Asteras Tripolis F.C.


Asteras Tripolis Football Club, commonly referred to as Asteras Tripolis, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. The club was founded on 26 March 1931 and its home ground is the Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium. Since the 2007–08 season, they have been in the Super League, the Greek top professional league. They were runners-up of the Greek Cup in 2013 and they have reach the semi-finals of the competition overall three times. Asteras Tripolis has also competed two seasons in the UEFA Europa League group stage and overall five seasons at the European level.

History

Early years

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. 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. This signified the revival of the club and Asteras Tripolis managed to compete in the inaugural season 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. Asteras Tripolis won five consecutive titles in the Arcadian League. The team won consecutive promotions and managed to play for two seasons in the Greek Football League, thus becoming the first team from Tripoli to ever participate in such a high division. In the summer of 1963, Asteras Tripolis merged with Aris–Atromitos and the new team was named "Athlitikos Omilos Tripolis". 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

Asteras Tripolis was reformed again in 1978. 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 and they managed to move up four divisions, earning the promotion for the Greek Super League as Second Division champions on 12 May 2007.
Asteras Tripolis made a spectacular start in their first season in the Super League. Their first ever win was against Panathinaikos and their first away win against OFI in Crete. 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 and AEK Athens in its first ever appearance in the top division.
managed the team through the UEFA Europa League of 2014-15 season.
Coach Paulo Campos left Asteras Tripolis on 24 February 2008 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. He was sacked in mid-season due to poor results which led the team near the relegation zone. He was succeeded by former AEK Athens caretaker manager, Nikos Kostenoglou. In 2009, Asteras Tripolis signed the Argentine former Internazionale assistant Mario Gómez as their new coach.
The 2012–13 season was the most successful in Asteras Tripolis' history. They finished third in the Super League, securing a place for the 2013–14 Europa League. Meanwhile, they reached the first Greek Cup final in their history, losing 1–3 to Olympiacos after extra time.
In the Third Group of the 2014–15 Europa League's season, Asteras Tripolis won six points and finished third against Tottenham Hotspur, Beşiktaş and Partizan. In the next season, 2015–16, Asteras Tripolis secured his direct participation in the Europa League as they finished fourth in the Super League's 2014–15 season. Participated in the Eleventh Group, won four points and finished third again, with rivals like Schalke 04, Sparta Prague and APOEL. In 2016–17 season, Asteras Tripolis finished 12th in the Super League, after too many bad games. In the next season, the club finished fifth and they secured a place in the second qualifying round of 2018–19's Europa League.

Crests and colours

Crests

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, seals the relationship of the club with the whole of Arcadia.

Colours and kit evolution

First
Alternative

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

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 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, several remarkable interventions were carried out on the stadium, mainly in its interior, such as changing rooms and the press room, etc.
On 27 November 2011, in the match between Asteras Tripolis and Olympiacos for the 11th season of the championship, the spectators arrived at the stadium with 6,150 tickets.
The stadium was renamed on 22 November 2012 in honour of the hero of the Greek War of Independence, Theodoros Kolokotronis.
Also, the club has proposed a new stadium, the New Asteras Tripolis Stadium.

Super League record

Notable wins

European record

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 25 October 2018
RankTeamPoints
121 Ufa9.509
122 Rubin Kazan9.509
123 Asteras Tripolis9.500
124 Dinamo Minsk9.000
125 HJK9.000

Source:

By season

Last update: 3 August 2018
SeasonCompetitionRoundClubHomeAwayAggregate
2012–13UEFA Europa League2Q Inter Baku1–11–12–2
2012–13UEFA Europa League3Q Marítimo1–10–01–1
2013–14UEFA Europa League3Q Rapid Wien1–11–32–4
2014–15UEFA Europa League2Q RoPS4–21–15–3
2014–15UEFA Europa League3Q Mainz 053–10–13–2
2014–15UEFA Europa LeaguePO Maccabi Tel Aviv2–01–33–3
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup C Tottenham Hotspur1–21–53rd place
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup C Beşiktaş2–21–13rd place
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup C Partizan2–00–03rd place
2015–16UEFA Europa LeagueGroup K Schalke 040–40–43rd place
2015–16UEFA Europa LeagueGroup K APOEL2–01–23rd place
2015–16UEFA Europa LeagueGroup K Sparta Prague1–10–13rd place
2018–19UEFA Europa League2Q Hibernian1–12–33–4

;Notes

Honours

Domestic competitions

Current squad

Out on loan

Historical squads

Affiliated clubs

Managerial history