A.P.S. Zakynthos (Greek: Α.Π.Σ. Ζάκυνθος, Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Σύλλογος Ζάκυνθος) is a Greek professional football club, based in Zakynthos. It was founded in 1961.

History

The club was officially founded in 1969 after the merger of two other local clubs, one of them founded in 1961, explaining the older foundation date on the team's logo.

The team had the chance to win promotion to Beta Ethniki in 1973 and in 1975 when they won the local championship of Elis - Zakynthos, thus taking part to the promotion play-offs against other local unions' champions from southern Greece.

However, they failed to be promoted, finishing in their promotion group's 2nd place both times while only the 1st teams of each play-off group were to be promoted.

From the middle of the 1970s until the early 1980s, the team was participating in a new amateur championship named "Ethniki Erasitechniki", which was the 3rd highest level of football at the time in Greece. It is also the first format of the today's Gamma Ethniki championship. In 1982, the club was relegated to newly created Greek 4th National Division and in 1987 when they were relegated to local championships.

The years that followed the club was constantly promoting and relegating between Delta Ethniki and Zakynthos' local championship.

Finally in 1997, they were able to avoid being relegated again from Delta Ethniki. In the years that followed they kept performing continuously in the league by regularly finishing in the top-half of the table.

In 2006, they were promoted for their first ever time to semi-professional Gamma Ethniki after winning the championship in Delta Ethniki's 6th Group.

However, their debut in the division was not ideal and they were relegated again in the 4th tier of Greece after finishing last in their group in 2006–07 season.

They re-won the title in their group the next season, though, and were instantly repromoted to Gamma Ethniki where they stabilized. In 2011–12 season the team achieved its highest ever position finishing 3rd in their group and competing in the promotion play-offs without success.

Beta Ethniki

After finishing 7th in the Northern Group of 2013 Gamma Ethniki Zakynthos was promoted to Beta Ethniki, being favoured by HFF's decision to increase the number of teams in the upper division, and the inability of a number of other clubs to support their participation to the upcoming Beta Ethniki season due to financial problems. This led to an increased number of teams from the 3rd division being promoted with Zakynthos being amidst them, as it was made official in July 2013.

Zakynthos made their first Beta Ethniki appearance playing in the Northern Group where they finished 9th, managing to avoid relegation with ease. The next season it was the most successful in the team's history as they managed to finish 5th in their group, their highest position ever.

In the 2015-16 season, Beta Ethniki merged again in one group of 18 clubs with Zakynthos taking part for 3rd straight season in the division. However, the club experienced financial problems and they faced the deduction of 3 points that proved to be costly in their relegation battle. They ended up finishing 15th, just one point away from safety and they returned to amateur divisions.

To this day, the 2nd tier of Greece is the highest level of football that APS Zakynthos has ever competed.

Season to season

SeasonTierDivisionPlaceNotes1970–713A΄ EPS Ilis4th1971–723A΄ EPS Ilis2nd1972–733A΄ EPS Ilis1stChampions, Qualified for the champions' championship, remained1973–743A΄ EPS Ilis2nd1974–753A΄ EPS Ilis1stChampions, Qualified for the champions' championship, remained1975–763A΄ EPS Ilis2nd1976–773A΄ EPS Ilis2ndRunners-up, Promoted1977–783Ethniki Erasitechniki18thRelegated, -2 pts1978–794A΄ EPS Ilis1stChampions, Promoted1979–803Ethniki Erasitechniki6th1980–813Ethniki Erasitechniki18th-12 points1981–823Ethniki Erasitechniki14thRelegated, -6 pts1982–835A΄ EPS Ilis1st1st in 2nd group, Promoted through play-offs against Xenofon Krestena1983–844Delta Ethniki12thRelegated1984–855A΄ EPS Ilis1st1st in 2nd group, Promoted through play-offs against Ethnikos Pyrgou1985–864Delta Ethniki2nd1986–874Delta Ethniki7thRelegated1987–885A΄ EPS Zakynthou5th1988–895A΄ EPS Zakynthou2nd1989–905A΄ EPS Zakynthou1stChampions, Promoted1990–914Delta Ethniki14th1991–924Delta Ethniki17thRelegated1992–935A΄ EPS Zakynthou1stChampions, Promoted1993–944Delta Ethniki12thRelegated1994–955A΄ EPS Zakynthou1stChampions, Promoted1995–964Delta Ethniki15thRelegated, -6 pts1996–975A΄ EPS Zakynthou1stChampions, PromotedSeasonTierDivisionPlaceNotes1997–984Delta Ethniki4th1998–994Delta Ethniki3rd1999–20004Delta Ethniki9th2000–014Delta Ethniki6th2001–024Delta Ethniki9th2002–034Delta Ethniki6th2003–044Delta Ethniki7th2004–054Delta Ethniki3rd2005–064Delta Ethniki1stChampions, Promoted2006–073Gamma Ethniki (South)18thRelegated2007–084Delta Ethniki1stChampions, Promoted2008–093Gamma Ethniki (North)6th2009–103Gamma Ethniki (South)4th2010–113Football League 2 (North)13th2011–123Football League 2 (South)3rdPromotion Play-Offs2012–133Football League 2 (North)7thPromoted2013–142Football League (South)9th2014–152Football League (North)5thRelegation Play-Offs2015–162Football League15thRelegated2016–174A΄ EPS Zakynthou1stChampions, Promoted2017–183Gamma Ethniki9thRelegated2018–194A΄ EPS Zakynthou2ndPromoted2019–204Gamma Ethniki4th2020–214Gamma Ethniki1stPromoted2021–222Super League Greece 2 (South)17thRelegated2022–233Gamma Ethniki9th2023–243Gamma Ethniki4th2024–253Gamma Ethniki8th2025–263Gamma Ethniki2ndPromoted2026–272Super League Greece 2

Players Current squad

Honours APS Zakynthos has traditionally been the strongest football club in the island of Zakynthos. They are the team with the most wins of the Zakynthos Local Championships' Top Division and domestic cup.

The club has also emerged as one of the best teams in the regions of the Ionian Islands and Western Greece during the last years, having won the title twice in their regional group in Delta Ethniki.

Fourth Division Winners (3): 2005–06, 2007–08, 2020–21 Zakynthos Local Division Winners (5) – record: 1987–88, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1996–97, 2016–17 Zakynthos Local Cup Winners (21) – record: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25, 2025–26 Elis Local Division Winners (5): 1972–73, 1974–75, 1978–79, 1982–83, 1984–85 Elis Local Cup Winners (2): 1972–73, 1976–77

Notable players

Stelios Liveris Stathis Karamalikis Thanasis Dinas Alexandros Apostolopoulos Tomasz Moskal Enes Rujović Ross McVey

External links

Team's news at ioniansports.gr Team's news at zantesport.gr