London A.E.K. FC: AEK News: The History of A.E.K. and Original 21
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AEK was established in 1924 by refugees from Constantinople who came into Greece after the elimination of their nation in the West coast of Turkey in 1922. That coast had been dominated by the Greek element for thousands of years. The Greeks of Constantinople, Smyrni and every other spot of the coast who had achieved great things for centuries were forced to move towards mother Greece. The Greek refugees settled throughout the country and helped with its development in every sector.
When the Constantinople refugees left the city in 1924, two years after Mikra Asia disaster, and decided to create a club with the name Athletic Union of Constantinople their aim was to generally change Greek sports and especially football status forever. Today, after 80 years they can look down from heaven and feel proud about completing their goal.
The Athletic Union of Constantinople (AEK), as the Ecumenical Patriarch said, is more than a club of the refugees. AEK Athens is a hole idea. AEK Athens represents human values and means culture. Besides that AEK Athens is one of the biggest and most important athletic unions in Greece, with a lot of domestic and international victories in several sports.
More than its victories in field, AEK F.C. takes pride in its origins and what its emblem stands for. That is the two-headed eagle and its colours are yellow and black all of which are inspired by the Byzantine Empire which was lying from East to West, where the two heads of the eagle were staring.
AEK F.C. had another distinctive moment which was probably more important than Cups or championships. Their trip to Belgrade (which was being bombarded by NATO at the time) and the friendly match against Partizan (1-1) was a brave token of compassion towards the Serbians. It was the ex-president Dimitris Melissanidis iniative which almost the whole team and lots of fans responded to AEK F.C., a club born through the ashes and the pain of a destruction couldnt have not been the pioneer in such actions. Next year (2000), AEK F.C. won the Greek Cup with Ioannis Pathiakakis as head coach. They overcame Ionikos in the final (3-0) with goals from Nikolaidis, Petkov and Maladenis.
The President
Demis Nikolaidis, AEK Athens president and managing director, was born in Germany on September 17, 1973. At the age of four, he came to Greece and settled in Alexandroupolis. He started his footballing career in 1983 in his towns club, Ethnikos Alexandroupolis. In December 1993, he was transferred to GS Apollon Athinon, where he scored 38 goals in 80 matches and led the team to its first ever appearance in the UEFA Cup in 1994 and the Greek Cup Final in 1995 (teamates that year with AEK London's own, Goalkeeper John Dreliozis). In the summer of 1996, he moves to AEK Athens. As the years went by, he established himself as one of Greeces top strikers and became a regular in the Greek national team (54 caps 17 goals). During his seven-year stay at AEK Athens, he won three Greek Cup titles (1997, 2000, 2002) and one Super Cup (1996) and scored 177 goals in 266 matches (all competitions included). In the summer of 2003, Demis Nikolaidis decided to leave AEK Athens and Greece. He moved to Spain and signed for Atletico Club de Madrid, scoring 6 goals in the Primera Division. In January 2004, heading a businessmen consortium, he made a move for the purchase of the majority of AEK Athens FC shares. On August 4, he took over the clubs administration as president and managing director. A few days earlier, he had hung his footballing boots in the best way possible, as a European Champion, after Greece won the EURO 2004 trophy in Portugal, at the stadium of lights, "Da Luz"!. He is married to Despina Vandi and father to a daughter.
Courtesy of AEK ATHENS.GR - The Official Website
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