Full name | Panserraikos 1964 F.C. (All-Serres Football Club) |
---|---|
Nickname(s) |
Leontaria (Lions) Erythrolefkoi (The red-whites) |
Founded | 1964 |
Ground |
Serres Municipal Stadium Serres, Greece |
Capacity | 9,500 |
Chairman | Konstantinos Nikoltsios |
Manager | Panagiotis Dilberis |
League | Football League |
2015–16 | Football League, 10th |
Website | Club home page |
Panserraikos F.C. (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανσερραϊκός 1964), the All-Serres Football Club, is a football club, based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and well-supported clubs in northern Greece and had a near-continuous presence in the First Division in the 1960s and 70s.
Panserraikos was formed in 1964 in Serres, when two local clubs, Iraklis and Apollon, merged.
Since their last relegation in 1992 the club had been struggling in the Beta Ethniki, and were even relegated to the Third Division twice, in 1993 and 1996, yet promptly returning to the second tier on both occasions. The club did come close to promotion a few times, missing out on 5 points in 1998 and on just one point in 2000.
In 2008, Panserraikos managed to end a 16-year wait, gaining promotion to the Greek Super League. Managed by Giannis Papakostas, the club had been leading the Second Division table for the most part of the season, even securing a top-three spot with two games to spare – though they had narrowly escaped another relegation in the previous two seasons.
On 4 March 2009, Panserraikos won a historic match against Panathinaikos in the Olympic Stadium in Athens for the Greek Cup quarter finals with a score of 3–2 after being up 3–0 for 71 minutes. The first match leg ended at a 0–0 score. This amazing result landed Panserraikos a spot in the final 4 of the Greek Cup where they played against AEK Athens for a spot in the finals. What made this result so special was that many starters for the team were either injured, or suspended. This was Panserraikos' first time in the semifinals of the Greek Cup. However, Panserraikos was relegated and played once again in the 2009–10 Beta Ethniki. After an indifferent start to their Beta Ethniki campaign, their season has now sparked into life after a surprise 3–1 win over giants Olympiakos in the Fourth Round of 2009–10 Greek Cup making it one of their bigger wins in recent history.