Kalamata

Full name	Ποδοσφαιρικός Σύλλογος "Η Καλαμάτα"
Nickname	Μαύρη Θύελλα (Black Storm)
Founded	1967; 59 years ago (1967)
Ground	Kalamata Municipal Stadium
Capacity	4,496
Owner	George Prassas
Chairman	George Prassas
Manager	Alekos Vosniadis
League	Super League Greece 2
2024–25	Super League Greece 2, 2nd
Website	fckalamata.gr
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Kalamata Football Club (Greek:Π.Σ. "Η Καλαμάτα") is a Greek professionalfootball club based inKalamata,Messenia. They compete in theSuper League Greece 2, the second tier of theGreek football league system. The club's home ground is theKalamata Metropolitan Stadium.

Kalamata FC was formed in 1967 when local teams Apollon Kalamata FC and Kalamata Sports Club were forced to merge by theGreek Junta.^[1] ThePhoenix, which was the emblem of thedictatorship, was chosen as the team's crest and was removed after the Greek restoration of democracy in 1974.

The team has competed in theGreek first division seven times, in 1972–73, 1974–75, from 1995–96 to 1997–98, and from 1999–2000 to 2000–01.^[2]

Kalamata F.C. achieved its first two promotions to the first division, in 1972 and 1974, under President Lykourgos Gaitanaros. Its first two promotions in the early 1970s are considered the team's first golden era.^{[citation needed]} The team could not stick in the top flight though, and would not have a resurgence until the 1990s.

Businessman Stavros Papadopoulos bought the team in 1992, while the club was stuck inGamma Ethniki, the third division. Upon his arrival, Papadopoulos began pouring a substantial amount of money into the club, and by 1995 the team had achieved promotion to the first division. The team dropped back to the second division for one season in 1998, but again achieved promotion to the first division the very next year, and remained in the top flight until Papadopoulos sold the team in 2000. After Papadopoulos' departure Kalamata fell to the second division and has since stayed in the lower divisions.

The Papadopoulos era of Kalamata F.C. saw the signing of many international players fromGhana, such asSamuel Johnson,Afo Dodoo,Ebenezer Hagan,Peter Ofori-Quaye andDerek Boateng. Johnson later transferred from Kalamata toAnderlecht and later played forFenerbahçe, Hagan transferred toIraklis and then toPAOK, Ofori-Quaye was sold for a club record US$3.5 million toOlympiacos, andDerek Boateng left forPanathinaikos. Kalamata FC is credited with starting the trend among Greek clubs of signing African talent since the late 1990s. The Papadopoulos era also saw the uncovering of a wealth of young Greek talent, including Greek international playerNikos Liberopoulos, who made his name at Kalamata before moving to Panathinaikos, and from there toAEK andEintracht Frankfurt.

After being demoted to the second division in 1997, they eventually started to bring in young Brazilian talent, as well as some veterans of the biggest teams in Brazil. The Brazilians helped the team gain promotion to the first division right away in 1998. According to Brazilian media and insiders, Papadopoulos' son Daniil, a former high level amateur athlete in America, was supposedly instrumental in spotting some of the Brazilian talent and sending them to Kalamata FC.^{[citation needed]} One of them,Hilton Assis (1999-2000), turned out to be the first cousin of Brazil and Barcelona FC super starRonaldinho. Hilton was once a promising player in Brazil who starred forInternacional of Porto Alegre, but serious knee operations curtailed his career. When he was healthy he was Kalamata's top goal scorer, but he returned to the Brazilian first division after Papadopoulos sold the team.

Kalamata's long-standing rivals arePaniliakos andEgaleo.

Kalamata F.C.'s official colours are black and white, and the team is known in Greece as the "Black Storm" (Μαύρη Θύελλα).

Kalamata plays its home matches atKalamata Metropolitan Stadium inKalamata. The stadium was completed in 1976, and currently has a seating capacity of 4.496.^[3]

Kalamata F.C.'s most famous supporters' club is the "Bulldogs Fan Club".^[4]

Kalamata's long-standing rivals arePaniliakos, located inPyrgos in the westernPeloponnese, andEgaleo, inAthens suburb of Egaleo.Messiniakos is Kalamata's cross-town rival, but Messiniakos generally competed in lower leagues.

As for the 2025–26 the main sponsor of the team is the online gambling website Novibet.gr and the kit provider is Macron.

As of 6 February 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GRE Georgios Ladas 2 DF  GRE Nikos Vafeas 4 DF  GRE Stefanos Stroungis 5 DF  GRE Timotheos Tselepidis 7 MF  ARG Juan Cataldi 9 FW  GRE Vasilios Mantzis 10 FW  FRA Nicolas Diguiny 11 MF  EQG Josete Miranda 13 GK  GRE Ioannis Gelios 14 MF  GRE Georgios Pamlidis(on loan fromAris) 16 MF  POR Bruno Gama 18 DF  GRE Panagiotis Panagiotou 20 MF  GUI Ahmad Mendes Moreira 22 DF  GRE Petros Kaloutsikidis

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF  GRE Angelos Ikonomou 26 MF  ARG Julián Bonetto 27 DF  FRA Salimo Sylla 28 MF  ARG Federico Jourdan 29 MF  ARG Nicolás Czornomaz 31 GK  GRE Manolis Kalogerakis 32 DF  GRE Stathis Tachatos 33 DF  GRE Odysseas Lymperakis 38 MF  GRE Ilias Tselios 64 FW  GRE Savvas Mouzakis 77 MF  GRE Nikolaos Spyrakos(on loan fromPAOK B) 97 FW  GRE Konstantinos Kotsopoulos — GK  GRE Pavlos Varelas — DF  URU Maximiliano Moreira

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  FRA Messemo Bakayoko(atAnagennisi Karditsa until 30 June 2026) — FW  BOL Carmelo Algarañaz(atThe Strongest until 30 June 2026)

• Second Division^[5]
  • Winners(2): 1971–72 (Group 1), 1973–74 (Group 2)
• Third Division
  • Winners(1): 2020–21 (South Group)
• Fourth Division
  • Winners(2): 1984–85, 2010–11

• Messinia FCA Championship
  • Winners(2): 1980−81, 2016−17

• Messinia FCA Cup
  • Winners(4): 1953−54, 1982−83, 2016−17, 2017−18

• First Division (7): 1972–1973, 1974–1975, 1995–1998, 1999–2001
• Second Division (20): 1967–1972, 1973–1974, 1975–1977, 1993–1995, 1998–1999, 2001–2010, 2021–present
• Third Division (21): 1977–1980, 1981–1982, 1985–1993, 2011–2016, 2017–2021
• Fourth Division (4): 1982–1985, 2010–2011
• Messinia FCA Championship (2): 1980–1981, 2016–2017

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away
2000	UEFA Intertoto Cup	3rd Round	FK Chmel Blšany	0−3	0–5

• Bo Petersson (1995–97)
• Eduardo Amorim (1997–98)
• Andreas Michalopoulos (2003–04)

• PAE Kalamata – official site(in Greek)
• Bulldogs Fan Club – supporters' club site(in Greek)
• Onsports.gr Profile

• Kalamata F.C.
• Sport in Kalamata
• Association football clubs established in 1967
• Football clubs in Peloponnese (region)
• 1967 establishments in Greece
• Super League Greece 2 clubs

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using football kit with incorrect pattern parameters
• Articles containing Greek-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016
• Articles with Greek-language sources (el)