Platanias F.C.

Platanias

Full name	Αθλητικός Όμιλος Πλατανιά Χανίων (Athletic Club Platanias of Chania)
Nickname(s)	Red Trifolium
Founded	15 March 1931 (1931-03-15)
Ground	Perivolia Municipal Stadium Chania, Greece
Ground Capacity	4,000
Owner(s)	Stelios Varouxakis Manolis Mathioulakis Antonis Kokolodimitrakis
Chairman	Manolis Mathioulakis
Manager	Georgios Paraschos
League	Superleague Greece
2015–16	Superleague Greece, 9th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Athlitikos Omilos Platania Chanion (commonly referred to as Platanias F.C. or simply Platanias) is a Greek football club based in Platanias, Chania. The association was founded in 1931 by Antonis Varouxakis. The club currently competes in the Superleague for the first time in their history, after winning the promotion play-offs of 2011–12 Football League.

History

In 1942–43, AO Platanias struggled in the final Cup against the traditional rivals Talos but having significant absences, such as Galanis, who brought a gun wound in the abdomen.

Although Platanias lost the match, the final had a special importance because of the shirts of the players. The jerseys were made from Nazi flags that had been stolen from the warehouses of the Germans, and residents had turned into the athletic apparel seamstresses in the village. From this fact it was introduced the red on the jerseys of the team. With the same jerseys, the team competed even against football teams of German soldiers.

In 1945 the team languished due to heavy immigration and the civil war that caused many players to leave their homeland.

In 1958 the club was reestablished by Manolis Mathioulakis and first president Emmanuel Kallitsakis playing at local third category.

Then Platanias became a member of the Union of Football Associations of Chania and from the first year climbed category, where it remained until 1969.

In 1970 they played for the first time in the first "local category".

In 1971 Platanias had another important game against the Renaissance Chania (today Ionia), but because of the political situation of the time, the team was punished and remained inactive until 1975.

After the restoration in 1975, Platanias was reestablished, struggling to C local class, where they remained for two years and then went to B', where they played another two years before to play in the A category.

From 1980 begins the rise of Platanias, who participated in the National Amateur Championships (equivalent to the existing C "National") contestant in Greece.

After their first two matches, the team demoted and then took a radical renewal, with footballers inhabitants of Platanias.

In 1985 they moved category (D "National"), but relegated the same year. For three years they fought in the First local championship Chania.

In 1989 they went to the Fourth National class for two periods.

In 1993, after relegation, struggled for a year in the Regional Championship and won. After relegation in 2002 they fought in the local league.

Between 2002 and the period from 2008 to 2009, they played in Crete Regional Championship having a starring role collecting 305 points in total.

The best, by then, football year in the history of Platanias, was the 2008–09 and after a stunning season champion emerging regional championship.

The road to the top

In 2009–10 season, the team fighting for the first time to Gamma Ethniki and manages, after a long race effort, remain in class. Specifically, he won 38 points in all 34 games, finishing in 12th position in the league!

The next year 2010–11 Football League 2 Platanias out excellent performances and managed to finish in the 5th place. but gained promotion due to Koriopolis scandal, when many teams were relegated from the Football League.

The period 2011–12 at Football League starts with the best conditions for Platanias, who manages to stand out from the beginning and even won the title of "champion of winter." The last day finds Platanias in fifth in the standings with 60 points, while promotion play-offs of 2011–12 Football League the team of Chania making excellent appearances against Kallithea, Kalloni and Panachaiki to take first place and ascend to the Superleague, which is struggling in the period 2012–13 Superleague Greece, for the first time in their history, but also more generally in the history of Chania's football.

First season in Superleague

The first season in Superleague Greece, Platanias finished in 9th place with 36 points. He beat historical teams of the category such as Panathinaikos with 2 wins home & away (totally 3 with Greek Cup win), AEK with 1 home win & Aris with 2 wins home & away. The biggest impact of this season, is about eliminated Panathinaikos in Fourth Round of Greek Cup on a two-legged match.

Emblem

Platanias' symbol is a red trifolium, probably from a designer's mistake who instead of a platanus foil, he designed a simple trefoil. The name of the village "Platanias" means "area of Platanus".

Facilities

Platanias & Maleme Municipal Grounds

The municipal ground of Platanias, built in 1959 and still exists today, was built by the same residents who were using hoes to dig the field with donkeys carrying soil used to fill the field. However, at that time were working on the basis of Marathi and an employee, resident of Platanias, Kostas Tsigounakis, volunteered to help build the stadium using a machine – loader base. Today FC Platanias uses three pitches, two of which (grounds of Platanias and Maleme) belongs to Municipality of Platanias and one (Perivolia Municipal Stadium) in the Municipality of Chania. The ground of Platanias, which located within the village, have plastic turf of modern standards since 2008–09 period.

The municipal ground of Maleme is land granted by the Greek Air Force in Platanias, who built the stadium with natural grass. Platanias played in this ground, until 2011–12 period. In these, indeed, installations, contains another ground, which like the ground of Platanias use for their workouts teams Academies FC Platanias. ^[1]

Perivolia Municipal Stadium

From the season 2012–13 the team competes in Perivolia Municipal Stadium of Chania, which took place in record time, extensive upgrading and modernization work at all levels to meet in full all the obligations set by the organizing principle of Superleague and NOVA TV. The Municipal Ground of Perivolia has now "morphed" into a modern football stadium, with two tiers (one of them covered), journalists theories, comfortable – brand new changing rooms for athletes and referees (female assistants are separate changing rooms), dispensary, gym, comfortable office for the observer of the match, great room for press conferences and other venues. ^[2]

Club sponsors

Honours

Domestic Titles and honours

• Delta Ethniki

Winners (1): 2008–09

• Greek Cup:
  • Quarter Finals: 2012–13

League Performance

Pos. = Position; Pl = Match played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lost; GS = Goal Scored; GA = Goal Against; Pts = Points
Colors: Gold = winner; Green = promoted.

Professional history

• 5 seasons in the Super League
• 1 season in the Football League
• 2 seasons in the Football League 2
• 7 seasons in the Fourth Division

Statistics

Most appearances in professional divisions

Player	Matches
Juan Aguilera	89
Thomas Nazlidis	86
Dimitris Alkis	79
Abdul Aziz Tetteh	73
Fanouris Goundoulakis	72

Top-scoring players in professional divisions

Player	Goals
Thomas Nazlidis	23
Nikos Katsikokeris	19
David Torres	18
Markos Maragoudakis	15
Luka Milunović	10

Players

Current squad

As of 2 September 2016^[3]

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

No. Position Player 3 DF Giannis Kargas 4 MF Filip Stanisavljević 5 DF Christos Karipidis 6 DF Ognjen Gnjatić 7 MF Kostas Mendrinos (Vice-captain) 8 MF Juan Munafo 9 FW Giorgos Manousos 10 MF Athanasios Tsourakis 11 FW Giorgos Giakoumakis (4th captain) 12 GK Theodoros Lampiris 14 MF Antonis Iliadis 20 MF Fanouris Goundoulakis (Captain) 21 GK Dimitris Kasotakis 22 DF Yaya Banana

No. Position Player 23 DF Raúl Llorente 25 DF Giannis Stathis 26 MF Thanasis Dinas 27 DF Vanderson (3rd captain) 32 GK Dimitris Sotiriou 34 DF Vitaliy Pryndeta 39 FW Giannis Papanikolaou 77 DF Alexandros Apostolopoulos 90 MF Didac Devesa 92 GK Antonis Kokkalas 97 MF Renato Ziko 98 FW Dimitris Skouloudakis 99 FW Haris Dilaver

Out of squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Kévin Olimpa

Out on loan

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

Platanias U20 Squad

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

No. Position Player GK Markos Kourakis GK Manolis Chnaris DF Abdul Weiss DF Abdel Santo DF Franko Lamge DF Christoforos Tsatsaronis DF Dimitris Koronakis DF Manolis Mpouchlis DF Georgios Konstantinidis DF Alexandros Spintzos DF Panagiotis Lampakis MF Dimitris Tsakmakis MF Evgenios Rousakis

No. Position Player MF Georgios Amarantidis MF Georgios Giannakidis MF Vasilis Mathioudakis MF Stelios Lekkas MF Irdis Merolli MF Manolis Vourtsanis MF Nikos Vasilakis MF Gurjinder Singh FW Vasilios Kokakis FW Petros Kamposos FW Antonios Amarantidis FW Manolis Papadakis

Club officials

Board of directors

Technical and medical staff

Notable former players

• 
  Antonis Georgallides
• 
  Samuel Inkoom
• 
  Aziz Tetteh
• 
  Yevhen Selin
• 
  Jaime Gavilán
• 
  Apostolos Giannou

Managerial history

References

External links

• Club home page