Super League Greece

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Super League Greece
Super League Greece 2007-08

Founded
2006
Nation
Greece
President
Giannis Vardinogiannis
Relegation To
Second Division
Number of Teams
16
European Qualification
Champions League UEFA Cup Intertoto Cup
Domestic Cups
Greek Cup
Greek Super Cup
Current Champions (2006-07)
Olympiacos
Most Successful Club
Olympiacos (35 titles)
Website
Official Website

The Super League Greece trophy

The Super League Greece (Greek: Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα) is the highest professional football league in Greece.

1 History
2 Structure
3 2007-08
- 3.1 Clubs
- 3.2 Stadiums
4 Champions
- 4.1 Performance By Club
- 4.2 Domestic Doubles
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Super Leagues's precursors was Panhellenic Championship and First Division (Α΄ Εθνική). Panhellenic Championship, which had the form of cup, was carried out from 1906 to 1959, with the attendance only of the biggest football associations of Athens, Piraeus, Thessaloniki and Patras, while First Division from 1959 (therefore the championship became professional, until then was amateur) to 2006. First Division had bigger attendance, with associations from all Greece.

EPO organized the championship for first time in history in 1927. Until then, SEGAS (Contact of Greek Gymnastic and Athletic Associations) (1906-1913) and the precursor of EPO, EPSE (Union of Football Associations of Greece) (1922-23), had undertaken the conduct of championship. Nevertheless, the official counting of champions begins since 1928.

The greek championship has been plagued by several scandals in the past. In 2002, questionable refereeing in a decisive match costed Panathinaikos Athens the championship.^[1] A law regarding the immunity of league officials passed in 2006 was seen as jeapardizing the independance of football in Greece by the FIFA and resulted in a ban from all international competitions.^[2] The ban was lifted a week later, after the law was resigned.^[3]

At present, sixteen clubs compete in the league, playing each other twice, once at home and once away. At the end of the season, the bottom three clubs are relegated to Second Division, the second-level league, to be replaced by the top three teams from that league.

For 2007-08 season, the league is entitled to two entrants in the UEFA Champions League. The champion enters the third qualifying round, a two-legged tie from which the winner qualifies to the group stage, while the runner-up enters a play-off with the teams that finished third, fourth and fifth in the league. The winner of the play-off's takes second in the league and enters the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League from which the winner qualifies for the third qualifying round. The winner of the Greek Cup automatically enters the UEFA Cup, as well as the runner-up of the play-off.

The play-off will involve all the teams playing against each other both home and away. However, the teams will not start on level points as a weighting system will apply to the play-off mini-league. This means that the team finishing fifth will start on 0 points. The fifth team’s end of season tally of points from the regular period will then be subtracted from the amount of points that each of the other sides’ finish with. This figure will then be divided by three to give the other teams the number of points they will start the mini-league with.

Club	Finishing position last season
AEK Athens	2nd
Apollon Kalamarias	12th
Aris	4th
Asteras Tripolis	1st in Second Division
Atromitos	8th
Ergotelis	9th
Iraklis	13th
Larissa	10th
Levadiakos	2nd in Second Division
OFI	7th
Olympiacos	1st
Panathinaikos	3rd
Panionios	5th
PAOK	6th
Veria	3rd in Second Division
Skoda Xanthi	11th

Club	Stadium	Capacity
AEK Athens	Olympic Stadium	71,030
Apollon Kalamarias	Lysandros Kaftanzoglou	27,770
Aris	Kleanthis Vikelidis	22,800
Asteras Tripoli	Asteras Stadium	6,500
Atromitos	Peristeri Stadium	8,939
Ergotelis	Pankritio	26,240
Iraklis	Lysandros Kaftanzoglou	27,770
Larissa	Alkazar	13,108
Levadiakos	Levadia Stadium	13,108
OFI	Pankritio	26,240
Olympiacos	Georgios Karaiskakis	33,334
Panathinaikos	Apostolos Nikolaidis	16,620
Panionios	Nea Smyrni Stadium	11,700
PAOK	Toumba Stadium	28,701
Veria	Veria Stadium	7,361
Skoda Xanthi	Skoda Xanthi Arena	7,422

1927/28-1958/59 Panhellenic Championship
1959/60-2005/06 Alpha Ethniki
2006/07-present Super League Greece

Season	Champion
1927-28	Aris
1928-29	not held
1929-30	Panathinaikos
1930-31	Olympiacos
1931-32	Aris
1932-33	Olympiacos
1933-34	Olympiacos
1934-35	not held
1935-36	Olympiacos
1936-37	Olympiacos
1937-38	Olympiacos
1938-39	AEK Athens
1939-40	AEK Athens
1940-41	not held
1941-42
1942-43
1943-44
1944-45
1945-46	Aris
1946-47	Olympiacos
1947-48	Olympiacos
1948-49	Panathinaikos
1949-50	not held
1950-51	Olympiacos
1951-52	not held
1952-53	Panathinaikos
1953-54	Olympiacos
1954-55	Olympiacos
1955-56	Olympiacos
1956-57	Olympiacos
1957-58	Olympiacos
1958-59	Olympiacos

Season	Champion
1959-60	Panathinaikos
1960-61	Panathinaikos
1961-62	Panathinaikos
1962-63	AEK Athens
1963-64	Panathinaikos
1964-65	Panathinaikos
1965-66	Olympiacos
1966-67	Olympiacos
1967-68	AEK Athens
1968-69	Panathinaikos
1969-70	Panathinaikos
1970-71	AEK Athens
1971-72	Panathinaikos
1972-73	Olympiacos
1973-74	Olympiacos
1974-75	Olympiacos
1975-76	PAOK
1976-77	Panathinaikos
1977-78	AEK Athens
1978-79	AEK Athens
1979-80	Olympiacos
1980-81	Olympiacos
1981-82	Olympiacos
1982-83	Olympiacos
1983-84	Panathinaikos
1984-85	PAOK
1985-86	Panathinaikos
1986-87	Olympiacos
1987-88	Larissa
1988-89	AEK Athens
1989-90	Panathinaikos
1990-91	Panathinaikos

Season	Champion
1991-92	AEK Athens
1992-93	AEK Athens
1993-94	AEK Athens
1994-95	Panathinaikos
1995-96	Panathinaikos
1996-97	Olympiacos
1997-98	Olympiacos
1998-99	Olympiacos
1999-00	Olympiacos
2000-01	Olympiacos
2001-02	Olympiacos
2002-03	Olympiacos
2003-04	Panathinaikos
2004-05	Olympiacos
2005-06	Olympiacos
2006-07	Olympiacos
2007-08

Club	Champions	Winning Years
Olympiacos	35	1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007
Panathinaikos	19	1930, 1949, 1953, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2004
AEK Athens	11	1939, 1940, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1978, 1979, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994
Aris	3	1928, 1932, 1946
PAOK	2	1976, 1985
Larissa	1	1988

Season	Club
1939	AEK Athens
1947	Olympiacos
1951	Olympiacos
1954	Olympiacos
1957	Olympiacos
1958	Olympiacos
1959	Olympiacos
1969	Panathinaikos
1973	Olympiacos
1975	Olympiacos
1977	Panathinaikos
1978	AEK Athens
1981	Olympiacos
1984	Panathinaikos
1986	Panathinaikos
1991	Panathinaikos
1995	Panathinaikos
1999	Olympiacos
2004	Panathinaikos
2005	Olympiacos
2006	Olympiacos