OFI F.C. ( –
Omilos Filathlon Irakleiou), the
Association of Sportfriends of Heraklion, is a
Greek association football club based in
Heraklion, on the island of
Crete. Outside Greece, the club is generally known as
OFI Crete F.C., however, the name
Crete is not actually part of the club's official title.
OFI is the club with most appearances in the
Greek first division among clubs which are based outside of the two major Greek cities,
Athens and
Thessaloniki. The club has had noticeable success to date, particularly considering its comparative status, and has won one
Greek Cup and one
Balkans Cup, while they have competed several times in
UEFA competitions.
At the end of the
2008–09 season, OFI was relegated to
Beta Ethniki, thus ending a notable 33-year run in Greece's top division.
History
The foundation
The club was founded during the autumn of 1925 by a group of athletes that used to exercise in a specific gym in the city centre of Heraklion. The official name given to the sports club was
Omilos Filathlon Irakleiou or
OFI. The colours that OFI used were black and white, because none of the existing sports clubs had the same colour combination in Crete. The scope of the sport club, as had been written down in the first deed of association, was to participate in all kinds of events, and exhibitions related to athletics. During the first period of OFI’s existence most of the teams founders were also members.<!-- Deleted image removed: -->
The years before......
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