Trikala

Some clubs measure their history in trophies; Trikala keep returning to a single Sunday in 1999, when close to 20,000 people packed into a ground built for far fewer to watch the home side chase promotion against PAS Giannina. The push worked: that season the club won the Beta Ethniki and returned to the Greek top flight for the first time in 27 years.

Formed in 1963, Trikala never quite settled there. Their best finish in the top division had come earlier, an 11th place in 1965-66, a campaign that also carried the team to the semi-finals of the Greek Cup. Since then the club has spent most of its life shuttling between the third and fourth tiers, with Gamma Ethniki titles in 2015 and 2020 and an Amateur Cup won in 2026. Supporters know the side as Kyanerythroi, the Blue-and-Reds, a name that comes straight from the kit: a red chest with blue sleeves, shorts and socks.

Kostas Fortunis grew up in the city and came through at Trikala, leaving in 2010 after 30 appearances to build a career that took him to the Olympiacos captaincy and the Greece national team. Sotiris Kalantzis stayed longer: his 344 appearances and 92 goals still stand as club records.

Home games are played at the Trikala Municipal Stadium, a 15,000 all-seated ground in the city — the same stands that, on the night PAS Giannina came to town, held more people than there were seats.