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APOEL was founded back in 1926 when a group of forty people, with a common vision, met and set the foundations for creating a football club that would represent all the Greeks of the capital and whose base would be in Nicosia. The meeting took place at a traditional confectionary, owned by Charalambos Hadjioannou, down town in Ledra Street and the first president of the club was Giorgos Poulias.

Initially, the name given to the team was P.O.E.L. standing for Podosfairikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias (Football Club of the Greeks of Nicosia) but after two years (in 1928) the then board of the team decided to extend its activities and include all kind of sports, changing the team’s name into A.P.O.E.L. with the A standing for Athletic.

In 1934, APOEL played a constructive role and helped immensely in setting up the Cyprus Football Association and was one of the founding members. Two years later APOEL celebrated its first championship title of the official Cyprus football league, the first of many trophies APOEL would celebrate in the years ahead.

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Politics, however, would soon spark conflict within the team and in 1948 the club was divided over its position regarding the civil war in Greece. This led to the withdrawal of certain members and athletes of the club that went on to create the ‘Omonia Nicosia Football Club’ in 1948. The new team created was to become the arch rival of APOEL and until today there has been a traditional animosity between the fans of the two teams. It resembles traditional football rivalries such as Panathinaikos Vs Olympiakos in Greece, Lazio Vs Roma in Italy, Real Madrid Vs Barcelona in Spain, etc.

Athletic achievements of the club that stand out are many but we will only mention a few here. Starting with the debut appearance in European Competitions (the first not only for APOEL but for any Cypriot team) in 1963, when we faced the Norwegian team Goevic Lin. Two victories for APOEL (6-0, 1-0) marked the team’s successful debute, as we became the first Hellenic team to progress in a European Competition.

Also in the early 1970s we had other remarkable triumphs. In 1973 the domestic double was achieved with coach Panos Markovic. More importantly in the following year we became the first Cypriot team that avoided relegation in the Greek National Football League (Until the mid 1970s the champion team in Cyprus played in the Greek Football League the next year and we were the first team to survive the Greek Football League without getting relegated).

The legendary team of 1973-74

Furthermore, in 1973 we won our first trophy in basketball (we were Cup Winners), while three years later we succeeded in winning our first basketball championship. In addition we must also mention the Glory Days of our Volleyball team in the years 1979-1985 where we won six championships and five cups. More recently, one can refer to the 70th birthday of the club where we made history by achieving a double, both in football (with an impressive unbeaten run) and basketball. Finally our ‘European tour’ in 2002, where we played a total of 10 consecutive games in European football competitions, stands out impressively. A summary of all trophies won by APOEL is provided in the table below.

Football
Championships 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1965, 1973, 1980, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007
Cups 1937, 1941, 1947, 1951, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2006
Supercups 1963, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2004
Basketball
Championships 1976, 1979, 1981, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002
Cups 1973, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003
Supercups 1972, 1976, 1986, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998
Volleyball
Championships 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985
Cups 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APOEL's achievements are not only limited in sports. It is important to note that APOEL athletes actively participated in national struggles when our nation was in need. The Hellenic history of our island is something that no APOEL fan is willing to overlook and we feel proud for our Greek heritage and for all those that fought to protect our common values and ideals. 

For example during the 1955-59 national up-rise against the British, many of APOEL's athletes and members of the club were active members of EOKA (the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), the most outstanding example being Michalakis Karaolis who was hanged by the British colonial authorities.It is no wonder that during this period APOEL even faced the danger of relegation as most of our football players were actively taking part in the national struggle.

Also during the turkish invasion of our island in 1974, members of the APOEL family resisted the invading forces heroically until death, such as Y. Mavros and M. Zambas, while T. Markou is still one of the many Cypriots missing.
 

-Pictures kindly provided by apoel.net-