Athens Kallithea F.C.

Athens Kallithea Football Club is a Greek professional football club based in Kallithea, a city and a suburb in Athens, Greece, which competes in the Super League, the top tier of the Greek football league system.

The club has finished as high as ninth in the Greek top flight (2004–05) and has reached as far as the quarterfinal stage of the Greek Cup on five occasions (1969–70, 1978–79, 1986–87, 2001–02, 2009–10).

Founding and early history
The club was founded on 18 August 1966 from the merger of five local clubs: Esperos, Iraklis, AE Kallitheas, Kallithaikos, and Pyrsos.

In 1970, Kallithea's Grigoris Lambrakis Stadium, named after the Greek liberal politician and peace activist Grigoris Lambrakis, was opened to the public.

First promotion to the second division (June 1969)
In 1968/69, Kallithea FC hired Kostas Nestoridis and Takis Papoulidis as co-managers late in the season, and the duo would help lead the club to its first-ever promotion to the second division, culminating with a 1-0 extra-time win over AO Koropi in a playoff match on 21 June 1969.

Kallithea’s victory over Koropi also had significant political implications in dictatorial Greece. The result was considered an interruption of the planned reform of the football map being promoted by Costas Aslanidis, the Secretary General of Sports during the rule of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. The Aslanidis’ plan sought the elimination of clubs unfriendly to the regime, which included Kallithea, while Koropi were allied with the military side.

On the night of the promotion, Kallithea supporters and residents gathered at the club’s offices to celebrate, with BBC reporting: “Today, in the first mass anti-dictatorship event in Greece, the football team of Kallithea defeated the elite of the colonels, spreading enthusiasm among the inhabitants of this great democratic district.”

First promotion to the first division (April 2002)
On 28 April 2002, Kallithea clinched their first-ever promotion to Greece's top division with a 0-1 win over Chalkidona FC at Neapoli Stadium on a goal by Theofanis Gekas.

The club's first win in the competition was a 3–2 upset of PAOK at Toumba Stadium, thanks to two goals from Gekas, on 14 September 2002.

After four seasons in the top flight, Kallithea were relegated in the 2005-06 season.

Recent history (2021 to present): new leadership, rebranding, and return to the first division
In August 2021, New York-born Greek-American Ted Philipakos, a former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Brand Officer at Venezia FC, led the takeover of Kallithea FC with his brother and former professional footballer Peter Philipakos and investor Andrew Barroway.

In the 2021-22 season, Kallithea finished second in Super League 2, seven points back of league winners Levadiakos for promotion to Super League 1, which was the club's most successful season since it last appeared in the top division in 2005–06.

In September 2022, the club rebranded as Athens Kallithea FC. The presentation of the club's rebranding was met with widespread acclaim in Greece      and abroad,      with London-based Versus calling it "one of the cleanest football rebrands ever."

In the 2022-23 season, AKFC missed out on promotion to Super League 1 by one point, finishing second in Super League 2 for the second consecutive season.

After two consecutive second-place finishes, AKFC were crowned 2023-24 Super League 2 South Group champions, clinching promotion with a 1-1 draw against second-place Chania at Grigoris Lamprakis Stadium in the penultimate match of the season. It marked the second top-flight promotion in the club’s history.

Stadium
Athens Kallithea FC play at Grigoris Lamprakis Stadium in the Athenian district of Kallithea, located 2 km south of the Acropolis and 1 km west of Andrea Syngrou Avenue, the main road linking the Athens city center to Poseidonos Avenue and the Athens Riviera.

Built in 1970, and named after the Greek liberal politician and peace activist Grigoris Lambrakis, it is a multi-use public stadium with a seating capacity of 6,300.

The stadium is commonly referred to by its nickname “El Paso,” a reference to Clint Eastwood’s 1965 Spaghetti Western film For a Few Dollars More (which had the Greek title Duel in El Paso), as the stadium was built on the site of a quarry and features a tall rock along the north side of the pitch, which was thought to be reminiscent of scenes from the film.

Historical
The first crest of Kallithea consisted of four circles representing the four groups of the merger of 1966, then becoming five circles with the addition of Pyrsos in 1967, which caused an issue with the Hellenic Olympic Committee. As a result, the club introduced a new crest with five stars in a diagonal line. The club's colors were blue and white, which were the colors of the two main groups of the merger, Esperos Kallitheas and Iraklis Kallitheas.

Current
In September 2022, the club rebranded as Athens Kallithea FC and presented a new visual identity. The club's founding year 1966 and traditional five stars representing the founding merger of the club have been maintained as part of the identity, while the new Athens Kallithea FC crest is a stylized AK monogram with five points that reference the five stars. The club's traditional blue and white have been maintained but with an updated blue, and gold has been introduced as a complementary color. The design work was executed by German studio Bureau Borsche, which also handled the rebranding of Inter Milan and Venezia FC.

Honours

 * Second Division
 * Winners (1): 2024
 * Runners-up (1): 2002 (promoted)
 * Third Division
 * Winners (4): 1969, 1976, 1993, 2010
 * Runners-up (2): 1987 (promoted), 1997 (promoted)
 * Fourth Division
 * Winners (1): 2020