Aris Limassol FC

Aris Limassol
Full name	Aris Limassol Football Club
Nickname(s)	Ελαφρά Ταξιαρχία (The Light Brigade)
Founded	1930
Ground	Tsirion Stadium,; Limassol, Cyprus
Capacity	13,331
Chairman	Marios Makrides
Manager	Liasos Louka
Website	Club website
Home colours	Away colours

Aris Limassol (Greek: Άρης Λεμεσού) is a Greek Cypriot football club based in Limassol. The club's colours are green and white, its home is the Tsirion Stadium. Aris Limassol is one of the most historic football clubs in Cyprus dated since 1930.

History

One of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association, and was around between 5th and 7th position in the 1930s. During the 1940s, the team didn't compete in the Cypriot First Division, however they returned in the Cypriot Championship in 1954 and they were the first team to be relegated to the Second Division after finishing last in the table. The following season they became Champions in the Second Division and returned to be relegated again. Returning to the First Division, where after a good appearance in the First Division, they gained the fourth position.

Being one of the weakest teams in the First Division during the 1960s, they were finally relegated in 1969–70 as 12th and remained for two seasons in the Second Division. The situation changed for Aris between 1975 and 1980 when the team won again the fourth position in 1976–77 and 1978–79. Two years after winning the fourth position, in 1981 the team were relegated again after finishing last (14th) but returned as runners up the following season and finished 5th in 1985–86.

The greatest success of the club was in 1989 when the team qualified to the Cyprus Cup final, where they were beaten by AEL Limassol 2–3. The following season, in 1989–90, the club signed the Ukrainian Oleh Blokhin, the 1975 European Footballer of the Year, and helped them to win for another time the fourth position, which was the club's greatest position. After the end of the season, Blokhin ended his career playing for Aris Limassol.

After the relegation in 1992–93, the team won the following season for third time the Second Division Championship. Since 1996–97, when the club was in Cypriot First Division, the team was then every year relegated to the Cypriot Second Division and the following year was promoted to the Cypriot First Division. That situation ended in 2006–07, when the team finished 8th in the championship and managed to remain in the Cypriot First Division. Aris was relegated to the Cypriot Second Division in 2008–09, the team finished in 2nd place and played in the Cypriot First Division in 2009–10 but was relegated again. In 2009–10 it reached the Cyprus Cup semi-final. In the next season 2010–11 the club was again promoted but finished 3rd from bottom in the 2011–12 season and was yet again relegated. In 2012–13 Aris won the Cypriot Second Division and was again promoted to the Cypriot First Division only to be relegated again after the 2013–14 season. In 2014–15 Aris finished third in the second division and was promoted to the Cypriot First Division.

After 9 years of draught, Aris Limassol managed to remain in the Cypriot First Division in 2015–16 finishing in 10th place. Also, it was the only team that used more than 6 Cypriot players in the pitch in every match.

Supporters

Aris has a smaller number of fans than other Limassol clubs, but these are very committed to their club. As a result, they are often referred to as "the 300 of Leonidas", in reference to the famous 300 Spartan soldiers that delayed the Persian army at Thermopylae.

Other Sport Departments

Although the football team forms the centre of sporting activity for Aris, the club has over the years maintained teams in other sports including basketball, table tennis and chess. The Aris chess team dominated Cypriot chess during the 1980s.

Choir

Additionally, the Aris choir was established in 1938 by the famous conductor and composer Solon Michaelides who remained its conductor until 1956 to undertake the direction of the National Orchestra of Salonica, Greece. In 1962, the choir made a new start under the direction of Marinos Mitellas and remains one of the best known Hellenic choirs performing in Cyprus, Greece and internationally.

Current squad

As of 16 November 2019

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	DF	CYP	Valentinos Pastellis
3	DF	POR	Nuno Lopes
5	MF	CYP	Christos Modestou
6	MF	CYP	Rafael Yiangoudakis
7	FW	CYP	Panayiotis Therapontos
8	MF	SCO	Morgan Brown
10	MF	ARG	Alejandro Barbaro
11	MF	CYP	Rafael Michael
12	DF	CYP	Charalambos Charalambous
13	DF	CPV	Delmiro
16	FW	CYP	Ermos Lysandrou
17	FW	CYP	Johny El Zein
20	MF	CYP	Evripidis Siaillis


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	DF	CYP	Fotis Kezos
22	MF	CYP	Giorgos Evripidis
23	MF	CYP	Alexandros Michael
24	MF	CYP	Antonis Eleftheriou
25	MF	CYP	Rafael Georgiou
27	MF	CYP	Evgenios Kyriakou
70	GK	CYP	Michalis Papastylianou (on loan from Apollon Limassol)
79	MF	CYP	Andreas Kkostis
80	FW	AZE	Cem Felek (on loan from KuPS)
90	GK	CYP	Ellinas Sofroniou
92	DF	GRE	Nikos Lougos

For recent transfers, see List of Cypriot football transfers winter 2018–19

Out on loan

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player

Titles

Cypriot Cup:

Runners-up (1): 1988–89

Cypriot Second Division:

Winners (5): 1953–54, 1955–56, 1993–94, 2010–11, 2012–13

Managers

Tadeusz Kraus (1976–80), (1983–85)
Andreas Michaelides (1986–91)
Jerzy Engel (1997)
Milenko Špoljarić (2004–05)
Andreas Michaelides (2006–07)
Henk Houwaart (Sept 1, 2007 – Nov 30, 2007)
Mihai Stoichiţă (2007–08)
Akis Agiomamitis (2008–09)
Marios Constantinou (May 17, 2009 – Jan 18, 2010)
Stéphane Demol (Feb 21, 2010 – June 30, 2010)
Dušan Mitošević (July 18, 2011 – June 30, 2012)
Demetris Ioannou (July 1, 2012 – June 22, 2013)
Tasos Kyriacou (July 1, 2012 – Oct 22, 2013)
Ton Caanen (Oct 23, 2013 – May 11, 2014)
Giorgos Polyviou (Jun 16, 2014 – Oct 14, 2014)
Akis Agiomamitis (Oct 14, 2014 – Sept 14, 2015)
Eugen Neagoe (Sept 15, 2015 – Feb 7, 2016)
Kostas Kaiafas (Feb 8, 2016 – May 15, 2016)
Thalis Theodoridis (Jun 24, 2016 – Oct 24, 2016)
Frederik Vanderbiest (Nov 1, 2016 – Jan 3 2017)
Nicolas Martides (Jan 2017 – 3 Oct 2017)
Giannis Christopoulos (4 Oct 2017 – 22 Jan 2018)
Nicos Panayiotou (22 Jan 2018 – 13 Mar 2018)
Chrysis Michael (26 Apr 2018 – 13 Jan 2019)
Nicolas Martides (13 Jan 2019 – )

gollark: Or how many are deliberately cloaked.

gollark: Or how many nearby things your sensors can't observe because they aren't advanced enough.

gollark: And you can't tell how many similar locations exist.

gollark: But you can't know "hmm, a hyperinframetasilicospatial facility is currently initiating Protocol 29%-G" if you don't have any information about said facility.

gollark: You might know "hmm, GTech™ is working on some stuff at one of the bee cyclotrons but we don't have sensors there to know what".

External links

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Cypriot Second Division
2019–20 clubs	AEZ Akritas Alki Anagennisi Ayia Napa Aris ASIL Digenis Morphou Ermis Karmiotissa Omonia Ar. Omonia Ps. Onisilos Othellos P.O. Xylotymbou Ypsonas
Associated competitions	First Division Third Division STOK Elite Division Women's 1st Division Cypriot Women's Cup Cypriot Women's Super Cup Cypriot Cup Cypriot Super Cup
Seasons	1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

Cypriot First Division
2020–21 clubs	AEK Larnaca AEL Limassol Anorthosis APOEL Apollon Doxa Ermis Ethnikos Karmiotissa Nea Salamina Olympiakos ENP Omonia Pafos
Stadiums	AEK Arena Ammochostos Antonis Papadopoulos Aradippou GSP GSZ Makario Pano Polemidia Stelios Kyriakides Tasos Markou Tsirio
Former clubs	AEK Kouklia AEP AEZ Alki Larnaca Alki Oroklini Anagennisi APEP APOP APOP Kinyras ASIL Atromitos Ayia Napa AYMA Çetinkaya Chalkanoras Digenis EPA Ethnikos Assia Evagoras Keravnos Omonia Ar. Onisilos Orfeas Othellos Pezoporikos THOI Trust
Competition	List of foreign players
Associated competitions	Second Division Third Division STOK Elite Division Cypriot Cup Super Cup Cup for lower divisions Women's 1st Division Women's Cup Women's Super Cup UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League
Seasons	1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21