Aris Thessaloniki F.C.

Aris Thessaloniki
	File:ArisFC-Crest.svg
Full name	PAE Aris Thessalonikis ; (Aris Thessaloniki FC)
Nickname(s)	skouliki (worm)
Founded	25.03.1914
Ground	Kleanthis Vikelides Stadium,; Thessaloniki, Greece
Capacity	23,220
Chairman	Lambros Skordas
Manager	Juan Carlos Oliva
League	Super League Greece ; (Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα 2007)
2006-07	4th
Home colours	Away colours

Aris FC, also known as Aris Thessaloniki FC (Greek: Άρης Θεσσαλονίκης - Aris Thessalonikis) is a Greek association football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Aris has not captured any league titles since the formation of the First Division (Alpha Ethniki) in 1959, but has won the Greek cup on one occasion. Aris has earned 3 league titles and 1 cup in football. The football team plays at Kleanthis Vikelides Stadium which was renovated during the 2004 Summer Olympics.

The club currently competes in the Super League Greece.

History

The great beginning

The club was established by a group of young friends in a pub in Thessaloniki on 25th of March 1914 and given the name Aris from the god of war, aptly nicknamed due to the recent Balkan War and the fact that in Greek mythology, Aris was a deity who was in conflict with Hercules, the mythological character whom Aris's rival football team, Iraklis, was named after. In the beginning the club was based near the Arch and Tomb of Galerius but after the accession of two minor football clubs in 1919 and 1921 the club's base was moved near to Flemming Street. The first stadium was built where today lies Mars Field Park in Stratou Avenue. Quickly the club became very popular and soon new sections apart from football were established. The Basketball department was formed in 1922. In 1923 it was the first Greek club that played an international match against Sporting Club of Serbia. In 1925 in a famous match that took place in order to decide which club would keep yellow colours for its jerseys, Aris won 5-2 against its biggest rival PAOK.

Years of establishment

Winner in Thessaloniki and a rich team player in Greece after the First World War, the club excelled in all athletic activities, not only in football. In water sports and basketball, Aris was an athletic club that always starred. The club won many local championships. From 1923, when it won the first title, up to 1959, the year that the local championships were terminated in favour of a national one, Aris finished in second or third place on only a few occasions. Thirteen years after the foundation of the club, came the first big achievement. This moment came in 1928, under the guidance of its finest player, Kleanthis 'Macedonian Tank' Vikelides, when Aris won the first official organised football championship in Greece, in which Panathinaikos, AEK and Olympiacos did not take part, due to disagreements with the Hellenic Football Federation, which then excluded them. (for more information see P.O.K.).

In 1931 Aris' supremacy was obvious and no one disputed this. In this period Aris beat everyone and was crowned once again champion of Greek football. With the participation of teams from Athens (Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, AEK), the second Pan-Hellenic championship took place, which Aris easily won. With nine victories in fourteen matches, one defeat and four draws, Aris finished first, with Panathinaikos second.

The first postwar championship playoffs were carried out in 1946 with three teams: the champion of Thessaloniki Aris, the champion of Athens, AEK and the champion of Piraeus, Olympiacos, and it was a glorious campaign for the yellows who won for the third time the Pan-Hellenic title. Aris twice beat Olympiacos 1 - 0, got a draw with AEK in Athens and thrashed PAOK at their own ground with 4 - 1. Many are those that remember today this last championship of the team, and the madness of celebrations in Thessaloniki.

However, after the withdrawal of many players because of age, it was not until 1970 that Aris won another title, this time the Cup, overcoming by 1-0 their bigger rival, PAOK in an epic match at Kaftanzoglio Stadium.

Aris has a long and proud record. First in local championships of Thessaloniki totalling fourteen titles, first champion of Greece in 1928, with the establishment of this competition. First champion of Greece, after the Second World War in 1946. First team to have won an international match on foreign ground in 1927 against Levski in Sofia. First team from Thessaloniki that participated in UEFA Cup in 1964. And they would have been the first champion of Greece after the establishement of the professional championship in 1980, when although finishing first, unbeatable in Kleanthis Vikelides Stadium, having an all-time record for the Greek Championship of seventeen wins in seventeen matches, they were forced to play an extra match against Olympiacos in Volos that they lost.

1979-80 season

File:Etien2.jpg

Aris FC-AS Saint Etienne poster.

The finest moment for Aris in European competition probably came during the 1979-80 UEFA Cup where Aris upset two heavily favored opponents to advance to the Round of 16. Aris defeated the formidable Portuguese side Benfica 4-3 on aggregate in the 1st Round, and Italian club Perugia 4-1 on aggregate in the 2nd Round, before being eliminated 4-7 on aggregate by French club Saint Etienne.

Recent Years

Titles have eluded Aris in recent years, and Aris was even demoted to the Second Division twice, due to financial problems caused by incorrect management. Aris has always immediately returned to the National 1st Division, however, and throughout the years the club has managed to play European football by qualifying for the UEFA Cup tournament on several occasions. Despite its mixed fortunes in recent times, Aris fans are proud that theirs was the main domestic club of Greece's Euro 2004 goal scoring hero Angelos Charisteas.

In December, 2006 the club's board decided to create an organisation called Aris Members Club, (Λέσχη Φίλων Άρη), in order to give Aris supporters the opportunity to participate in the club's management by buying no par value shares. According to the plan each shareholder will have the right to vote in the board elections for president, but every year, in order to be involved in the elections, must also financially support the club. Officials are expecting over ten thousand registrations.

Supporters

Aris has a relatively large fanbase and it is the fifth most supported club in Greece. They're believed to have about 650,000 fans all over Greece and they are said to represent a respectable percentage of the middle class of the city and the native Salonicans. The biggest rivalry is against the arch-rival PAOK. The two clubs both claim the title of the most successful club of Thessaloniki. Another traditional rival is of course the other Salonican team, Iraklis. The fans of Aris, (and the fans of Thessaloniki generally), hate the Athenian giants Olympiacos Piraeus, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens.

Crest and Colours

The emblem of the team is a resting Ares (Greek: Άρης - Aris), the Olympian god of war. The colors of the team are yellow and black, reminiscent of the Byzantine Empire, under which Thessaloniki was always the second most important city.

File:Aris Thessalonikis.png

The crest of AS Aris, the sports club

File:ArisFC-Crest.svg

The crest of Aris Thessaloniki FC

Current Football Club Roster

Toni Calvo

R. Garcia

Koke

Javito

Siston

Nebegleras

Ronaldo

Aurelio

Chalkias

Neto

Papadopoulos

Aris FC most probable lineup during the 07/08 season.

Goalkeepers
1	Konstantinos Chalkias
?	Dimitrios Karatziovalis
?	Kiriakos Stratilatis
Forwards
9	Anderson
10	Koke
14	Felipe
?	Georgios Gougoulias
?	Athanasios Papazoglou

Defenders
4	Avraam Papadopoulos
5	Ronaldo
?	Efthimios Kouloucheris
?	Theodoros Papadopoulos
?	Nikolaos Karabelas
23	Georgios Koltsidas
?	/ Kristi Vangjeli
2	Neto
22	Marco Aurélio