Niki Volou
Full nameNiki Volou Football Club
FoundedAugust 19, 1924 (1924-08-19) (as Gymnastic Club of Volos' Refugees)
GroundPanthessaliko Stadium
Capacity22,700
OwnerAlexis Papakonstantinou
ChairmanNikos Papakonstantinou
ManagerDimitrios Eleftheropoulos
LeagueSuper League Greece 2
2022–23Super League Greece 2, 3rd
WebsiteClub website

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.

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

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

Cups

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
1938 Niki Volos – Panathinaikos (friendly match) 1–0
1961–62 Niki Volos – AEK Athens 2–1
2013 Niki Volos – AEK Athens (friendly match) 3–1
1954 PAOK – Niki Volos 1–2
1962–63 PAOK – Niki Volos 0–2
1963–64 Niki Volos – PAOK 1–0
1964 Niki Volos – PAOK (friendly match) 2–1
1964–65 Niki Volos – PAOK 1–0
1938 Niki Volos – Aris (friendly match) 2–0
1958 Niki Volos – Aris (friendly match) 1–0
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

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 Greece GRE Athanasios Garavelis
2 DF Greece GRE Savvas Topalidis
5 DF Greece GRE Apostolos Stikas
6 DF Cameroon CMR Joseph Antoine Na'a
7 FW Greece GRE Anastasios Kritikos
8 DF Greece GRE Pavlos Kyriakidis
9 FW Romania ROU Vlad Morar
10 MF Equatorial Guinea EQG Josete Miranda
11 MF Greece GRE Dimitrios Litenas
16 GK Greece GRE Nikos Bourganis
18 MF Greece GRE Rafail Pettas
19 MF Greece GRE Lampros Politis
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF Greece GRE Vasilios Gavriilidis
21 DF Greece GRE Antonis Anastasiou
22 DF Greece GRE Panagiotis Panagiotidis
26 DF Greece GRE Vangelis Andreou
29 DF Cameroon CMR Patrick Bahanack
31 FW Greece GRE Paschalis Kassos
42 DF Greece GRE Dimitrios Koutsibanas
46 FW Greece GRE Panagiotis Ballas
66 FW Greece GRE Christos Tzioras
88 GK Greece GRE Vasilios Kravaritis
94 FW Brazil BRA Léo Ribeiro
98 FW Greece GRE Gerasimos Voukelatos

Personnel

Ownership and current board

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

Coaching staff

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

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