AEK H.C.

A.E.K. H.C.
Full name	A.E.K. Handball Club
Nickname(s)	Enosis (Union) Dikefalos Aetos (Double-Headed Eagle) Kitrinomavroi (Yellow-Blacks) Vasilissa (Queen)
Founded	2005
Arena	Vyronas Indoor Hall Athens, Greece
Capacity	1,200
Head coach	Giannis Arvanitis
League	Handball Premier
2014–15	Handball Premier, 3rd
Home Away

Active departments of AEK Athens
Football	Basketball	Volleyball (Men's)
Futsal	Handball	Volleyball (Women's)
Athletics	Cycling	Table tennis
Boxing	Fencing	Chess

A.E.K. H.C. is the handball department of the major Greek multi-sports club A.E.K.. It was established in 2005.

History

The department Handball of A.E.K. founded by a decision of the General Assembly of A.E.K. on 12 July 2005.

On 5 August 2005, the Greek Handball Federation, accepted a merger through absorption of the association's Board of handball GA Ilioupolis with section Handball Sports Union of Constantinople.

During the period 2006–2007, AEK Handball Club acquired the 3rd position in A1 (Greek Men's handball championship) and gained the participation at European Cups for the first time. The administration team of AEK HC for the period 2006–2007 consisted of Nikos Georgantzoglou and Costas Stamatiadis. The coach was Giannis Arvanitis, assistant also coach of the Greece national handball team.

During the period 2007–2008, AEK participated at EHF Cup (European Handball Federation Cup) and eliminated by Dinamo Baumit Bucuresti at second round.

On 31 May 2009, AEK HC won the Greek men's handball cup, winning Filippos 33–31 in Serres and for the period 2009–2010 participated at EHF Cup Winners' Cup.^[1]

For the third round of EHF Cup Winners' Cup, AEK HC played against BSB Izmir on 14 November 2009 in Athens (losing 24–29) and on 21 November 2009 in Smyrni (draw 22–22).

During the period 2009–10, AEK H.C. terminated at 4th position of A1, gaining its European participation for 2nd consecutive time and for 3rd in general. In addition, AEK H.C. participated at the final-four of Greek men's handball cup on 29 May 2010 in Lamia, but the semi-final game against PAOK did not taken place due to fan "fights".

For the second round of European Challenge Cup (2010–11), AEK HC won Minsk (Lefkorosia) 31–25 in Athens and lost 32–27 in Minsk and therefore AEK has been advanced to the top 16 teams. For the third round (phase of 16), AEK defeated Sporting Lisboa at penalties. AEK lost 27–23 in Lisboa, but won 27–23 in Athens and so the game went on penalty-kicks, where AEK advanced to the top 8 with final score 32–27. For the Quarter-Final (phase of 8), AEK played against Partizan of Beograd and disqualified.^[2]

On 7 May 2011, AEK won the Final of (Greek Men's handball championship) and became the Greek Champion for 2011. AEK needed only the win against PAOK at Thessaloniki and was losing by one goal (22–21) 30 seconds before the final whistle but with great will and power scored twice (the final goal at the exact second of the final) and gained the first championship of its history just 6 years from their establishment.^[3] AEK participated to the first round of the EHF Champions League for the period 2011–12 and also to the first round of Challenge Cup, losing to Lions (Holland).

On 17 March 2012 AEK participated to the final game of the Greek men's handball cup against PAOK, but lost the game 26–24. AEK participated to the EHF Cup for the period 2012–13 but was eliminated by Diomidis in the first round, losing both games at Argos and Athens.

On 3 March 2013, AEK HC won the 2nd Greek men's handball cup in its history, winning PAOK 27–23 in Kerkyra (Corfu).^[4] The same year on the 1st of June, AEK HC won its second Greek Championship playing against Diomidis.^[5]

On 19 March 2014, AEK HC won the 3rd Greek men's handball cup in its history, winning Diomidis 18-16 in Athens.^[6]

All Seasons

Season	Division	Place	Notes
2005-06	A1 Ethniki	8th
2006-07	A1 Ethniki	3rd
2007-08	A1 Ethniki	8th
2008-09	A1 Ethniki	7th	Winner Greek Cup
2009-10	A1 Ethniki	4th
2010-11	A1 Ethniki	1st	Finalist Greek Cup
2011-12	A1 Ethniki	2nd	Finalist Greek Cup
2012-13	A1 Ethniki	1st	Winner Greek Cup
2013-14	A1 Ethniki	2nd	Winner Greek Cup
2014-15	A1 Ethniki	3rd	Finalist Greek Cup
2015-16	Handball Premier

Current squad

Season 2015-2016^[7]

Number	Player	Position	Birth Date	Height (m)
4	Christoforos Bakaoukas	Right Extreme	3/2/1978	1.75
5	Thodoris Filippas	Left Extreme	25/7/1997	1.85
6	Alexis Dougias	Left Extreme	6/3/1993	1.75
7	Dionysis Georgiadis	Left Extreme	7/4/1987	1.81
8	Filippos Fampats	Left Inter	26/10/1992	1.92
9	Vasilis Dimosthenous	Pivot	11/2/1985	1.85
10	Panagiotis Nikolaidis	Left Inter	2/4/1990	1.95
11	Antonis Argirakis	Right Inter	21/8/1986	1.84
14	Christos Emmanouil	Pivot	14/10/1994	1.92
15	Ilias Chastikas	Pivot	18/5/1988	1.88
16	Giannis Antoniadis	Goalkeeper	27/10/1994	1.90
17	Vaggelis Verras	Right Extreme	2/1/1996	1.80
19	Manolis Koumaradelis	Play Maker	9/7/1994	1.90
20	Anis Gatfi	Right Inter	22/10/1984	1.96
22	Kostas Grigoriadis	Left Inter	1/1/1992	1.90
24	Ioannis Filis	Goalkeeper	10/1/1990	1.84
25	Dimitris Giannopoulos	Pivot	1/4/1991	1.80
31	Haris Pleh	Goalkeeper	26/4/1996	1.92
34	Dimitris Stoumpis	Play Maker	16/6/1988	1.80
77	Euripidis Mpalaskas	Pivot	28/1/1996	1.95
88	Vasilis Kolioulis	Left Extreme	25/11/1995	1.70

Notable players

• Miljan Manić
• Mirko Lukić
• Zlatko Šuša
• Alexis Alvanos

Honours and achievements

• Greek Championship
  • Winners (2): 2010-11, 2012–13
  • Runners-up (2): 2012, 2014
• Greek Cup
  • Winners (3): 2008-09, 2012–13, 2013–14
  • Runners-up (3): 2011, 2012, 2015
• EHF Challenge Cup
  • Quarter–Finals (1): 2010-11

Arenas

Stadium	Capacity
Ilioupili Indoor Hall	330	2005-2010
Ionikos Nea Filadelphia Indoor Hall	400	2010-2012
Ano Liosia Olympic Hall	6,000	2012-2013
Panellinios Indoor Hall	1,700	2013-2014
Vyronas Indoor Hall	1,200	2014–present

References

1. "Κύπελλο Χάντμπολ: Πρώτος τίτλος στην ΑΕΚ". enet.gr. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
2. "Τέλος η Ευρώπη για την ΑΕΚ". sport24.gr. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
3. "Χάντμπολ: Πρωταθλήτρια Ελλάδας η ΑΕΚ με φοβερή ανατροπή!". enet.gr. 7 May 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
4. "Χάντμπολ: Το σήκωσε η ΑΕΚ, 27-23 τον ΠΑΟΚ!". onsports.gr. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
5. "Πρωταθλήτρια χάντμπολ η ΑΕΚ". enet.gr. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
6. "Κυπελλούχος Ελλάδας η ΑΕΚ". handball.org.gr. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
7. Hellenic Handball Federation AEK squad

External links