Origins Football first appeared in Greece in 1894 and began to spread after the
1896 Olympiad, which was included in the games program. Many clubs started to establish football divisions while the first purely football clubs were also founded. The first years, until 1912, championship was organised by the
Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics (SEGAS). This championship was actually a local tournament among clubs from
Athens and
Piraeus. After the
Balkan Wars and
World War I, two football associations were formed, one organising a football league in Athens and Piraeus, and one doing the same in
Thessaloniki. These were the
Athens-Piraeus FCA (EPSAP) and the
Macedonia FCA (EPSM). In 1923, a Panhellenic Champion was determined by a play-off game between the Athens-Piraeus and the Thessaloniki champions.
Peiraikos Syndesmos won 3–1 against
Aris. This panhellenic final was not repeated the following year as the EPSAP was split into the
Athens FCA (EPSA) and
Piraeus FCA (EPSP) following a dispute.
Panhellenic Championship (1927–1959) On 14 November 1926, the
Hellenic Football Federation is founded and organizes the first
Panhellenic Championship in the period 1927–28, in which, however,
Olympiacos,
Panathinaikos and
AEK Athens did not participate due to conflicts with the
EPO. The initial events were held with teams from
Athens,
Piraeus and
Thessaloniki, excluding the provincial ones. Previously, the local championships of the cities were held and in the final phase, sometimes only the first ones qualified, sometimes the first two or the first three teams. In the championship of
1938-39, which was held in two groups, teams outside Athens-Thessaloniki (
Doxa Drama, AEK Kavala and Filippi Kavala) participated for the first time. The maiden presence of provincial teams in a single group of the Panhellenic Championship took place in
1953-54 with the participation of
Panachaiki from Southern Greece and
Niki Volos from Central and Northern Greece.
Overall Rating of the Panhellenic Championship (1927-1959) : • The score in parentheses is the teams' actual score, adjusted for all scoring systems, penalties, etc. The first score is with the 3-1-0 system for convenience.
National League (1959–1979) In 1959 the
Alpha Ethniki – the precursor of the current Super League – was set up as a national round-robin tournament. After several months of talks, the 1959–60 championship was the first nationwide league competition. It started on Sunday 25 October 1959 with the participation of 16 teams. The creation of a championship in the form of a single permanent national division rather than the way they have been held until then with the participation of the teams selected by the local competitions was a requirement of both the State and
UEFA. The first wished to establish a fixed number of matches every Sunday in Greece to stimulate interest in
PRO-PO while UEFA wished to nominate national champions with strict criteria and through joint events for all states. The
Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) was obliged to proceed to the abolition of the competitions of the
Football Clubs Associations (EPS) of Greece as qualifying stages for the Pan-Hellenic Championship. The first place was taken by Alpha Ethniki, a single division with clubs from all over the Greek territory and a stable participation, with the exception of those who would be relegated at the end of the season. The initial design provided for a number of teams well above the 10th of the 1958–59 Pan-Hellenic Championship and in particular 18 which, as the expanded division calendar would cover almost all the available dates of the year, would no longer participate in its local competitions their EPSs. Those would be the qualifier for the upcoming national division and not the participation in the final round of the current championship, so their significance was significantly reduced. On Saturday, 10 October 1959 at the General Assembly of the HFF, i.e. with the participation of all the members of the Association of Football Associations and in the presence of the General Secretariat of Sports (GGA) and representatives of the Karamanlis government, became the first national division of Greek football. The 1st game was set for 15 days. According to the general Assembly of HFF on 29 August 1959, it was decided that the newly created Alpha Ethniki would consist of 18 teams, with their determination being made in accordance with the positions in the local EPS competitions in the period 1958–59. The HFF, at its decisive General Assembly on Saturday, 10 October, decided to reduce the number of teams to 16 so that the racing program will not be extended in the summer. After the end of the first event in the summer of 1960, the teams did not increase despite HFF's initial intention, with the number 16 being considered the ideal for a championship in Greece and only 18 in 1967. The teams that participated in the first championship of the Alpha Ethniki were the following: • The top four of the
Athens FCA Championship:
Panathinaikos,
Panionios,
AEK Athens and
Apollon Smyrnis. • The top four of the
Piraeus FCA Championship:
Olympiacos,
Ethnikos Piraeus, AE Nikaia and
Proodeftiki. • The top four of the
Macedonia FCA (Thessaloniki) Championship:
Aris,
PAOK,
Apollon Kalamarias and
Iraklis. • The top two of the North Group of the Regional Championship:
Doxa Drama and Megas Alexandros Katerini. • The first of the two Sub-Groups of the South Regional Championship: Pankorinthiakos and
Panegialios. On 25 October 1959, the Alpha Ethniki was launched. Panathinaikos won the first Alpha Ethniki's Championship and became the Greek champions for the fourth time in his history. The club tied with AEK by 79 points and defeated them by 2–1 in the play-off, a match where Panathinaikos needed only a draw at the neutral
Karaiskakis Stadium. In such a case, after the half-hour extension, the competition announcement set the best goal difference. Through the playoffs and with the same score was also the third place for the demotion, with the winner Panegialios to overtake Pankorinthiakos again in the event of a draw. The scoring system was 3 points for the win, 2 points for the draw, 1 point for the defeat. Time has been relentless for some teams that have participated in the first league of the Alpha Ethniki. The historic Ethnikos Piraeus, cup winner of Greece in 1933, participates in the
Gamma Ethniki, as well as Proodeftiki while AE Nikaia participates in the local championship of Piraeus. Apollon Kalamaria, Doxa Drama and Iraklis are fighting in the
Beta Ethniki, while Pankorinthiakos, a few years after joining Alpha Ethniki, merged with Aris Korinthos and created
PAS Korinthos, which reached the Alpha Ethniki at the 1990s and is now participating in the Gamma Ethniki. Megas Alexandros Katerini is the ancestor of
Pierikos. In 1961, they merged with Olympos Katerini and created Pierikos who plays in the Gamma Ethniki.
Professional League (1979–present) On 19 January 1979 a bill was passed in the
Hellenic Parliament under which football clubs became Football
Incorporated Companies (PAE or ΠΑΕ in Greek). The Association of Football Incorporated Companies (EPAE, ΕΠΑΕ in Greek), under the supervision of the HFF, has since held the responsibility to hold the championship, with Makis Ithakisios being elected its first president. Initially the shares were owned by the sports union to which the football club belonged. Yet soon after, prominent Greek businessmen (shipowners, oil magnates, bankers etc.) began acquiring the newly formed PAEs by buying the majority of their shares, and then increasing their share capital, thus turning Greek football into a fully commercialised and highly profitable business for the decades to come. For a single racing season, 2000–01, the championship is renamed "Upper Category". It was an attempt to restructure the Greek football leagues, which included a gradual reduction of the teams in the Greek league and was announced at the end of 1999 by the then president of the Football Association of Societies (E.P.A.E.) Viktoras Mitropoulos. It was based on a plan developed on behalf of EPAE. the international company "Deloitte & Touche". However, it was never completed and a simple renaming of the leagues was only valid for the 2000–2001 season, which was abolished the following season.
Super League (2006–2019) On 16 July 2006, was founded the copartnership
Super League. Members of the copartnership are the PAE's that have the right to participate in the professional football championship of the First Division. The main activity of the copartnership is the organization and conduct of the First Division's Championship according to the regulations and decisions of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) and the supreme international football confederations (
UEFA,
FIFA). From the 2007–08 season, the play-offs were established for the exit of the teams in Europe (places 2–5).
Super League 1 (2019–Today) With the restructuring of 2019, from the period 2019–2020 the professional football association "Super League Greece Limited Liability Company" was renamed to "Super League 1 Greece Limited Liability Company". Playoffs are established to determine the champion, among the top six teams in the league. At the same time, the use of the
V.A.R. was established. ==Competition format==