Thesprotos Football Club () is a Greek professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Igoumenitsa Igoumenitsa () is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, connecting northwestern Main ...

Thesprotia Thesprotia (; , ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital and largest town is Igoumenitsa. Thesprotia is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity. His ...

, Greece. The club was founded in 1948. They compete in

Gamma Ethniki The Gamma Ethniki (, C National Division) is the Greek football league system, third highest football league in Greece. History The Gamma Ethniki began in 1965 as an amateur championship, while in 1983 it was changed to professional. Although no ...

, the third tier of Greek football.

History

1979–1988

Thesprotos participated in the Corfu FCA Championships. The team won twice, securing their rise to the national categories. They were immediately downgraded to local. With the creation of a new league, FCA Thesprotia, which Thesropotos joined in 1984, they began to pick up wins. The team won the 1984–1985 championship and was promoted to the

Delta Ethniki Delta Ethniki () was the fourth level of Greek football championship. During the period of its existence, it was the lowest national division of the Greek championship. It was founded in the 1982–83 season and abolished in the 2012–13 season, ...

. Once again they failed to remain in the category. In 1986–1987, they won the local championship again and competed in the 1987 amateur championship without winning promotion. In 1987–1988, Thesprotos again won the local championship and again competed in the Special Amateur Championship 1988. This time they won promotion to the Delta Ethniki.

1988–2003

From 1988–1989 until 1994–1995, Thesprotos participated in the 4th National. They excelled for some years, but failed to advance to the Delta Ethniki. In 1994–1995 the team was downgraded to local. The following year they again won the local championship and returned to the 4th National. After three years they managed to gain promotion to the

. The relegation was immediate to the 4th National while the following year the team was relegated to the locals following a second consecutive relegation. In 2001–2002, the team won the local championship and went to the 4th National. The team was unable to stand and was relegated to the local championship.

2003–2012

In the following years, Thesprotos competed in the local championship without winning. In 2007–2008 the team won the championship and again climbed to the 4th National. For the next four years they competed at the 4th National. They competed in the category, but failed to advance to the 3rd National. The 2011–2012 season was once again downgraded to local.

2012–2018

In the 2012–2013 season, Thesprotos won the championship and participated in the 2013 Special Amateur Championship. They again went to the 3rd National Championship where they stayed for the following years. The 2014–2015 season placed fifth while the 2015–2016 season ranked 6th. The 2016–2017 season finished 9th while the 2017–2018 season again ranked 5th.

2018–2019

Thesprotos took the second place in the championship and qualified for the anodic barrels. They defeated Niki Volos on May 5, 2019, at Panthessal Stadium 0-1 and on May 12 at Igoumenitsa 2-0 and take the historic rise in the professional categories.

2019–

In the 2019–2020 season, Thesprotos participated in the

Football League Greece The Football League () was the second highest professional football league in Greece since its inception in 1962 as ''Beta Ethniki'' and until 2019. It then served as a third tier after the creation of the Super League 2 as the new second tier ...

(Third tier). The team placed tenth, above the relegation zone when the season ended because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, just three fixtures before the end. In the 2020–2021 season, the team was still in the Football League, this time in the Northern group. They finished sixth and acquired the promotion to Superleague 2 (second tier) for the first time in their history. Thesprotos with a team mostly consisted with youths, finished 12 out of 17 in the 2022-2022 Northern Group and managed to renew his stay at Superleague 2 for another season, again under coaching from Argentinian

Juan Ramón Rocha Juan Ramón Rocha (born 8 March 1954) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. Playing career Born in Santo Tomé, Corrientes, Rocha began his professional career at Newell's Old Boys in 1972, he was part of their Me ...

Honours

Domestic

Leagues: *

(Fourth Division) ** Winners (1): 1998–99 *Corfu–Thesprotia FCA Championship (Local Championship) ** Winners (2): 1978–79, 1981–82 *Thesprotia FCA Championship (Local Championship) ** Winners (7): 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1995–96, 2001–02, 2007–08, 2012–13 Cups: *Thesprotia FCA Cup (Local Cup) ** Winners (15): 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2017–18 *Thesprotia FCA Super Cup (Local Super Cup) ** Winners (1): 2017–18

Notable players

* Felipe Gomes * Ján Lazorík * Sotiris Leontiou *

Manolis Skoufalis Manolis Skoufalis (; born 21 August 1978) is a Greek footballer who last played as a midfielder for Thesprotos. He had made a name for himself in Greek football as an attacking-minded player with a flashy playing style, who usually played on th ...

Former players

* James Okoli *Ermal Tahiri *Fabio Giovanni Dessi *Konstantinos Lolos

External links

* {{Gamma Ethniki Association football clubs established in 1948 1948 establishments in Greece Football clubs in Epirus Gamma Ethniki clubs