Ethnikos Piraeus Water Polo Club

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Ethnikos Piraeus Water Polo Club
Ethnikos Piraeus (logo).png
Nickname‘‘Εmperor’’
FoundedNovember 21, 1923
LeagueGreece A1 Ethniki Water Polo
Based inPiraeus, Greece
ArenaPapastrateio Hall, Pireaus
Colors    Blue, White
PresidentGreece Dimitris Kolovos
Head coachMen
Greece Fanis Kountoudios (head)
Women
Greece Antigoni Roumpesi (head) Greece Giorgos Morfesis (assistant)
ChampionshipsMen's team
38 Greek Championships
12 Greek Cups
Women's team
1 Women's LEN Trophy
3 Greek Championships
Websitehttps://www.ethnikoswaterpolo.gr/
Active departments of
Ethnikos Piraeus
Football pictogram.svg Basketball pictogram.svg Volleyball (indoor) pictogram.svg
Football Basketball Volleyball
Water polo pictogram.svg Swimming pictogram.svg Hockey pictogram.svg
Water Polo
Canoeing pictogram.svg

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[]

  • EU Member States' CoA Series- Greece Greek Water Polo championships
    • Winners (38) (record): 1926 (under SEGAS, but not recognised by KOE), 1931, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1994, 2006
  • EU Member States' CoA Series- Greece Greek Water Polo Cup
    • Winners (12): 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991, 2000, 2005
  • Shield of the European Union.svg 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[]

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
Iefke van Belkum

Honours[]

Notable players[]

  • Greece

Notable coaches[]

  • Netherlands

References[]

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ 1951-1964
  3. ^ "Η πτώση του "αυτοκράτορα"". onsports.gr. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  4. ^ 1967, 1971, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1995.
  5. ^ 1951, 1964, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977
  6. ^ "Tom Hoad Cup history". tomhoadcup.com. Retrieved 16 April 2014.

External links[]

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