Nea Kavala F.C.

Kavala FC
Full name Αθλητικός Όμιλος Καβάλα
(Athletic Club Kavala)
Nickname(s) Argonauts
Light Brigade of the North
Founded 1965
Ground Anthi Karagianni Stadium
Kavala, Greece
Ground Capacity 10,500
Owner Amateur Kavala
Chairman Greece Konstantinos Kanakis
Manager Greece Kostas Anyfantakis
League Gamma Ethniki
2014–15 Gamma Ethniki, 3rd (Group A)
Website Club home page
Logo of Kavala F.C. until 2012

AO Kavala (Greek: Athlitikos Omilos Kavala, Αθλητικός Όμιλος Καβάλα), the Athletic Club Kavala, is a professional association football club based in the city of Kavala, Aegean Macedonia, Greece.

History[1]

The club was formed in 1965 from the merger of Phillipoi Kavala, Iraklis Kavala and A.E. Kavala.

They have had a few runs in the top division of the Greek League. They were promoted to Alpha Ethniki for the first time in 1969 and stayed up for 6 years (1970 1975). They returned to top division in 1976 and played again for six seasons.

In 1982 the club were relegated to the Beta Ethniki (second tier of Greek football). After 11 years in Beta Ethniki and one year in Gamma Ethniki (third tier – 1988–89) they were promoted to Alpha Ethniki. There "black" period began for the team in which they played only in Beta Ethniki and Gamma Ethniki.

2009–2010 Season

In 2009 they signed Miltiadis Sapanis and EURO 2004 winner Fanis Katergiannakis. Kavala were promoted for the first time in 9 years to Greeces top division. In their quest to remain in the top flight they have signed Pepe Reina's back up at Liverpool, Charles Itandje and recently acquired Brazilian Denílson (January 2010 transfer window) a 2002 World Cup Winner. Additional season signings include Craig Moore, Željko Kalac, Ebi Smolarek, Diogo Rincón, Sotiris Leontiou, Serge Dié, Wilson Oruma and Frédéric Mendy. This combined with coach Aad de Mos meant that Kavala set the league alight. They subsequently achieved notable victories in the 2009–2010 season against Iraklis FC, Panionios, AEK FC and Panathinaikos FC.

2010–2011 Season

Ending in 6th place, the team entered the transfer season. In July, the Spanish goalkeeper, Javier Lopez Vallejo (who played in Real Zaragoza) was added to the roster. The team's owner sought the new manager throughout Europe and settled on the Serbian coach Dragomir Okuka who lasted until November, when he was replaced by Henryk Kasperczak. In Kasperczak's debut as a coach, Kavala beat AEK, 2–1, in what was considered a very good appearance.

But in March 2011, Kasperczak, retired as the coach of this team, and he was replaced by Ioannis Matzourakis, who was the coach in Kavala FC team in the seasons 1985–1986. Kavala finished 7th and later faced the threat of relegation to Football League (Greece) due to the match-fixing scandal.[2] After an appeal, the team managed to avoid relegation by starting the new league with 8 points less.[3] On 23 August, however, the Professional Sports Committee stripped both Kavala and Olympiakos Volou from their professional licence and demoted them to the Delta Ethniki.[4]

2011–2012 Season

Kavala competed in Delta Ethniki Group 1. They only finished 4th, but were promoted two divisions to the Football League for 2012/13 after it was ruled that their demotion to Delta Ethniki in 2011 was as a result of government intervention and should not have been implemented by the football authorities.[5]

2013–2014 Season

Ιn September 2013 Germans investors take the management of Kavala F.C..The agreement provides that the new investors will "catch" and a significant part of its debts to old players.

Indeed, the Germans will be able to buy a majority stake of the shares of FC paying €500,000 clause of the first season and €700,000 for the second, respectively.

Stadium

The Anthi Karagianni Municipal Stadium (Greek: Δημοτικό Στάδιο Ανθή Καραγιάννη), formerly the Kavala National Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Kavala, Greece. It is the homebase of Kavala F.C..[1] The stadium was built 1970, and currently has a seating capacity of 10,500.[1] It is named after the paralympic athlete, Anthi Karagianni, who won three silver medals in the 2004 Paralympic Games.

Current squad

2015–16 season

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

No. Position Player
Greece GK Panagiotis Kyfonidis
Greece GK Symeon Sinodinos
Greece GK Athanasios Athanasiou
Greece DF Savvas Toumanidis
Greece DF Diamantis Adamantiou
Greece DF Anestis Karypoglou
Greece DF Michail Bantanis
Greece DF Christos Batzios
Greece DF Giorgos Margaritis
Greece DF Nikos Liolios
Greece MF Grigoris Papadopoulos
Greece DF Pavlos Stamatopoulos
Greece MF Giorgos Paligiorgos
No. Position Player
Greece MF Tasos Dentsas
Greece MF Damianos Delis
Greece MF Lefteris Asimakis
Greece MF Fotis Doumanis
Greece MF Amvrosios Papadopoulos
Greece FW Charilaos Pappas
Greece FW Alexandros Chrysalidis
Greece FW Minas Ptinopolos
Greece FW Thanasis Kanoulas
Albania FW Alexandros Bracjani
Greece FW Vlasis Kazakis
Greece FW Iasonas Pantelidis

For latest transfers see List of Greek football transfers summer 2013

Personnel

Board of Directors

Technical staff
President Greece Konstantinos Kanakis
Curator of Football Greece Argyris Spanidis
Technical Director Greece Stelios Katrakilakis

Coaching & Medical Staff[6]

  • Manager: Greece Kostas Anyfantakis
  • Assistant Manager: Greece Panagiotis Diakakis

Coaches

Aad de Mos, manager (2009–2010)

Achievements

League Participation

League history

Sources:[7][8]

References

  1. "Kavala's History".
  2. "Relegation for Olympiakos Volou and Kavala" (in Greek). Contra.gr. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  3. "Olympiakos Volou and Kavala escape relegation" (in Greek). Contra.gr. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  4. "Olympiakos Volou and Kavala to Delta Ethniki" (in Greek). Contra.gr. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  5. http://www.epo.gr/News.aspx?a_id=43060&NewsType=21
  6. "Kavala's Coaching & Medical staff".
  7. Abbink, Dinant and Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (2003-08-07). "Greece – Final Tables 1959–1999". RSSSF.
  8. Abbink, Dinant and Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander (2005-05-18). "Greece – List of Second Level Final Tables". RSSSF.

External links

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