Olympiacos: A Brief History

By: Takis | April 28th, 2008

Olympiacos CFP Logo Olympiacos are arguably the best club Greece has to offer (I’m sure rival fans will argue with this). The “Eruthroleuki” (Red-Whites) have dominated the domestic scene in Greece, winning title after title.

With a name inspired by the noted aviator Notis Kamperos, the five-man Andrianopoulos brothers founded Olympiacos CFP on the 10th of March 1925, in the small port of Piraeus near Athens. Since then, “The Legend” have dominated Greek football in an almost unbroken period of success, having been crowned champions a record 36 times, adding a record 22 Greek Cups by 2006.

The Olympiacos story commenced in the era of the famous Andrianopoulos brothers in the 1930’s. Yiannis, Dinos, Giorgos, Vassilis, Leonidas and later Stelios formed a potent forward line and the original legends guided the team to six league championships before the World War II.

Olympiacos are nicknamed ‘O Thrylos’, translated as Legend, after the classic side of the 1950’s. During this decade the club won 7 championships (6 consecutively), and also 7 national cups, which saw the team complete 4 domestic doubles during that time.

The notorious club has more championships to their name than arch-rivals AEK Athens FC and Panathinaikos FC put together. On a further note, thanks to their 2008 title win, the club reached the 50% percent mark in championships; winning so far 36 of a possible 72 league titles. The only set back for Olympiacos fans seem to be the clubs progress in European competition. An unfortunate UEFA Champions League quarter-final defeat by Juventus FC in 1998/99 is their best effort so far. However the Piraeus side is showing promise with their recent campaign. A run of eight matches, saw the Greek Champions pick up their first away win and make it to the first knockout round where a tough two-legged tie with Chelsea showed the club an early exit to the magical run.

36 Championships - 1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

22 Greek Cups - 1947, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2005, 2006

12 Domestic Doubles - 1947, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1999, 2005, 2006

3 Greek Super Cups - 1987, 1992, 2007

1 Balkan Cup - 1963