Aris Petroupolis F.C.

Aris Petroupolis FC is a Greek football club based in Petroupoli, Athens. Its colors are red and yellow. It is one of the oldest football clubs of the Athens Football Association, with registration number 9, having been a member since 1926.^[1]

The club was created in its current form in 1966, when Aris Athens moved to Petroupoli, which had originated in 1946 from the merger of the old clubs Olympiacos Athens(founded in 1926) and Atlas Thymaraki (founded in 1928).^[2] Aris Petroupolis football team, have competed for 13 seasons in the 4th National League. Aris competes currently in Gamma Ethinki, the third highest tier in Greek Football League system.

In 1946, the two neighboring clubs found themselves in a dilemma. After the decision of the Greek Football Association to reduce the number of clubs in the First Division to eight, both found themselves in the Second Division. Their financial capabilities were limited. There was a visible risk that the two teams would either disband or be marginalized. In July 1946, their owners decided to merge them and create a more competitive team in the Athenian Championship. Thus came into being the Attica "Aris" Athens Fans' Association or S.F.A. Aris Athens.

The name of the team was chosen after Ares, the god of war, due to the war situation that still prevailed in Greece. The founders of the club were former members of EAM. The team's colors were chosen to be the red of Olympiacos and the yellow of Atlas.

From the first year of its foundation, Aris Athens made its presence felt by reaching the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup in 1946–47, where it was narrowly eliminated by Achilleas Patras, losing away from home 1–2. Aris Athens participated continuously in the A' and B' divisions of the EPSA until 1966, without however managing to qualify for the national championships in any year. Gradually, it began to have a problem with its stadium. The area of its home base began to be rebuilt and every year it was looking for a stadium. It was forced to declare Liosia, Menidi, Agioi Anargyroi and other districts as its home base. The lack of a home base also had competitive consequences. In 1964-65 it finished in 12th place and in 1965–66 in 15th place in the First Division.

Finally, in 1966, the club's officials decided to move from Thymarakia to another area. Having the advantage of having an official name, recognized by the HFF, in the summer of 1966 they invited representatives of neighborhoods that had a stadium to the general assembly that would decide on the transfer of the headquarters. The sports officials of the Agioi Anargyroi and PAO Petroupoli responded. The transfer to Petroupoli was chosen because the community leader and politician of EDA, Nikolaos Paximadas, promised that he would immediately begin the construction of a stadium. Thus, Aris Petroupoli FC was created.

Before the transfer of Aris to Petroupoli, there were two football clubs in this district: Aimos FC from 1952 and PAO Petroupoli from 1957.

The Aimos FC Gymnastics Club was founded in 1952. The name was created from the acrostic of the words in Greek: Pure, Capable, Fighting, Sharp and Prudent, qualities that its members and athletes were supposed to have according to the founders of the club, who considered sports the crowning glory of social events and "fair play" as the most important ideology. The club had a family atmosphere. The following families played a leading role in its founding and operation: Siorfanes, Masinas, Papadopoulos, Zachoulitis, Economopoulos, Rodopoulos, Giannopoulos, Chloupis, Touramanopoulos, Panagiotopoulos, Manolis Manousakis, Vassilis Konstantinidis, Kostas Aslanidis, Vassilis Paterakis, Giannis Astropelekis, etc. Aimos remained an independent club and became the nursery of Aris and PAO Petroupoli. It continued to operate until 1983, when it merged with AO Agia Triada. Today it bears the name Aimos–Agia Triada.

In 1951, the yellow-black Athletic Association of Petroupoli was created by: Thanasis Zeibekis, Philippos and George Kasimatis, George Masinas, Alekos Papadopoulos and Charilaos Missios. In 1957, when actions were taken to formalize the club, because the word "Union" was politically charged at that time since it referred to the motto of the Union of Cyprus with Greece, it was proposed to the founders to change the title. Thus, the "Football Athletic Association of Petroupoli" or PAO Petroupolis was created with yellow-black colors and the bull as the emblem. In addition to the founders of A.E.P., founding members of P.A.O.P. were: Evangelos Skordilis, who also served as the first president, Manolis Roukoutakis, Ioannis Seiloglou, Konstantinos Michalopoulos, George Gavogiannis, Dimitris Kyriakopoulos, Ioannis Prozis, Minas Hatzakis, Pantelis Zafeiris, Potis Felekeas, Avraam Christodoulides, Kostas Dimopoulos, etc.

The stadium used the large "Panorama" area at the intersection of today's Verga and Elaion streets, which had initially been developed by the A.E.P. and inaugurated by playing a match with the Gendarmerie team. The Indoor Gymnasium and the Swimming Pool are located in this location today. However, because Panorama did not have stands, for official matches it used either the stadium of the Agioi Anargyroi Association or the stadium of Olympiacos Liosion on Hassias Street.

PAO Petroupoli initially competed as AEP (1956–57) in the probationary category of the EPSA and then as PAO successively in the D' (1957–58), C' (1958–59) and B' category (1959–60). In fact, in 1958 it was awarded the "Cup of Morality", because none of its players had been sent off. In 1966, the best footballers of PAO Petroupoli joined Aris, which was transferred to the district that year. Thus, PAO was absorbed by Aris and sold its statutes to Kamatero in exchange for the sum of 100,000 drachmas, for the creation of an official club in this neighborhood, "PAO Kamatero", which exists to this day.

• 1966 to 1970: First Division FCA
• 1970 to 1974: Second Division FCA
• 1974 to 1980: First Division FCA
• 1980 to 1981: Second Division FCA (promotion with a record 101 goals)
• 1981 to 1987: First Division
• Best positions in the First Division FCA:
• 2nd place: 1986-87 (1st in the Second Division, promotion to the Delta Ethniki)
• 3rd place: 1974–75, 1983–84
• 4th place: 1984–85

During this period, Aris became known throughout Greece for two reasons. Firstly, because in 1971 he eliminated Fostiras from the Greek Cup and secondly, because international footballer Tasos Mitropoulos began his great career with Aris Petroupolis, before being transferred to Ethnikos Piraeus in 1976 for 400,000 drachmas.

Aris competes in the B' Athens, where it finished in 5th place in the B' group, after a mediocre year. On 6 January 1971, it competes for the Greek Cup away at the Tavros stadium against Fostiras, the so-called "Giant Killer", a team at the time of the A' National League. Aris emerges victorious with 1–0, creating a pan-Hellenic sensation and one of the biggest surprises of all time in the history of the institution, since the two teams were four whole divisions apart. Then, on 20 January 1971, it was eliminated away with difficulty by Aiandas Salaminas, which was then a team of the B' National League, with a final result of 5–3.

Since 1987, when it was first promoted to the 4th National League, Aris Petroupolis has played 13 seasons in this category, of which nine were consecutive (1995–2004). Since 2004, it has been playing in the 1st division of the Greek Football Association. Its course in the lowest national category is as follows:

• 1987–88: 8th in the 4th Group, 46–30 goals, 39 points (relegated due to group restrictions).
• 1989–90: 16th in the 6th Group, 37–50 goals, 29 points
• 1990–91: 15th in the 6th Group, 49–50 goals, 42 points
• 1991–92: 15th in Group 3, 37–53 goals, 35 points (relegated).
• 1995–96: 8th in Group 1, 55–34 goals, 60 points
• 1996–97: 2nd in Group 1, 65–29 goals, 69 points. For the first time, they came so close to promotion to the Third National League. They also reached the final of the Athens Football Association Cup, where they lost to Sourmena 1–0.
• 1997–98: 5th in Group 1, 62–33 goals, 59 points
• 1998–99: 7th in Group 1, 69–49 goals, 64 points
• 1999–00: 6th in Group A, 38–33 goals, 52 points
• 2000–01: 10th in Group A, 39–39 goals, 38 points
• 2001–02: 11th in Group A, 29–45 goals, 34 points
• 2002–03: 8th in Group H, 33–31 goals, 40 points
• 2003–04: 14th in Group H, 29–36 goals, 37 points (relegated).

From Aris Petroupolis the following emerged:

• Tasos Mitropoulos (National and Olympiacos Piraeus, AEK, Panathinaikos, Apollon Athens, Iraklis Thessaloniki and GAS Veria, 77 appearances and captain of the Greek National team)
• Stathis Tsantzos (Levadiakos)
• Kostas Andriolas (Atromitos, Panionios, Panthrakikos)
• Georgos Koutsis (Panelefsiniakos, Aris Thessaloniki, PAOK, Atromitos and 5 times international with the Greek National team).

• Takis Kemenidis
• Apostolos Toskas
• Takis Eleftheriadis
• George Stoligas
• Yiannis Gaitatzis
• George Poulos
• Vangelis Kotsalos
• Alexis Gleggles

As of 8 May 2025. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GRE Konstantinos Chalkidis 29 GK  GRE Anstasios Pachatouras 3 DF  GRE Athanasios Drikos 4 DF  GRE Giannis Potouridis 26 DF  GRE Michalis Papanikolas 31 DF  GRE Giannis Andreou 5 DF  GRE Konstantinos Ndoj 24 DF  GRE Giannis Linardakis 22 DF  GRE Nikolaos Mertyris 12 DF  GRE Christoforos Tsouvaltsidis 33 MF  GRE Giannis Gotsoulias 14 MF  ALB Luan Skenderaj

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  GRE Giannis Paltoglou 17 MF  GRE Konstantinos Tsitsaris 18 MF  GRE Michalis Kallergis 20 MF  GRE Ilias Tsiligiris 21 FW  GRE Andreas Vlachomitros 9 FW  NGA Abiola Dauda 23 FW  GRE Christos Kollas

The basketball department of Aris Petroupolis was created in 1976. It has the title of Aris Petroupolis Athletic Club and has become independent from the football club. It maintains competitive departments: men's, women's, teenagers, youth, boys, girls, boys', girls' and Academies. The total number of athletes employed reaches 400 people. It uses the Petroupoli Indoor Gymnasium, the Agia Triada Indoor Gymnasium and the Agios Dimitrios Open Stadium.

The Aris Petroupoli rugby league department was a member of the Hellenic Federation of Rugby League. In the past, the team had competed in the Greek Men's Rugby League Championship.^[3]