User:Panthrax1963

Panthrakikos is a football club in Komotini of Thrace in North Eastern Greece founded in 1963. The club competed in Super League Greece during the season 2008–2009 for the first time.

History
The early years, 1964-2001

Panthrakikos F.C. was formed in the town of Komotini in 1963 or 1964 when clubs Athlitiki Enosis Komotini, founded in 1936 and Orpheas Komotini, founded in 1948 were merged. The new club participated in regional leagues until 1969, when they joined the Beta Ethniki. They stayed in this division until being relegated in 1978, but were promoted back to Beta Ethniki after a single season. They remained here until 1983. Panthrakikos finished 1982–83 12th in Beta Ethniki, but were relegated to Gamma Ethniki due to restructuring of the leagues. In 1983–84 they finished 18th position and were further relegated to Delta Ethniki. The club was promoted again to the Gamma Ethniki, and participated there in 1985–86 and 1986–87. Relegation to Delta Ethniki followed the end of the 1986–87 season. After relegation in 1995-1996, Panthrakikos merged with Orfeas Xylagani and competed as Panthrakikos Xylagani on the founding status of Xylagani in 1996–1998. Competed again as Panthrakikos F.C. in lowest level of local leagues in 1998-2001, without any administration, without any investment. In that period, very few fans were take charge of administration.

New Era, 2001–present

In 2001-2003 Panagiotis Margaritis take charge of administration as chairman and Sakis Skoulis as manager. They were promoted two seasons in a row, reaching the Delta Ethniki in 2003.

In 2004 prompting significant investment into the club from local entrepreneurs Thodoris Savakis, Tasos Karaolanis & Yiannis Kitzidis. Kostas Vasilakakis, a former player of Panthrakikos, was hired as manager in the summer of 2004. In season 2004–05 Panthrakikos were champions of Delta Ethniki and were again promoted, to the Gamma Ethniki. A third place finish in 2005–06 saw them promoted once more, to the Beta Ethniki.

Three managers were hired in the first half of the season 2007-2008. Zisis Tsekos, Dimitrios Kalaitzidis and Yiannis Gounaris, were fired to replaced by manager Kostas Vasilakakis and lead the club to an 11th place finish. Panthrakikos started the 2007–08 season with a breach of league rules in their opening game, against Chaidari, and were penalised by a four point reduction. Despite this penalty, Panthrakikos beat Ilisiakos 1–0 in the final game of the season to overtake PAS Giannena, finish third and gain promotion to Super League Greece for the first time.

Emilio Ferrera, was hired as manager in the summer of 2008, and lead Panthrakikos to an 11th place finish in their first Super League season. Ilie Dumitrescu was hired as manager in May 2009 but fired after the first game of the season to be replaced by Albert Cartier, who was fired after 15 winless games. Cartier's replacement was Pavlos Dermitzakis until the end of the season, the club's final rank was the 16th place, thus was relegated to Beta Ethniki.

OPAP - Municipal Komotini Stadium
The Stadium Municipal Athletic Center (ΔΑΚ – Δημοτικό Αθλητικό Κέντρο) was built in 1923 near Komotini Railway Station. Panthrakikos has played at MAC since 1963.

In 2009 the Stadium was renamed to OPAP-Municipal Komotini Stadium (ΟΠΑΠ-Δημοτικό Γήπεδο Κομοτηνής) after the Greek betting organization OPAP which is the stadium sponsor.

The northern grandstand was built in 1950 (rebuilt 1963–1965) with a capacity of about 2,500 while the southern grandstand was built in 1970 with a capacity of about 1,500. The northern grandstand and southern grandstand were rebuilt in 2008 with a capacity of 1,608 (1,377 seats for gate 1 & 231 seats for gate 7) and 1,090 (gate 5) respectively. In the southern grandstand at the back of, there is a big booth for the Radio and TV journalists (gate 4). Also there is special area for disabled (gate 3). The western grandstand was built in 2008 with a capacity of 2,002 (gate 6 – guests). Finally, the eastern grandstand was built in 2009 with a capacity of 1,498 (gate 2). The total capacity of OPAP-Municipal Komotini Stadium is 6,198 seats plus six booths, with ten persons capacity each of those. Building of southern grandstand is planned instead of existing construction, with a capacity of about 4,500 (total ~9,600).

Panthrakikos Athletic Center
The training center is called "Panthrakikos Athletic Center". It covers a field of 42,000 sq.m. located 4 km east of Komotini at Kikidio village. First squad. The main building covers 360 sq.m.. Includes the administration office, the press room, first aid station, physiotherapy chamber and locker room. Three full-sized terrains (two with natural turf, one with synthetic turf) are used for the first squad trainings. A half-sized terrain is also used for the goalkeepers training. Youth Team and football academies. Another building 200 sq.m., which includes locker room, showers and dining room for the Youth team and the football academies. Two half-sized terrains and one full-sized are used by the Youth Teams.

Team Statistics 1964–present
According to combined sources

-1 Panthrakikos merged with Orfeas Xylagani and competed as Panthrakikos Xylagani in 1996-1998  -2 Panthrakikos withdrew from the league during the period due to financial problems 

Domestic Titles and honours

 * Second Division: 1
 * 2012
 * Third Division: 1
 * 1979

Current squad
As of 21 December 2012, according to combined sources

 Manager & Coaching Staff  As of 21 December 2012, according to Official Site

Appearances and Goals from 2006 – present
Only with Panthrakikos F.C., according to combined sources

Appearances and Goals in Early years
According to combined sources

Former players

 * For all former players with a Wikipedia article see Category:Panthrakikos F.C. players.

From former players without a Wikipedia article, based on their long term presence in Panthrakikos, players worthy of mention are Filippos Aivazis who holds the record for most appearances and most goals in the Beta Ethniki, Apostolakis (1956-64 Orfeas Komotini, 1964-69 AO Kavala), Zacharias Tilios, Stavros Svintridis, Christos Doulgerakis, Archontis Katsaridis, Manolis Rakitzoglou, Vasilis Fotidis and Kostas Kalaitzidis.

Club crest and colours
The Panthrakikos crest is a sparkling flamming torch in a circle. The torch is surrounded by the club's name and the year of establishment. Traditional club's shirts are green or white or green with white vertical stripes. The club crest sits on the left side of the chest. Traditional club's shorts are green or white with green or white socks. Alternative strips for the season 2009–2010 are black shirts, shorts and socks with silver figures & details.