Asteras Tripolis Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Αστέρας Τρίπολης), commonly referred to as Asteras Tripolis (meaning "Star of Tripoli"), is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Founded on 26 March 1931, their badge has Theodoros Kolokotronis on his horse and they have yellow and blue worn as home kit. Its home ground is the Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium, a 7,442-capacity stadium in Tripoli.
Asteras Tripolis has also competed two seasons in the UEFA Europa League group stage and overall five seasons in the competition. The club is in 10th place between the 19 teams with contribution of points in European football for Greece.
History
Early years
Asteras Tripolis line-up in Beta Ethniki 1962–63
Asteras Tripolis was founded in 1931, in the area near Tripoli's railway station and was formally recognised forthwith. However, the club stayed inactive and during 1932 all football clubs in Tripoli were temporarily dissolved. At the same time, Minas Tsavdaris founded a football club and named it "Keramikos" after his home area.[1] Despite his efforts, Keramikos was never formally recognised, and in 1938 Tsavdaris decided to transfer all of the club's players to Asteras Tripolis, which was still legally recognised.[1] This signified the revival of the club and Asteras Tripolis managed to compete in the inaugural season (1939–40) of the regional Arcadian League. However, the subsequent German occupation of Greece ended all league competitions abruptly and the club was dissolved once again.
Post-World War II
After World War II, Asteras Tripolis was reformed under the name "Neos Asteras" and was accordingly recognised by Tripoli's courts on 23 June 1947.[1] Asteras Tripolis won five consecutive titles in the Arcadian League (1957–62). The team won consecutive promotions and managed to play for two seasons in Second National Division (1961–63), thus becoming the first team from Tripoli to ever participate in such a high division.[1] In the summer of 1963, Asteras Tripolis merged with Aris–Atromitos and the new team was named "Athlitikos Omilos Tripolis" (Athletic Club of Tripoli, AOT). AOT's function was based in Asteras Tripolis' statute and the new club continued its activities until 1968, when it was dissolved once again and was subsequently merged with Arkadikos to form Panarkadikos.
Recent history and era of success (2003–present)
Asteras Tripolis was reformed again in 1978.[1] The club participated in the regional Arcadian League until 2003. At 2001 the club entered a new era and led an outstanding streak of performances under the leadership of Dimitris Bakos and
Giannis Kaimenakis. They remained unbeaten at home for over 5 years (from 2001 to November 2006) and they managed to move up four divisions, earning the promotion for the Super League Greece as Second Division champions on 12 May 2007.
Asteras Tripolis made a spectacular start in their first season in Super League, under the technical leadership of Paulo Campos. Their first ever win was against Panathinaikos (1–0[2] in Tripoli) and their first away win against OFI in Crete (3–0).[3] The season was marked by some outstanding performances with the most memorable being the 1–0 home victory against champions Olympiacos. They also managed to win 2–1 against AEK Athens and 2–0 against PAOK at home. Asteras Tripolis became the first and only newly promoted Super League team that managed to beat Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, PAOK (home and away) and AEK Athens in its first ever appearance in the top division. It is remarkable that the team of that season made Asteras Tripolis popular in Greek fans as "Greek Boca" because of its Argentinian players (Lucio Filomeno, Horacio Cardozo, Mauro Milano, Israel Damonte etc.) and the mutual colours of the club with the famous Boca Juniors.
Coach Paulo Campos left Asteras Tripolis on 24 February 2008[4] with assistant manager Panagiotis Tzanavaras taking over for the rest of the 2007–08 season. Asteras Tripolis finally ended 7th, missing the European spot in the last games. In the summer of 2008, Asteras Tripolis announced Carlos Carvalhal as their new manager.[5] He was sacked in mid-season due to poor results which led the team near the relegation zone.[6] He was succeeded by former AEK Athenscaretaker manager, Nikos Kostenoglou.[7] Despite the unfortunate results in Super League, the team managed to remain focused on the goal of the Greek Cup, reaching the semi-finals for the first time in its history, where finally eliminated by Olympiacos. In 2009, Asteras Tripolis signed the Argentine former Internazionale assistant Mario Gómez as their new coach.
After a season with moderate results that led Asteras Tripolis to 12th place finish in Super League, the next season was coming to get worse the status of the club. In the 2010–11 season, after some wrong player choices and a disappointing 2nd round, Asteras Tripolis dealt relegation hammer blow. However, on 19 May 2011, the Disciplinary Committee of the competition found Iraklis guilty of forgery during the winter transfer window. Therefore the club was automatically put at the end of the league table and demoted to the Football League. This development resulted in Asteras Tripolis remaining in Super League.
In the 2011–12 season, Asteras Tripolis reached the 6th place and failed to qualify for the Play-offs. However, AEK Athens was not licensed to play in the 2012–13 Europa League and therefore replaced by the 6th placed team in the league table, Asteras Tripolis. That was the first participation of the club in UEFA competitions.
The season completed with another participation of the club in Greek Cup semi-finals, in which the team eliminated after an exciting 2nd leg match against Atromitos in Tripoli.
The 2012–13 season was one of the most memorable in Asteras Tripolis' history. The club competed in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round and won its first qualification to a next round in European level, eliminating the Azerbaijani, Inter Baku.[8]
In Super League, the club took a step ahead, finishing third(and fourth in the play-offs) and secured a place for the 2013–14 Europa League.[9] However, the highlight of the season was the outstanding road of the team, under the technical leadership of Sakis Tsiolis, to the first Greek Cup final in club's history. The "Arcadians" lost 1–3 against Olympiacos after extra time and as 13,000 supporters of the yellow-blues were at the Olympic Stadium of Athens.[10]
In the next season, 2015–16, Asteras Tripolis secured his direct participation in the Europa League group stage as finished third in the 2014-15 Super League. In the Group K, the club won four points and finished third again, with rivals Schalke 04, Sparta Prague and APOEL. Although during the 2016-17 Super League season, Asteras Tripolis finished 12th, in the next season, the club finished fifth, securing a place in the second qualifying round of 2018–19 Europa League.
The original crest of the club is the star symbol in the traditional colors of the team, yellow and blue. Over the following decades, different versions of the crest were introduced with minor changes. In 2006 first appeared the version that was coming to connect with the most recent glorious days of the club, until the summer of 2020. With the motto "The story has no end", the club presented the new crest on July 21, 2020. The star symbol is maintained in the highest position, as the symbol with which the club traveled through time, since 1931. Also, the new crest connects the club with the most special monument of its city, the statue of Theodoros Kolokotronis, the Greek general and pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence. The statue, located in Areos Square since September 1971, was made to present Theodoros Kolokotronis in battle and his bones are kept there. At the same time, with the phrase "ET IN ARCADIA EGO" written on it, the new crest seals the relationship of the club with the whole of Arcadia.
Asteras Tripolis fans during the 2012 Greek Cup semi-finals
Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium (formally Asteras Tripolis Stadium) is a privately owned football stadium in Tripoli, Greece. Its capacity is 7,600. The stadium was built in 1979. After the team's promotion in the Football League in 2005, the stadium was renovated and its capacity expanded, including the east stand, which also houses the club's offices, a gym and changing rooms, a lounge, etc. In 2007, with the rise of Asteras Tripolis in the Super League, the western theater was built, housing the journalists and VIP posts, and a small square on the south side was also added for use mainly by the fans of the hosted team. In 2008, the northern beam was constructed. In 2010, the southern beam was reconstructed and expanded. In 2015, on the occasion of the Asteras Tripolis team's participation in the Europa League (2015–16) groups, for the second time in its history and the second consecutive parallel but also the fourth consecutive year of the group's presence in general (the first two only in the qualifiers), several remarkable interventions were carried out on the stadium, mainly in its interior, such as changing rooms and the press room, etc.[20]
On 27 November 2011, in the match between Asteras Tripolis and Olympiacos for the 11th season of the championship (2011–12), the spectators arrived at the stadium with 6,150 tickets.[21]
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