G.S. Iraklis Thessaloniki ( el, Γ.Σ. Ηρακλής Θεσσαλονίκης), is a professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team based in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

, Macedonia,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It plays in A1 Greek Volleyball League. Founded in the 1920s, they evolved in one of the most successful departments of G.S. Iraklis Thessaloniki multi-

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 ...

and one of the best teams in

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, as they have won 5 times the Greek league (2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012) and reached 3 times (2005, 2006, 2009) the final of the

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tot ...

History

Iraklis volleyball european final fours map

Iraklis was one of the first Greek clubs which encouraged volleyball before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, they were always among the top teams in

. The first national championship was played in 1968 and Iraklis was also able to contribute to the National Teams with plenty of players. During the 70's, Iraklis participated twice in the championship finals, due to the contribution of Nikos Antoniadis. In 1987, 1989 and 1992 Iraklis made it to the European Cup and in 1997 came the outburst of the team. Thanks to an organized effort, Iraklis played three consecutive Championship finals and finally won its first title -the Greek Cup- in 2000. Two years later, the team won both the Championship and the Cup titles, while finishing third in the

final-four held in

Opole Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ; * Silesian: ** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole'' ** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole'' * Silesian German: ''Uppeln'' * Czech: ''Opolí'' * Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city loc ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. The next four years Iraklis dominated in Greece, confirming his superiority by winning one Championship (2005), three Greek Cups (2004, 2005, 2006) and two Greek Super Cups (2004, 2005), but mostly by participating in three more

final-fours. In 2004 in

Belgorod Belgorod ( rus, Белгород, p=ˈbʲeɫɡərət) is a city and the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River north of the border with Ukraine. Population: Demographics The population of Be ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, the team finished in the fourth place. Next year, the presence of world-class players such as

Lloy Ball Lloy James Ball (born February 17, 1972, in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is an American volleyball player, a member of American national team in 1993–2008, a participant of the Olympic Games (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004) and gold medalist ...

Thomas Hoff Thomas John "Tom" Hoff (born June 9, 1973) is a retired American volleyball player. He was a middle blocker and has been with the U.S. national team from 1996 until 2009. He is a three-time Olympian in volleyball Olympics: 2000, 2004 and 2008 ...

and

Clayton Stanley Clayton Iona "Clay" Stanley (born January 20, 1978) is an American volleyball player, a member of United States men's national volleyball team, a participant of the Olympic Games ( Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012), Olympic Champion 2008, ...

helped the team to reach the final-four which took place in

. Iraklis beat

Lokomotiv Belgorod VC Belogorie Belgorod (russian: ВК Белогорье) is a Russian professional volleyball club based in Belgorod, which is participating in the Russian Volleyball Super League. VC Belogorie won the Russian Championship and the Russian Cup eig ...

in the semi-final, but lost 1-3 to

Tours VB Tours VB is a professional men's volleyball club which is playing their home matches at the Salle Robert Grenon in Tours, France. Tours VB plays in LNV Ligue A, top volleyball league in France. According to Media Guide book, the annual budget o ...

in the final, despite the outstanding support by the fans. In 2006, Iraklis made it again to the final in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, to be beaten by

Sisley Treviso Volley Treviso is a professional volleyball team based in Treviso. They were known at the past with the sponsorship name Sisley. The team plays at the Serie B. Achievements * Italian Volleyball League (9): 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 ...

3-1. About 4,000 Iraklis fans traveled to

to support the team. The following season marked the beginning of a transitional period. Many of the top players were released from the team, while the budget was cut in half. Even so, the team's dominance in Greece continued. In 2007, Iraklis finished third in regular season, but managed to win the Championship beating

Olympiacos S.C. Olympiacos Men's Volleyball ( el, Ολυμπιακός, ), commonly referred to as Olympiacos, Olympiacos Piraeus or with its full name as Olympiacos CFP, is the men's volleyball department of the major Greek multi-sport club, Olympiacos CFP, ...

in the semi-finals and

Panathinaikos VC Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

in the finals, having both times a disadvantage. The next Championship (2007–08) had the same conclusion. Iraklis defeated

in the finals without losing a single game and won the championship for the fourth time in their history. File:Nikos Samaras.JPG,

Nikos Samaras Nikos Samaras (1 July 1970 – 4 January 2013) was a Greek volleyball player, who competed for various Greek, Italian, Spanish and Turkish clubs. Samaras was born in Stuttgart. He led Orestiada, helping the team to become successful in Greec ...

File:Plamen konstantinov.jpg,

Plamen Konstantinov Plamen Georgiev Konstantinov ( bg, Пламен Георгиев Константинов) (born 14 June 1973) is a former Bulgarian volleyball player, a member of Bulgaria men's national volleyball team, head coach of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk and ...

File:Tom Hoff 2008.jpg,

File:Rolando Despaigne.png,

Rolando Jurquin Rolando Jurquin Despaigne (born June 7, 1987) is a Cuban volleyball player, who plays as a wing-spiker. He was a member of the national squad of Cuba that claimed the bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sporti ...

File:Matej Černič 4.jpg,

Matej Černič Matej Černič (born 13 September 1978) is an Italian volleyball player who won the silver medal with the Italian men's national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics, held in Athens. He is of Slovene ethnicity and belongs to the Slovene minority in ...

File:Frantz Granvorka.jpg,

Frantz Granvorka Frantz Granvorka (born 10 March 1976) is a former France, French volleyball player, a member of France men's national volleyball team in 1996–2007, a participant of the Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament, 2004 Olympic G ...

File:Lloy Ball (2008).jpg,

File:Brook Billings.jpg,

Brook Billings Brook Michael Billings (born April 30, 1980 in Santa Barbara, California) is an American indoor volleyball player, who plays as an opposite-hitter for the U.S. National Team. He joined the team in May 2002. College highlights 2002 Earned Al ...

Honours

Domestic

Greek League * Winners (5): 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012 * Runners-up (8): 1971, 1975, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2011

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

* Winners (6): 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012 * Runners-up (4): 2001, 2011, 2018, 2019

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek Football (soccer), association football one-match ...

* Winners (4) (record): 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 * Runners-up (2): 2000, 2006 Greek A2 League * Winners (1): 2015

European

* Runners-up (3):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

* Third place (1):

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

* Fourth place (1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

External links

Official websites

* * {{Men's CEV Champions League 2008–09 Iraklis Thessaloniki Iraklis V.C. Volleyball clubs in Greece Sports clubs and teams in Thessaloniki Volleyball clubs established in 1921 1921 establishments in Greece