In the year 2000 and after 15 successful years, Eugène Gerards announced his retirement from OFI’s bench as the team finished 4th in the championship. It was the last time that OFI gained a position that lead to European competitions, and the last season that OFI was considered one of the top teams in Greece.
there was little time for Cretans to enjoy the benefits of his talent as he was soon transferred to Panathinaikos. In the 1992–93 campaign OFI was in great form once again. OFI finished 4th in the Championship and qualified for the following season’s UEFA Cup tournament. The season’s great star for OFI was Nikos Nioplias. At the end of the previous season the Vardinogiannis family decided that he might become useful to Panathinaikos, so he became the 3rd player to move to Athens from OFI. Without the team’s great star, OFI only managed a 7th place finish in the 1993– 94 Championship. But despite those facts the name of OFI was heard loud and clear all around Europe. That season OFI achieved the unthinkable – they eliminated Slavia Prague in the 1st round of the UEFA Cup and Atlético Madrid in the 2nd round (both 2–1 on aggregate). Nobody in Europe could believe that an unknown quantity like OFI could ever knock out of Europe such illustrious opposition. The famous cup run came to an end when OFI was eliminated in the 3rd round by Portuguese club Boavista (Round of 16). Despite the disappointment there was pride for Cretans to be taken in that their team was the most successful Greek team in European competition that season. In 1994–95, Panathinaikos were in dire need of a striker, and OFI had 2 top rated strikers from the previous season, Nikos Machlas and Alexis Alexoudis. Even though Panathinaikos wanted Machlas, he himself refused to go to Athens, and as a result, Panathinaikos grabbed Alexoudis. OFI ended in the 9th position this year. In the next season, Eugène Gerards tried
to build a new team with young players. Yet the Dutchman had lost 2 great players to Panathinaikos and Nikos Machlas was transferred to Vitesse Arnhem. OFI finished 5th and missed qualification for the UEFA Cup in the last game of the season. 1996–97 was an amazing season for “Omilos”. With the partipication of Nikos Nioplias (Panathinaikos did not need him anymore, so he was transferred back to OFI), OFI was on 2nd place before the winter break and four of their players were part of the Greek National Team. On the last day of the transfer period, Panathinaikos grabbed Kostas Konstantinidis, the best defender of OFI’s squad. Finally OFI finished 3rd in the championship by humiliating Panathinaikos one week before the end and leaving the team from Athens in 5th place, outside the positions leading to UEFA competitions. The whole island of Crete was again celebrating the great performance of OFI. In the next two seasons, OFI finished in 7th and 8th position respectively, suffering constant humiliations by Panathinaikos in matches between the two, as revenge for what happened in May 1997. In addition to that, Kostas Kiassos, a great OFI midfielder, was the next ‘victim’ and was transferred to Panathinaikos. Nevertheless, OFI resumed their successful UEFA Cup campaigns. The pride of Crete eliminated Icelandic team KR Reykjavik in the second qualifying round (3–1 on aggregate) and Hungarian team Ferencváros in the 1st round proper,(4–2 on aggregate, with an unforgettable 3–0 victory in Crete). OFI’s European dream was ended by AJ Auxerre in the 2nd round of the UEFA Cup.
AFP, Wikipedia
NEW ITALIAN FACTORY OUTLET at KLADISSOS JUNCTION, CHANIA
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The Gerards years (1985–2000) Eugène Gerards stayed in Crete as coach of OFI for a legendary 15 years. This is still the record tenure for a coach in the Greek League, and will be a feat that lives long in the memory of Cretans. Gerards’ first 3 years at the helm in Crete were nothing short of amazing. In 1985/86 OFI finished 2nd in the league and only missed out on becoming champions by 5 points. Gerards continued his revolution with a 3rd place finish in 1986–87 and 4th place in 1987–88. As Gerards’ OFI continued to achieve high finishes in the Greek Championship the team from Crete did something wonderful 21 June 1987. In the Olympic Stadium in Athens they defeated Iraklis 3–1 on penalties winning the Greek Cup. The game had finished 1–1 after regular and extra time. With string league position and victorious in the Cup OFI was at that time one of the major players in Greek football. The 1987–88 season was special for Cretans for another reason too – it was the first time in league history that OFI finished in a higher position than Panathinaikos, beating them 2–1 in Heraklion on the way, with a goal in last minute from Stefanos Vavoulas. This golden era also saw OFI participate in European competition – UEFA Cup 1986 and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup 1987. The following seasons (1989–90, 1990– 91, 1991–92) were not quite as spectacular as what had gone before. OFI finished 6th, 7th and 6th respectively, missing UEFA Cup qualification by a few points each year. In June 1990 OFI played once again in the final of the Greek Cup, this time against Olympiacos. The game took place in Olympiacos’ home stadium and OFI lost 4–2. In June 1991 OFI played in the final of the Pre-Mediterranean Cup, against AEK Athens. The game took place in Georgios Kamaras Stadium and OFI lost 1–0. During the last of those three seasons, OFI brought a young Argentinian star to Crete – Victor Hugo Delgado. However,
The new era (2000–2009) The new century found OFI unstable and close to relegation almost every year. While Nioplias and Machlas retired, the team partly suffered from a series of bad rosters and managers. In 2001 OFI really struggled to remain to the 1st League. The next two years, OFI managed to play a little better, thus avoiding low positions easier. But then the dark years came: OFI avoided relegation every year, for for more sports news one or two points differclic k on http://cretepost.gr ence. President Fanouris Vatsinas appointed German Reiner Maurer as a coach in the summer of 2006. Maurer had the team playing greater football, even competing for a European place since the Gerards era. In the 2007 summer, OFI played in the Intertoto cup, but under-performed. The 2007–08 season found the club fighting to avoid relegation once again, and Maurer was sacked. Giorgos Paraschos was brought as a temporary manager, and he was eventually replaced by Czech, František Straka before the start of the new season. In 2009 OFI suffered from the bad presidency of Fanouris Vatsinas, who was asked by the fans to leave the club. Furthermore, former player Machlas offered a great amount of money in order to purchase the team. OFI started with awful results, Straka was dismissed and Ioannis Matzourakis came to fill his position. During the 2008–09 season, OFI struggled to remain to the Greek Super League, but failed and is in fact relegated to the second division after finishing 16th. Since relegation OFI has gone into ‘meltdown’. Once the season had ended the majority of the clubs senior players filed claims against club President Fanouris Vatsinas for hundreds of thousands of Euros in unpaid wages. As the non payment of wages was also a breach of contract many of them also freed themselves from their Professional contracts with the club and sought new teams for the forthcoming season. Club President Vatsinas resigned.
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fielder and one defender came from the Athenian team to Crete. The continuing experimentation caused OFI to be disappointed yet again. OFI finished in 8th place, exactly the same position they finished next season too. Although OFI’s results were not wonderful, this group of fresh players had gained experience and started to play like a team. The one thing that was missing was a good coach, who could get the best out of each player. This man arrived the following season.