Athens Kallithea Football Club is a Greek professional football club based in Kallithea, Athens, Greece, which competes in the Super League 2, the second tier of the Greek football league system.
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Full name | Athens Kallithea Football Club | |||
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Founded | 18 August 1966 | |||
Ground | Grigoris Lambrakis Stadium | |||
Capacity | 6,300 | |||
Owner | Andrew Barroway | |||
Chairman | Ted Philipakos | |||
Manager | Leonidas Vokolos | |||
League | Super League Greece 2 | |||
2021–22 | Super League Greece 2, 2nd | |||
Website | Club website | |||
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The club has finished as high as ninth in the Greek top flight (2004-05) and has reached as far as the quarterfinal stage of the Greek Cup on five occasions (1969–70, 1978–79, 1986–87, 2001–02, 2009–10).[1]
The club was founded on 18 August 1966 from the merger of five local clubs: Esperos, Iraklis, AE Kallitheas, Kallithaikos, and Pyrsos.[2]
In 1970, Kallithea’s Grigoris Lambrakis Stadium, named after the Greek liberal politician and peace activist Grigoris Lambrakis, was opened to the public.
In 2002, Kallithea achieved promotion to Greece’s top division for the first time. The club’s first win in the competition was a 3–2 upset of PAOK at Toumba Stadium, thanks to two goals from Theofanis Gekas, on 14 September 2002.
After finishing ninth in 2004–05, Kallithea was relegated from the top division in 2005-06.
In August 2021, New York-born Greek-American and Venezia FC chief brand officer Ted Philipakos led the takeover of Kallithea FC,[3] with he and his brother Peter Philipakos serving as president and vice president, respectively.
In the 2021-22 season, Kallithea finished second in Super League 2, seven points back of league winners Levadiakos for promotion to Super League 1, which was the club’s most successful season since it last appeared in the top division in 2005-06.
In September 2022, the club rebranded as Athens Kallithea FC. The presentation of the club's rebranding and 22/23 home and away shirts was met with widespread acclaim in Greece[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and abroad,[11][12][13][14][15][16] with Milan-based Rivista Undici calling it "the most beautiful restyling of the year" and London-based Versus calling it "one of the cleanest football rebrands ever."
Athens Kallithea FC play at Grigoris Lambrakis Stadium in the Athenian district of Kallithea, located 2 km south of the Acropolis and 1 km west of Andrea Syngrou Avenue, the main road linking the Athens city center to Poseidonos Avenue and the Athens Riviera.
Built in 1970, and named after the Greek liberal politician and peace activist Grigoris Lambrakis, it is a multi-use public stadium with a seating capacity of 6,300.
The stadium is commonly referred to by its nickname “El Paso,” a reference to Clint Eastwood’s 1965 Spaghetti Western film For a Few Dollars More (which had the Greek title Duel in El Paso), as the stadium was built on the site of a quarry and features a tall rock along the north side of the pitch.
The first crest of Kallithea consisted of four circles representing the four groups of the merger of 1966, then becoming five circles with the addition of Pyrsos in 1967, which caused an issue with the Hellenic Olympic Committee. As a result, the club introduced a new crest with five stars in a diagonal line. The club’s colors were blue and white, which were the colors of the two main groups of the merger, Esperos Kallitheas and Iraklis Kallitheas.
In September 2022, the club rebranded as Athens Kallithea FC, with a visual identity consisting of a stylized “AK” crest, the club’s founding year 1966, the five stars representing the founding merger of the club, and a modernized representation of the mythical figure Theseus as he appears on the flag of the Kallithea. The color gold was added to the club's original blue and white. The new logo and jerseys were designed by Bureau Borsche, the German design studio that also handled the rebranding of Inter Milan and Venezia F.C.. [17][18][19][20]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Third Division: 3
Fourth Division: 1
Super League Greece 2 | |||||
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Super League Greece | |
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Overview |
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National teams |
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League competitions |
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Cup competitions |
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Miscellaneous |
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