History
Founding and early history
The club was founded on 18 August 1966 from the merger of five local clubs: Esperos, Iraklis, AE Kallitheas, Kallithaikos, and Pyrsos. [2]
In 1970, Kallithea's Grigoris Lambrakis Stadium, named after the Greek liberal politician and peace activist Grigoris Lambrakis, was opened to the public.
Under co-managers Kostas Nestoridis and Takis Papoulidis, Kallithea clinched their first promotion to Greece's second division with a 1-0 play-off win over AO Koropi on a goal by Giannis Maxouris in extra time on 21 June 1969. [3] [4]
Kallithea’s victory over Koropi had political significance in dictatorial Greece. During the rule of the Greek junta, the Secretary General of Sport Costas Aslanidis had planned a reform of the football map that would eliminate clubs opposed to the regime — including Kallithea. When Kallithea defeated regime-favored Koropi, there were mass celebrations in the streets, which had been banned by the regime, with BBC radio calling it “the first defeat of the junta.” [5] [6]
Recent history (2021 to present)
In August 2021, New York-born Greek-American Ted Philipakos, a former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Brand Officer at Venezia FC, [8] led the takeover of Kallithea FC [9] with his brother and former professional footballer Peter Philipakos and investor Andrew Barroway.
In the 2021-22 season, Kallithea finished second in Super League 2, seven points back of league winners Levadiakos for promotion to Super League 1, which was the club's most successful season since it last appeared in the top division in 2005–06.
In September 2022, the club rebranded as Athens Kallithea FC. [10] The presentation of the club's rebranding was met with widespread acclaim in Greece [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] and abroad, [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] with London-based Versus calling it "one of the cleanest football rebrands ever."
In the 2022-23 season, AKFC missed out on promotion to Super League 1 by one point, finishing second in Super League 2 for the second consecutive season. [24]
After two consecutive second-place finishes, AKFC were crowned 2023-24 Super League 2 South Group champions and earned promotion to the Super League. [25]
Crest and colors
The first crest of Kallithea consisted of four circles representing the four groups of the merger of 1966, then becoming five circles with the addition of Pyrsos in 1967, which caused an issue with the Hellenic Olympic Committee. As a result, the club introduced a new crest with five stars in a diagonal line. The club's colors were blue and white, which were the colors of the two main groups of the merger, Esperos Kallitheas and Iraklis Kallitheas.
In September 2022, the club rebranded as Athens Kallithea FC and presented a new visual identity, including a new crest — an "AK" monogram, with five points that reference the five stars of the previous crest. The club's traditional blue and white were maintained as primary colors, with an update to the tone of blue, while gold was introduced as a complementary color. The work was executed in collaboration with German design studio Bureau Borsche, which also handled the rebrandings of Inter Milan and Venezia FC. [28]
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