The club was formed in 1965 from the merger of Phillipoi Kavala, Iraklis Kavala and A.E. Kavala. They have had a few runs in the top division of the Greek League. They were promoted to
Alpha Ethniki for the first time in 1969 and stayed up for six years (
1970 through
1975). They returned to the top division in 1976 and played again for six seasons. In 1982, the club were relegated to
Beta Ethniki (second tier of Greek football). After eleven years in Beta Ethniki and one year in
Gamma Ethniki (third tier – 1988–89) they were promoted to Alpha Ethniki. Their "black" period began for the team in which they played only in Beta Ethniki and Gamma Ethniki.
2009–10 season In 2009, they signed
Miltiadis Sapanis and
EURO 2004 winner
Fanis Katergiannakis. Kavala were promoted for the first time in 9 years to Greeces top division. In their quest to remain in the top flight they have signed
Pepe Reina's back up at Liverpool,
Charles Itandje and recently acquired Brazilian
Denílson (January 2010 transfer window) a 2002 World Cup Winner. Additional season signings include
Craig Moore,
Željko Kalac,
Ebi Smolarek,
Diogo Rincón,
Sotiris Leontiou,
Serge Dié,
Wilson Oruma and
Frédéric Mendy. This combined with coach
Aad de Mos meant that Kavala set the league alight. They subsequently achieved notable victories in the 2009–2010 season against
Iraklis,
Panionios,
AEK Athens and
Panathinaikos.
2010–11 season Ending in sixth place, the team entered the transfer season. In July, the Spanish goalkeeper,
Javier Lopez Vallejo (who played in
Real Zaragoza) was added to the roster. The team's owner sought the new manager throughout Europe and settled on the Serbian coach
Dragomir Okuka who lasted until November, when he was replaced by
Henryk Kasperczak. In Kasperczak's debut as a coach, Kavala beat AEK, 2–1, in what was considered a very good appearance. But in March 2011, Kasperczak, retired as the coach of this team, and he was replaced by
Ioannis Matzourakis, who was the coach in the Kavala team during the 1985–1986 season. Kavala finished seventh and, later faced the threat of relegation to
Football League (Greece) due to
the match-fixing scandal. After an appeal, the team managed to avoid relegation by starting the new league with eight points less. On 23 August, however, the Professional Sports Committee stripped both Kavala and
Olympiacos Volos from their professional licence and demoted them to the
Delta Ethniki.
2011–12 season Kavala competed in Delta Ethniki Group 1. They only finished fourth, but were promoted two divisions to the
Football League for 2012/13 after it was ruled that their demotion to
Delta Ethniki in 2011 was as a result of government intervention and should not have been implemented by the football authorities.
2013–14 season Ιn September 2013, Germans investors took control of Kavala. The agreement ensured that the new investors will pay off significant part of its debts to old players. Indeed, the Germans bought a majority stake of the shares of Kavala, paying a €500,000 clause in the first season and €700,000 for the second, respectively. == Crest ==