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AEL Limassol

File:AEL Limassol.svg
Full name	Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou
Nickname(s)	"Galazo-kitrini"(Yellow-Blues) "Leontes" (Lions)
Short name	AEL
Founded	4 October 1930; 94 years ago (1930-10-04)
Stadium	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus
Capacity	13,331
Owner	Antreas Sofokleous
Manager	Dušan Kerkez
League	First Division
2023–24	First Division, 8th
Website	http://ael-fc.com
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou (Template:Lang-el), commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team.

AEL also maintains a men's and women's basketball teams, a women's volleyball team and a (newly established in 1976) Futsal team, a women's handball team as well as a cricket team. AEL is one of the most successful clubs on the island with 17 official football trophies consisting of 6 first division championships, 7 cups and 4 super cups. The basketball branch of AEL is also well known, currently being the only team from Cyprus in any sport to have won a European title (the European Regional Challenge Cup). Limassol's official club mascot is a Lion, who was affectionately nicknamed the lions by their fans.

History

The club was founded on 4 October 1930, with Stavros Pittas serving as the club's first president. The football section of the club competed in its first game on 6 January 1931 against PSC, winning 6–1 in Limassol. The club won the national championship in 1934 though this is not credited as it is an unofficial title. Later that year, AEL became one of the eight founding members of the Cypriot First Division for the 1934–35 season, the first official league of the country.

AEL Limassol celebrated its first official title success in 1941, defeating APOEL 4–3 in a two-legged championship play-off. AEL fans had to wait 12 years until tasting title success again, as the club finally became champions of Cyprus again in 1953. AEL would twice repeat this success, winning back-to-back league championships in 1955 and 1956.

The club won its last major trophy in 1989 – before the title success of 2012 – when it defeated city rivals Aris Limassol 3–2 after extra time in final of the Cypriot Cup.

In 2011, after disappointingly finishing in seventh-place in the previous campaign, AEL hired Pambos Christodoulou, who had a reputation of steering "modest sides away from relegation", to start the club's rebuilding process. AEL Limassol secured the Cypriot league title for the first time since 1968 on 5 May 2012, ending a 44-year drought without a Cypriot first division title.

Christodoulou had a dream-like first season at the helm AEL, as his side was unbeaten and had not conceded any goals through the first five games. At the end of the second round, AEL finished top of the table, three points clear of the second placed team and had only conceded seven goals, the best defensive record of all the league teams. In the play-off round, AEL battled with the top four teams for the championship, winning it with one game to spare and conceding only nine goals. As Christodoulou has managed to bring AEL the championship crown, he was nicknamed by fans "Pambourinho", a combination of his name and of esteemed manager José Mourinho.

AEL received the championship trophy during a spectacular "fiesta" evening at the Tsirion Stadium on the evening of Saturday 12 May 2012. They followed this with an open-top bus parade through Limassol. Up to 12,000 AEL fans packed the stadium to watch the fiesta and trophy presentation. The club then turned their attention to the Cup Final of 16 May against Omonia and the chance to be crowned double winners for the first time in club history; the club, however, lost 1–0 in the final. The following year, AEL made it to the group stage of a UEFA tournament for the first time, finishing last and picking up four points in their UEFA Europa League group.

On 22 October 2013, Angolan manager Lito Vidigal was sacked after just over three months in charge. Bulgarian Ivaylo Petev was appointed as AEL's manager on 25 October, having previously guided Ludogorets Razgrad to promotion to the A Group as well as two A Group titles, a Bulgarian Cup win as well as a triumph in the Bulgarian Super Cup. Petev signed an initial deal to stay at AEL until the end of the 2014–15 season.

At the end of the 2013–14 season, AEL finished in first place in the initial phase of the competition. Going into the championship match against APOEL on 17 May 2014, AEL needed only a draw to secure their second league title in three years. The match, however, was abandoned (at 0–0) after 52 minutes when firecrackers thrown by AEL fans struck APOEL player Kaká. The match was replayed behind closed doors at a neutral stadium on 31 May 2014, and APOEL achieved to win their second consecutive league title after beating AEL 1–0, courtesy of a Cillian Sheridan goal. On 6 June 2014, the Cyprus Football Association's (CFA) disciplinary committee – acting as an appeals board – unanimously cancelled on the CFA council's decision to repeat the 17 May championship final, awarding the match to APOEL with a 0–3 score. AEL winger Jorge Monteiro finished the season as joint-top scorer in the league with 18 goals, and the former Porto academy product was voted player of the year by the CFA. AEL finished in the 4th place of the championship of 2016–2017 and as a result the team won a place in the first qualifying round of Europa League. Furthermore, AEL achieved to go up to third qualifying round from a not fair play game from the referee Artyom Kuchin and the players of Austria Wien. The referee had show the white dot of the penalty for a ghost faul outside of the box of AEL and a red card for AEL defender Marco Airosa in the twenty second minute. AEL had fight for the win for the whole game to achieve two goals that send her in the play-offs but the score finished 1–2.

AEL FC as a company

The football department of AEL is legally owned by AEL Football (Public) Ltd (Template:Lang-el), a public limited company, since 2009. The company's main activity is the management, operation and commercial exploitation of AEL Football club.

Stadium

AEL plays its home matches at the 14,000-seat Tsirion Stadium, also known as the Olympia Stadium (G.S.O). Tsirion Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Limassol. It is mostly used for football matches and is also the home ground of Apollon Limassol and Aris Limassol. The stadium was built in 1975.{{cn}

The construction of a new stadium in Limassol started and is expected to open until 2022 replacing Tsirion Stadium. The capacity of the new stadium will be approximately 13.500 and the official name of the stadium will be Limassol Arena. The new stadium will be category UEFA 4-star.

Current Squad

As of 1 February 2021

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  CPV Vozinha 2 DF  SRB Aleksandar Pantić 4 DF  POR André Teixeira 6 MF  SRB Slobodan Medojević 7 DF  CYP Andreas Avraam 8 MF  MKD Davor Zdravkovski 9 MF  SRB Marko Adamović 11 MF  ESP Sito Riera 13 DF  CYP Strahinja Kerkez 14 FW  MAR Ryan Mmaee 16 MF  ESP Manuel Torres 17 DF  BRA Euller 22 FW  CYP Minas Antoniou 23 MF  CYP Vasilios Papafotis

No. Pos. Nation Player 24 MF  CYP Dimitris Avraam 28 DF  BIH Gordan Bunoza 29 FW  KOS Donis Avdijaj 30 GK  CYP Andreas Keravnos 31 DF  BRA Bruno Santos 36 DF  FRA Christophe Psyché 38 MF  CYP Anthony Georgiou 40 DF  CYP Charis Kyriakou 42 DF  CYP Kypros Neofytou 72 MF  CYP Michalis Konstantinidis 77 FW  CRO Matko Babić 83 MF  CYP Charalambos Melanarkitis 90 MF  BEL Danilo 95 GK  POL Patryk Procek

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  CYP Charis Kapsos (at Karmiotissa until 30 June 2021) — DF  CYP Markos Moustakis (at Ypsonas until 30 June 2021) — DF  CYP Christoforos Frantzis (at Kouris Erimis until 30 June 2021) — MF  POR Leandro Silva (at Arouca until 30 June 2021)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ARM Gevorg Ghazaryan (at Lamia until 30 June 2021) — MF  CYP Andreas Frangos (at Aris Limassol until 30 June 2021) — MF  CYP Stylianos Panteli (at Ermis Aradippou until 30 June 2021) — MF  CYP Giannis Gerolemou (at Tsarsko Selo until 30 June 2021) — FW  SRB Andrija Majdevac (at Ethnikos Achnas until 30 June 2021)

Current staff

Technical staff
Head Coach	Dušan Kerkez
Assistant Coach	Christos Charalabous
Football Tactical Analysis	Christos Panteli
Goalkeeping Coach	Marios Stavrinides
Fitness Coach	Haris Falas
Assistant Fitness Coach	Charalambos Pittakas
Medical staff
Head Doctor	Dr. Christos Patsalides
Sports development consultant	Dr. Charis Tymvios
Physical Therapist	Giorgos Zantis
Physical Therapist	Polis Achilleos
Physical Therapist	Kimonas Papamiltiadous

Honours

• Cypriot First Division

Champions (6): 1940–41, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1967–68, 2011–12

Runners-up (2): 1947–48, 2013–14

• Cypriot Second Division

Champions: 1996–97

• Cypriot Cup

Champions (7): 1938–39, 1939–40, 1947–48, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1988–89, 2018–19

Runners-up (11): 1937–38, 1940–41, 1958–59, 1978–79, 1987–88, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15

• Cypriot Super Cup

Champions (4): 1953, 1968, 1985, 2015

Runners-up (5): 1955, 1987, 1989, 2012, 2019

UEFA club coefficient ranking

UEFA Team Ranking 2017

UEFA Club ranking

Rank	Country	Team	Points
209		Hapoel Tel Aviv	4.350
210		Hapoel Ramat-Gan	4.350
211		AEL Limassol	4.310
212		AEK Larnaca	4.310

Last update: 15 June 2018
Source:

European record

1R = First round, PR = Preliminary round, Q = Qualifying round, PO = play-off round.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	1st leg	2nd leg	Aggregate
1968–69	European Cup	1R	Real Madrid	0–6	0–6	0–12
1985–86	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Dukla Prague	2–2	0–4	2–6
1987–88	European Cup Winners' Cup	PR	DAC Dunajská Streda	0–1	1–5	1–6
1989–90	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Admira Wacker	0–3	1–0	1–3
2002–03	UEFA Cup	QR	Ferencváros	0–4	2–1	2–5
2012–13	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Linfield	3–0	0–0	3–0
		3Q	Partizan	1–0	1–0	2–0
		PO	Anderlecht	2–1	0–2	2–3
	UEFA Europa League	Group C	Marseille	1–5	3–0	4th place
			Fenerbahçe	0–1	0–2
			Borussia Mönchengladbach	0–0	0–2
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	3Q	Zenit	1–0	0–3	1–3
	UEFA Europa League	PO	Tottenham Hotspur	1–2	0–3	1–5
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	St Joseph's	4–0	6–0	10–0
		2Q	Progrès Niederkorn	1–0	2–1	3–1
		3Q	Austria Wien	0–0	1–2	1–2
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Aris	0–0	0–1	0–1

Managerial history

• Dimitris Tsiepis (1930-32)
• Argiris Gavalas (1932-46)
• Costas Vasiliou (1946-48)
• Argiris Gavalas (1948-56)
• Spiros Elia
• Ferdinard Ceplar
• Christos Christodoulou
• Ulhen Fitz
• Georgios Eisaggeleas
• Costas Pambou "Mavrokolos"
• Nicolae Simatoc (1962–63)
• Loizos Pantelidis (1968-69)
• František Havránek (1984–86)
• Valér Švec (1986–88)
• Dušan Uhrin (1988–89)
• Jiri Dunaj (1989–90)
• František Cipro (1990–92)
• Anatoliy Byshovets (1992–93)
• Andreas Kissonergis (1995)
• Diethelm Ferner (1995–96)
• Kálmán Mészöly (1997–98)
• Andreas Michaelides (July 2000 – Sept 2002)
• Giannis Matzourakis (Sept 2002 – Nov 3)
• Henk Houwaart (Nov 2003 – 31 December 2004)
• Oleh Protasov (Dec 2004 – March 5)
• Andreas Michaelides (March 2005 – May 5)
• Bojan Prašnikar (1 July 2005 – 30 November 2005)
• Loizos Mavroudis (Feb 2006 – May 6)
• Panicos Orphanides (July 2006 – Jan 7)
• Eli Guttman (Feb 2007 – Dec 7)
• Mariano Barreto (4 December 2007 – 5 February 2008)
• Andreas Michaelides (Feb 2008 – Jan 2009)
• Mihai Stoichiță (26 January 2009 – 20 May 2009)
• Nir Klinger (1 August 2009 – 1 December 2009)
• Dušan Uhrin, Jr. (1 January 2010 – 21 September 2010)
• Mihai Stoichiță (22 September 2010 – 7 February 2011)
• Raymond Atteveld (7 February 2011 – May 2011)
• Pambos Christodoulou (24 March 2011 – 22 October 2012)
• Jorge Costa (24 October 2012 – 22 May 2013)
• Lito Vidigal (1 July 2013 – 22 October 2013)
• Ivaylo Petev (25 October 2013 – 17 November 2014)
• Christakis Christoforou (17 November 2014 – 19 October 2015)
• Makis Chavos (27 October 2015 – 8 February 2016)
• Pambos Christodoulou (8 February 2016 – 7 March 2017)
• Bruno Baltazar (22 March 2017 – 5 March 2018)
• Dušan Kerkez (5 March 2018–)

Presidential history

AEL Football Academies

• Cypriot U21 Championships: 13

1940, 1951, 1960, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008

Runners-up: 1

2012

• Cyprus U21 Cup: 1

1997

• Cypriot U19 Championships: 1

2018(Participating 2018–19 UEFA Youth League)

• Cypriot U17 Championships: 6

2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2018

Runners-up: 1

2019

• Cypriot U16 Championships: 1

2017

• Cypriot U15 Championships: 2

2005, 2009

• Cypriot U13 Championships: 3

2006, 2008, 2017

AEL Basketball Team

There is a men's and woman's Basketball team with the woman's team known as ASBIS AEL Limassol.

Women volleyball team (Robomarkets AEL)

A founding member of the Cyprus Volleyball Federation in 1976, AEL's women team has dominated in the Cypriot volleyball. The team's achievements are phenomenal; Out of the 32 seasons played so far in Cyprus since the commencement of the women's volleyball league, the team won the Championship 27 times. Out of the 31 cups they won it 27 times, 24 consecutive times, from 1980 until 2003. Also they have won the Championship 15 consecutive times, from 1977 until 1991. They have also the amazing records of winning the Double 12 times from 1980 until 1991 and 9 times from 1993 until 2001. In the past the club had also a men's team for 10 years which participated in the Cypriot Championship.

Bowling team

The bowling club was founded in 1999 and the same year became a member of the Limassol District Federation. In 2001, the team participated in the Cypriot Championship as one of the two representatives of the Limassol District Federation. In the team won its first trophy by winning the Limassol District Federation Cup and in 2006 its first Championship by winning the Limassol District Federation Championship. The home of the team is the Galaktika Bowling Center.

Player

Christos Krassas

Nikolas kleanthous

Michalis Perikleous

Georgios Georgiou

Andros Kalogirou

Demetris Demetriou

Panikos Kleanthous

Cycling team

The cycling team was founded in 2001 and the same year became a member of the Limassol District Federation. The first men's cycling team consisted of the following : Ομηρος Χριστοφόρου, Παντελής Τίμινης, Μιχάλης Τσουλόφτας, Ηρόδοτος Κυριάκου, Σωτήρης Σκουταρίδης, Δημήτρης Αραούζος

Defunct sports departments

Apart from the currently active sports departments, AEL had in the past some other sports departments, which today are defunct. Despite this, these currently not active departments had all won titles for AEL when they were active.

Field hockey

In the past AEL Limassol had a field hockey team which is currently not active. The team had plenty of victories led by its star player Renos Antoniadis. In 1931, AEL won the Cup in a match which was played in Larnaca. One year later, the team became Cypriot Champions. The team consisted of the following players: Antoniadis, Pareas, Frangos, Christophides, Michaelides, Kalogirou, Victor Mousteris, Anastasiadis and Williamson. However, there were no further hockey competitions in Cyprus afterwards, as the other teams hockey teams of the era closed down their hockey departments because of financial problems.

Handball

Another AEL sport department that currently does not exist is the handball. The team was active for a small period of time but that did not stop the team from adding another trophy to the hundreds that AEL won in various other sports. On 11 June 1989, a day after the football team of the club won the Cypriot Cup, the handball team won the Cypriot Cup in handball by beating Youth Centre Larnaca 23–19 in the final which was played in Lefkotheo Indoor Hal, Nicosia.

Men's volleyball

AEL maintains 3 teams for women's volleyball but does not currently have a men's Volleyball team.

Waterpolo

AEL was also active in maritime sports, especially those that needed team participation. AEL pioneered in Regattas in 1932, 1933 and 1934 in the Cyprus Regatta Games. The members of the team were Nearchos Pieris, Christakis Dixon, Andreas Araouzos, Sotiris Antoniades and Maximos Morides. The club had also a waterpolo team which was unbeaten Cypriot Champions. The team achieved a noted victory against a selected team of the Royal Navy which were then Mediterranean Champions. Apart from the Cypriot Championships, AEL won the Mediterranean Naval Cup.

References

1. "96 trophies". Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
2. ^ Ιστορία Συλλόγου (in Greek). AEL Limassol. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011.
3. ^ "Cyprus – List of Final Tables 1931–1998". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 23 April 2011.
4. "Cyprus – List of Final Tables 1931–1998". RSSSF. 6 January 2005. Archived from the original on 23 April 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
5. "AEL Limassol end 44-year Cypriot title wait". UEFA. 5 May 2012.
6. "Cyprus Coca Cola Cup".
7. "Cyprus – Cup History 1934–1996". RSSSF. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
8. "Pambos Christodoulou: AEL FC was my dream!" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
9. "Season review: Cyprus". UEFA. 18 May 2012.
10. "AEL Limassol end 44-year title wait". FIFA. 5 May 2012.
11. "AEL Lemesos won the Championship" (in Greek). Retrieved 5 May 2012.
12. "Pambos Christodoulou: My first Championship Crown" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
13. "AEL Lemesos Cypriot Championship Winners 2011–2012" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
14. "AEL Limassol end a long time title wait". Retrieved 6 May 2012.
15. "AEL Limassol end 44-year Cypriot title wait with Pambos Christodoulou". Retrieved 6 May 2012.
16. "Κυπελλούχος η Ομόνοια". Κυπριακή Ομοσπονδία Ποδοσφαίρου. 16 May 2012.
17. "AEL – History – UEFA.com". UEFA. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
18. ^ "European Football – Coach who was chased out by hooligans named AEL Limassol boss". Eurosport. 25 October 2013. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
19. "Soccer-Cyprus FA wants title decider replayed after violence". Yahoo! News. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
20. "Sheridan strike hands APOEL Cypriot title". UEFA. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
21. "Sheridan strike hands APOEL Cypriot title". UEFA. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
22. "APOEL are champions... again!". cyprus-mail.com. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
23. "Season review: Cyprus". UEFA. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.

External links

• AEL Limassol football club Official Website
• AEL Limassol Club Official Website
• Official SY.F.AEL Fans Website
• Lions Radio Unofficial Fans Website

• AEL Limassol
• Football clubs in Cyprus
• Volleyball clubs in Cyprus
• Association football clubs established in 1930
• Multi-sport clubs in Cyprus
• 1930 establishments in Cyprus