AEK Athens FC is the football club of the Athletic Union of Constantinople (AEK), a sports club founded in April of 1924 in Athens, Greece following the expulsion of the Greek population of Turkey in 1922. AEK is presently being played in Nea Filadelfeia.
The emblem of AEK is a an eagle with two heads. One head is looking east, the other is looking west. This symbol was used by the Byzantium Empire (looks left to Konstantinoupoli (New Rome) & right to Rome), and it is still in use by Greek Orthodox churches. The colours are a black eagle on a yellow background.
The football section of the AEK is one of the leading football clubs in Greece, having won 27 national titles (11 Championships, 13 Cups, 2 Super Cups, 1 League Cup) and participates in European competition (UEFA Cup semifinalists in the 1976-77 season).
The basketball section of AEK is also one of the leading clubs in Greece and the first Greek club ever to win an international title in all sports as it won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1968.
AEK first played at the Nikos Goumas stadium which was first opened in 1930. Between 1985 and 1987, the capacity reaches as high as 36,766 spectators. A new stadium is yet to be planned. The team currently plays in the Olympic Stadium of Athens - capacity 74000.
Many of its players helped made Greece win Euro 2004, they were Demis Nikolaidis, Michalis Kapsis, Vasilis Kalis, Vasilis Tsiartas, Kostas Katsouranis and Thodoris Zagorakis. Nikolaidis is now the chairman of the team - he retired as a footballer after Euro 2004.
The club survived serious financial problems lately, to the point where its very existence was threatened.
Historic players
- Thomas Mavros
- Mimis Papaioannou
- Kostas Nestoridis
- Demis Nikolaidis
- Stelios Manolas
- Kostas Katsouranis
- Theodoros Zagorakis
National titles
Championships (11x)
1939, 1940, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1978, 1979, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994
Cups (15x)
1932, 1938, 1939, 1949, 1950, 1956, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1978, 1983, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002
Super cups (2x)
1989 and 1996
League Cup (1x)
1990
Internal link
External link
