Panionios F.C.

Panionios GSS FC
Full name	PAE Panionios Gymnastikos; Syllogos Smyrnis; (Pan-Ionian Gymnastic; Association of Smyrna FC)
Nickname(s)	Kyanerythri (Blue-Reds); Istorikos (Historic);
Ground	Panionios Stadium, Nea Smyrni,; Athens, Greece; (Capacity: 11,700 (all-seated))
Chairman	Constantinos Tsakiris
Head Coach	Emilio Ferrera
League	Super League Greece; (Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα)
2008-09	Super League Greece, 8th
Home colours	Away colours

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Main article: Panionios

Panionios GSS FC (Greek: Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης - Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis), the Pan-Ionian Gymnastic Association of Smyrna, is a Greek association football club based in the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni, Greece.

The club currently competes in the Super League Greece.

[edit] Early history

The club was founded in 1890 in Smyrni (Σμύρνη) İzmir, Ottoman Empire, under the name of "Orpheus Music and Sports Club". In 1893 some Orpheus members keen on sports formed a separate organization, the "Gymnasion Club", and started holding yearly sports competitions. In 1898, Orpheus and Gymnasion merged again to form PGSS. After the Greek military defeat in 1922 and the attrocities from Turks against the Greek population of Smyrni, the club was forced to transfer firstly in Athens and then to the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni. The club has a tradition of cultivating all major sports and was the first Greek club to establish a track and field division for women, in 1925. With the gradual transformation of men's football and basketball into professional sports, Panionios FC and Panionios BC became privately owned clubs operating under the auspices of the traditional "amateur sports" PGSS.^[2]

[edit] Recent history

Panionios has spent nearly its entire history in the Greek First Division (now called 'Superleague'), having missed out from competing in Greek football's top division only twice in its more than 100-year history. Within this, Panionios rose quite often to high levels, with top achievement in terms of the league being the 2nd position that the club reached in 1971, losing the title to AEK.

Panionios has produced all three major Greek strikers of the 1980s, namely Nikos Anastopoulos (later of Olympiakos), Thomas Mavros (later of AEK), and Dimitris Saravakos (later of Panathinaikos). Other notable players coming out of the club include Nikos Tsiantakis (later of Olympiacos) and Takis Fyssas, later of Panathinaikos and member of Greek national team.

In December 2001, working around bankruptcy legislation, the club was renamed to Neos ("New") Panionios FC, to avoid the threat of relegation from the first division because of financial difficulties.

[edit] Change of ownership

In 2004, shipowner Constantinos Tsakiris was elected president of the "amateur sports" PGSS. Panionios won the women's Basketball Championship in 2006, the club's first in a team sport, and the women's volleyball team advanced to the first division. In 2006, Tsakiris acquired 85% of Neos Panionios FC stock and started restructuring the team from scratch. He changed the name of the club back to the original "Panionios GSS" FC and hired German coach Ewald Lienen who, during his first year created a team that made it to the top 5 of the Greek Super League and on to the UEFA Cup. Tsakiris has also unveiled an ambitious plan to have the aging football ground and athletics track demolished, and build a modern multi-sport arena in its place. Lienen resigned by mutual consent on November 11, 2008, reason being disagreement with the Panionio's board ^[3]. On November 12, 2008 Greek coach Takis Lemonis was hired ^[4] and resigned on December 3, 2008 after the refuse of Panionio's board to accept Lemoni's request to dismiss three members of Panionio's coaching and management staff ^[5] ^[6]. He was replaced by German manager Emilio Ferrera.

[edit] Current squad

As of 9 July 2009 (2009 -07-09)^[update]

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Tomáš Belic
2	DF	Giannis Maniatis
3	DF	Wellington Baroni (on loan from Paraná Clube)
4	DF	Dario Smoje
5	DF	Martin Latka
6	MF	Suleiman Omo
7	MF	Manolis Skoufalis
8	MF	Dimitrios Kiliaras
9	FW	Boško Balaban
10	FW	Alvaro Recoba
11	MF	Fabián Estoyanoff
12	GK	Konstantinos Andriolas
13	DF	Carlos Casteglione

No.	Position	Player
14	MF	Bennard Yao Kumordzi
17	FW	Giannis Simosis
18	MF	Davor Kukec
19	FW	Giannis Loukinas
20	MF	Fanouris Goundoulakis
23	MF	Dimitris Siovas
24	MF	Dimitrios Anastasopoulos
25	DF	Giannis Kondoes
28	MF	Marios Nicolaou
30	GK	Isaac Becerra Alguacil
31	DF	Georgios Tzavelas
	FW	Sito Riera

For recent transfers, see List of Greek football transfers summer 2009.

[edit] Out on loan:

No.	Position	Player
3	MF	Mehmet Hetemaj (to Thrasyvoulos F.C.)
17	FW	Giannis Kontis (to Apollon Kalamarias F.C.)
27	MF	Efthymios Gousoulis (to Ethnikos Olympiakos Volos F.C.)
34	GK	Charalambos Tabasis (to Ilisiakos F.C.)
72	DF	Theodoros Santamouris (to Koropi F.C.)
36	MF	Markos Fountoukidis (to Koropi F.C.)