Niki Volos F.C.

Niki Volou

File:Niki Volos F.C.png
Full name	Niki Volou Football Club
Founded	19 August 1924 (1924-08-19)
Ground	Panthessaliko Stadium
Capacity	22,700
Owner	Alexis Papaconstantinou
Chairman	Nikos Papaconstantinou
Manager	Alekos Vosniadis
League	Super League Greece 2
2021–22	Super League Greece 2, 4th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Niki Volou Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Νίκη Βόλου) is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Volos, in the region of Magnesia, Greece. The club currently competes in the Super League 2, the second tier of Greek football. It is the most historic team in Volos, according to the fans of the club, since it holds 26 titles in its potential, hence the only 6 entries in the First National Division.

History

Niki Volou was founded on 19 August 1924 as Gymnastic Club of Volos' Refugees or Refugee Gymnastic Association, by Greek refugees who came from Asia Minor.

Niki participated for the first time in the championship of the first category before the establishment of the First National, as in 1953–54 she was the winner of the Northern Group and this gave her the ticket for the final phase of the National Division Championship 1953–54, Six teams (Athens (2) – Piraeus – Thessaloniki – North – South) took the 5th place with 16 points, ahead of Panahaiki, who finished the championship with 13.

Niki won for the first time in the 1961 Greek FCA Winners' Championship, where she had 5 appearances in the big league. In 1966 it was devalued to the Beta Ethniki and since then it has been trying to regain its rise to the big category, which eventually succeeded 48 years later, in 2014–15. In 1976 he won the Amateur Cup.

In recent years he has been fighting in the Beta Ethniki Championship and in the 2006–07 season he finished last and deferred to the Third National. In the 2012–13 season he was back in the Beta Ethniki Championship, and in the following year (2013–14) after the play-offs he won the first place that led to the Super League after 48 years of absence. Unfortunately, on 10 December 2014, the club of Thessaly left the championship due to the inability of the administration to cover the financial obligations that had been created, leaving all the players that belonged to its staff to be released as free. From 2015 he competes in the Gamma Ethniki.

Crest and colours

Historical crest

File:Niki Volos.png

Team's crest until 2015

Niki Volos crest displays the goddess Nike as depicted in the statue Winged Victory of Samothrace. The image of the goddess was the original emblem of the Smyrna-based athletic club Panionios, one of the most popular Greek athletic clubs of Ionia, before it was uprooted and re-established in Athens after the Greco-Turkish War. The founding members of Niki Volou FC, many of them refugees from Smyrna (now Izmir) and the surrounding region, decided to restore the emblem as part of their new club.

Players

Current squad

As of 31 August 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF GRE Savvas Topalidis 3 DF CYP Stelios Demetriou 4 DF GRE Christos Gromitsaris 5 DF GRE Georgios Delizisis 6 MF GRE Georgios Krimitzas 7 MF BRA Bruno 8 DF GRE Pavlos Kyriakidis 9 FW EQG Óscar Siafá 10 MF EQG Josete Miranda 11 FW URU Luciano Olaizola 12 DF GRE Antonis Anastasiou 15 GK GRE Stratos Misyrlis 16 GK GRE Nikos Bourganis

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW ARG Antonio Rojano 20 MF GRE Vasilios Gavriilidis 21 MF GRE Stavros Tsoukalas 22 DF GRE Panagiotis Panagiotidis 25 FW GRE Georgios Ballas 26 DF GRE Vangelis Andreou 28 GK SRB Vladimir Bajić 29 MF ALB Neti Meçe 31 FW GRE Paschalis Kassos 40 MF SRB Luka Milunović 46 DF GRE Pavlos Logaras (on loan from PAOK B) 66 FW GRE Christos Tzioras

Honours

Leagues

• Second Division
  • Winners (2): 1960–61, 2013–14
    • Runners-up (1): 1979–80
• Third Division
  • Winners (2): 1976, 1995–96
    • Runners-up (4): 1987–88, 2011–12, 2017–18, 2018–19
• Fourth Division
  • Winners (2): 1992–93, 2001–02
• Greek Football Amateur Cup
  • Winner (1): 1975–76
• Thessaly FCA Championship
  • Winners (15): 1932–33, 1937–38, 1945–46, 1947–48, 1948–59, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1975–76
• Thessaly FCA Cup
  • Winners (5): 1975–76, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2015–16, 2017–18

Achievements

Leagues

• Panhellenic Championship
  • Fifth place (1): 1954

Cups

• Greek Cup
  • Semi-finals (2): 1946-47, 1964-65
  • Quarter-Finalists (6): 1955–56, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1962–63, 2005–06

Seasons in the 21st century

Season	Category	Position	Cup
2000–01	Delta Ethniki (4th division)	3rd	—
2001–02	Delta Ethniki (4th division)	1st	—
2002–03	Gamma Ethniki (3rd division)	4th	1R
2003–04	Beta Ethniki (2nd division)	6th	1R
2004–05	Beta Ethniki (2nd division)	4th	2R
2005–06	Beta Ethniki (2nd division)	10th	QF
2006–07	Beta Ethniki (2nd division)	18th	5R
2007–08	Gamma Ethniki (3rd division)	10th	2R
2008–09	Gamma Ethniki (3rd division)	7th	2R
2009–10	Gamma Ethniki (3rd division)	11th	1R
2010–11	Football League 2 (3rd division)	11th	1R
2011–12	Football League 2 (3rd division)	2nd	2R
2012–13	Football League (2nd Division)	5th	3R
2013–14	Football League (2nd division)	1st	3R
2014–15	Super League (1st division)	17th	GS
2015–16	Gamma Ethniki (3rd division)	3rd	—
2016–17	Gamma Ethniki (3rd division)	6th	—
2017–18	Gamma Ethniki (3rd division)	2nd	—
2018–19	Gamma Ethniki (3rd division)	2nd	GS
2019–20	Football League (3rd Division)	5th	3R
2020–21	Football League (3rd Division)	8th	Cancelled
2021–22	Super League 2 (2nd Division)	5th	R16

Key: 1R = First Round, 2R = Second Round, 3R = Third Round, 4R = Fourth Round, 5R = Fifth Round, GS = Group Stage, QF = Quarter-finals, SF = Semi-finals.

Supporters

The club's most famous supporters group is the one consisting of members from "Blue Club", fan club established in 1985, the so-called Indians. The fan club is also recognized as "Blue Club Panagiotis Ntokouzis", named after one of the founding members of the fan club who died in a motorcycle accident. Another club, particularly famous among the majority of Greek ultras, is the "Blue Angels club 1994" established in 1994.

Notable supporters

• Lavrentis Machairitsas, rock musician

Friendships

• Dunav Ruse
• Astana

Sponsorships

• Great Shirt Sponsor: Car.gr
• Official Sport Clothing Manufacturer: Macron
• Golden Sponsor: TBA

External links

• Official website (in Greek)