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Ergotelis FC (Greek: Εργοτέλης) is a Greek football club based in Heraklion, the largest city of the Greek island of Crete. The name itself, Ergotelis, was that of a famous ancient Cretan expatriate Olympic runner Ergoteles of Himera.

History

Ergotelis was established on 7 August 1929 in Heraklion as an amateur club of Cretan footballers. The team played in local championships and partly in the national second division in the stadium on Martinengo Bastion. When Greek football was merged between amateur and professional clubs, Ergotelis remained in the amateur league for six years, when the team became professional. Ever since, the Cretan club competed mostly in the fourth and some years in third division of Greece.

In 2003 Ergotelis gained promotion to the second division (Beta Ethniki) after a 32-year absence. Losing no time, they were promoted to the Greek Super League, after a very difficult 2003–2004 season, and thus becoming the second team to have represented Heraklion in the highest profesional football league in Greece, alongside OFI F.C.. The team failed to avoid relegation in its first season (2004–2005) in the league, and consequently Ergotelis returned to the Beta Ethniki once again. The 2005–06 season saw the team return to good form with Greek manager Nikos Karageorgiou taking over, achieving instant promotion to the Super League after winning the division title.

After the club's second promotion to the Super League, Ergotelis has avoided relegation altogether, and has gradually grown to a competitive and financially strong team, signing stars such as Maris Verpakovskis and Beto. During this time, Ergotelis has attracted a lot of attention from the Greek media by achieving memorable results against Greece's giants Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, including a 2–3 away competition win in the Athens Olympic Stadium against Panathinaikos on October 29, 2008, and a memorable friendly game celebrating Ergotelis' 80th anniversary on September 6, 2009, against champions Olympiacos which resulted in an astonishing 5–0 win for the Cretans, marking one of the worst defeats in Olympiacos' history and starting a chain of events that ultimately led to the sacking of then Olympiacos coach Temuri Ketsbaia. In the 2010-2011 season, Ergotelis finished 8th in the Super League, which marks the club's best finish in the competition since it's promotion.

Ergotelis has also been known for promoting young Greek talent in the Super League, and has had a lot of players feature for the U-19 and U-21 national football teams. Young Ergotelis star Vasilios Koutsianikoulis' performances in the 2008–2009 season made him the first Ergotelis player to be called-up by Otto Rehhagel for the Greek National Football Team. Koutsianikoulis' subsequent transfer to PAOK F.C. was considered a major success for the Thessaloniki side, and was extensively covered by Greece's media.
Rivalry with OFI

Ergotelis has enjoyed a fierce rivalry with other local Superleague side, OFI F.C.. The first ever game between Ergotelis and OFI, a friendly match in 1929, ended after 35 minutes. Ergotelis were ahead by one goal, when the game had to be abandoned after violence between the players broke out.

During the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 a legislation determined that every regional Greek city should be represented by one football team. At that time, both OFI and Ergotelis used to play in the Second National division. Αt the end of the 1966–1967 season, Ergotelis finished 8th, while OFI finished in a higher position, leading to Ergotelis' relegation. The legislation also allowed the remaining teams in the second division to sign players of the relegated ones, and thus 5 Ergotelis players were transferred to OFI. In the years to come Ergotelis languished in the lower leagues.[1] This fact led to various controversies, especially since Ergotelis' come back, at the early 00's.

This rivalry has shown signs of diminishing over the years, with OFI fans attending newly promoted Ergotelis' games in the Super League during the club's first season in the competition, and Ergotelis loaning their longtime scoring legend Patrick Ogunsoto to the financially weakened, now Beta Ethniki side OFI for no fee, as an attempt to assist the latter in their struggle to once again return to the Super League.
Current squad

As of 7 July 2011

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
No. Position Player
1 Germany GK Sören Pirson
2 Greece MF Ilias Kyriakidis
4 Serbia DF Borislav Jovanovic
5 Austria DF Mario Hieblinger
6 Poland DF Tomasz Wisio
7 Greece MF Vasilios Koutsianikoulis
8 Argentina MF Diego Romano
9 Greece FW Nikolaos Katsikokeris
10 Uruguay FW Sergio Leal
11 Brazil MF Beto
13 Uruguay DF Claudio Dadómo
14 Greece FW Nikolaos Karelis
15 Brazil MF Júnior
17 Greece MF Angelos Chanti

No. Position Player
19 Greece MF Andreas Bouchalakis
21 Brazil MF Bruno Araujo Chalkiadakis
23 Nigeria MF Egutu Oliseh
24 Greece MF Christos Chrysofakis
25 Croatia FW Mario Budimir
27 Greece DF Lefteris Gialousis
31 Greece MF Michail Fragoulakis
37 Georgia (country) DF Giorgi Shashiashvili
40 Greece GK Zacharias Kavousakis
55 Greece DF Emmanouil Kandilakis
77 Greece MF Vasilios Rentzas
84 Greece GK Grigorios Athanasiou
89 Greece DF Georgios Sarris
93 Greece FW Sokratis Evaggelou

For recent transfers, see List of Greek football transfers summer 2011.

Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
No. Position Player
Greece MF Evangelos Poulakis (at Platanias F.C.)
Notable former players

Greece

Greece Georgios Alexopoulos
Greece Iosif Daskalakis
Greece Dimitrios Grammozis
Greece Dimitrios Kiliaras
Greece Panagiotis Κordonouris
Greece Dimitrios Orfanos
Greece Manolis Roubakis

Albania

Albania Altin Haxhi

Bulgaria

Bulgaria Georgi Markov

Croatia

Croatia Darko Miladin

F.Y.R.O.M.

Republic of Macedonia Dragan Nacevski

Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau Daniel Kenedy

Hungary

Hungary Bela Kovacs
Hungary Zsolt Posza