Super League Greece

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Super League Greece 1
Founded
  • 1906; 118 years ago (1906)
    as SEGAS championship
  • 1927; 97 years ago (1927)
    as Panhellenic Championship
  • 1959; 65 years ago (1959)
    as Alpha Ethniki
  • 2006; 18 years ago (2006)
    as Super League Greece
CountryGreece
ConfederationUEFA
Number of teams14[1]
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toSuper League Greece 2
Domestic cup(s)Greek Cup
International cup(s)UEFA Champions League
UEFA Europa League
UEFA Europa Conference League
Current championsPAOK (4th title)
(2023–24)
Most championshipsOlympiacos (47 titles)
Most appearancesMimis Domazos (535)
Top goalscorerThomas Mavros (260 goals)
TV partnersNova Sports, Cosmote Sport
Websiteslgr.gr
Current: 2023–24 Super League Greece

The Super League Greece 1 (Greek: Σούπερ Λιγκ Ελλάδας 1), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, 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 the Greek football league system. The members of the cooperative are the Football Limited Companies (P.A.E.) that have the right to participate in the Super League 1 championship.[2]

It consists of 14 teams and runs from August to May, with teams playing 26 games each followed by a 10-game play-off to decide the champions.

As of March 2024, Super League Greece is ranked 17th[3][4] in the UEFA ranking of leagues, based on performances in European competitions over the last five years.

Since the foundation of the first official Panhellenic Championship in 1927,[5] only six clubs have won the title. With 47 conquests, Olympiacos has the most titles in the history of the competition.

The current champions are PAOK.

History

Origins

Football first appeared in Greece in 1894 and began to spread after the 1896 Olympiad, which was included in the games program. Many clubs started to establish football divisions while the first purely football clubs were also founded. The first years, until 1912, championship was organised by the Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics (SEGAS). This championship was actually a local tournament among clubs from Athens and Piraeus.[6]

After the Balkan Wars and World War I, two football associations were formed, one organising a football league in Athens and Piraeus, and one doing the same in Thessaloniki. These were the Athens-Piraeus FCA (EPSAP) and the Macedonia FCA (EPSM). In 1923, a Panhellenic Champion was determined by a play-off game between the Athens-Piraeus and the Thessaloniki champions. Peiraikos Syndesmos won 3–1 against Aris. This panhellenic final was not repeated the following year as the EPSAP was split into the Athens FCA (EPSA) and Piraeus FCA (EPSP) following a dispute.[7][8]

Panhellenic Championship

On 14 November 1926, the Hellenic Football Federation is founded and organizes the first Panhellenic Championship in the period 1927-28, in which, however, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens did not participate due to conflicts with the EPO.[9]

The initial events were held with teams from Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, excluding the provincial ones. Previously, the local championships of the cities were held and in the final phase, sometimes only the first ones qualified, sometimes the first two or the first three teams. In the championship of 1938-39, which was held in two groups, teams outside Athens-Thessaloniki (Doxa Drama, AEK Kavala and Filippi Kavala) participated for the first time. The maiden presence of provincial teams in a single group of the Panhellenic Championship took place in 1953-54 with the participation of Panachaiki from Southern Greece and Niki Volou from Central and Northern Greece.[10]

Α΄ National division

In 1959 the Alpha Ethniki – the precursor of the current Super League – was set up as a national round-robin tournament. After several months of talks, the 1959–60 championship was the first nationwide league competition. It started on Sunday 25 October 1959 with the participation of 16 teams. The creation of a championship in the form of a single permanent national division rather than the way they have been held until then with the participation of the teams selected by the local competitions was a requirement of both the State and UEFA. The first wished to establish a fixed number of matches every Sunday in Greece to stimulate interest in PRO-PO while UEFA wished to nominate national champions with strict criteria and through joint events for all states. The Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) was obliged to proceed to the abolition of the competitions of the Football Clubs Associations (EPS) of Greece as qualifying stages for the Pan-Hellenic Championship. The first place was taken by Alpha Ethniki, a single division with clubs from all over the Greek territory and a stable participation, with the exception of those who would be relegated at the end of the season. The initial design provided for a number of teams well above the 10th of the 1958–59 Pan-Hellenic Championship and in particular 18 which, as the expanded division calendar would cover almost all the available dates of the year, would no longer participate in its local competitions their EPSs. Those would be the qualifier for the upcoming national division and not the participation in the final round of the current championship, so their significance was significantly reduced. On Saturday, 10 October 1959 at the General Assembly of the HFF, ie with the participation of all the members of the Association of Football Associations and in the presence of the General Secretariat of Sports (GGA) and representatives of the Karamanlis government, became the first national division of Greek football. The 1st game was set for 15 days. According to the general Assembly of HFF on 29 August 1959, it was decided that the newly created Alpha Ethniki would consist of 18 teams, with their determination being made in accordance with the positions in the local EPS competitions in the period 1958–59. The HFF, at its decisive General Assembly on Saturday, 10 October, decided to reduce the number of teams to 16 so that the racing program will not be extended in the summer. After the end of the first event in the summer of 1960, the teams did not increase despite HFF's initial intention, with the number 16 being considered the ideal for a championship in Greece and only 18 in 1967.[citation needed]

The teams that participated in the first championship of the Alpha Ethniki were the following:

On 25 October 1959, the Alpha Ethniki was launched. Panathinaikos won the first Alpha Ethniki's Championship and became the Greek champions for the fourth time in his history. The club tied with AEK by 79 points and defeated them by 2–1 in the play-off, a match where Panathinaikos needed only a draw at the neutral Karaiskakis Stadium. In such a case, after the half-hour extension, the competition announcement set the best goal difference. Through the playoffs and with the same score was also the third place for the demotion, with the winner Panegialios to overtake Pankorinthiakos again in the event of a draw. The scoring system was 3 points for the win, 2 points for the draw, 1 point for the defeat.[citation needed]

The next years

Time has been relentless for some teams that have participated in the first league of the Alpha Ethniki. The historic Ethnikos Piraeus, cup winner of Greece in 1933, participates in the Gamma Ethniki, as well as Proodeftiki while AE Nikaia participates in the local championship of Piraeus. Apollon Kalamaria, Doxa Drama and Iraklis are fighting in the Beta Ethniki, while Pankorinthiakos, a few years after joining Alpha Ethniki, merged with Aris Korinthos and created PAS Korinthos, which reached the Alpha Ethniki at the 1990s and is now participating in the Gamma Ethniki. Megas Alexandros Katerini is the ancestor of Pierikos. In 1961, they merged with Olympos Katerini and created Pierikos who plays in the Gamma Ethniki.[citation needed]

On 19 January 1979 a bill was passed in the Hellenic Parliament under which football clubs became Football Incorporated Companies (PAE or ΠΑΕ in Greek). The Association of Football Incorporated Companies (EPAE, ΕΠΑΕ in Greek), under the supervision of the HFF, has since held the responsibility to hold the championship, with Makis Ithakisios being elected its first president. Initially the shares were owned by the sports union to which the football club belonged. Yet soon after, prominent Greek businessmen (shipowners, oil magnates, bankers etc.) began acquiring the newly formed PAEs by buying the majority of their shares, and then increasing their share capital, thus turning Greek football into a fully commercialised and highly profitable business for the decades to come.[citation needed]

For a single racing season, 2000–01, the championship is renamed "Upper Category".[citation needed]

Rename

On 16 July 2006, was founded the copartnership Super League. Members of the copartnership are the PAE's that have the right to participate in the professional football championship of the First Division. The main activity of the copartnership is the organization and conduct of the First Division's Championship according to the regulations and decisions of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) and the supreme international football confederations (UEFA, FIFA).[citation needed]

Competition format

At present, 14 clubs compete in the Super League, playing each other in a 26-game home and away series. At the end of the season, the top 6 clubs face each other in a 10-game championship round to decide the Super League champions but also the teams to enter the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa Conference League.[citation needed]

The bottom 8 clubs face each other in play-outs to decide who gets relegated to Super League 2.[11] In their place, the top two teams from Super League 2 are promoted. The number of teams to be relegated may change, depending on a licensing procedure that takes place at the end of the regular season.[citation needed]

The Super League is currently entitled to two entrants into the UEFA Champions League. The reigning champions currently enters the third qualifying round through the champion path, while the runners up enter the competition via the second qualifying round through the league route. The third-placed team enters the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. The three UEFA Europa Conference League spots go to the teams that finished 4th and 5th, with a European berth for the Greek Cup winner.[citation needed]

Clubs

2023–24 season

The following 14 clubs will compete in the Super League in the 2023–24 season.

class=notpageimage|
Locations of the 2023–24 Super League Greece teams
Club Position
in 2022–23 		First season in
top division 		Seasons
in top
division 		Seasons
in
Super League 		Top
division
titles 		Last top
division title
AEK Athens 1st 1930–31 74 15 13 2022–23
A.E. Kifisia 1st in 2022–23 Super League 2 2023–24 1 1 0 —
Aris 5th 1927–28 74 13 3 1945–46
Asteras Tripolis 10th 2007–08 16 16 0 —
Atromitos 8th 1927–28 24 16 0 —
Lamia 12th 2017–18 6 6 0 —
OFI 7th 1957–58 46 12 0 —
Olympiacos 3rd 1929–30 86 17 47 2021–22
Panathinaikos 2nd 1929–30 81 17 20 2009–10
Panetolikos 11th 1954–55 14 11 0 —
Panserraikos 1st in 2022–23 Super League 2 1965–66 25 3 0 —
PAS Giannina 9th 1974–75 27 12 0 —
PAOK 4th 1930–31 78 17 3 2018–19
Volos 6th 2019–20 4 4 0 —

Champions

Main article: List of Greek football champions

Names of the championship through the years

SEGAS, FCA and EPSE championships

SEGAS championship
1905–06 Ethnikos Athens
1906–07 Ethnikos Athens
1907–08 Goudi Athens
1908–09 Piraikos[12]
1909–10 Goudi Athens
1910–11 Podosferikos Omilos Athinon
1911–12 Goudi Athens[13]
1912–13 Not held (First Balkan War)
1913–14 Not held (Second Balkan War)
1914–15 Not held (WW1)
1915–16 Not held (WW1)
1916–17 Not finished (WW1)
1917–18 Not held (WW1)
1918–19 Not held (WW1)
1919–20 Not held (WW1)
Greece FCA championship
1921–22 Podosferikos Omilos Athinon
1923–24 3 champions ( Apollonas Athens, APS Piraeus, Aris AS Thessaloniki)
1924–25 2 champions (Panathinaïkos Athens, Olympiakos Piraeus, no tournament Thessaloniki )
1925–26 3 champions (Panathinaïkos Athens, Olympiakos Piraeus, Aris Thessaloniki)
1926–27 3 champions (Panathinaïkos Athens, Olympiakos Piraeus, Iraklis Thessaloniki)
EPSE Championship
1922–23 Piraikos Syndesmos (The only panhellenic championship organized by EPSE before the establishment of the HFF)
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