Ethnikos Piraeus Water Polo Club
Nickname | ‘‘Εmperor’’ |
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Founded | November 21, 1923 |
League | A1 Ethniki Water Polo |
Based in | Piraeus, Greece |
Arena | Papastrateio Hall, Pireaus |
Colors | Blue, White |
President | Dimitris Kolovos |
Head coach | Men Fanis Kountoudios (head) Women Antigoni Roumpesi (head) Giorgos Morfesis (assistant) |
Championships | Men's team 38 Greek Championships 12 Greek Cups Women's team 1 Women's LEN Trophy 3 Greek Championships |
Website | https://www.ethnikoswaterpolo.gr/ |
Active departments of Ethnikos Piraeus | ||
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Football | Basketball | Volleyball |
Water Polo | ||
Ethnikos Piraeus Water Polo Club is the water polo team of Ethnikos Piraeus or Ethnikos OFPF (National Club of Fans of Piraeus and Phalerum).
Ethnikos is one of the most successful water polo clubs in Greece. They have won a record 38 Greek water polo championships (although one of them is not recognised by the Hellenic Swimming Federation) and 12 Greek water polo cups with 9 Doubles. They hold the unique record of winning 18 championships in a row (from 1953 to 1970) and 14 in a row as well (from 1972 to 1985). Ethnikos holds the record for the most unbeaten championships with 30[1] from which 11 are consecutive and the record for consecutive years unbeaten (13 years).[2] Olympiacos, their arch rivals won the title in 1971 to break the record of the 18 titles in a row.
The dominance of Ethnikos led to the nickname “Emperor”. The women's team won the LEN Trophy in 2010, the club's maiden European title.
Many great players have played for Ethnikos throughout the years. The Greek national team for many years consisted of Ethnikos players that have participated in the Olympics. The greatest personality in the history of the club is Andreas Garifallos, player, coach and president. In the Kastella neighborhood of Piraeus, the swimming pool bears his name in honour of his contribution to Piraeus and Greece water polo. Other great players that have played for Ethnikos are Ioannis Garifallos, , Thomas Karalogos, Nondas Samartzidis, Kyriakos Iosifidis, Markellos Sitarenios, Sotirios Stathakis, Evangelos Patras, Konstantinos Kokkinakis, Filippos Kaiafas, Theodoros Kalakonas, , Dimitrios Mazis, Christos Afroudakis, Antonios Aronis,, Dimitrios Konstas, Dimitrios Kougevetopoulos, Antonios Vlontakis, Gerasimos Voltirakis, Anastasios Schizas, Chris Humbert, Wolf Wigo, Ashleigh Johnson, Iefke van Belkum, Stephania Haralabidis, Ioanna Haralabidis, Maria Tsouri, Aikaterini Oikonomopoulou, Sofia Iosifidou, Marina Canetti
Men's team[]
Summary[]
Ethnikos dominated in Greek Water Polo championship for many years. So far, it has won the most Greek championships in this sport. It has won 38 championships and 12 cups.[3] During last years his power has been limited, and it has relegated to second division (A2 Ethniki) twice. In current season, they play in A1 Ethniki. Out of the 91 seasons from 1928 until now, Ethnikos has 89 appearances. The team has two absences in 2010 and 2013. In 1981, Ethnikos became the first Greek team to reach the Final-4 of LEN Champions League (the elite European club competition). Besides that, Ethnikos has reached the final-8 nine times.[4] In 2003 the team took the third place in LEN Trophy (second tier European club competition). The club has an eternal rivalry with Olympiacos, the other club from Piraeus. The match between the two is dubbed as the “Piraeus derby”. Ethnikos had won six consecutive Greek cups (four of them against Olympiacos in the final) before the competition had a hiatus of 25 years that stopped Ethnikos from winning many more trophies and achieving more doubles. Ethnikos lost only seven games to Olympiacos from 1951 to 1990.[5] Olympiacos surpassed Ethnikos in head-to-head wins in 2013. Another rival of Ethnikos in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s was NO Patras.
1925-1940[]
Ethnikos water polo team was founded shortly after the foundation of parent club Ethnikos OFPF which was founded in 1923. The team won its first Greek championship in 1926 without defeat in four games. In 1927 and 1929 the team finished second to Olympiacos and Aris respectively while the team finished third in 1928. In 1931, the team managed to dethrone Aris who had a three-peat of titles at the time and was the strongest in the country. In the next few years the team couldn't win another title despite reaching the final. In 1933 and 1934, Olympiacos won the championship in the final game against Ethnikos. Then, another team from Western Greece came into prospect, NC Patras. NC Patras won five championships in six years just before the start of WWII (1935-1940). Ethnikos was second in 1937 and third in 1938.
1945-1952[]
After WWII, Ethnikos had a good team but it was not enough in order to win the championship and so NC Patras and city rivals Olympiacos fought for the title till 1952. Exception was the year 1948 when Ethnikos won its third unbeaten championship with Andreas Garyfallos, an emerging young talent who was 17 at the time. He would change the fate of the team for the next decades. Ethnikos finished third in 1945, 1946, 1950 and 1951. Ethnikos narrowly lost the title in 1949 and 1952 when Olympiacos were crowned champions. Ethnikos was unbeaten in 1952 but lost the title because of one extra draw compared to the Piraeus ‘‘reds’’.
1953-1985[]
In 1953, Ethnikos managed to win the title once again unbeaten but also the team won the first edition of the Greek Cup. The Greek cup is the second most important competition in Greece. Ethnikos had a legendary team that won eleven consecutive unbeaten championships as well as six Greek cups in a row (1953-1958). In 1959, the Greek cup was not contested and the competition was inactive until 1984. Olympiacos was the team that finally beat Ethnikos in 1964 and it was Ethnikos's first loss to any club since 1951. However Ethnikos won again the championship. Olympiacos beat Ethnikos again in 1968 but no team could stop Ethnikos from winning the championships. In 1969, the great Andreas Garyfallos retires. He was the face of Ethnikos for more than twenty years. He was by far the best player in Greece and he s still one of the biggest in the history of Greek water polo. He was close to being transferred to Pro Recco but he never played for any other team in his career. In 1971, Olympiacos finally managed to dethrone Ethnikos for the first time since 1952. Ethnikos's streak of 18 championships had just ended. In 1972 and 1973, Olympiacos fights for the title and beats Ethnikos but the title at the end of each season went to the blue and white part of Piraeus. Ethnikos wins the 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978 and 1979 titles unbeaten leaving Olympiacos second each year. Ethnikos lost to ANO Glyfada in 1980 and 1986 but Ethnikos keeps the streak of championships alive until 1985. In 1986, Ethnikos loses the championship to ANOG and eventually the 14 year streak since 1972 has ended.
1986-present[]
Ethnikos was never again the same team as before due to the start of ANOG dominance and the retirement of many of the Ethnikos players. ANOG wins four championships between 1986 to 1990. Ethnikos wins the double in 1988 which is the last one. Olympiacos in the 80s was an average team, so Ethnikos had no problem winning every match from 1980 to 1989. Ethnikos celebrated 22 straight wins against his rival Olympiacos won a match again in 1990 (first win since 1977). In 1991, Ethnikos wins the cup for the 10th time and in 1994, the team wins its 37th national championship in a penalty shootout against bitter rivals Olympiacos. In 1995, the team reached the quarters of the European Cup for the ninth and last time till today. In 1996, the captain of the Greek national team and Ethnikos, Nondas Samartzidis, the strongest and most physical water polo player in the history of Greek water polo gets drowned during holidays. That tragedy shocked Ethnikos and Greece. Even today, no one has forgotten him. Ethnikos won the Greek cup in 2000 against Olympiacos in extra time and in 2003, the team reached the semis of LEN Eurocup. In 2005, the team won the last cup beating Olympiacos in the semifinal of the final four and NC Patras in the final. In 2005, the team finished first in the regular season but lost the title in final game 5 to Olympiacos. The last championship came in 2006 when in game 5 of the finals, Ethnikos won the title in extra time, just before the penalty shoot-out. In 2009, the team got relegated for the first time in its history something that happened again in 2012. In 2015, 2016 and 2019, Ethnikos finished fourth, his best since relegation. In 2020, the team played in the final of the Greek cup for the first time since 2007, but lost to Olympiacos.
Seasons[]
Year | League | Pos. | Notes | Year | League | Pos. | Notes | Year | League | Pos. | Notes | Year | League | Pos. | Notes | Year | League | Pos. | Notes |
1926 | A1 | 1st | 1950 | A1 | 3rd | 1970 | A1 | 1st | 1990 | A1 | 3rd | 2010 | A2 | 1st | Promoted | ||||
1927 | A1 | 2nd | 1951 | A1 | 3rd | 1971 | A1 | 2nd | 1991 | A1 | 4th | Cup Winner | 2011 | A1 | 8th | ||||
1928 | A1 | 3rd | 1952 | A1 | 2nd | 1972 | A1 | 1st | 1992 | A1 | 2nd | 2012 | A1 | 12th | Relegated | ||||
1929 | A1 | 2nd | 1953 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 1973 | A1 | 1st | 1993 | A1 | 3rd | 2013 | A2 | 2nd | Promoted | |||
1930 | A1 | ? | 1954 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 1974 | A1 | 1st | 1994 | A1 | 1st | 2014 | A1 | 6th | ||||
1931 | A1 | 1st | 1955 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 1975 | A1 | 1st | 1995 | A1 | 2nd | 2015 | A1 | 4th | ||||
1932 | A1 | ? | 1956 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 1976 | A1 | 1st | 1996 | A1 | 4th | 2016 | A1 | 4th | ||||
1933 | A1 | 2nd | 1957 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 1977 | A1 | 1st | 1997 | A1 | 8th | 2017 | A1 | 8th | ||||
1934 | A1 | 2nd | 1958 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 1978 | A1 | 1st | 1998 | A1 | 9th | 2018 | A1 | 5th | ||||
1935 | A1 | ? | 1959 | A1 | 1st | 1979 | A1 | 1st | 1999 | A1 | 6th | 2019 | A1 | 4th | |||||
1936 | A1 | ? | 1960 | A1 | 1st | 1980 | A1 | 1st | 2000 | A1 | 5th | Cup Winner | 2020 | A1 | 6th | Cup Finalist | |||
1937 | A1 | 2nd | 1961 | A1 | 1st | 1981 | A1 | 1st | LEN Champions League
4th place |
2001 | A1 | 3rd | 2021 | A1 | 14th | ||||
1938 | A1 | 3rd | 1962 | A1 | 1st | 1982 | A1 | 1st | 2002 | A1 | 3rd | 2022 | A1 | ||||||
1939 | A1 | ? | 1963 | A1 | 1st | 1983 | A1 | 1st | 2003 | A1 | 3rd | LEN Trophy 3rd place | |||||||
1940 | A1 | ? | 1964 | A1 | 1st | 1984 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 2004 | A1 | 5th | |||||||
1945 | A1 | 3rd | 1965 | A1 | 1st | 1985 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 2005 | A1 | 2nd | Cup Winner | ||||||
1946 | A1 | 3rd | 1966 | A1 | 1st | 1986 | A1 | 2nd | 2006 | A1 | 1st | ||||||||
1947 | A1 | 5th | 1967 | A1 | 1st | 1987 | A1 | 2nd | 2007 | A1 | 2nd | Cup Finalist | |||||||
1948 | A1 | 1st | 1968 | A1 | 1st | 1988 | A1 | 1st | Cup Winner | 2008 | A1 | 2nd | |||||||
1949 | A1 | 2nd | 1969 | A1 | 1st | 1989 | A1 | 2nd | 2009 | A1 | 11th | Relegated |
Honours[]
- Greek Water Polo championships
- Greek Water Polo Cup
- Winners (12): 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991, 2000, 2005
- LEN Champions League
- Fourth place: 1981
- Quarterfinals: 1967, 1971, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1995
- Doubles
- (9): 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1984, 1985, 1988
Tom Hoad Cup[]
Ethnikos Piraeus took part in the Tom Hoad Cup at the Melville Water Polo Club, Fremantle, Australia. There were six teams competing from around the world: the Fremantle Mariners (Australia), Ethnikos Piraeus (Greece), Galatasaray Water Polo Team (Turkey), Japan National Water Polo Team, and a composite European team including three Hungarian Olympic gold medalists. The competition took place from the 27th-30 December 2008, with gold going to The Barbarians.[6]
Notable players[]
- Andreas Garifallos
- Ioannis Garifallos
- Thomas Karalogos
- Konstantinos Kokkinakis
- Filippos Kaiafas
- Theodoros Kalakonas
- Kyriakos Iosifidis
- Markellos Sitarenios
- Sotirios Stathakis
- Evangelos Patras
- Dimitrios Mazis
- Christos Afroudakis
- Antonios Aronis
- Nondas Samartzidis
- Dimitrios Konstas
- Dimitrios Kougevetopoulos
- Antonios Vlontakis
- Gerasimos Voltirakis
- Anastasios Schizas
- Chris Humbert
- Wolf Wigo
Notable coaches[]
Women's team[]
The women's team of Ethnikos has won 3 championship and 1 European cup (LEN Trophy). In current season, it plays in first division championship (A1 Ethniki). The team has competed in every season of the Greek League since it was established in 1989 (35 appearances).
Recent seasons[]
Season | Division | Place | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1987-88 | A1 Ethniki | 1st | |
1988-89 | A1 Ethniki | 3rd | |
1989-90 | A1 Ethniki | 1st | |
1991-92 | A1 Ethniki | 1st | |
1992-93 | A1 Ethniki | 3rd | |
1996-97 | A1 Ethniki | 4th | |
1997-98 | A1 Ethniki | 4th | |
2000-01 | A1 Ethniki | 7th | |
2001-02 | A1 Ethniki | 5th | |
2002-03 | A1 Ethniki | 7th | |
2003-04 | A1 Ethniki | 4th | |
2004-05 | A1 Ethniki | 2nd | |
2005-06 | A1 Ethniki | 5th | |
2006-07 | A1 Ethniki | 5th | |
2007-08 | A1 Ethniki | 4th | |
2008-09 | A1 Ethniki | 3rd | |
2009-10 | A1 Ethniki | 3rd | LEN Trophy Winners, LEN Supercup Finalists |
2010-11 | A1 Ethniki | 3rd | |
2011-12 | A1 Ethniki | 6th | |
2012-13 | A1 Ethniki | 5th | |
2013-14 | A1 Ethniki | 6th | |
2014-15 | A1 Ethniki | 4th | |
2015-16 | A1 Ethniki | 4th | |
2016-17 | A1 Ethniki | 4th | |
2017-18 | A1 Ethniki | 3rd | |
2018-19 | A1 Ethniki | 3rd | |
2019-20 | A1 Ethniki | 5th | |
2020-21 | A1 Ethniki | 4th | |
2021-22 | A1 Ethniki |
Honours[]
- Women's LEN Trophy
- Winner (1): 2010
- Greek Championships
- Winner (3): 1988, 1990, 1992
- LEN Supercup
- Finalist (1): 2010
Notable players[]
- Maria Tsouri
- Aikaterini Oikonomopoulou
- Stephania Haralabidis
- Ioanna Haralabidis
- Ashleigh Johnson
- Iefke van Belkum
- Sofia Iosifidou
- Marina Canetti
Notable coaches[]
References[]
- ^ 1926, 1931, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988
- ^ 1951-1964
- ^ "Η πτώση του "αυτοκράτορα"". onsports.gr. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ 1967, 1971, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1995.
- ^ 1951, 1964, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977
- ^ "Tom Hoad Cup history". tomhoadcup.com. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
External links[]
- Water polo clubs in Greece
- Ethnikos WPC
- Ethnikos Piraeus