Aris Limassol (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') 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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

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 ...

and one of the founder members of

Cyprus Football Association The Cyprus Football Association (CFA; el, Κυπριακή Ομοσπονδία Ποδοσφαίρου (ΚΟΠ), Kypriakí Omospondía Podosfaírou (KOP)) is the governing body of football in Cyprus and is based in Nicosia. It organizes the footb ...

. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the

Tsirion Stadium The Tsirio Stadium ( el, Τσίρειο Στάδιο) is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Limassol, Cyprus. The stadium holds 13,331 people and is mostly used for football matches. It was the home ground of the three biggest clubs in Limass ...

. Founded in 1930, Aris Limassol is one of the most historic football clubs of

. The club also maintains teams in other sports including basketball, table tennis and chess. The Aris chess team dominated Cypriot chess in the 1980s.

History

One of the founder members of the

, Aris competed in the first five seasons of the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, with their league placement ranging from 5th to 7th. The club ceased operation in 1939 due to financial difficulties, and returned in 1952, competing in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Aris returned to the First Division in 1954, but finished last and was relegated. The following season they won the

and returned to the top-tier league, only to be relegated again. Aris returned to the First Division once more the following season, placing 4th, the club's best league placement to date. Being one of the weaker teams in the First Division during the 1960s, they were finally relegated in the 1969–70 season, placing 12th, and spent two years in the

. The situation improved for Aris, with the team finishing 4th in the First Division, in the 1976–77 and 1978–79 seasons. In 1981, they were relegated again after finishing last but returned as runner-ups the following season and finished 5th in the 1985–86 season. The greatest success of the club came in 1989, when the team qualified to the 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 ...

, where they lost to

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintain ...

. The following season, Aris signed

Oleh Blokhin Oleg Vladimirovich Blokhin, or Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin ( uk, Оле́г Володи́мирович Блохі́н, rus, Оле́г Влади́мирович Блохи́н; born 5 November 1952), is a former Ukrainian and Soviet footbal ...

, the 1975

European Footballer of the Year The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine '' France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (f ...

, who helped them finish 4th in the league. At the end of the season, Blokhin ended his career playing for Aris Limassol. Following relegation in 1993, Aris won the

for the third time in the club's history. From 1997 until 2006, the team would be relegated to the

every year, and would return to the First Division the following year. This situation ended in the 2006–07 season, when the team managed to remain in the First Division, placing 8th. However, the following season Aris was relegated once more,and the trend returned. After 9 years of drought, Aris managed to remain in the First Division in the 2015–16 season, finishing in 10th place. This season, Aris was the only team which played more than 6 Cypriot players in every match. After three seasons in the First Division, Aris was relegated and spent another three seasons in the

, before being promoted once more in the 2020-21 season. In Summer 2021, a new era began for Aris, with the Russian investor Vladimir Federov, who intends to transform Aris into one of the elite clubs of Cyprus. The following season, Aris finished fourth in the league, meaning the club had qualified for the 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League, the first time the club had ever qualified for European football. They made their European debut in the second qualifying round against Neftçi Baku, and despite a 2-0 win at home, Aris lost 3-0 in the second tie, and was eliminated.

Supporters

Aris has a smaller number of fans compared to other Limassol clubs, but these are very committed to their club. Because of this, they are often referred to as "the 300 of Leonidas", in reference to the famous 300 Spartan soldiers that delayed the Persian army at Thermopylae.

Choir

The Aris choir was established in 1938 by the conductor and composer Solon Michaelides who remained its conductor until 1956. In 1962, the choir returned the direction of Marinos Mitellas and remains one of the best-known Hellenic choirs performing in Cyprus, Greece and internationally.

Players

''For recent transfers, see

List of Cypriot football transfers summer 2022 A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...

Out on loan

Active International players

Foreign players

Technical and medical staff

Managerial history

Tadeáš Kraus Tadeusz Kraus (also known as Tadeáš Kraus) (22 October 1932 – 30 October 2018) was a Czechoslovak international footballer of Polish ethnicity who represented Czechoslovakia. He was born in Třinec. His father Wilhelm was a metallurgist worke ...

(1976–80), (1983–85) *

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 ...

(1986–91) *

Jerzy Engel Władysław Jerzy Engel (; born 6 October 1952 in Włocławek, Poland) is a Polish former Association football, footballer and coach. Biography Playing career Engel began his career in football at an early age playing at local youth club Juna ...

(1997) *

Milenko Špoljarić Milenko Špoljarić (; born 24 January 1967) is a football manager and a former Cypriot international football midfielder. Club career Born in Belišće, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, Špoljarić played for Yugoslav First League clubs NK Osijek ...

(2004–05) *

(2006–07) * Henk Houwaart (1 September 2007 – 30 November 2007) * Mihai Stoichiţă (2007–08) *

Akis Agiomamitis Akis Agiomamitis is a retired Cypriot international footballer who played as a defender for OFI Crete and is now a football manager. Club career Agiomamitis moved to Greece in July 1979, joining Greek first division side OFI Crete. He would ...

(2008–09) *

Marios Constantinou Marios Constantinou ( el, Μάριος Κωνσταντίνου; born on 14 July 1967) is a former international Cypriot football midfielder and current manager. He is a holder of the UEFA Pro Licence. In the past he was footballer of Pezopori ...

(17 May 2009 – 18 January 2010) *

Stéphane Demol Stéphane Auguste Ernest Demol (born 11 March 1966) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a central defender, and a current manager. He amassed Belgian First Division A totals of 120 games and 11 goals over the course of seve ...

(21 Feb 2010 – 30 June 2010) *

Dušan Mitošević Dušan Mitošević (17 December 1949 – 1 January 2018) was a Serbian football player and manager. Playing career Mitošević was a reputable striker during his playing career. He played for FK Radnički Niš in the Yugoslav First League duri ...

(18 July 2011 – 30 June 2012) *

Demetris Ioannou Demetris Ioannou () born December 8, 1968, is a former international Cypriot football defender and currently a football manager. Career He started his career in 1990 from Apollon Limassol and then followed six successful seasons in Anorthosi ...

(1 July 2012 – 22 June 2013) * Tasos Kyriacou (1 July 2012 – 22 October 2013) *

Ton Caanen Ton Caanen (born March 18, 1966 in Geleen, Netherlands) is a Dutch football manager. Managerial career Aside from a few years in the amateur Dutch leagues, Caanen never played professional football. He got his start as a manager in his hometow ...

(23 Oct 2013 – 11 May 2014) * Giorgos Polyviou (16 Jun 2014 – 14 October 2014) *

(14 Oct 2014 – 14 September 2015) *

Eugen Neagoe Eugen Neagoe (born 22 August 1967) is a Romanian football manager and former striker, currently in charge of Liga I club CS Universitatea Craiova. He is the cousin of Victor Pițurcă. While managing Dinamo București, on 21 July 2019, during ...

(15 September 2015 – 7 February 2016) *

Kostas Kaiafas Kostas Kaiafas ( gr, Κώστας Καϊάφας; born 22 September 1974 in Nicosia) is Cypriot former football player and manager. As a player, he was a midfielder for Omonia and Alki Larnaca. He was the captain of Omonia and the second lo ...

(8 Feb 2016 – 15 May 2016) * Thalis Theodoridis (24 Jun 2016 – 24 October 2016) * Frederik Vanderbiest (1 Nov 2016 – 3 January 2017) * Nicolas Martides (Jan 2017 – 3 October 2017) * Giannis Christopoulos (4 Oct 2017 – 22 January 2018) *

Nicos Panayiotou Nicos Panayiotou (born December 6, 1970) is a former international Cypriot football goalkeeper. He started his career from Anorthosis. He played there for seventeen years. He was the captain of Anorthosis. Then, he moved to AEK Larnaca where he p ...

(22 Jan 2018 – 13 March 2018) * Chrysis Michael (26 Apr 2018 – 13 January 2019) * Nicolas Martides (13 Jan 2019 – 31 May 2019) * Liasos Louka (11 Jul 2019 – 26 February 2022) * Aleksey Shpilevsky (26 Feb 2022 – )

Honours

**''Runners-up'' (1): 1988–89 *

Cypriot Second Division The Cypriot Second Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Β΄ Κατηγορίας) is the second highest football division of the Cypriot football league system. Administrated by the Cyprus Football Association, it is contested by 16 teams, with th ...

**Winners (5): 1953–54, 1955–56, 1993–94, 2010–11, 2012–13