HISTORY

Initially called "Apollon", the Greeks first kicked off in the Wellington divisions in 1953. Made up by the Romanian Greek immigrants who arrived to New Zealand in 1951/52, the club started with two teams finding great success and quickly promoted up the ladders.  The club disbanded in 1956, giving way to a new club which was formed in 1958 by the late Father Elias Economou under the name CHRISTIAN YOUTH FOOTBALL CLUB (CYFC).  To this day, Apollon continues to be part of the club's history.

CYFC first took to the field in 1959 and, like Apollon, were commonly referred to as "the Greeks".  The first co-selectors for CYFC were Leonidas Bertos (who was also the coach) and the Atha Giovanidis.

A quick note of thanks...

A number of members have held a variety of positions within the Club including Jim Christie who joined the club in 1961 and wore almost every hat - President/VicePresident/Secretary/Treasurer/ Selector/ Player for GOYANZ, and Co-Chairman and Committee member of the Wellington Olympic sub-committee.  Alongside him, Dimitrios (Jim) Androutsos was a pivotal figure within the Club as a Coach/Manager/Selector/Player/Committee Member for over three decades.  Steve Stefanatos is another who, for many years was a backbone of guidance and authority for the Club and who's knowledge of the club is still sought after and treasured to this day.

There are so many from the past to thank who from CYFC days and throughout Olympic years have made such a contribution, including (but not limited to) Mario Kotsapas, Tony and Jim Kotrotsos, Con and Chris Palamidas, Chris Papanicolaou and Nick Androutsos.

Also of mention are Peter Halikias, John Serepisos, Nina Bertos-Papadopoulos (continues to be on the committee), George Carras, Chrisanthi Kamberogiannis and Nick Halikias for their long service and continued committment to the Club from CYFC days, each holding a number of positions within the Club as players, coaches, managers, selectors and officers of both GOYANZ and the Olympic sub-committee for the better part of four decades and who still work tirelessly behind the scenes.  Nor can we pass over the continuing services of Paul Kotrotsos, Basil Bouzoukis, Maki Halikias, Demetre Kotrotsos and Jonathan Kotrotsos.

Apollon 1953

In 1981 they failed to survive the higher grade once agian after being promoted from Div 2, CYFC made an immediate return to Div 2 football for the 1982 season. The only highlight of the 1981 season came in the opening game where CYFC beat eventual champions Napier 2-0 - something none of the other ten clubs were able to achieve.

In 1982 coach Peter Halikias helped guide the team to another Div two championship regaining first division status they lost the previous year. In 1983 CYFC changed its name to Wellington Olympic and were coached by Paul Norfolk. The team finished fourth but conceded far too many goals to have any real chance of challenging for the title. 

In 1985 Olympic found themselves in farmiler teritory and were relegated to Div two. The following year Olympic cleaned up the Div two title. They were the only unbeaten side in any of the three Centtral League divisions. Second place was a distant 12 points behind them whilst thrid was another 12 points back. They scored a massive 59 goals which at the time was a record for the division. Only Lower Hutt (1985) had socred more than 50 goals and their total was reached in 22 games compared with Olympic's 20.

From 1987 Olympic proved itself as a Division One mainstay as it consistantly finished in the top 4 until 1993 when the SuperClub competition was intorduced. The only exception was in 1989 where they finished eightth. The main highlight of six year Division One campaign was winning it in 1991. The team was coached by former player and stalwart George Bertos. George secured the services of Imre Foldi the previous year and Andre Racz in 1991. Between them they scored 28 goals. 

​​​​​​​Olympic 1983

In 2009 Wellington Olympic AFC claimed it's first ever Chatham Cup success after a 2-1 win against Three Kings United.

In the final, Three Kings United took an early lead through a third-minute goal from Luiz del Monte. Three Kings dominated for much of the early part of the match, but higher-ranked Olympic fought back, and a header just before the half-hour mark from Mickey Malivuk levelled the scores at 1-1. In the second half Olympic had the upper hand, and eventually took the lead through a 75th minute penalty taken by Raf De Gregorio Three Kings attacked strongly during the last few minutes of the match but were unable to produce an equaliser.

The Jack Batty Memorial Cup is awarded to the player adjudged to have made to most positive impact in the Chatham Cup final. The winner of the 2009 Jack Batty Memorial Cup was Raf De Gregorio of Wellington Olympic.

Following on from the successful unbeaten season of 2009, Olympic went into the 2010 among the favorites to lift the Central league Trophy. Many of the 2009 players had returned and the club had added a few key players to the squad.

Wellington Olympic AFC - 2009 ASB Chatham Cup Champions