Panserraikos F.C.

Panserraikos

Full name	Panserraikos Football Club
Nickname(s)	Liontaria (Lions) Kokkinoi (Reds) To Liontari (The Lion)
Founded	1946; 78 years ago (1946)
Ground	Serres Municipal Stadium
Capacity	9,500
Owner	Tasos Kazias
Chairman	Tasos Kazias
Manager	Pablo García
League	Super League Greece
2022–23	Super League Greece 2, 1st of 15 North Group (promoted)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Panserraikos Football Club (Greek: Πανσερραϊκός), the All-Serres Football Club, is a Greek football club based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and well-supported clubs in northern Greece and had a near-continuous presence in the First Division in the 1960s and 70s. The club currently play in Super League Greece, the top tier of Greek football.

History

Panserraikos was formed on 1946 in

, finishing first with a difference of 11 points from the second MENT.

Since their last relegation in

.

In 2008, Panserraikos managed to end a 16-year wait, gaining promotion to the Greek Super League. Managed by Giannis Papakostas, the club had been leading the Second Division table for the most part of the season, even securing a top-three spot with two games to spare – though they had narrowly escaped another relegation in the previous two seasons.

On 4 March 2009, Panserraikos won a historic match against

making it one of their bigger wins in recent history.

Panserraikos finished 5th in

, but was relegated to the new amateur 3rd Greek Division due to financial problems, after the death of its chairman Petros Theodoridis and a controversial and unsuccessful attempt by his son Lazaros Theodoridis to sell the club to Russian investor Mr. Konstantin Vostrikov, a self-declared business tycoon who was claiming to construct a 10,000-seat stadium. Mr. Vostrikov's faults as president and CEO together with the amateur handlings of his associate Dimitris Troshkov (member of the board) are considered to be the main and only causes of the club's relegation to the amateur 3rd Greek Division.

Crest and colours

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The club adopted the Lion of Amphipolis as their emblem, because it is one of the most important monuments in Serres regional unit. Its position is next to the west bank of Strymon, close to the bridge of Strymon. It was restored on a pedestal in the position where it was discovered, after the completion of the excavation. It is an imposing marble lion in a position of a sited wildcat with its paws up. It is erected just outside Nea Kerdylia, on the old national motorway between Thessaloniki and Kavala. According to some archaeologists, the devastation of the monument took place at the end of the 4th century B.C. It is possible that the monument was destroyed by the Roman conquerors, who in order to take it to Rome, they broke it into pieces. However, the most probable version, seems to be the one that the Lion was destroyed by the Bulgarians in 1204 A.C. Many different opinions have been expressed for the purpose or the cause of the monument's construction. The most prevalent one was expressed by the Professor of Archeology, Oscar Broneer who believed that the Lion was erected in honour of Laomedon of Mytilene, son of Larichus and trusty friend of Alexander the Great. French archaeologist J. Roger claimed that the monument was erected in honour of Nearchus, Admiral of Alexander the Great. Finally, according to another version, the Lion of Amfipolis was erected as a symbolic monument, in order to reflect the tower's power, as it happened with the Lions of Delos.

The typical kit of the team is that of a shirt with red and white vertical stripes, and red shorts and socks. The shirt has taken different forms during the history of the club, for example with thin or wider stripes. The second most common kit is the all-red one or the all-white one.

Stadium

The headquarters of Panserraikos are the Serres Municipal Stadium. As its name implies, it belongs to the Municipality of Serres and has been assigned to the group for its needs. It is one of the oldest courts. It was originally built in 1926 and had a dirt terrain, while there was only one ramp on the west side. The capacity at that time did not exceed the 3,000 standing viewers. After 1964 when Panserraikos was basically founded, the team's need for a better pitch became more imperative. It was preceded in 1972 when the Municipal Stadium of Serres had a record audience of 14,200 in a match of Panserraikos with AEL. That year our team competed in the Football League and claimed the rise with the Thessalian team. That game had ended with a 1–1 draw, but Panserraikos was the one who eventually became champion. In 1976, the stadium took its current form in the stands. This year, work was done to build a turf. The stadium of Serres at that time contained 15,000 upright spectators. The facelift continued in an attempt to hide his age in 2005. It was then that 9,500 plastic seats were placed in all the stands. This brought down its capacity as it was natural. Finally, after years of waiting, headlights were installed.

Players

Current squad

As of 12 January 2024

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  SVK Adrián Chovan 2 DF  CYP Kostas Pileas 3 DF  GRE Stavros Petavrakis (captain) 5 DF  GRE Anastasios Avlonitis (vice-captain) 6 MF  GRE Angelos Ikonomou 7 MF  EGY Amr Warda 8 DF  GRE Konstantinos Thymianis 11 MF  URU Mathías Tomás 13 GK  GRE Panagiotis Katsikas 14 MF  SRB Kosta Aleksić 15 DF  GRE Apostolos Diamantis 17 MF  GRE Alexandros Maskanakis 18 MF  GRE Zisis Chatzistravos 19 FW  ESP Jefté Betancor

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 GK  GRE Alexandros Tsobanidis 21 MF  GRE Savvas Mourgos 22 MF  ENG Kaiyne Woolery 23 MF  GRE Marios Sofianos 25 DF  GRE Nikos Gotzamanidis 26 MF  GRE Paschalis Staikos 27 DF  SUR Damil Dankerlui 28 MF  GRE Dimitris Anakoglou 31 DF  SWE Emil Bergström 41 MF  GRE Zacharias Papadimitriou 64 DF  GRE Panagiotis Deligiannidis 69 DF  URU Maximiliano Moreira 72 MF  BFA Ismahila Ouédraogo 92 FW  GRE Giorgos Papavasiliou

Honours

Greek League

• Second Division
  • Champions (5): 1964–65, 1971–72, 1979–80, 2007–08, 2022–23
• Third Division
  • Champions (2): 1993–94, 2014–15
• Fourth Division
  • Champions (1): 2019–20

League history

1964–1965: Division 2 1965–1971: Division 1 1971–1972: Division 2 1972–1979: Division 1 1979–1980: Division 2 1980–1984: Division 1 1984–1985: Division 2 1985–1986: Division 1 1986–1987: Division 2 1987–1988: Division 1 1988–1989: Division 2 1989–1992: Division 1 1992–1993: Division 2 1993–1994: Division 3 1994–1995: Division 2 1995–1996: Division 3 1996–2008: Division 2 2008–2009: Division 1 2009–2010: Division 2 2010–2011: Division 1 2011–2013: Division 2 2013–2015: Division 3 2015–2018: Division 2 2018–2019: Division 3 2019–2020: Division 4 2020–2021: Division 3 2021–2023: Division 2 2023–present: Division 1

Sources:^[1][2][3]

Notable wins

Season Match Score 1970–71 Panserraikos – Olympiacos 2–1 1977–78 Panserraikos – Olympiacos 1–0 1983–84 Panserraikos – Olympiacos 1–0 1985–86 Panserraikos – Olympiacos 2–1 2009–10 Panserraikos – Olympiacos (for Greek Cup ) 3–1 1966–67 Panserraikos – Panathinaikos 2–0 1967–68 Panathinaikos – Panserraikos 0–1 1973–74 Panserraikos – Panathinaikos 2–1 1975–76 Panserraikos – Panathinaikos 1–0 1987–88 Panserraikos – Panathinaikos 1–0 1989–90 Panserraikos – Panathinaikos 2–0 1991–92 Panathinaikos – Panserraikos 0–1 2008–09 Panathinaikos – Panserraikos (for Greek Cup ) 2–3 2010–11 Panserraikos – Panathinaikos 1–0 1965–66 Panserraikos – AEK Athens 2–0 (w/o) 1967–68 Panserraikos – AEK Athens 1–0 1968–69 Panserraikos – AEK Athens 1–0 1972–73 Panserraikos – AEK Athens 2–0 1981–82 Panserraikos – AEK Athens 2–0 1982–83 Panserraikos – AEK Athens 1–0 1985–86 Panserraikos – AEK Athens 2–0 1990–91 Panserraikos – AEK Athens 1–0 1965–66 Panserraikos – PAOK 2–1 1969–70 Panserraikos – PAOK 1–0 1981–82 Panserraikos – PAOK 2–1 1985–86 Panserraikos – PAOK 4–1 1990–91 Panserraikos – PAOK 2–1 1998–99 PAOK – Panserraikos (for Greek Cup ) 0–1

Club records

• Record Attendance: 14,200 vs
  Beta Ethniki
  , 25 June 1972
• Record League Home Victory: 6–1 vs AEL Limassol, Alpha Ethniki, 1969
• Record League Away Victory: 9–4 vs
  Beta Ethniki
  , 29 March 1998
• Highest League Position: 8th in Alpha Ethniki, seasons 1969–1970 and 1980–1981
• Lowest League Position: 18th in Alpha Ethniki, season 1979–1980

Notable managers

• Oană 1969-1971
• Vladimír Táborský
• Ioannis Gounaris
• Christos Archontidis
• Nikos Anastopoulos 1999-2000
• Makis Katsavakis
• Konstantinos Iosifidis
• Dušan Mitošević
• Lajos Détári 2005
• Giannis Papakostas
• Hugo Broos 2008-2009
• Ángel Pedraza
• Guillermo Ángel Hoyos
  2009-2010
• Dragan Kokotović
• Momčilo Vukotić
• Josu Uribe
• Michalis Grigoriou
• Kostas Vasilakakis
• Paulo Campos
• Pavlos Dermitzakis

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Panserraikos FC.

• Official website (in Greek)
• Panserraikos' supporters "Che Guevara" club (archived 7 February 2009)