APOEL Nicosia
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APOEL Athletic Football Club emblem
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| Full name | Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias |
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| Nickname | Τhrylos (The Legend) |
| Founded | 8 November 1926 |
| Colours | Yellow, Blue |
| Chairman | Marios Charalambous |
| Titles | 163 |
| Website | Club home page |
APOEL (Greek: ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias, "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a major multi-sport club based in Nicosia, Cyprus.
APOEL, which was founded in 1926, is the most popular sports club in Cyprus and one of the most successful, achieving to win 163 official senior titles in several sports.
The club is parent to thirteen different competitive departments including football, basketball, volleyball, futsal, table tennis, bowling, cycling, archery, swimming, water polo and a runners team.
The club was formed as POEL (Greek: ΠΟΕΛ; Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias, Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia) on 8 November 1926. The club's formation came about when a group of forty people, with a common vision, met and set the foundations for creating a football club that would represent the Greek residents of the capital and express their deep desire for Cyprus' incorporation (enosis) into Greece. The meeting took place at a traditional confectionery, owned by Charalambos Hadjioannou, downtown in Ledra Street and the first president of the club was Giorgos Poulias. The first clubhouse was the "Athenians Club" (Λέσχη Αθηναίων) at the end of Ledra Street.
After a journey to the football club in Alexandria, Egypt in 1927 the General Assembly of 1928 decided the players showed that they were not just good footballers but also excellent track and field athletes. Hence it was decided to create a track and field team in addition to the football team. The name APOEL was adopted to reflect this, with the 'A' standing for 'Athletic'. Soon after more sports departments were established, including volleyball, table tennis, rugby football, boxing, cycling, field hockey and basketball (a few years later). Also the club issued a sports newspaper, the "Athlitiki Echo", the first Cypriot sport newspaper.
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