AEK Athens F.C.

AEK Athens Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ AEK [aek]; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstadinoupόleos, meaning Athletic Union of Constantinople) is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, a suburb of Athens, Greece.

Established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), AEK has become one of the three most popular clubs in Greece and the Greek diaspora and one of the three most successful teams in Greek football (including Olympiacos and Panathinaikos), winning 32 national titles and the only one to have won all the competitions organised by the Hellenic Football Federation (12 Championships, 15 Greek Cups, 1 League Cup and 2 Super Cups).

The club has appeared several times in European competitions (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup). It is the only Greek team that advanced to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup (1976–77) and the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup twice (1996–97 and 1997–98). AEK was also the first Greek team that advanced to the quarter-finals of the European Cup (1968–69) and also to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League (1994–95).

The large Greek population of Constantinople, not unlike those of the other Ottoman urban centres, continued its athletic traditions in the form of numerous athletic clubs. Clubs such as Énosis Tatávlon (Ένωσις Ταταύλων) and Iraklís (Ηρακλής) from the Tatavla district, Mégas Aléxandros (Μέγας Αλέξανδρος) and Ermís (Ερμής) of Galata, and Olympiás (Ολυμπιάς) of Therapia existed to promote Hellenic athletic and cultural ideals.

These were amongst a dozen Greek-backed clubs that dominated the sporting landscape of the city in the years preceding World War I. After the war, with the influx of mainly French and British soldiers to Constantinople, many of the city’s clubs participated in regular competition with teams formed by the foreign troops. Taxim, Pera, and Tatavla became the scene of weekly competitions in not only football, but also athletics, cycling, boxing, and tennis.