Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in the city of

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintains a men's and women's basketball teams, a women's volleyball team and a (newly established in 1976) Futsal team, a women's handball team as well as a cricket team. AEL is one of the most successful clubs on the island and the most successful in Limassol with 17 official football trophies consisting of 6 first division championships, 7 cups and 4 super cups.

History

The club was founded on 4 October 1930, with Stavros Pittas serving as the club's first president. The football section of the club competed in its first game on 6 January 1931 against PSC, winning 6–1 in Limassol. The club won the national championship in 1934 though this is not credited as it is an unofficial title. Later that year, AEL became one of the eight founding members of the Cypriot First Division for the 1934–35 season, the first official league of the country. AEL Limassol celebrated its first official title success in

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

, defeating

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

4–3 in a two-legged championship play-off. AEL fans had to wait 12 years until tasting title success again, as the club finally became champions of Cyprus again in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

. AEL would twice repeat this success, winning back-to-back league championships in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

. The club won its last major trophy in 1989 – before the title success of 2012 – when it defeated city rivals

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the Tsirion Stadium. ...

3–2 after extra time in final of the

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

. In 2011, after disappointingly finishing in seventh-place in the previous campaign, AEL hired

Pambos Christodoulou Pambos Christodoulou (born 17 October 1967, Galata) is a Cypriot football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Ethnikos Achna. Playing career Christodoulou played as a defensive midfielder for Olympiakos Nicosia in the Cypru ...

, who had a reputation of steering "modest sides away from relegation", to start the club's rebuilding process. AEL Limassol secured the Cypriot league title for the first time since 1968 on 5 May 2012, ending a 44-year drought without a Cypriot first division title. Christodoulou had a dream-like first season at the helm AEL, as his side was unbeaten and had not conceded any goals through the first five games. At the end of the second round, AEL finished top of the table, three points clear of the second placed team and had only conceded seven goals, the best defensive record of all the league teams. In the play-off round, AEL battled with the top four teams for the championship, winning it with one game to spare and conceding only nine goals. As Christodoulou has managed to bring AEL the championship crown, he was nicknamed by fans "Pambourinho", a combination of his name and of esteemed manager

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

. AEL received the championship trophy during a spectacular "fiesta" evening at the Tsirion Stadium on the evening of Saturday 12 May 2012. They followed this with an open-top bus parade through Limassol. Up to 12,000 AEL fans packed the stadium to watch the fiesta and trophy presentation. The club then turned their attention to the

Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

of 16 May against Omonia and the chance to be crowned

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

winners for the first time in club history; the club, however, lost 1–0 in the final. The following year, AEL made it to the group stage of a UEFA tournament for the first time, finishing last and picking up four points in their

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

group. On 22 October 2013, Angolan manager Lito Vidigal was sacked after just over three months in charge. Bulgarian Ivaylo Petev was appointed as AEL's manager on 25 October, having previously guided Ludogorets Razgrad to promotion to the

A Group The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

as well as two A Group titles, a

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

win as well as a triumph in the Bulgarian Super Cup. Petev signed an initial deal to stay at AEL until the end of the 2014–15 season. At the end of the 2013–14 season, AEL finished in first place in the initial phase of the competition. Going into the championship match against APOEL on 17 May 2014, AEL needed only a draw to secure their second league title in three years. The match, however, was abandoned (at 0–0) after 52 minutes when firecrackers thrown by AEL fans struck APOEL player

Kaká Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime as a playmaker at AC Milan, a period marke ...

. The match was replayed behind closed doors at a neutral stadium on 31 May 2014, and APOEL achieved to win their second consecutive league title after beating AEL 1–0, courtesy of a Cillian Sheridan goal. On 6 June 2014, the Cyprus Football Association's (CFA) disciplinary committee – acting as an appeals board – unanimously cancelled on the CFA council's decision to repeat the 17 May championship final, awarding the match to APOEL with a 0–3 score. AEL winger Jorge Monteiro finished the season as joint-top scorer in the league with 18 goals, and the former

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

academy product was voted player of the year by the CFA. AEL finished in the 4th place of the championship of 2016–2017 and as a result the team won a place in the first qualifying round of Europa League. Furthermore, AEL achieved to go up to third qualifying round from a not fair play game from the referee

Artyom Kuchin Artyom Kuchin (Russian: Артём Кучин; born 12 December 1977) is a Kazakhstani international referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including spor ...

and the players of

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (; known in English as Austria Vienna, and usually shortened to Austria (German: Österreich) in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the mos ...

. The referee had show the white dot of the penalty for a ghost faul outside of the box of AEL and a red card for AEL defender

Marco Airosa Marco Ibraim de Sousa Airosa (born 6 August 1984) is an Angolan footballer who most recently played as a right back for Loures. Club career Airosa was born in Luanda. During his Portuguese career he represented G.D.P. Costa de Caparica, F.C. A ...

in the twenty second minute. AEL had fight for the win for the whole game to achieve two goals that send her in the play-offs but the score finished 1–2.

AEL LIMASSOL FC as a company

The football department of AEL is legally owned by AEL Football (Public) Ltd ( el, ΑΕΛ Ποδόσφαιρο Δημόσια ΛΤΔ), a public limited company, since 2009. The company's main activity is the management, operation and commercial exploitation of AEL Football club.

Stadium

AEL plays its home matches at the 14,000-seat Tsirion Stadium, also known as the Olympia Stadium (G.S.O). Tsirion Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Limassol. It is mostly used for football matches and is also the home ground of

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

and

. The stadium was built in 1975. The construction of a new stadium in Limassol started and is expected to open until 2022 replacing Tsirion Stadium. The capacity of the new stadium will be approximately 10.500 and will be category UEFA 4-star.

Current squad

Out On Loan

Current staff

Honours

* Cypriot First Division :Champions (6): 1940–41, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1967–68, 2011–12 :Runners-up (2): 1947–48, 2013–14 * Cypriot Second Division :Champions: 1996–97 *

:Champions (7): 1938–39, 1939–40, 1947–48, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1988–89, 2018–19 :Runners-up (11): 1937–38, 1940–41, 1958–59, 1978–79, 1987–88, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2008–09, 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2014–15 * Cypriot Super Cup :Champions (4): 1953, 1968, 1985, 2015 :Runners-up (5): 1955, 1987, 1989, 2012, 2019

UEFA club coefficient ranking

UEFA Team Ranking 2022

UEFA Club ranking

Last update: 1 June 2022
Source

European record

1R = First round, PR = Preliminary round, Q = Qualifying round, PO = play-off round.

Managerial history

* Dimitris Tsiepis (1930–32) * Argiris Gavalas (1932–46) * Costas Vasiliou (1946–48) * Argiris Gavalas (1948–56) * Spiros Elia * Ferdinard Ceplar * Christos Christodoulou * Ulhen Fitz * Georgios Eisaggeleas * Costas Pambou "Mavrokolos" *

Nicolae Simatoc Nicolae Simatoc (also known as Miklós Szegedi; 1 May 1920 – 2 December 1979) was a Romanian association football manager and midfielder who played for a number of clubs throughout Europe, including Ripensia Timişoara and Carmen București in ...

(1962–63) * Loizos Pantelidis (1968–69) *

František Havránek František Havránek (11 July 1923 – 26 March 2011) was a Czech football manager and former player. He had a daughter, Dagmar Havránková (Karakolevová). As a player, Havránek played for several lower-division Czechoslovak clubs, but neve ...

(1984–86) *

Valér Švec Valér Švec (born 20 July 1935) was a Slovak football player and coach. He played for FC Spartak Trnava. He coached Spartak Trnava, Inter Bratislava, Zbrojovka Brno, Tatran Prešov, Slovan Bratislava, FC Nitra and AEL Limassol Athlitiki E ...

(1986–88) * Dušan Uhrin (1988–89) * Jiri Dunaj (1989–90) *

František Cipro František Cipro (born 13 April 1947 in Jihlava) is a retired Czech football manager, known mostly for his work in SK Slavia Prague and SK Dynamo České Budějovice. He was an active player in the past. Playing career Cipro played for Slavia P ...

(1990–92) * Anatoliy Byshovets (1992–93) * Andreas Kissonergis (1995) *

Diethelm Ferner Diethelm Ferner (born 13 July 1941) is a German former football coach and player. As a player, he spent eight seasons in the Bundesliga with SV Werder Bremen and Rot-Weiss Essen. He represented Germany in two friendlies. Honours and achievement ...

(1995–96) *

Kálmán Mészöly Kálmán Mészöly (16 July 1941 – 21 November 2022) was a Hungarian professional football player and coach. He played his entire career at Vasas SC, where he operated as a centre-back. His nickname was "The Blond Rock". Mészöly played ...

(1997–98) *

Andreas Michaelides Andreas Michaelides ( gr, Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης; born in Limassol, December 29, 1952) is a Cypriot manager, the president of Cypriot Managers Federation, and member of the House of Representatives of Cyprus. He started his coachin ...

(July 2000 – Sept 2002) * Giannis Matzourakis (Sept 2002 – Nov 3) *

Henk Houwaart Henk Houwaart (born August 31, 1945) is a Dutch football manager and a former football player. Born in the Hague, Houwaart began his career in 1963 as a footballer playing for ADO Den Haag until 1967, when he left the club to play for FC Twente. ...

(Nov 2003 – 31 December 2004) * Oleh Protasov (Dec 2004 – March 5) *

(March 2005 – May 5) * Bojan Prašnikar (1 July 2005 – 30 November 2005) * Loizos Mavroudis (Feb 2006 – May 6) *

Panicos Orphanides Panicos Orphanides (born 27 July 1961) is a Cypriot former football manager and former football player. He played for AEL Limassol from 1977 to 1993, where he celebrated three Cypriot Cups. As a manager, Orphanides started as an assistant to An ...

(July 2006 – Jan 7) *

Eli Guttman Israel "Eli" Guttman (or Gutman, he, אלי גוטמן; born 24 February 1958) is an Israeli former football player and manager who most recently managed Maccabi Haifa, before officially announcing his retirement from the football world, stating ...

(Feb 2007 – Dec 7) *

Mariano Barreto Mariano Barreto (born 18 January 1957) is a Portuguese Association football, football manager. Coaching career In January 2009, he became an assistant coach in the Russian Premier League with FC Kuban Krasnodar. Barreto was officially registere ...

(4 December 2007 – 5 February 2008) *

(Feb 2008 – Jan 2009) * Mihai Stoichiță (26 January 2009 – 20 May 2009) *

Nir Klinger Nir Klinger ( he, ניר קלינגר; born 25 May 1966) is an Israeli football coach and former player. During the 1990s, Klinger served as Captain for Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Israel national football team. He was the coach of Maccabi Tel ...

(1 August 2009 – 1 December 2009) *

Dušan Uhrin, Jr. Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Душан) is a Slavic given name primarily used in countries of Yugoslavia; and among Slovaks and Czechs. The name is derived from the Slavic noun ''duša'' "soul". Occurrence In Serbia, it was the 29th most popular name ...

(1 January 2010 – 21 September 2010) * Mihai Stoichiță (22 September 2010 – 7 February 2011) *

Raymond Atteveld Raymond Atteveld (born 8 September 1966) is a Dutch retired footballer who played as a striker, full back or midfielder. Playing career Club Atteveld played for Haarlem before moving to England to join Everton. He made his debut for Everton o ...

(7 February 2011 – May 2011) *

(24 March 2011 – 22 October 2012) *

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(24 October 2012 – 22 May 2013) * Lito Vidigal (1 July 2013 – 22 October 2013) * Ivaylo Petev (25 October 2013 – 17 November 2014) * Christakis Christoforou (17 November 2014 – 19 October 2015) *

Makis Chavos Makis Chavos ( el, Μάκης Χάβος; born 5 September 1969) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. Chavos is best remembered for his four-and-a-half-year spell with PAOK. During the later stages of his career, he playe ...

(27 October 2015 – 8 February 2016) *

(8 February 2016 – 7 March 2017) *

Bruno Baltazar Bruno Miguel Nunes Baltazar (born 6 July 1977) is a Portuguese retired Association football, footballer who played as a central defender, currently Manager (association football), manager of Rochester New York FC in MLS Next Pro. Playing career ...

(22 March 2017 – 5 March 2018) *

Dušan Kerkez Dušan Kerkez (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Керкез; born 1 May 1976) is a Bosnian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the current professional football manager for Serbian SuperLiga club Čukarički. Club c ...

(5 March 2018 – 6 December 2021) *

Savvas Pantelidis Savvas Pantelidis ( gr, Σάββας Παντελίδης; born 7 April 1965) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. Playing career Pantelidis played for club Doxa Vyronas from 1988 until 1997 before playing for Proodeftik ...

(8 December 2021 – 20 May 2022) *

Silas Silas or Silvanus (; Greek: Σίλας/Σιλουανός; fl. 1st century AD) was a leading member of the Early Christian community, who according to the New Testament accompanied Paul the Apostle on his second missionary journey. Name and et ...

(21 May 2022 – 17 September 2022 ) * Cedomir Janevski (17 September 2022- )

Presidential history

AEL Football Academies

* Cypriot U21 Championships: 13 :: 1940, 1951, 1960, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008 :Runners-up: 1 :: 2012 * Cyprus U21 Cup: 1 :: 1997 * Cypriot U19 Championships: 1 :: 2018(Participating

2018–19 UEFA Youth League The 2018–19 UEFA Youth League was the sixth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played on 29 April 2019 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, between English side ...

) * Cypriot U17 Championships: 6 :: 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2018 :Runners-up: 1 :: 2019 * priot U16 Championships: 1 :: 2017 * Cypriot U15 Championships: 2 :: 2005, 2009 * Cypriot U13 Championships: 3 :: 2006, 2008, 2017

AEL LIMASSOL Basketball Team

There is a men's and woman's Basketball team with the woman's team known as ASBIS AEL Limassol.

Women volleyball team (Robomarkets AEL)

A founding member of the Cyprus Volleyball Federation in 1976, AEL's women team has dominated in the Cypriot volleyball. The team's achievements are phenomenal; Out of the 32 seasons played so far in Cyprus since the commencement of the women's volleyball league, the team won the Championship 27 times. Out of the 31 cups they won it 27 times, 24 consecutive times, from 1980 until 2003. Also they have won the Championship 15 consecutive times, from 1977 until 1991. They have also the amazing records of winning the Double 12 times from 1980 until 1991 and 9 times from 1993 until 2001. In the past the club had also a men's team for 10 years which participated in the Cypriot Championship.

Bowling team

The bowling club was founded in 1999 and the same year became a member of the Limassol District Federation. In 2001, the team participated in the Cypriot Championship as one of the two representatives of the Limassol District Federation. In the team won its first trophy by winning the Limassol District Federation Cup and in 2006 its first Championship by winning the Limassol District Federation Championship. The home of the team is the Galaktika Bowling Center.

Cycling team

The cycling team was founded in 2001 and the same year became a member of the Limassol District Federation. The first men's cycling team consisted of the following : Κωνσταντίνος Ιωάννου, Στέλιος Βασιλάκης, Χριστόφορος Στεφάνου, Αλέξης Κέστας, Mark Williams, Σταύρος Αντωνίου, Χρίστος Παναγιώτου, William de Doncker.

Defunct sports departments

Apart from the currently active sports departments, AEL had in the past some other sports departments, which today are defunct. Despite this, these currently not active departments had all won titles for AEL when they were active.

Field hockey

In the past AEL Limassol had a

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

team which is currently not active. The team had plenty of victories led by its star player Renos Antoniadis. In 1931, AEL won the Cup in a match which was played in

Larnaca Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 144 ...

. One year later, the team became Cypriot Champions. The team consisted of the following players: Antoniadis, Pareas, Frangos, Christophides, Michaelides, Kalogirou, Victor Mousteris, Anastasiadis and Williamson. However, there were no further hockey competitions in Cyprus afterwards, as the other teams hockey teams of the era closed down their hockey departments because of financial problems.

Handball

Another AEL sport department that currently does not exist is the handball. The team was active for a small period of time but that did not stop the team from adding another trophy to the hundreds that AEL won in various other sports. On 11 June 1989, a day after the football team of the club won the Cypriot Cup, the handball team won the Cypriot Cup in handball by beating Youth Centre Larnaca 23–19 in the final which was played in Lefkotheo Indoor Hal,

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

Volleyball

AEL maintains 3 teams for women's volleyball but does not currently have a men's Volleyball team.

Waterpolo

AEL was also active in maritime sports, especially those that needed team participation. AEL pioneered in

Regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

s in 1932, 1933 and 1934 in the Cyprus Regatta Games. The members of the team were Nearchos Pieris, Christakis Dixon, Andreas Araouzos, Sotiris Antoniades and Maximos Morides. The club had also a waterpolo team which was unbeaten Cypriot Champions. The team achieved a noted victory against a selected team of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

which were then Mediterranean Champions. Apart from the Cypriot Championships, AEL won the Mediterranean Naval Cup.

References

External links

AEL Limassol football club Official Website
* AE
Limassol Club Official Website

Official SY.F.AEL Fans Website

Lions Radio Unofficial Fans Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ael Limassol Football clubs in Cyprus Volleyball clubs in Cyprus Association football clubs established in 1930 Multi-sport clubs in Cyprus 1930 establishments in Cyprus