Iraklis Larissa

Iraklis Larissa was founded in 1930 in the district of Neapoli in Larissa. Its first president was Petros Papakonstantinou. Iraklis was the fifth team of the city to be recognized by the Union Football Association of Thessaly after Pelasgiotida, the Excursion Club, Aris Larissa and Dimitra Larissa (known today as Apollon). They also participated in the first championship of 1930–31. In 1960, Iraklis also became one of the founding members of Union Football Association of Larissa.[1]

On 7 December 1947, Iraklis won 2–1 against Niki Volos and won the Thessalian Cup, thus qualifying for the Greek Cup. They made it to the quarterfinals in which they eventually lost 0–6 against Olympiacos. Iraklis were the first team from Larissa to make it to the round of eight.[1]

In the seasons 1962–63 and 1963–64, Iraklis played in the Beta Ethniki.[1]

After the idea was in the planning since 1958, Iraklis alongside Toxotis Larissa, Aris Larissa and Larisaikos merged in 1964 to form AEL. The newly formed team eventually went on to write Greek football history for being the only team outside the two major cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, to win the championship, as well as winning two Greek cups. Iraklis' president Kostas Tzovaridis became the first president of the newly founded AEL.[1]

For the next 18 years there was no presence of Iraklis in football. But, Iraklis was re-founded in 1982, after the merge of two neighbouring clubs in: Livadaki A.O. (founded in 1976) and Neapoli A.O.. In 1996, the team made it to the finals of the Greek Football Amateur Cup which they lost 1–2 against Ethnikos Katerini.

After several years of struggle, Lampros Ioakim took over the reigns of Iraklis as president and with his vision led the team to win the 2016–17 Larissa FCA A1 (sixth tier) season. Ioakim put a lot of importance and focus into the development of a youth center in order to develop players that will lead the team in the upcoming years.[1] Having won the 2018–19 Larissa FCA (fifth tier) season, Iraklis returned to the Gamma Ethniki after several decades. The conditions now seem ripe for the return of Iraklis towards professional leagues. The staffing of the sports department with an alloy of experienced and very young and talented football players of the prefecture, are strategic moves that outline the basic principles of the philosophy followed by the young Iraklis. Back to the roots, investing into the local potential and a productive process of highlighting talents through its academies.[1]

As of 22 February 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  GRE Anastasios Papagiannis — GK  GRE Konstantinos Chamos — GK  GRE Evangelos Parlitsis — DF  GRE Konstantinos Balamotis — DF  GRE Giannis Athanasias — DF  GRE Petros Psomolias — DF  GRE Alexandros Galitsios — DF  ALB Aurel Cakalli — DF  GRE Apostolos Koulpas — DF  GRE Konstantinos Tartas — DF  GRE Stergios Dodontsakis — DF  GRE Vasilis Papageorgiou — DF  GRE Athanasios Kyrialanis — MF  GRE Konstantinos Kaberis — MF  GRE Christos Agrodimos — MF  GRE Andreas Chatziliontas — MF  GRE Spyros Zafiriou

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GRE Giannis Christidis — MF  GRE Lefteris Bamis — MF  GRE Stelios Alexandris — MF  GRE Prodromos Koutsoukis — MF  GRE Vaios Vagenas — MF  GRE Gavriil Papadakos — MF  GRE Christos Papadopoulos — MF  GRE Nikos Narinoglou — MF  GRE Michalis Gargalas — MF  ARG Walter Bracamonte — MF  GRE Aristidis Lottas — MF  GRE Ilias Gika — FW  GRE Giorgos Kakavitsis — FW  GRE Apostolis Tsapatoris — FW  GRE Dimitrios Chasomeris — FW  GRE Christos Alexiou

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GRE Dimitris Anadolou (at AE Kileler until 30 June 2022) — MF  GRE Giannis Goutzailias (at PAOL Averof until 30 June 2022)

• Kostas Katsaras
• Thomas Makris
• Nikos Goulios
• Ilias Kotsios
• Giannis Valaniadis
• Konstantinos Nebegleras
• Petros Karanastasis
• Vangelis Kotsios