From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ergotelis FC (Greek: Εργοτέλης) is a Greek football club
based in Heraklion, the
largest city of the Greek island of Crete. The name itself, Ergotelis, was that of a
famous ancient Cretan expatriate Olympic runner Ergoteles
of Himera.
History
Ergotelis was established on 7 July 1929 in Heraklion as an
amateur club of Cretan footballers. The team played in local
championships and partly in the national second division in the
stadium on Martinengo Bastion. When Greek football was merged
between amateur and professional clubs, Ergotelis remained in the
amateur league for six years, when the team became professional.
Ever since, the Cretan club competed mostly in the fourth and some
years in third division of Greece.
In 2003 Ergotelis gained promotion to the second division (Beta Ethniki) after
32 years. Losing no time, they were promoted to the Greek Super League,
after a very difficult 2003-2004 season. The team failed to avoid
relegation in 2005, and consequently Ergotelis was in the second
league once again. The 2005-06 season saw the team return to good
form, as they won the first place of the division, which meant
Ergotelis could return to the Greek Super League.
Since January 2006, with Greek manager Nikos
Karageorgiou taking over, Ergotelis has avoided relegation
altogether, and has gradually grown to a competitive and
financially strong team, signing stars such as Maris Verpakovskis and Beto. On 29 October 2008, the club achieved its
most important win ever in Super League, beating Panathinaikos in the Athens Olympic Stadium
with 3-2.
The club celebrated its 80th anniversary with a memorable
friendly game, thrashing Greek champions Olympiacos 5-0 on
September 6, 2009 in Pagkritio Stadium, one of the worst defeats in
history for the Piraeus
club. The result was much celebrated in Crete and made things even
worse for Olympiakos manager Temuri Ketsbaia, which led to his
sacking not long after.
Rivalry with
OFI
Ergotelis enjoys a fierce rivalry with the other local ex-Superleague side, OFI Crete. The first ever game between
Ergotelis and OFI, a friendly match in 1929, ended after 35
minutes. Ergotelis were ahead by one goal, when the game had to be
abandoned after violence between the players broke out. During the
Greek military junta of
1967–1974 a legislation determined that every regional Greek
city should be represented by one football team. At that time, both
OFI and Ergotelis used to play in the Second National division, and
at the end of the season OFI finished in higher league position,
leading to Ergotelis relegation. In the years to come Ergotelis
languished in the lower leagues[1]. This
fact lead to varius controversies, especially since Ergotelis' come
back to professional divisions, at the early 00's.
Current
squad
As of 5 August 2009 (2009 -08-05)
- For recent transfers, see List of Greek
football transfers summer 2009.
Players out
on loan
Notable
former players
References
- ^
The rough guide to Crete By John Fisher, Geoff Garvey Page 93 ISBN
1858286964
External
links
Apostolos
Papoutsakis
Wikis
Search
