Niki Volos F.C.

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.

Niki Volou

Full name	Niki Volou Football Club
Founded	August 19, 1924; 99 years ago (1924-08-19) as Gymnastic Club of Volos' Refugees
Ground	Panthessaliko Stadium
Capacity	22,700
Owner	Alexis Papakonstantinou
Chairman	Nikos Papakonstantinou
Manager	Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos
League	Super League Greece 2
2022–23	Super League Greece 2, 3rd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

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 she was relegated to the Beta Ethniki and since then has been trying to regain her rise to the big category, which eventually succeeded 48 years later, in 2014–15. In 1976 she won the Amateur Cup.

In recent years she has been competing in the Beta Ethniki Championship, but in the 2006–07 season finished last and was relegated to the Gamma Ethniki. In the 2012–13 season she was back in the Beta Ethniki, and in the following year (2013–14) after the play-offs, 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 and the following year started again from the amateur Gamma Ethniki. From the period 2021-2022 it was promoted again to the second division, where she currently competes. Niki has a long-standing rivalry with Olympiakos Volos, the crosstown derby.

Crest and colours

 

Historical crest

 

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.

Titles and honours

Domestic

• Second Division
  • Winners (2): 1960–61, 2013–14
    • Runners-up (1): 1979–80
• Third Division
  • Winners (1): 1995–96
    • Runners-up (4): 1987–88, 2011–12, 2017–18, 2018–19
• Fourth Division
  • Winners (2): 1992–93, 2001–02
• Greek FCA Winners' Championship
  • Winners (1): 1975–76
• Greek Football Amateur Cup
  • Winner (1): 1975–76

Regional

• 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
• Volos Cup
  • Winners (3): 1933, 1939, 1958

Achievements

Leagues

• Panhellenic Championship
  • Fifth place (1): 1954
  • Third place of Central Group of Panhellenic Championship (1): 1956

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)	4th	R16
2022–23	Super League 2 (2nd Division)	3rd	4R
2023–24	Super League 2 (2nd Division)

Key: 1R = First Round, 2R = Second Round, 3R = Third Round, 4R = Fourth Round, 5R = Fifth Round, GS = Group Stage, R16 = Round of 16, QF = Quarter-finals, SF = Semi-finals.

Notable wins

Season Match Score 1965–66 Niki Volos – Olympiacos 1–0 1964–65 Niki Volos – Panathinaikos (cancelled) 1–0 1961–62 Niki Volos – AEK Athens 2–1 2013 Niki Volos – AEK Athens (friendly match) 3–1 1953–54 PAOK – Niki Volos 1–2 1962–63 PAOK – Niki Volos 0–2 1963–64 Niki Volos – PAOK 1–0 1964–65 Niki Volos – PAOK 1–0 1938 Niki Volos – Aris (friendly match) 2–0 1958–59 Niki Volos – Aris (for Greek Cup) 1–0 1963–64 Niki Volos – Aris 3–0 1963–64 Aris – Niki Volos 0–2 1964–65 Niki Volos – Aris 1–0 1964–65 Niki Volos – Aris (for Greek Cup) 2–1 (a.e.t.) 2005–06 Niki Volos – Aris (Beta Ethniki) 2–1 2006–07 Niki Volos – Aris (for Greek Cup) 2–0 (a.e.t.)

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.

Friendships

•   Dunav Ruse
•   Astana

Players

Current squad

As of 22 September 2023

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   GRE Athanasios Garavelis 2 DF   GRE Savvas Topalidis 4 DF   GRE Christos Gromitsaris 5 DF   GRE Apostolos Stikas 6 DF   CMR Joseph Antoine Na'a 7 FW   GRE Anastasios Kritikos 8 DF   GRE Pavlos Kyriakidis 9 FW   ROU Vlad Morar 10 MF   EQG Josete Miranda 11 MF   GRE Dimitrios Litenas 16 GK   GRE Nikos Bourganis 18 MF   GRE Rafail Pettas 19 MF   GRE Lampros Politis 20 MF   GRE Vasilios Gavriilidis

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF   GRE Antonis Anastasiou 22 DF   GRE Panagiotis Panagiotidis 25 MF   ALB Neti Meçe 26 DF   GRE Vangelis Andreou 29 DF   CMR Patrick Bahanack 31 FW   GRE Paschalis Kassos 42 DF   GRE Dimitrios Koutsibanas 46 FW   GRE Panagiotis Ballas 52 MF   ALB Adriano Skenderaj 66 FW   GRE Christos Tzioras 88 GK   GRE Vasilios Kravaritis 94 FW   BRA Léo Ribeiro 98 FW   GRE Gerasimos Voukelatos

Personnel

Ownership and current board

Position	Staff
Owner	Alexis Papakonstantinou
President & CEO	Nikos Papakonstantinou
Vice-President	Vasilis Venetis
Communications Director	Giorgos Apostolakopoulos
Marketing Director	Andreas Kikilias
Press Office	Panagiotis Dalatariof
Board member	Alexis Papakonstantinou
Board member	Stergios Fatsis
Board member	Giannis Kazepidis

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos
Assistant manager	Stelios Venetidis
Fitness coach	Angelos Papanikolaou
Fitness coach	Christos Karydopoulos
Goalkeeping coach	Manos Apostolidis
Physiotherapist	Stefanos Kougoulos
Physiotherapist	Nontas Voutselas

Notable supporters

• Angelos Argyris, footballer, former Niki Volos player ^[1]
• Dimitris Balafas, footballer and coach, former Niki Volos captain ^[2]
• Lavrentis Machairitsas, singer ^[3]
• Giannis Paflias, footballer and coach, former Niki Volos captain ^[4]

References

1. Άγγελος Αργύρης: Η Νίκη Βόλου είναι ομάδα της καρδιάς μου
2. Μπαλάφας: «Νίκη Βόλου, η ομάδα της καρδιάς μου»
3. Δηλωμένος Νικιώτης ο Λαυρέντης
4. Όνειρό μου να καθίσω στον πάγκο της Νίκης - Mikriliga.com · Είναι η ομάδα της καρδιάς μου

External links

• Official website (in Greek)