Founded in 1888,
Messiniakos Gymnastic Club ( el, Μεσσηνιακός Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος) is one of the oldest athletic club in Greece with
Panagiotis Benakis
Panagiotis Benakis ( el, Παναγιώτης Μπενάκης; c. 17001771) was a Greek businessman from Kalamata in the 18th century, during the Ottoman rule over Greece, he was in contact of Catherine the Great during the Orlov Revolt.
He wa ...
its first president. Messiniakos' traditional colours are green and white and in 1924 adopted as symbol a platanus foil.
Messiniakos has made a name of itself in many sports (
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 ...
,
volleyball,
athletics,
weight-lifting etc.) and has produced very good athletes, such as
OFI's Brazilian footballer Davidson and
Louis Tsatoumas in track and field, who is one of the biggest hopes for Greek athletics. The club used to be home to the
Papaflessia international athletics meeting. The volleyball team had excellent appearances in the First Division, but is not participating at the current time.
Football team
The football team participated in the
Second Division in the 2006-07 season. Its president is international businessman Stavros Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos is the former owner of
Kalamata and
Apollon Kalamaria. He bought both those teams when they were in the Third Division and Second Division, respectively, and invested substantial money into those teams and eventually took both those teams up to the first division.
Papadopoulos has shown he has the same plan for Messiniakos. He bought the team a few years back when it was just a local team, not even in
Fourth Division
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
. He has invested money into the team and brought in talented young players. During this time the team has achieved promotion from a non-league team all the way up to the second division, but has been relegated to the
Third Division
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
for the upcoming season after finishing in second last place in 2007.
The next years the football team weakened and now it plays in Messenia local League.
Volleyball team
The volleyball women's team of Messiniakos plays in A2 Ethniki (2015-16).
The women's team has played one time in
A1 Ethniki
The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...
, in 1984-85 season. The men's volleyball has also played in
A1 Ethniki Volleyball during 1985-88 period.
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References
External links
Official page
1888 establishments in Greece
Sport in Kalamata
Football clubs in Peloponnese (region)
Association football clubs established in 1888
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