O.F.I. (full name Omilos Filathlon Irakliou/ el, Όμιλος Φιλάθλων Ηρακλείου) is a Greek multi-sport club based in

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. It is commonly known as OFI Crete. It was founded in 1925 and it has teams in

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

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 ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

and other sports. The most successful team of the club is the football team which is the only department which has won a Panhellenic title, one

Greek Football 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 ...

. The team's colours are black and white.

Departments

OFI Crete F.C. OFI Crete Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Όμιλος Φιλάθλων Ηρακλείου 1925, ''Club of Fans of Heraklion 1925''), is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, on the island of Crete. It is a par ...

, football team that plays in

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

(2019–20) * OFI Crete B.C., basketball team that plays in

Greek B Basket League The Greek B Basket League, or Greek B Basketball League (Greek: Ελληνική Β Μπασκετ Λιγκ), is a national basketball league in Greece. It is also known as the Second National Championship, B National Championship, Second National ...

(2019–20) * OFI Crete V.C., volleyball team that plays in

A1 Ethniki Volleyball The A1 Ethniki ( el, Α1 Εθνική Κατηγορία), often referred to as the Greek Volleyball League, is the highest professional volleyball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Volleyball Federation. It is considered one of the top n ...

(2019–20) * OFI Water Polo, Water Polo team that plays in

A2 Ethniki Water Polo A2 Ethniki Water Polo is the 2nd-tier of the Greek Water Polo championship. It is held in three groups of teams and in current season, 14 teams take part. The championship is held in two stages. The two first teams of the 2nd stage promoted to A1 E ...

(2019–20) * OFI Crete W.F.C., football team that plays in Greek A Division (2022–23)

History

OFI was founded in 1925 and originally it comprised football, athletics, wrestling and weightlifting departments. The football team became the most famous and the most popular of the club. OFI Football Club achieved to promote to A Ethniki in period 1967-68 for first time. After few years it was relegated but returned in A Ethniki again and it remained in the highest level for about 30 years. The football team is the only team of the club with Panhellenic title, since it has won the Greek cup in 1987. In recent years it is in a bad condition because of financial problems. The club's men's basketball team won the championship of the Greek 4th-tier level

Greek C Basket League 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 ...

in 1998, and was promoted to the third-tier level

. After that, it was

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

back down the Greek C Basket League, but it returned to the Greek B Basket League in 2008. The next year, OFI was promoted to the 2nd-tier level

Greek A2 Basket League The Greek A2 Basket League ( el, Ελληνική Α2 Μπάσκετ Λιγκ, link=no), is a professional basketball league in Greece. It is the 2nd-tier level of pro competition, among clubs in the country. It is organized by the Hellenic Baske ...

, for first time. After a short fall back into the Greek B Basket League, the club returned to the Greek A2 Basket League, and remained there until 2015, when the club was withdrawn from the league due to financial problems. OFI has also water polo team with presence in A2 Ethniki (2nd-tier) and athletics team with successful presence in Pancretan Games.

Sport facilities

The football team plays in

Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium ( el, Γήπεδο Θεόδωρος Βαρδινογιάννης) is a stadium in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. It was built in 1951 (not at its present state) as the home stadium of OFI Crete. The stadium is commonly ...

, known also as Yedi Kule. The other departments play in Vardinogiannis Sports Center (V.A.K.).

Honours

;Football team *

**Winners (1): 1987 *

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...

**Winners (1): 1989 ;Basketball team * Greek 3rd Division Champion: (2011) *2× Greek 4th Division 2nd Group Champion: (1998, 2008)

Notable supporters

Vana Barba Vana (or with diacrits, e.g. Váňa) may refer to: * Vana, Gujarat, a village on Saraushtra peninsula, western India * Vana State, a former princely state whose seat was in Vana, Gujarat * Vana, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Váň ...

, actor *

Eugène Gerards Eugène 'Gène' Gerards (7 May 1940 − 2 January 2018) was a Dutch football player, manager and scout. As a player, Gerards played for Limburgian clubs SV Limburgia and Fortuna '54. As a manager, he spent the majority of his career in Greece, ...

, Dutch footballer and coach, longest-serving OFI coach *Giannis Kourakis, former Mayor of Herakleion *Manolis Lidakis, singer *

Nikos Machlas Nikos Machlas ( el, Νίκος Μαχλάς, born 16 June 1973) is a retired Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career OFI Crete Machlas began his career with OFI Crete, where he made his debut in February 1991 ...

, football player, former OFI captain *

Nikos Nioplias Nikos Nioplias ( el, Νίκος Νιόπλιας; born 17 January 1965) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. Playing career Club His career began with OFI Crete in 1983, winning the Greek Cup in 1987, and he remained fo ...

, footballer and coach, former OFI captain Nioplias: OFI is the club of my heart
/ref> *

Nikos Xylouris Nikos Xylouris ( el, Νίκος Ξυλούρης, 7 July 1936 – 8 February 1980), Cretan nickname: Psaronikos ( el, Ψαρονίκος), was a Greek singer, Cretan Lyra player and composer, who was and remains to this day among the most renow ...

, singer *Manolis Rasoulis, musician *

Georgios Samaras Georgios Samaras ( el, Γεώργιος Σαμαράς, ; born 21 February 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. Samaras started his career at OFI Crete, before moving on to Eredivisie side Heerenveen in 200 ...

, football player

References

External links

Amateur Departments of OFIFootball team
{{A2 Ethniki water polo OFI Crete F.C. 1925 establishments in Greece Multi-sport clubs in Greece Athletics clubs in Greece