Aris Thessaloniki F.C.
Aris Thessaloniki F.C.
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Aris Thessaloniki F.C.

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Aris Thessaloniki F.C.

Aris FC (Greek: ΠΑΕ Άρης) ['aris], commonly known as Aris Thessaloniki or simply Aris, is a Greek professional football club from the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. The team competes in the top-tier Super League Greece and their home ground is the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium.

Founded in 1914, the club was a founding member of the Macedonian Football Clubs Association, as well as the Hellenic Football Federation. The colours of the club are golden/yellow, a dominant colour in the culture of Macedonia and reminiscent of the Byzantine heritage of Thessaloniki, and black. It is named after Ares, the ancient Olympian "God of War," associated also with courage and masculinity, whose image is portrayed on the club's logo as depicted in the Ludovisi Ares sculpture. It is considered as one of the biggest teams in Greece and is part of the multi-sports club Aris Thessaloniki.

Aris was also one of the strongest and most popular teams in Greece during the interwar period. They have won the Greek championship three times (1928, 1932, 1946), the Greek Cup once (1970), and they had an undefeated home record in European competitions for 28 matches from 1968 to 2020, when they lost to Kolos Kovalivka but without crowd due to COVID. Other than that Aris has never lost playing at home in European competitions.

The club was established as a football club ("Podosferikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis") by a group of 22 young friends in a coffee bar in Votsi area on 25 March 1914 and given the name Aris from Ares, the ancient god of war. Its nickname was inspired by the two Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, when Greece fought against the Ottoman Empire before engaging in a war with Bulgaria. In Greek mythology, Aris was a deity who was in conflict with Heracles, the mythological character after which Aris's rival football team, Iraklis, was named. Aris holds a fierce rivalry with PAOK. At first, the club was based on a near the Arch and Tomb of Galerius, but after the accession of two minor football clubs in 1919 and 1921 the club's base was moved near to Flemming Street of eastern Thessaloniki. The first stadium was built on the site where Mars Field Park currently lies on Stratou Avenue. Quickly the club became very popular and soon new teams apart from football were established.

During this early stage of football in Greece no professional league was established. Instead, three minor leagues [in Macedonia (E.P.S.M.), Athens (E.P.S.A.) and Piraeus (E.P.S.P.)] were created, with the champions of each league competing in a postseason mini tournament to claim the title of the national champion. The first official game was held in 1923 against Megas Alexandros Thessaloniki (Alexander the Great), another Thessalonician team. That year marked the first title, when Aris was named regional champion of Macedonia, something that was repeated next year.

In 1926 the club was renamed "Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki" to include also other sports than football.

Aris' first major success was between 1927 and 1928 when they won the first Greek Championship, beating finalists Atromitos and Ethnikos Piraeus exploiting the abstention from the championship teams of RECs. In the first race on 24 May, the team of Thessaloniki prevailed 3–1 Atromitos, while three days after losing to Ethnikos Piraeus 3–2. In iterative matches played in June in Thessaloniki, Aris won both of his opponents by 3–1 and thus crowned the first champion of Greece. Coach of the team was the German Thomas Kessler, and prominent players of Aris were, among others, Kostas Vikelidis, Savvas Vogiatzis that emerged and top scorer with six goals, Nikos Aggelakis, scorer of the finals with four goals and Dionysis Caltech.

The following year, it was held the final stage of national championships although Aris won the championship title in Thessaloniki, playing two matches barrage against PAOK. The first took place on 12 May 1929 and ended 1–1, while the second was held on 2 June with Aris to beats 4–3, having Nikos Aggelakis scoring a hat-trick.

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