 points) from the rest of title contenders and earned its history’s 45th title holding also best offense and best defense records. The season ended with the conquest of the Greek Cup, which also meant the conquest of the double!
Olympiacos won its back-to-back champion in the 2020/21 claiming top of the table. In fact, the club’s 46th championship was mathematically secured earlier than ever before following our win to Panathinaikos and with 7 matches to play for the play-offs. Our European spell started at the UEFA Champions League last qualifying round and ended at the UEFA Europa League top-16, with its highlights being our win to PSV at Karaiskakis home ground and the away win against Arsenal in London. For the Greek Cup the Legend made it to the final.
The 47th championship in the history of Olympiacos came in the ensuing season and they got closer to the 5th star on the jersey. During the 2021–22 season, Olympiacos raised the Super League championship once more, with 19 points difference from the second team of the final ranking! Additionally, in Europe, Olympiacos managed to reach the «32» of the Europa League, where they faced Atalanta of Italy, while in the group stage of the competition they won both in Karaiskakis Stadium and Fenerbahçe in Turkey.
Our Olympiacos is constantly speeding up its work, improving the quality and performance inside the pitch. With its fiery fans always there for them, filling up Karaiskakis, as they did during the 2018-19 competitive season. Our Legend is the first in ticket selling, in the safest and most beautiful stadium in the country, with our supporters continuing effusively being present in every match! Our “castle”, the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, was, is and will remain, THE IMMENSE POWER OF OUR OLYMPIACOS!
> UEFA Europa Conference League (2024)
> UEFA Youth League (2024)
> 10 Greek Championships in 12 years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022)
> 4 Greek cups (2012, 2013, 2015, 2020)
> 4 doubles (2012, 2013, 2015, 2020)
> 149 European matches in all competitions with 62 wins / 25 draws / 62 losses
> 24 away wins, against, among others:
Arsenal, Montpellier, Marseille, Rubin Kazan, Anderlecht, Dinamo Zagreb, Young Boys, Osmanlispor, Partizan, Basaksehir, Krasnodar, Aston Villa, Ferencvaros Fenerbahçe…
> Great home wins, against, among others:
Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, AC Milan, Anderlecht, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Benfica, Marseille, PSV, Ferencvaros, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Fenerbahçe, Aston Villa…
OLYMPIACOS Academy also has significant successes in European competitions, with historical victories against giants of the European football. Indeed, the most expensive transfer of Greek football, Panagiotis Retsos, who continues his career in Bayer Leverkusen, is the product of the red-and-white Academy. Over 8.000 children are trained every day at the Academy and in the network of 53 Olympiacos Schools in Greece, Cyprus, the USA, Australia, Canada, UAE and Argentina and are nurtured with the ideals of the club!
At the same time, with the support of Evangelos Marinakis, the core of the club, the Amateur OLYMPIACOS, lives a groundbreaking era, sweeping titles in Greece and Europe. With 17 departments in all sports, which make permanent competitive sports and steadily reach European finals, Olympiacos is among the world’s greatest multi-faceted powers.
From 2010 until today, sports history has changed dramatically, with Olympiacos enjoying an incredible era of success. It is shown by the fact that, during this period, Olympiacos has won 184 Panhellenic titles, 8 European and 1 Intercontinental, when his biggest opponent, Panathinaikos, has only 22 in the same period! And, of course, the groundbreaking era continues!
A special mention is due to our Olympiacos’ social action. From 2010 onwards, when Mr. Marinakis took over the destinies of Olympiacos’ football (his presence in Amateur Olympiacos was already very strong and, of course, it continues, with the largest multifaceted club in the world continuing to conquer one title after the other, in all sports !!!), he laid the foundations for a model team, which will always return the love it receives from the people! The legend was present when Mandra was hit by the deadly floods and offered tremendous support to the flood victims for many days. It was present when the fires destroyed lives and fortunes in Mati and Eastern Attica in general. It was present when Pserimos suffered, when Kefalonia was hit by earthquakes… Olympiacos was always present! He stands next to “ELPIDA” and the work of Mrs. Vardinoyiannis, supports the Foundation “FLOGA”, supported the AHEPA Hospital. Mr. Marinakis keeps emphasizing the need to support children, the future of our world. This was also done through UNICEF, as we mentioned above!
We were also there to offer our support in Evros during the critical moments of early 2020; Olympiacos sent 3 trucks filled with emergency supplies for our country’s border guards.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Evangelos Marinakis stood out once more by covering all expenses to build 12 new ICU beds at the General State Hospital of Nikaia and to procure Tzaneion Hospital with all necessary medical-technological equipment.
The contribution to the Legend’s home town, Piraeus, was and still is enormous. It always exists and will never stop. Huge collaborations, like the one with Harvard University, brought global results, such as the “Athens Principle for the Right to Participate in Sports”! Olympiacos and Mr. Marinakis himself, major contributor of this great agreement, support our fellowman and do everything in order for football and sports to give back to society! Huge sports institutions like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Euroleague, AIPS and many others, came here, signed and are now supporters of the enormous effort that Olympiacos and Harvard University are doing together! Our Legend supported, in a huge campaign, the thousands of refugees that arrived at Piraeus port, with food, basic commodities and shelter for people who were violently expatriated from their homelands. And the social work continues. Next to the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus, in the Holy Metropolis of Nikea, in the charity meals to the people in need, in the camps (again for the children!), and the list goes on and on!
In 2023, Olympiacos FC took an innovative step, becoming the first team in Europe to offer audio description services for visually impaired individuals at all matches at “G. Karaiskakis” Stadium in Greece and Europe, in collaboration with the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences.
Our OLYMPIACOS is a social phenomenon, something greater than just a club.
All together, a FAMILY, we are steadily on the path towards the fifth star, a unique achievement worldwide…
WE KEEP ON DREAMING!
The 4 stars, which now adorn the honoured red-and-white striped jersey, over the Adolescent crowned with laurel, are a tremendous proof of the greatness of this team, this club, this IDEA!
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