title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Another chapter began in 1972, after Nikos Goulandris became president of the club. He reinstated all the prominent members of Olympiacos board that had been forced out by the military regime (including Giorgos Andrianopoulos) and opened-up the member election process, establishing a new, trustworthy board of directors. He appointed Lakis Petropoulos as head coach and signed top-class players, creating a great roster with key performers such as Giorgos Delikaris, Yves Triantafyllos, Julio Losada, Milton Viera, , Michalis Kritikopoulos, Takis Synetopoulos, Romain Argyroudis, Maik Galakos, Nikos Gioutsos, , , , Lakis Glezos, Petros Karavitis, Kostas Davourlis, Giannis Kyrastas, Dimitris Persidis, Lefteris Poupakis and . Under Goulandris' presidency, Olympiacos won the Greek Championship three times in a row (1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75), combining it with the Greek Cup in 1973 (beating PAOK 1–0 in the final) and 1975 (beating Panathinaikos 1–0 in the final) to celebrate two Doubles in three years. Ιn the 1972–73 season, Olympiacos won the title by conceding only 13 goals in 34 matches, which is an-all-time record in Greek football history. The team's best year though, was undoubtedly the 1973–74 season, when Olympiacos won the league with 26 wins and 7 draws in 34 games, scoring an all-time record of 102 goals and conceding only 14.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In European competitions, they managed to eliminate Cagliari in the 1972–73 UEFA Cup, a major force in Italian football during the late 1960s and the early 1970s, (1970 Serie A Champions, 1972 Serie A title contenders), with world-class Italian international players like Gigi Riva, Angelo Domenghini, Enrico Albertosi, Pierluigi Cera, Sergio Gori and Fabrizio Poletti. Olympiacos managed to beat Cagliari twice, 2–1 in Piraeus and 1–0 in Cagliari, becoming the first ever Greek football club to win on Italian soil. In the next round they faced the competition's defending champions Tottenham Hotspur, who were undefeated for 16-straight games in all European competitions. Olympiacos did not manage to qualify against Spurs, but they managed to get a 1–0 win in Piraeus, which ended Tottenham's undefeated streak and marked the first ever victory of a Greek football club against an English side. Two years later, Olympiacos entered the 1974–75 European Cup and they were drawn to face Kenny Dalglish's Celtic, one of the strongest teams in European football at that time and semi-finalists of the previous season. The first leg was played in Celtic Park, where Celtic had never been defeated, running an undefeated streak of 36 straight home games in all European competitions (27 wins, 9 draws) from 1962 to 1974. Olympiacos took the lead through Milton Viera's strike in the 36th minute, with Celtic equalising late in the game. The away draw gave Olympiacos the advantage and they finished the job in Piraeus, after a spectacular 2–0 win against the Scottish Champions with Kritikopoulos and finding the net. In the next round, they were drawn to play against Anderlecht for a place in the quarter-finals of the competition. Anderlecht won the first leg with 5–1 and Olympiacos' task seemed impossible. In the second leg in Greece, however, Olympiacos put on a dominant display and almost reached a winning score in a match that was marked by referee Károly Palotai's decisions. Olympiacos beat Anderlecht 3–0, while Palotai disallowed four Olympiacos goals and did not give at least three clear penalties committed by Anderlecht players, while Stavropoulos was shown a red card for no good reason. The match is widely known in Greece as the ""Palotai massacre"" with Olympiacos coming close to one of the biggest comebacks in European Cup history.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Following Goulandris resignation from the presidency in 1975, the team went through a relative dry spell in the second half of the 1970s. However, in the summer of 1979, the Greek championship turned professional and became owner and president of the club. Olympiacos emerged again as the dominant force in Greek football, winning the title four times in a row (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) with players like the relentless goalscorer Nikos Anastopoulos, Martin Novoselac, Vicente Estavillo, Thomas Ahlström, Roger Albertsen, Maik Galakos, Tasos Mitropoulos, Takis Nikoloudis, Nikos Sarganis, Nikos Vamvakoulas, Giorgos Kokolakis, , Petros Michos, Takis Lemonis, , Petros Xanthopoulos, , , and . Kazimierz Górski, the iconic Polish coach, led Olympiacos to the 1980, 1981 and 1983 titles (winning also the Double in 1981, the 9th Double in Olympiacos' history) while Alketas Panagoulias, who had also been manager of the Greece national football team and the United States national team as well, led the team to the 1982 title after a memorable 2–1 win (Estavillo 6', Anastopoulos 69') against arch-rivals Panathinaikos in the crucial Championship final match in Volos. With Panagoulias as head coach, Olympiacos won the 1986–87 title as well, having a solid roster with players from the early 1980s like Anastopoulos, Mitropoulos, Michos, Xanthopoulos and other strong players like Miloš Šestić, Giorgos Vaitsis, Jorge Barrios, Andreas Bonovas, Alexis Alexiou and .


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos experienced its darkest days from the late-1980s until the mid-'90s. In the mid-'80s, Olympiacos came into the hands of Greek businessman George Koskotas who was soon accused of and convicted for embezzlement, leaving Olympiacos deep in debt. The club went through a period of administrative turbulence until 1993, when Sokratis Kokkalis became majority shareholder and president of the club. As soon as he took the club's presidency, Kokkalis agreed a settlement to pay off all the club's debts and started reorganising and restructuring the club. On the pitch, the team, with all the financial and managerial problems, as well as the lack of strong administrative leadership until the Kokkalis arrival, spent nine seasons without a league title, from 1988 to 1996, despite the foreign top-class players that played for the club at that period, such as Lajos Détári, Oleh Protasov, Juan Gilberto Funes, Bent Christensen, Hennadiy Lytovchenko, Yuri Savichev, Andrzej Juskowiak, Daniel Batista, Fabián Estay and the backbone of solid Greek players like Vassilis Karapialis, Kiriakos Karataidis, Giotis Tsalouchidis, Nikos Tsiantakis, Giorgos Vaitsis, Minas Hantzidis, Theodoros Pahatouridis, Savvas Kofidis, Chris Kalantzis, Gιorgοs Mitsibonas, Ilias Talikriadis, Alekos Rantos, , Ilias Savvidis and Michalis Vlachos. This period is so called as "Olympiacos' stone years". Nevertheless, the club brought home the 1990 (beating OFI Crete 4–2 in the final) and 1992 Greek Cups (beating PAOK 2–0 in the second leg of the double final in Piraeus), as well as the 1992 Greek Super Cup, beating AEK 3–1 in the final. In addition, the team, under the guidance of the legendary Ukrainian coach Oleg Blokhin, managed to reach the quarter-finals of the 1992–93 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, eliminating Arsène Wenger's Monaco, after a hard-fought 1–0 away win in Stade Louis II with a late goal by Giorgos Vaitsis and a goalless draw at Karaiskakis Stadium in the second leg. They did not manage to qualify for the semi-finals, however, as they were eliminated by Atlético Madrid (1–1 draw at home, 3–1 loss in Madrid).


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In 1996, Socratis Kokkalis appointed Dušan Bajević as the team's head coach. By that time, Olympiacos had already a very strong roster, with players like Kyriakos Karataidis, Vassilis Karapialis, Grigoris Georgatos, Alexis Alexandris, Giorgos Amanatidis, Nikos Dabizas and Ilija Ivić. Upon Bajević's arrival, Kokkalis opted to strengthen the team significantly in order to create a very strong roster that would dominate Greek football for years to come. He purchased the highly rated prospects Predrag Đorđević and Stelios Giannakopoulos from Paniliakos, outbidding both AEK Athens and Panathinaikos; signed Refik Šabanadžović, Andreas Niniadis, Giorgos Anatolakis and Alekos Kaklamanos; and brought Olympiacos Academy product Dimitris Eleftheropoulos back from his loan spell at Proodeftiki. With all these players up front, Olympiacos strode to the 1996–97 title by 12 clear points over AEK and 20 points over the third Panathinaikos in Bajević's first season in charge; this was the club's first Greek Championship in nine seasons, putting an end to the "stone years" and officially beginning Olympiacos' era of domination. In the next season, 1997–98, Dimitris Mavrogenidis, Siniša Gogić, Ilias Poursanidis and the Ghanaian striker Peter Ofori-Quaye were transferred to the club and Olympiacos won the 1997–98 Championship. Bajević's team, along with AEK and Panathinaikos, were closely separated in the table, but finally Olympiacos made an important away win against Panathinaikos (0–2) and celebrated the second consecutive Championship, with three points difference from Panathinaikos. Olympiacos participated for the first time in the UEFA Champions League group stage and took third place in a tough group, leaving Porto in fourth place, while Real Madrid, the eventual champions, topped the group and qualified for the quarter-finals.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: The 1998–99 season was undoubtedly one of the best seasons in Olympiacos history. They won the 1998–99 Greek Championship quite convincingly, with ten points difference from AEK and 11 from third-placed Panathinaikos, and also celebrated the domestic double, bringing home the 1998–99 Greek Cup after a convincing 2–0 win against arch-rivals Panathinaikos in the final (Mavrogenidis 54', Ofori-Quaye 90'), despite the fact that they played for more than 60 minutes in the game with ten players. In European competitions, they entered the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League group stage, being drawn in a group with Ajax, Porto and Croatia Zagreb. They won the group and qualified to the quarter-finals, gathering 11 points with 3 home wins against Ajax (1–0), Porto (2–1) and Croatia Zagreb (2–0) and two away draws in Porto (2–2) and Zagreb (1–1). In the quarter-finals of the competition, they faced Juventus, with the first leg in Turin. Juventus took a 2–0 lead, but Olympiacos scored a crucial away goal in the 90th minute of the game with a penalty by Andreas Niniadis, a goal that caused the 10.000 Olympiacos fans who travelled to Italy to erupt into joyous ecstasy. In the second leg in Athens, Olympiacos totally dominated the match, and scored the goal that put them in the driving seat in the 12th minute of the game, when Siniša Gogić's powerful header found the back of the net after Grigoris Georgatos's superb cross. They also missed an outstanding chance to double the lead, when Giorgos Amanatidis' powerful header from short distance was saved by Michelangelo Rampulla. Olympiacos kept the ticket to the semi-finals in his hands until the 85th minute, when Juventus, who hadn't produced any chances in the game, equalised the score after a crucial mistake by Dimitris Eleftheropoulos, who had been the team's hero in all the previous games. Despite the big disappointment from the way the qualification to the semi-finals was lost, the presence of the team in the Champions League quarter-finals, their best-ever European campaign, combined with the domestic double, marked a very successful season for the club, arguably the best in their long history.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: The next four seasons (1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03) Olympiacos signed world-class players of great magnitude such as Giovanni, Zlatko Zahovič and the World champion Christian Karembeu, as well as other top-class players including Pär Zetterberg, Zé Elias, Nery Castillo, Christos Patsatzoglou, Lampros Choutos and Stelios Venetidis. These transfers strengthened even more the already strong roster from the previous successful years and under the guidance of coaches like Giannis Matzourakis, Takis Lemonis and Oleg Protasov (Bajević had left the club in 1999). Olympiacos managed to win seven consecutive Greek Championships (1997–2003), breaking their own past record of six (1954–1959). Olympiacos won their seventh consecutive title after a breathtaking closing of the 2002–03 Greek League: Olympiacos was hosting arch-rivals Panathinaikos in matchday 29, who led the table with a three-point difference. Olympiacos needed to win the derby by two clear goals in order to overthrow their rivals in the championship race. Olympiacos beat Panathinaikos 3–0 (Giovanni 3', Giannakopoulos 15' 48') in a dominant display in Rizoupoli and celebrated the all-time record of seven straight Championships, which was a dream and a historic objective for the club and especially for the fans.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In 2004, Olympiacos rehired Dušan Bajević and signed the 1999 World Footballer of the Year and 2002 World Champion Brazilian superstar Rivaldo and the 2004 European champion Antonis Nikopolidis. The end of the season found Olympiacos winning the domestic double and having a decent Champions League display, gathering ten points in a tough group alongside Liverpool, Monaco and Deportivo de La Coruña and losing the qualification to the knockout phase in the last four minutes of the last game against the eventual European champions Liverpool at Anfield. Bajević left the club and the Norwegian coach Trond Sollied was hired in his place. They club signed Cypriot striker Michalis Konstantinou from Panathinaikos, 2004 European champion defender Michalis Kapsis from Bordeaux and the versatile box-to-box Ivorian midfielder Yaya Touré. During the 2005–06 season, Olympiacos won all the four derbies against their major rivals, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens, something only achieved once more, during the season 1972–73. The combined goal total in these four matches was 11–3 in favour of Olympiacos. They also beat AEK Athens 3–0 in the Greek Cup Final to clinch their second-straight double and managed to win an all-time record of 16 consecutive matches in the championship, breaking their own past record.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: After a record-breaking season, in the 2006 summer transfers, Trond Sollied signed Michał Żewłakow, Júlio César and Tomislav Butina among others. However, he did not live up to expectations in the 2006–07 Champions League and was replaced by Takis Lemonis at the end of 2006. Lemonis transferred the young star Vasilis Torosidis, and led Olympiacos in their third consecutive championship, but failed to win the Greek Cup after a surprise elimination by PAS Giannina.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In the summer of 2007, Olympiacos made very expensive transfers like Luciano Galletti, Darko Kovačević, Raúl Bravo, Lomana LuaLua, Cristian Ledesma and Leonel Núñez. They also brought back the solid Greek defender Paraskevas Antzas and signed the very talented young striker Kostas Mitroglou from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Furthermore, they accomplished the most lucrative sale in Greek football history after selling striker-midfielder Nery Castillo to Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk for the record sum of €20 million ($27.5M). Because of a clause in Castillo's contract, Olympiacos received €15 million, with the remaining €5 million given directly to the player. Furthermore, a controversy started between the team and Rivaldo, as Olympiacos did not wish to renew the player's contract despite the fact that Rivaldo had featured heavily in the club's successful campaigns, both in Greece and abroad. Former player Ilija Ivić was selected for the role of the team's football director. The team did not start well in the Greek championship, but it achieved a stunning performance in the Champions League, qualifying for the last 16 as they finished second in their group, level on 11 points with group winners Real Madrid, eliminating Werder Bremen and Lazio. However, the team's less than satisfactory performance in the league, coupled with the defeat from Chelsea in Stamford Bridge for the knockout phase, prompted club owner Sokratis Kokkalis to sack coach Takis Lemonis. The team's assistant manager, José Segura, coached the team for the remainder of the season. Olympiacos managed to win both the Greek Championship and Cup, but Segura left the club at the end of the season.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In the summer of 2008, Olympiacos made prominent transfers, signing Dudu Cearense, Avraam Papadopoulos, Diogo Luis Santo and Matt Derbyshire and appointed Ernesto Valverde as the new coach with a three-year contract worth approximately €6 million. The 2008–09 season started badly for Olympiacos, with the team losing their first few official matches, against Anorthosis Famagusta for the Champions League third qualifying round, and was eliminated from the tournament, which resulted to a seat in the UEFA Cup first round, where Olympiacos beat Nordsjælland to qualify for the group stage. The team also started well in the 2008–09 Super League Greece, winning every match at home, but facing difficulties away. They ended up winning the Greek Championship and the Greek Cup, celebrating the 14th double in Olympiacos history. After an impressive UEFA Cup run at home, with some spectacular wins against Benfica (5–1) and Hertha BSC (4–0), the team managed to get through to the round of 32, facing French side Saint-Étienne.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In the summer of 2009, Olympiacos signed major players, such as Olof Mellberg from Juventus for €2.5 million, midfielder Jaouad Zairi from Asteras Tripolis and Enzo Maresca from Sevilla. Many other players returned from loan spells, such as former Real Madrid defender Raúl Bravo, Georgios Katsikogiannis and midfielder Cristian Ledesma. Olympiacos appointed former Brazil legend Zico as their coach and started the 2009–10 season with great success, as they qualified for the Champions League final 16, finishing second in Group H only 3 points behind Arsenal, despite the absence of numerous first-team players due to injuries. They faced Bordeaux in the final 16 and lost the first match at home (0–1). In the second match, despite Bordeaux's early lead, Olympiacos leveled the match and missed some great chances to score a second goal, before eventually losing in the dying moments of the match (1–2). Domestically, Olympiacos secured a 2–0 derby win over arch-rivals Panathinaikos, with striker Kostas Mitroglou scoring twice. However, this was only a highlight in an otherwise below-par season for the club, as they not only lost the championship to Panathinaikos, but were also defeated in four out of their six playoff games, eventually finishing last, in the 5th position of the league table; this result marked the team's worst ranking since being placed 8th in 1988, and meant that the club would start their Europa League campaign from the second qualifying round the following season.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In 2010, Evangelos Marinakis, a successful shipping magnate, bought the team from Sokratis Kokkalis. During the first year of his presidency, Marinakis appointed fans' favourite Ernesto Valverde as coach (who came back for a second tenure in the club) and signed players with international pedigree, such as Albert Riera, Ariel Ibagaza, Kevin Mirallas, Marko Pantelić and François Modesto. As a result, Olympiacos won the Greek title for the 38th time in its history, 13 points ahead of second-placed Panathinaikos.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In the 2011–12 season, the team's roster was strengthened with players like Jean Makoun, Pablo Orbaiz, Iván Marcano, Rafik Djebbour and Djamel Abdoun and with Ernesto Valverde as their coach for the second straight season, Olympiacos had a very successful campaign both domestically and internationally. They won both the Greek league and the Greek Cup to complete the 15th domestic double in the club's history. In European competitions, Olympiacos had a solid Champions League campaign, having been drawn in Group F against Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Marseille. Despite delivering nine points in the group, with two emphatic wins against Arsenal and Dortmund at home (both with a 3–1 scoreline) and an away win against Marseille (0–1), they lost the qualification to the knock-out stage after Marseille's controversial 2–3 away win in Dortmund in game 6, with Marseille scoring two goals in the last five minutes of the match to come back from an early 2–0 Dortmund lead. Olympiacos continued in Europa League where he was drawn to play against Rubin Kazan. The Greek champions eliminated the Russian side with two wins (1–0 in both Kazan and Piraeus) and were up to play against Metalist Kharkiv in the Last 16 of the competition. They won the first match in Ukraine with David Fuster scoring the winning goal (0–1) but in the second match, despite their early lead and the plethora of missed chances (they hit the woodwork twice in the first half), they conceded two goals in the last nine minutes of the game and lost the qualification to the quarter-finals.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: At the end of the season, Ernesto Valverde announced his decision to return to Spain, thus ending his second successful spell at Olympiacos. The club announced the Portuguese Leonardo Jardim as their new head coach. The team performed very well in the Greek league and had a decent Champions league campaign, gathering nine points in Group B, after wins against Arsenal (2–1 at home) and Montpellier (1–2 in Montpellier, 3–1 in Piraeus). Despite the relatively good results, Leonardo Jardim was replaced by the Spanish coach and Real Madrid legend Míchel. The team went on to celebrate the 16th double in their history by winning their 40th Greek Championship, 15 points ahead the second PAOK, as well as their 26th Greek Cup after a 3–1 win against Asteras Tripolis in the final. The 40th Greek championship title gave Olympiacos the fourth star on top of the club's emblem, which was a major goal for the club and especially for the fans.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: The expectations for the 2013–14 season were very high, especially after the signing of players such as striker Javier Saviola, Joel Campbell, Roberto, Alejandro Domínguez, Vladimír Weiss, Delvin N'Dinga and Leandro Salino. Olympiacos had a great season both domestically and internationally. In Europe, they were drawn in Group C of the 2013–14 Champions League alongside Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica and Anderlecht. After a strong performance in the group, Olympiacos finished second with ten points and qualified for the Last 16 at the expense of Benfica (1–0 win in Piraeus, 1–1 draw in Lisbon) and Anderlecht (0–3 win in Brussels, 3–1 win in Piraeus). In the round of 16, they were drawn to play against Manchester United. Olympiacos, after a solid display, won the first leg with a comfortable 2–0 (Alejandro Domínguez 38', Campbell 55'), in a match where they dominated totally and missed chances to even extend the lead. Despite the two-goal advantage which put them within touching distance of a quarter-final place for the first time since 1999, Olympiacos lost 3–0 in the second leg in Old Trafford, having missed an outstanding double chance to equalize the score in the 40th minute. The Greek champions pushed on in the last ten minutes to find the crucial away goal, but to no avail. Although the ticket to the quarter-finals slipped out of the club's hands, Olympiacos' overall performance and the fact that the club managed to qualify to the knockout phase (round of 16) of the Champions League for the third time in six years (2007–08, 2009–10, 2013–14), marked a very successful European campaign. Domestically, Olympiacos won their history's 41st Greek Championship very convincingly, 17 points ahead of second-placed PAOK.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In the 2014–15 season, Olympiacos entered the 2014–15 Champions League group stage with hopes to repeat the previous year's performance; they were drawn alongside Atlético Madrid, Juventus and Malmö FF. They had a solid performance in the group, managing to beat last year's runners-up Atlético 3–2 and eventual finalists Juventus 1–0 at the Karaiskakis Stadium, but they lost the qualification for the knockout stage in the last game: Olympiacos beat Malmö FF 4–2 at home but at the same time Juventus were drawing against Atlético in Italy, securing the crucial one point they needed to qualify. Had Olympiacos and Juventus finished with the same points, Olympiacos would have qualified due to best aggregate score (away goals) of their two games (1–0 Olympiacos win in Piraeus, 3–2 Juventus win in Turin). The third place in the group gave Olympiacos the ticket for the next round of UEFA Europa League, where they were eliminated by the eventual runners-up Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Domestically, the team had a very successful season, winning the 17th double in their history. They won their 42nd Greek Championship with 12 points difference from the second Panathinaikos and their 27th Greek Cup, beating Skoda Xanthi 3–1 in the final.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: The 2015–16 season started with a new manager replacement, as Marco Silva took over the management over his fellow countryman Vitor Pereira, while the squad was strengthened with the world-class presence of Esteban Cambiasso and a number of other players with European competition experience, including Kostas Fortounis, Felipe Pardo, Sebá, Manuel Da Costa, Brown Ideye and Alfreð Finnbogason. In a tough Champions League group that included Bayern München, Arsenal and Dinamo Zagreb, Olympiacos managed to record 9 points through a 3–2 away win over the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium, considered by many as one of the club's most important European victories, as well as two more wins against Dinamo (1–0 away and 2–1 at home). Last matchday saw the team face Arsenal at the Karaiskakis stadium, needing a 1–0 or 2–1 defeat to the Gunners, as the worst-case scenario, to advance to the knockout phase of the competition based on the away goals rule; the Red-Whites eventually lost 3–0 and continued their European journey in the UEFA Europa League, where they were eliminated by Anderlecht in the first knockout stage. Despite the above, Olympiacos broke the record for most European competition victories recorded by a Greek club, with 97 over the 96 of second-placed Panathinaikos as of the summer of 2016. Domestically, Olympiacos had perhaps their most successful season in years, as the team managed to secure their 43rd Greek Championship, and 6th consecutive, on the last day of February 2016, considered a national record for the earliest time, within a league campaign, when a title is clinched. The team managed to finish their league campaign with a 30-point difference over their arch rivals Panathinaikos, who came in second. The team's 85 points over the course of 30 matchdays, including a 28–1–1 overall result breakdown with 13 away wins and a perfect 15 victories out of 15 home games, are also considered a national record. However, despite the club's expectations of doing the double, they did not manage to win the Greek Cup as they finished runners-up to rivals AEK after a 2–1 loss in the final.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: The 2016–17 season proved to be rather tumultuous for the club, despite the signing of such key players as Óscar Cardozo, Tarik Elyounoussi, Alaixys Romao, Aly Cissokho and Marko Marin. The main issues that arose were the team's shock elimination from Israeli outfit Hapoel Be'er-Sheva, after a 1–0 aggregate defeat, in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, and the highly frequent change of managers, leading the club to having been coached by five individuals over the same season: Marco Silva, Victor Sánchez (responsible for the elimination from Hapoel), Paulo Bento, Vasilis Vouzas and Takis Lemonis. The team's UEFA Europa League journey was not as successful as other European campaigns, starting with a difficult 3–1 aggregate victory (1–1 before extra time) over Arouca in the playoffs, continuing with the team's qualification from the group stage but only as second-placed to APOEL (in a group that also included Young Boys and Astana), and ending with a heavy 5–2 aggregate defeat to Besiktas in the last 16 of the knockout stage (with goalkeeper Nicola Leali being highly responsible for 4 out of the 5 goals conceded), despite having advanced from the last 32 thanks to a 3–0 aggregate win over Osmanlispor. The frequent manager change negatively affected the team's stability and rhythm in domestic competitions as well. Firstly, Olympiacos failed to qualify for the Greek Cup final after being ousted by AEK, who advanced on the away goals rule after a 2–2 aggregate draw. Secondly, despite the fact that the Reds clinched their 44th Greek Championship, and 7th consecutive for the second time in Greek football history, they only managed to do so with a six-point difference (67 to 61) over PAOK.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: At the start of the 2017–18 season, the board decided to hire former Anderlecht manager Besnik Hasi to guide Olympiacos back to the UEFA Champions League group stage after a year's absence. Upon his arrival, Hasi strengthened the squad with players as Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, Guillaume Gillet, Mehdi Carcela, Jagoš Vuković, Björn Engels, Uroš Đurđević, Emmanuel Emenike and Panagiotis Tachtsidis.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Aggregate victories over Partizan (5–3) and Rijeka (3–1) in the two final qualifying rounds ensured the Red-Whites' presence in Group D of the competition, considered perhaps the toughest in Olympiacos' European history due to Barcelona, Juventus and Sporting CP being the opponents. A disheartening 2–3 defeat in the hands of Sporting at Thrylos' European season opener, combined with a 3–2 loss to AEK despite being 0–2 up, led to Hasi's dismissal from the club and his replacement by Takis Lemonis. The latter decided to focus on getting the squad back on track in domestic competitions, at a time when Olympiacos eventually got eliminated from Europe ahead of the Christmas break for the first time in 12 years. Following a home goalless draw against Barcelona and five defeats, the Red-Whites only managed to acquire one point during their entire Champions League group stage campaign, something considered a setback for the club after their 7 previous UEFA Champions League campaigns (2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16), in which they gathered at least 9 points in all of the groups (11 points in 2007–08, 10 points in 2009–10, 9 points in 2011–12, 9 points in 2012–13, 10 points in 2013–14, 9 points in 2014–15 and 9 points in 2015–16), with three qualifications to the knockout stage (Last 16) of the competition. Despite their one-point group stage exit, the worst European records by a Greek team in the history of European competitions both belong to AEK Athens: AEK's zero (0) point campaign in Group E of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League and AEK's zero (0) point campaign as well in the Group H of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, a lower-tier UEFA competition. Panathinaikos has also a one-point campaign in Group G of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League. Despite being in the Super League lead halfway through the season, Lemonis was dismissed on grounds of dressing room instability, and Óscar García was subsequently appointed with a vision of increasing attacking efficiency and discipline. Domestically, Olympiacos' Greek Cup run ended in the quarter-finals, marking their third consecutive year that they failed to lift the Cup. In the Super League the Red-Whites conceded the title to AEK three matchdays before completion, thus ending a run of seven consecutive championship wins and leading to the dismissal of García after two months at the club's helm, with Christos Kontis finishing the season as caretaker manager. Portuguese Pedro Martins was appointed head coach in order to lead Olympiacos at the following 2018–19 season.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: After four seasons and winning 3 League titles with the club, Martins got fired from Olympiacos, in August 2022, and Spanish prodigy Carlos Corberán was appointed as the new head coach.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: When, in 1925, the merger of the two clubs of Piraeus, Athlitikos Podosfairikos Syllogos Pireos and Omilos Filathlon Pireos, gave birth to the new football club, the latter was unanimously baptized "Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus", a name inspired from the Ancient Olympic Games, the morality, the vying, the splendor, the sportsmanship and the fair play ideal that were represented in Ancient Greece. Consequently, after 's proposal, the club adopted the laurel-crowned adolescent as their emblem, which symbolizes the Olympic Games winner, a crest that underwent minor changes through the ages. Red and white were chosen as the colours of the crest; red for the passion and victory and white for the virtue and purity.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: The typical kit of the team is that of a shirt with red and white vertical stripes, and red or white shorts and socks. The shirt has taken different forms during the history of the club, for example with thin or wider stripes. The second most common kit is the all-red one and next the all-white one. Olympiacos has used several other colours during its history as an away or third kit, with the most notable of them being the monotint black or silver one. The most common kits of Olympiacos during their history are these below (the year of each one is indicant):


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Since 1979, when football became professional in Greece, Olympiacos had a specific kit manufacturer and since 1982 a specific shirt sponsor as well. The following table shows in detail Olympiacos kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors by year:


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: The Karaiskakis Stadium, situated at Neo Faliro in Piraeus, is the current (since 2004) and traditional home of Olympiacos. With a capacity of 32,115, it is the largest football-only stadium and the second largest football stadium overall in Greece. It was built in 1895 as Neo Phaliron Velodrome, to host the cycling events for the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, and the pitch was covered with curm. Olympiacos started using it since its foundation in 1925. In 1964, the stadium was renovated and was given its current name after Georgios Karaiskakis, a military commander of the Greek War of Independence, with an athletics track around the pitch.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos left the Karaiskakis Stadium temporarily to play home matches at the newly built Athens Olympic Stadium in 1984. After a five-year use (1984–1989) of the biggest stadium in Greece, the team returned to their traditional home, where they played until 1997. It was then that Olympiacos got back to the Athens Olympic Stadium, where they stayed for another period of five years (1997–2002). In 2002, the Olympic Stadium was closed for renovation works due to the 2004 Summer Olympics and Olympiacos moved to the Georgios Kamaras Stadium in Rizoupoli, home of Apollon Smyrnis, for the following two seasons (2002–2004).


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Meanwhile, the Karaiskakis Stadium had fallen in disrepair and was not anymore suitable for football matches. In 2003, its use passed to Olympiacos in order to build a football-only ground, to be used for the football tournament of the 2004 Olympics. In return, Olympiacos got exclusive use of the stadium until 2052, covering all maintenance costs and also paying 15% of revenue to the Greek State. The old stadium was demolished in the spring of 2003 and the new one was completed on 30 June 2004 at a total cost of €60 million. Nowadays, the Karaiskakis Stadium is one of the most modern football grounds in Europe, also hosting the museum of Olympiacos, with several facilities around.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos' traditional fanbase comes from the city of Piraeus, where the club is based, as well as a good part of the rest of the Athens area. The club's popularity increased during the 1950s after winning consecutive titles and setting several records, and they became the best-supported football club in the country. Traditionally, Olympiacos used to represent the working class, but the club has always attracted fans from all the social classes and their fanbase is not associated with any specific social group anymore.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos is the most popular Greek club according to UEFA and numerous polls and researches. Several newspapers and magazines' polls rank Olympiacos as the most popular club in Greece with a percentage varying between 30 and 40% among the fans and more or less 30% in total population, which corresponds to around three and a half millions of supporters in Greece. The club is overwhelmingly popular in Piraeus, where almost half of its population supports Olympiacos, while their support in the whole of Athens reaches 30% of the fans, making them the 3rd most popular club in the Greek capital. They are also the most popular club in the working class with a percentage of 37% and in all age groups, as well as among both male and female fans; the vast majority of their fans comes from the centre-left and centre-right of the political spectrum. Outside of Athens, Olympiacos is the most popular club in Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly Additionally, they have the highest average all-time attendance in Greek football, having topped the attendance tables in most of the seasons in Super League Greece history.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In 2006, Olympiacos was placed in the top ten of the clubs with the most paying members in the world, holding ninth place, just ahead of Real Madrid. As of April 2006, the club had some 83,000 registered members. Olympiacos and Red Star Belgrade fans have developed a deep friendship, calling themselves the "Orthodox Brothers". Usually, Olympiacos supporters from several fan-clubs attend Red Star's matches, especially against their old rival Partizan, and vice versa. More recently, the Orthodox Brothers have started to include fans of Spartak Moscow in their club.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos fans are renowned for their passionate and fervent support to the team, with the atmosphere at home matches regarded as intimidating. When they played Newcastle United at home in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, the match was televised in the United Kingdom on Channel 5 and the guest commentator was former England international Tony Cottee, who was constantly mentioning how great the atmosphere was. During the game he was asked whether it was the most atmospheric stadium he had been to and replied: "I'd have to say it probably is. You hear a lot about various places and the atmosphere there but when you go you realise it's not all that... But this place is the real deal." The experienced Czech international winger Jaroslav Plašil paid further testament to the hostile atmosphere created by Olympiacos fans at home before his team Bordeaux visit the Karaiskakis Stadium, where he had played during his time with Monaco and stated, "It was one of the most intense atmospheres I've ever experienced in a stadium, so I expect it will be a bit like hell for us. Their supporters really can help their team." Former Paris Saint-Germain superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimović spoke of his admiration for Olympiacos supporters after an Olympiacos–Paris Saint-Germain match on 17 September 2013: "They played in front of their fantastic public. Olympiacos supporters were amazing. My friend Olof Mellberg played here and he talked to me about the supporters. I never saw it live, but now I understand. It's amazing. It's a big advantage for Olympiacos." PSG billionaire owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi stated, "I have big respect for the fans here. I've never seen fans like Olympiacos' fans in my life." PSG and Brazil international winger Lucas Moura in an interview with goal.com stated that Olympiacos home ground was the most intense and heated stadium he's ever played in.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: The history of the Karaiskakis Stadium and Olympiacos was marked by the worst tragedy that ever hit Greek sports, known as the Karaiskakis Stadium disaster. On 8 February 1981, Olympiacos hosted AEK Athens for a league match, which ended 6–0, in an unprecedented triumph for the host team of Piraeus. During the last minutes of the game, thousands of Olympiacos fans at the Gate 7 rushed to the exit, to get to the stadium's main entrance and celebrate with the players, but the doors were almost closed and the turnstiles still in place, making the exit almost impossible. As people continued to come down from the stands, unable to see what happened, the stairs of Gate 7 became a death trap; people were crushed, tens of fans were seriously injured and twenty-one young people died, most of them by suffocation.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: In memory of this event, every year on 8 February, there is a memorial service at the stadium in honour of the supporters that died in that incident. The service is attended by thousands of fans every year, who are rhythmically shouting the phrase, "Αδέρφια, ζείτε, εσείς μας οδηγείτε." (Adhélfia, zíte, esís mas odhiyíte, "Brothers, you live, you are the ones who guide us."). At the tribune part of the stadium where Gate 7 is now, some seats are colored black instead of red, shaping the number "7", whereas there is also a monument on the eastern side of the stadium, bearing the names of all 21 supporters killed on that day in the stadium.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Even though this incident affected almost solely the fanbase of Olympiacos, other teams occasionally pay their respects to the people killed as well, as they consider the incident to be a tragedy not only for one team, but for the whole country. In the past, even foreign teams, such as Liverpool and Red Star Belgrade, have honoured the incident's victims.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Traditionally, Olympiacos' main rival is Panathinaikos and their so-called "derby of the eternal enemies" is a classic local derby in Attica, the most famous fixture in Greek football and one of the most well known around the world. The two clubs are the most successful, having won together a total of 67 League titles (Olympiacos 47, Panathinaikos 20), and the most popular football clubs in Greece. The rivalry also encompasses social, cultural and regional differences; Olympiacos, coming from the famous port of Piraeus, used to be very popular in the working to middle classes, while Panathinaikos, of downtown Athens, was considered the representative of middle to higher social classes, although this differentiation has weakened nowadays and the two clubs have similar fanbases. Most recent notorious incidents include a fan's death in 2007, during a pre-arranged clash between hooligans on the occasion of a women's volleyball game between the two clubs, which caused major upset in Greece, and the abandonment of a derby in 2012 after riots at the Athens Olympic Stadium, which resulted in major fires in parts of it.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos also shares a traditional rivalry with AEK Athens, in one more local derby of the Greek capital with the other member of the so-called Big three, but also with PAOK, in the fiercest inter-city rivalry in Greece between the most popular clubs of the two largest Greek cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, a rivalry that erupted in the 1960s for the sake of footballer Giorgos Koudas. A popular rivalry used to be the Piraeus derby, between Olympiacos and Ethnikos Piraeus, the second most successful football club in the region, but the fixture has faded-out due to Ethnikos' constant presence in lower divisions in the last decades. It remains a derby in water polo where Olympiacos and Ethnikos compete in the top division.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos has a long presence in the UEFA competitions, debuting on 13 September 1959, against Milan for the 1959–60 European Cup, the first ever Greek club to compete in a European competition. Olympiacos was also the first Greek club to advance to the next round of any European competition, eliminating Zagłębie Sosnowiec for the 1963–64 European Cup Winners' Cup. Their best European campaigns are their presence in the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, where they lost a semi-final spot in the last minutes by Juventus, and in the 1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals, losing to Atlético Madrid.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos is by far the highest ranked Greek club in the UEFA rankings, occupying the 37th place in Europe in the five-year ranking and the 31st in the ten-year ranking as of 2019. They are also the Greek team with the most wins in all European competitions, leading also the table with the most home and away wins, and the Greek team with the most games played in European level, celebrating their 200th match on 23 February 2010, against Bordeaux in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League first knockout round. Olympiacos also holds the all-time record attendance for a Greek club of 75,263 in a 1982–83 European Cup match against Hamburg at the Athens Olympic Stadium.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: Olympiacos has eliminated (in either knockout matches or group stages) clubs like Milan, Arsenal, Ajax, Benfica, Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, Celtic, Werder Bremen, Anderlecht, Monaco, Deportivo La Coruña, Hertha BSC, Cagliari, PSV Eindhoven, GNK Dinamo Zagreb and Standard Liège among others. They have spent most of their European history in the UEFA Champions League, where they are widely known for being a strong home side, having run some long-standing sequences, such as the 15 straight UEFA Champions League unbeaten home matches since their debut in the tournament under its new format, when Manchester United stopped their record in their fifth consecutive participation, and their 15 wins in 19 UEFA Champions League home matches between 2009–10 and 2014–15. They have a vast record of home wins over traditional European powerhouses and UEFA Champions League winners like Real Madrid, Milan, Liverpool, Manchester United, Ajax, Juventus, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Benfica, Porto, Celtic, Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique Marseille, Atlético Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Leverkusen, Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Red Star Belgrade, PSV Eindhoven among many others. Olympiacos has also won the Balkans Cup in 1963, at a time when the competition was considered the second most important in the region after the European Cup, becoming the first ever Greek club to win an international competition.


title: Olympiacos F.C.

text: From 2007 to 2016 Olympiacos participated seven times in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage, and gathered at least 9 points in every one of those seven groups, qualifying three times for the knockout stage (Last 16) of the competition (2007–08, 2009–10, 2013–14).


title: Mayflower

text: Mayflower was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, "Mayflower", with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reached America, dropping anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on , 1620.


title: Mayflower

text: Differing from their contemporaries, the Puritans (who sought to reform and purify the Church of England), the Pilgrims chose to separate themselves from the Church of England because they believed it was beyond redemption due to its Roman Catholic past and the church's resistance to reform, which forced them to pray in private. Starting in 1608, a group of English families left England for the Netherlands, where they could worship freely. By 1620, the community determined to cross the Atlantic for America, which they considered a "new Promised Land", where they would establish Plymouth Colony.


title: Mayflower

text: The Pilgrims had originally hoped to reach America by early October using two ships, but delays and complications meant they could use only one, "Mayflower". Arriving in November, they had to survive unprepared through a harsh winter. As a result, only half of the original Pilgrims survived the first winter at Plymouth. If not for the help of local indigenous peoples to teach them food gathering and other survival skills, all of the colonists might have perished. The following year, those 53 who survived, celebrated the colony's first fall harvest along with 90 Wampanoag Native American people, an occasion declared in centuries later the first American Thanksgiving. Before disembarking the "Mayflower", the Pilgrims wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that established a rudimentary government, in which each member would contribute to the safety and welfare of the planned settlement. As one of the earliest colonial vessels, the ship has become a cultural icon in the history of the United States.


title: Mayflower

text: A congregation of approximately 400 English Protestants living in exile in Leiden, Holland, were dissatisfied with the failure of the Church of England to reform what they felt were many excesses and abuses. But rather than work for change in England (as other Puritans did), they chose to live as Separatists in religiously tolerant Holland in 1608. As separatists, they were considered illegal radicals by their home country of England.


title: Mayflower

text: The government of Leiden was recognized for offering financial aid to reformed churches, whether English, French or German, which made it a sought-after destination for Protestant intellectuals. Many of the separatists were illegal members of a church in Nottinghamshire, England, secretly practicing their Puritan form of Protestantism. When they learned that the authorities were aware of their congregation, church members fled in the night with little more than the clothes they were wearing, and clandestinely made it to Holland.


title: Mayflower

text: Life in Holland became increasingly difficult for the congregation. They were forced into menial and backbreaking jobs, such as cleaning wool, which led to a variety of health afflictions. In addition, a number of the country's leading theologians began engaging in open debates which led to civil unrest, instilling the fear that Spain might again place Holland's population under siege, as it had done years earlier. England's James I subsequently formed an alliance with Holland against Spain, with a condition outlawing independent English church congregations in Holland. In aggregate, these became the separatists' motivating factors to sail for the New World, which would have the added benefit of being beyond the reach of King James and his bishops.


title: Mayflower

text: Their desire to travel to America was considered audacious and risky, as previous attempts to settle in North America had failed. Jamestown, founded in 1607, saw most of its settlers die within the first year. 440 of the 500 new arrivals died of starvation during the first six months of winter. The Puritan separatists also learned of the constant threat of attacks by indigenous peoples. But despite all the arguments against traveling to this new land, their conviction that God wanted them to go held sway: "We verily believe and trust the Lord is with us," they wrote, "and that he will graciously prosper our indeavours, according to the simplicity of our hearts therein."


title: Mayflower

text: After deciding to leave Holland, they planned to cross the Atlantic using two purchased ships. A small ship with the name "Speedwell" would first carry them from Leiden to England. The larger "Mayflower" would then be used to transport most of the passengers and supplies the rest of the way.


title: Mayflower

text: Not all of the Separatists were able to depart, as many did not have enough time to settle their affairs and their budgets were too meager to buy the necessary travel supplies. The congregation therefore decided that the younger and stronger members should go first, with others possibly following in the future. Although the congregation had been led by John Robinson, who first proposed the idea of emigrating to America, he chose to remain in Leiden to care for those who could not make the voyage.


title: Mayflower

text: In explaining to his congregation why they should emigrate, Robinson used the analogy of the ancient Israelites leaving Babylon to escape bondage by returning to Jerusalem, where they would build their temple. "The Pilgrims and Puritans actually referred to themselves as God's New Israel," writes Peter Marshall. It was therefore considered the destiny of the Pilgrims and Puritans to similarly build a "spiritual Jerusalem" in America.


title: Mayflower

text: When it was time to leave, the ship's senior leader, Edward Winslow, described the scene of families being separated at the departure: "A flood of tears was poured out. Those not sailing accompanied us to the ship, but were not able to speak to one another for the abundance of sorrow before parting." William Bradford, another leader who would be the second governor of the Plymouth Colony, similarly described the departure:


title: Mayflower

text: The trip to the south coast of England took three days, where the ship took anchor at Southampton on , 1620. From there, the Pilgrims first laid eyes on their larger ship, "Mayflower", as it was being loaded with provisions.


title: Mayflower

text: Carrying about 65 passengers, "Mayflower" left London in mid-July 1620. The ship then proceeded down the Thames to the south coast of England, where it anchored at Southampton, Hampshire. There she waited for the planned rendezvous on July 22 with the "Speedwell", coming from Holland with members of the Leiden congregation. Although both ships planned to depart for America by the end of July, a leak was discovered on "Speedwell", which had to be repaired.


title: Mayflower

text: The ships set sail for America around August 5, but "Speedwell" sprang another leak shortly after, which necessitated the ships' return to Dartmouth for repairs. They made a new start after the repairs, but more than 200 miles (320 km) beyond Land's End at the southwestern tip of England, "Speedwell" sprang a third leak. It was now early September, and they had no choice but to abandon "Speedwell" and make a determination on her passengers. This was a dire event, as vital funds had been wasted on the ship, which were considered very important to the future success of their settlement in America. Both ships returned to Plymouth, England, where 20 "Speedwell" passengers joined the now overcrowded "Mayflower", while the others returned to Holland.


title: Mayflower

text: They waited for seven more days until the wind picked up. William Bradford was especially worried: "We lie here waiting for as fair a wind as can blow... Our victuals will be half eaten up, I think, before we go from the coast of England; and, if our voyage last long, we shall not have a month's victuals when we come in the country." According to Bradford, "Speedwell" was refitted and seaworthy, having "made many voyages... to the great profit of her owners." He suggested that "Speedwell"s master may have used "cunning and deceit" to abort the voyage by causing the leaks, fearing starvation and death in America.


title: Mayflower

text: In early September, western gales turned the North Atlantic into a dangerous place to sail. "Mayflower"s provisions were already quite low when departing Southampton, and they became lower still by delays of more than a month. The passengers had been on board the ship this entire time, feeling worn out and in no condition for a very taxing, lengthy Atlantic journey cooped up in the cramped spaces of a small ship.


title: Mayflower

text: When "Mayflower" sailed from Plymouth alone on , 1620, with what Bradford called "a prosperous wind", she carried 102 passengers plus a crew of 25 to 30 officers and men, bringing the total aboard to approximately 130. At about 180 tons, she was considered a smaller cargo ship, having traveled mainly between England and Bordeaux with clothing and wine, not an ocean ship. Nor was she in good shape, as she was sold for scrap four years after her Atlantic voyage. She was a high-built craft forward and aft, measuring approximately 100 feet (30 m) in length and about 25 feet (7.6 m) at her widest point.


title: Mayflower

text: The living quarters for the 102 passengers were cramped, with the living area about 80 feet by 20 feet (1,600 sq. feet) and the ceiling about five feet high. With couples and children packed closely together for a trip lasting two months, a great deal of trust and confidence was required among everyone aboard.


title: Mayflower

text: John Carver, one of the leaders on the ship, often inspired the Pilgrims with a "sense of earthly grandeur and divine purpose". He was later called the "Moses of the Pilgrims", notes historian Jon Meacham. The Pilgrims "believed they had a covenant like the Jewish people of old", writes author Rebecca Fraser. "America was the new Promised Land." In a similar vein, early American writer James Russell Lowell stated, "Next to the fugitives whom Moses led out of Egypt, the little shipload of outcasts who landed at Plymouth are destined to influence the future of the world."


title: Mayflower

text: The first half of the voyage proceeded over calm seas and under pleasant skies. Then the weather changed, with continuous northeasterly storms hurling themselves against the ship, and huge waves constantly crashing against the topside deck. In the midst of one storm, the servant of physician Samuel Fuller died and was buried at sea. A baby was also born, christened Oceanus Hopkins. During another storm, so fierce that the sails could not be used, the ship was forced to drift without hoisting its sails for days, or else risk losing her masts. The storm washed a male passenger, John Howland, overboard. He had sunk about until a crew member threw out a rope, which Howland managed to grab, and he was safely pulled back on board.


title: Mayflower

text: The passengers were forced to crouch in semi-darkness below deck. With waves tossing the boat in different directions, men held onto their wives, who themselves held onto their children. Water was soaking everyone and everything above and below deck.


title: Mayflower

text: In mid-ocean, the ship came close to being totally disabled and may have had to return to England or risk sinking. A storm had so badly damaged its main beam that even the sailors despaired. By a stroke of luck, one of the colonists had a metal jackscrew that he had purchased in Holland to help in the construction of the new settler homes. They used it to secure the beam, which kept it from cracking further, thus maintaining the seaworthiness of the vessel. All told, despite the crowding, unsanitary conditions and sea sicknesses, there was only one fatality during the voyage.


title: Mayflower

text: The ship's cargo included many stores that supplied the Pilgrims with the essentials needed for their journey and future lives. It is assumed that they carried tools, food and weapons, as well as some live animals, including dogs, sheep, goats, and poultry. The ship also held two small boats powered by oars or sails. There were also artillery pieces aboard, which they might need to defend themselves against enemy European forces or indigenous tribes.


title: Mayflower

text: On , they sighted present-day Cape Cod. They spent several days trying to sail south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, where they had obtained permission to settle from the Company of Merchant Adventurers. But the strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, known today as Provincetown Harbor, and they set anchor on .


title: Mayflower

text: It was before setting anchor that the male Pilgrims and non-Pilgrim passengers (whom members of the congregation referred to as "Strangers") drew up and signed the Mayflower Compact. Among the resolutions in the Compact were those establishing legal order and meant to quell increasing strife within the ranks. Myles Standish was selected to make sure the rules were obeyed, as there was a consensus that discipline would need to be enforced to ensure the survival of the planned colony. Once they agreed to settle and build a self-governing community, they came ashore.


title: Mayflower

text: The moment the Pilgrims stepped ashore was described by William Bradford, the second Governor of the Plymouth Colony:


title: Mayflower

text: On Monday, , an exploring expedition was launched under the direction of Capt. Christopher Jones to search for a suitable settlement site. There were 34 persons in the open small boat: 24 passengers and 10 sailors. They were ill-prepared for the bitter winter weather which they encountered on their reconnoiter, as the Pilgrims were not accustomed to winter weather which was much colder than back home. They were forced to spend the night ashore due to the bad weather they encountered, ill-clad in below-freezing temperatures with wet shoes and stockings that froze overnight. Bradford wrote, "Some of our people that are dead took the original of their death here" on the expedition.


title: Mayflower

text: Plymouth faced many difficulties during its first winter, the most notable being the risk of starvation and the lack of suitable shelter. The Pilgrims had no way of knowing that the ground would be frozen by the middle of November, making it impossible to do any planting. Nor were they prepared for the snow storms that would make the countryside impassable without snowshoes. And in their haste to leave, they did not think to bring any fishing rods.


title: Mayflower

text: From the beginning, the assistance they received from the local Native Americans was vital. One colonist's journal reported, "We dug and found some more corn, two or three baskets full, and a bag of beans. ... In all we had about ten bushels, which will be enough for seed. It is with God's help that we found this corn, for how else could we have done it, without meeting some Indians who might trouble us." Governor Bradford held out hope:


title: Mayflower

text: During the winter, the passengers remained on board "Mayflower", suffering an outbreak of a contagious disease described as a mixture of scurvy, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. After it was over, only 53 passengers remained—just over half; half of the crew died as well. In the spring, they built huts ashore, and the passengers disembarked from "Mayflower" on .


title: Mayflower

text: Jones had originally planned to return to England as soon as the Pilgrims found a settlement site. But his crew members began to be ravaged by the same diseases that were felling the Pilgrims, and he realized that he had to remain in Plymouth Harbor "till he saw his men began to recover." "Mayflower" lay in New Plymouth harbor through the winter of 1620–21, then set sail for England on , 1621. As with the Pilgrims, her sailors had been decimated by disease. Jones had lost his boatswain, his gunner, three quartermasters, the cook, and more than a dozen sailors. "Mayflower" made excellent time on her voyage back to England. The westerly winds that had buffeted her on the initial voyage pushed her along on the return trip home. She arrived in London on , 1621, less than half the time that it had taken her to sail to America."


title: Mayflower

text: Some families traveled together, while some men came alone, leaving families in England and Leiden. More than a third of the passengers were Separatists who sought to break away from the established Church of England and create a society that incorporated their own religious ideals. Other passengers were hired hands, servants, or farmers recruited by London merchants, all originally destined for the Colony of Virginia.


title: Mayflower

text: The passengers mostly slept and lived in the low-ceilinged great cabins and on the main deck, which was 75 by 20 feet large (23 m × 6 m) at most. The cabins were thin-walled and extremely cramped, and the total area was 25 ft by 15 ft (7.6 m × 4.5 m) at its largest. Below decks, any person over five feet (150 cm) tall would be unable to stand up straight. The maximum possible space for each person would have been slightly less than the size of a modern-day single bed.


title: Mayflower

text: Passengers passed the time by reading by candlelight or playing cards and games. They consumed large amounts of alcohol such as beer with meals. This was known to be safer than water, which often came from polluted sources and caused disease. No cattle or beasts of draft or burden were brought on the journey, but there were pigs, goats, and poultry.


title: Mayflower

text: There were 26 vessels bearing the name "Mayflower" in the Port Books of England during the reign of James I (1603–1625); it is not known why the name was so popular. The identity of Captain Jones's "Mayflower" is based on records from her home port, her tonnage (est. 180–200 tons), and the master's name in 1620 in order to avoid confusion with the many other "Mayflower" ships. It is not known when and where "Mayflower" was built, although late records designate her as "of London". She was designated in the Port Books of 1609–11 as "of Harwich" in the county of Essex, coincidentally the birthplace of "Mayflower" master Christopher Jones about 1570.


title: Mayflower

text: Records dating from August 1609 note Christopher Jones as master and part owner of "Mayflower" when his ship was chartered for a voyage from London to Trondheim in Norway and back to London. The ship lost an anchor on her return due to bad weather, and she made short delivery of her cargo of herring. Litigation resulted, and this was still proceeding in 1612. According to records, the ship was twice on the Thames at London in 1613, once in July and again in October and November, and in 1616 she was on the Thames carrying a cargo of wine, which suggests that the ship had recently been on a voyage to France, Spain, Portugal, the Canaries, or some other wine-producing land. Jones sailed "Mayflower" cross-Channel, taking English woolens to France and bringing French wine back to London. He also transported hats, hemp, Spanish salt, hops, and vinegar to Norway, and he may have taken "Mayflower" whaling in the North Atlantic in the Greenland area or sailed to Mediterranean ports.


title: Mayflower

text: After 1616, there is no further record which specifically relates to Jones's "Mayflower" until 1624. This is unusual for a ship trading to London, as it would not usually disappear from the records for such a long time. No Admiralty court document can be found relating to the pilgrim fathers' voyage of 1620, although this might be due to the unusual way in which the transfer of the pilgrims was arranged from Leyden to New England, or some of the records of the period might have been lost.


title: Mayflower

text: Jones was one of the owners of the ship by 1620, along with Christopher Nichols, Robert Child, and Thomas Short. It was from Child and Jones that Thomas Weston chartered her in the summer of 1620 to undertake the Pilgrim voyage. Weston had a significant role in "Mayflower" voyage due to his membership in the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, and he eventually traveled to the Plymouth Colony himself.


title: Mayflower

text: Three of "Mayflower"s owners applied to the Admiralty court for an appraisal of the ship on May 4, 1624, two years after Captain Jones' death in 1622; one of these applicants was Jones' widow Mrs. Josian (Joan) Jones. This appraisal probably was made to determine the valuation of the ship for the purpose of settling the estate of its late master. The appraisal was made by four mariners and shipwrights of Rotherhithe, home and burial place of Captain Jones, where "Mayflower" was apparently then lying in the Thames at London. The appraisement is extant and provides information on ship's gear on board at that time, as well as equipment such as muskets and other arms. The ship may have been laid up since Jones' death and allowed to get out of repair, as that is what the appraisal indicates. The vessel was valued at one hundred and twenty-eight pounds, eight shillings, and fourpence.


title: Mayflower

text: What finally became of "Mayflower" is an unsettled issue. Charles Edward Banks, an English historian of the Pilgrim ship, claims that the ship was finally broken up, with her timbers used in the construction of a barn at Jordans village in Buckinghamshire. Tradition claims that this barn still exists as the Mayflower Barn, located within the grounds of Old Jordan in South Buckinghamshire. In 1624, Thomas Russell supposedly added to part of a farmhouse already there with timbers from a ship, believed to be from the Pilgrim ship "Mayflower", bought from a shipbreaker's yard in Rotherhithe. The well-preserved structure was a tourist attraction, receiving visitors each year from all over the world and particularly from America, but it is now privately owned and not open to the public.


title: Mayflower

text: Another ship called "Mayflower" made a voyage from London to Plymouth Colony in 1629 carrying 35 passengers, many from the Pilgrim congregation in Leiden that organized the first voyage. This was not the same ship that made the original voyage with the first settlers. The 1629 voyage began in May and reached Plymouth in August; this ship also made the crossing from England to America in 1630 (as part of the Winthrop Fleet), 1633, 1634, and 1639. It attempted the trip again in 1641, departing London in October of that year under master John Cole, with 140 passengers bound for Virginia. It never arrived. On October 18, 1642, a deposition was made in England regarding the loss.


title: Mayflower

text: "Mayflower" was square-rigged with a beakhead bow and high, castle-like structures fore and aft that protected the crew and the main deck from the elements: designs that were typical of English merchant ships of the early 17th century. Her stern carried a 30-foot high, square aft-castle which made the ship difficult to sail close to the wind and not well suited against the North Atlantic's prevailing westerlies, especially in the fall and winter of 1620; the voyage from England to America took more than two months as a result. "Mayflower"s return trip to London in April–May 1621 took less than half that time, with the same strong winds now blowing in the direction of the voyage.


title: Mayflower

text: "Mayflower"s exact dimensions are not known, but she probably measured about 100 feet (30 m) from the beak of her prow to the tip of her stern superstructure, about 25 feet (7.6 m) at her widest point, and the bottom of her keel about 12 feet (3.6 m) below the waterline. William Bradford estimated that she had a cargo capacity of 180 tons, and surviving records indicate that she could carry 180 casks holding hundreds of gallons each. The general layout of the ship was as follows:


title: Mayflower

text: Aft on the main deck in the stern was the cabin for Master Christopher Jones, measuring about ten by seven feet (3 m × 2.1 m). Forward of that was the steerage room, which probably housed berths for the ship's officers and contained the ship's compass and whipstaff (tiller extension) for sailing control. Forward of the steerage room was the capstan, a vertical axle used to pull in ropes or cables. Far forward on the main deck, just aft of the bow, was the forecastle space where the ship's cook prepared meals for the crew; it may also have been where the sailors slept.


title: Mayflower

text: The poop deck was located on the ship's highest level above the stern on the aft castle and above Master Jones' cabin. On this deck stood the poop house, which was ordinarily a chart room or a cabin for the master's mates on most merchant ships, but it might have been used by the passengers on "Mayflower", either for sleeping or cargo.


title: Mayflower

text: The gun deck was where the passengers resided during the voyage, in a space measuring about with a ceiling. It was a dangerous place if there was conflict, as it had gun ports from which cannon would be run out to fire on the enemy. The gun room was in the stern area of the deck, to which passengers had no access because it was the storage space for gunpowder and ammunition. The gun room might also house a pair of stern chasers, small cannon used to fire from the ship's stern. Forward on the gun deck in the bow area was a windlass, similar in function to the steerage capstan, which was used to raise and lower the ship's main anchor. There were no stairs for the passengers on the gun deck to go up through the gratings to the main deck, which they could reach only by climbing a wooden or rope ladder.


title: Mayflower

text: Below the gun deck was the cargo hold where the passengers kept most of their food stores and other supplies, including most of their clothing and bedding. It stored the passengers' personal weapons and military equipment, such as armor, muskets, gunpowder and shot, swords, and bandoliers. It also stored all the tools that the Pilgrims would need, as well as all the equipment and utensils needed to prepare meals in the New World. Some Pilgrims loaded trade goods on board, including Isaac Allerton, William Mullins, and possibly others; these also most likely were stored in the cargo hold. There was no privy on "Mayflower"; passengers and crew had to fend for themselves in that regard. Gun deck passengers most likely used a bucket as a chamber pot, fixed to the deck or bulkhead to keep it from being jostled at sea.


title: Mayflower

text: "Mayflower" was heavily armed; her largest gun was a minion cannon which was brass, weighed about 1,200 pounds (545 kg), and could shoot a 3.5 pound (1.6 kg) cannonball almost a mile (1,600 m). She also had a saker cannon of about 800 pounds (360 kg), and two base cannons that weighed about 200 pounds (90 kg) and shot a 3 to 5 ounce ball (85–140 g). She carried at least ten pieces of ordnance on the port and starboard sides of her gun deck: seven cannons for long-range purposes, and three smaller guns often fired from the stern at close quarters that were filled with musket balls. Ship's Master Jones unloaded four of the pieces to help fortify Plymouth Colony.


title: Mayflower

text: According to author Charles Banks, the officers and crew of "Mayflower" consisted of a captain, four mates, four quartermasters, surgeon, carpenter, cooper, cooks, boatswains, gunners, and about 36 men before the mast, making a total of about 50. The entire crew stayed with "Mayflower" in Plymouth through the winter of 1620–1621, and about half of them died during that time. The remaining crewmen returned to England on "Mayflower", which sailed for London on , 1621.


title: Mayflower

text: The Pilgrim ship "Mayflower" has a famous place in American history as a symbol of early European colonization of the future United States. As described by the European History channel:


title: Mayflower

text: The main record for the voyage of "Mayflower" and the disposition of the Plymouth Colony comes from the letters and journal of William Bradford, who was a guiding force and later the governor of the colony. His detailed record of the journey is one of the primary sources used by historians, and the most complete history of Plymouth Colony that was written by a "Mayflower" passenger.


title: Mayflower

text: The American national holiday, Thanksgiving, originated from the first Thanksgiving feast held by the Pilgrims in 1621, a prayer event and dinner to mark the first harvest of the "Mayflower" settlers.


title: Mayflower

text: The 300th Anniversary of "Mayflower"s Landing was commemorated in 1920 and early 1921 by celebrations throughout the United States and by countries in Europe. Delegations from England, Holland and Canada met in New York. The mayor of New York, John Francis Hylan, in his speech, said that the principles of the Pilgrim's Mayflower Compact were precursors to the United States Declaration of Independence. While American historian George Bancroft called it "the birth of constitutional liberty." Governor Calvin Coolidge similarly credited the forming of the Compact as an event of the greatest importance in American history:


title: Mayflower

text: With twenty "Mayflower" historical societies throughout the country, along with an unknown number of descendants, the celebration was expected to last during much of 1920. As a result of World War I ending a few years earlier, the original plan to hold a world's fair in its honor was canceled.


title: Mayflower

text: The government issued a Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar, which portrays the ship on its reverse and passenger William Bradford on its obverse.


title: Mayflower

text: The 400th anniversary of "Mayflower"s landing took place in 2020. Organizations in the UK and US planned celebrations to mark the voyage. Festivities celebrating the anniversary took place in various places in New England. Other celebrations were planned in England and the Netherlands, where the Pilgrims were living in exile until their voyage, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced some plans to be put on hold.


title: Mayflower

text: Among some of the planned events were a "Mayflower" Autonomous Ship, without any persons aboard, which uses an AI captain designed by IBM to self-navigate across the ocean, while the Harwich "Mayflower" Heritage Centre hoped to build a replica of the ship at Harwich, England. Descendants of the Pilgrims looked for a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience to commemorate their ancestors.


title: Mayflower

text: A full-scale replica of the ship was burnt in Great Torrington in Devon on 28 August 2021, a year later than originally planned.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( 1930 – December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round, repeating the knockout the following year in defense of the title; in the latter fight he also became the inaugural WBC heavyweight champion. Liston was particularly known for his immense strength, formidable jab, long reach, toughness, and his infamously intimidating appearance.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Although Liston was widely regarded as unbeatable, he lost the title in 1964 to Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), who entered as a 7–1 underdog. Liston retired in his corner due to an inflamed shoulder. Controversy followed with claims that Liston had been drinking heavily the night before the fight and had entered the bout with a lame shoulder. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. He was still a world-ranked boxer when he died in mysterious circumstances in 1970. Underworld connections and his unrecorded dates of birth and death added to the enigma.


title: Sonny Liston

text: "The Ring" magazine ranks Liston as the tenth greatest heavyweight of all time, while boxing writer Herb Goldman ranked him second and Richard O'Brien, Senior Editor of "Sports Illustrated", placed him third. Alfie Potts Harmer in The Sportster also ranked him the third greatest heavyweight and the sixth greatest boxer at any weight. Liston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Charles "Sonny" Liston was born into a sharecropping family who farmed the poor land of Morledge Plantation near Johnson Township, St. Francis County, Arkansas. His father, Tobe Liston, was in his mid 40s when he and his wife, Helen Baskin, who was almost 30 years younger than Tobe, moved to Arkansas from Mississippi in 1916. Helen had one child before she married Tobe, and Tobe had 13 children with his first wife. Tobe and Helen had 12 children together; Sonny was the second youngest child.


title: Sonny Liston

text: There is no official record of Liston's birth. His family's home state of Arkansas did not make birth certificates mandatory until 1965. His family, but not one Charles (or Sonny) Liston, can be found in the 1930 census, and in the 1940 census he was listed as 10 years old. It has been suggested Liston himself may not have known what year he was born, as he was not precise on the matter. Liston believed his date of birth to be May 8, 1932, and used this for official purposes but by the time he won the world title an aged appearance added credence to rumors that he was actually several years older. One writer concluded that Liston's most plausible date of birth was July 22, 1930, citing census records and statements from his mother during her lifetime.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Tobe Liston inflicted whippings so severe on Sonny that the scars were still visible decades later. "The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating," Liston said. In 1946, Helen Baskin, along with some of her children, moved to St. Louis to seek factory work. Liston—aged around 13, according to his later reckonings—remained in Arkansas with his father. The following year, Sonny—determined to reunite with his mother and siblings—thrashed the pecans from his brother-in-law's tree and sold them in Forrest City, Arkansas. With the proceeds, he traveled to St. Louis to live with his mother. Liston tried going to school but quickly left after jeers about his illiteracy; the only employment he could obtain was sporadic and exploitative.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston turned to crime and led a gang of thugs who committed muggings and armed robberies. Because of the shirt he wore during robberies, the St. Louis police called Liston the "Yellow Shirt Bandit." When caught in January 1950, Liston gave his age as 20, while the "St. Louis Globe-Democrat" reported that he was 22. Convicted and sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary, Liston started his prison time on June 1, 1950.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day. The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary, Rev. Alois Stevens, suggested to Liston that he try boxing, and his obvious aptitude, along with an endorsement from Stevens, who was also a priest, aided Liston in getting an early parole. Stevens organized a sparring session with a professional heavyweight named Thurman Wilson to showcase Liston's potential. After two rounds, Wilson had taken enough. "Better get me out of this ring," exclaimed Wilson, "he is going to kill me!"


title: Sonny Liston

text: After Liston was released from prison on October 31, 1952, he had a brief amateur career that spanned less than a year. Liston captured the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions on March 6, 1953, with a victory over 1952 Olympic Heavyweight Champion Ed Sanders. He then outpointed Julius Griffin, winner of the New York Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, to capture the Intercity Golden Gloves Championship on March 26 (representing Chicago). Liston was knocked down in the first round, but came back to control the next two rounds and had Griffin hanging on at the end.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston competed in the 1953 United States National Championships at Boston Garden and passed the preliminaries, stopping Lou Graff in the second round on April 13, but lost in the quarterfinals to 17-year-old Jimmy McCarter on April 15. He would later employ McCarter as a sparring partner.


title: Sonny Liston

text: On June 23, 1953, a team consisting of ten recent St. Louis Golden Gloves champions of all weight classes, with Liston on top as the heavyweight, was gathered to represent the United States in an International Golden Gloves (USA vs. West Europe) competition at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Liston knocked out Hermann Schreibauer of West Germany at 2:16 of the first round. The previous month, Schreibauer had won a bronze medal in the European Championships. At this time, the head coach of the St. Louis Golden Gloves team, Tony Anderson, stated that Liston was the strongest fighter he had seen.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston signed a contract in September 1953, proclaiming: "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do." The only backers willing to put up the necessary money for him to turn professional were close to underworld figures, and Liston supplemented his income by working for racketeers as an intimidator-enforcer. The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career but were later used against him.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston made his professional debut on September 2, 1953, knocking out Don Smith in the first round in St. Louis, where he fought his first five bouts. He was , and had an exceptionally powerful physique, with a disproportionately long reach at . His fists measured around, the largest of any heavyweight champion. "Sports Illustrated" writer Mort Sharnik said his hands "looked like cannonballs when he made them into fists." Liston's noticeably more muscular left arm, crushing left jab and powerful left hook lent credence to the widely held belief that he was left-handed, although he fought in an orthodox stance.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. In his sixth bout, he faced ranked heavyweight Johnny Summerlin (18-1-2) on national television and won in an eight-round decision. In his next fight, he had a rematch with Summerlin and again won an eight-round decision. Both fights were in Summerlin's hometown of Detroit.


title: Sonny Liston

text: On September 7, 1954, Liston suffered defeat for the first time in his eighth professional fight, losing to Marty Marshall, a journeyman with an awkward style. In the third round, Marshall nailed Liston—reportedly while he was laughing—and broke his jaw. A stoic Liston finished the fight, but lost in an eight-round split decision. On April 21, 1955, he defeated Marshall in a rematch, dropping him four times en route to a sixth-round knockout. They fought for a third time on March 6, 1956, which Liston won by a ten-round unanimous decision.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston's criminal record, compounded by a personal association with a notorious labor racketeer, led to the police's stopping him on sight, and he began to avoid main streets. On May 5, 1956, a policeman confronted Liston and a friend about a cab parked near Liston's home. Liston assaulted the officer, breaking his knee and gashing his face. He also took his gun. He claimed the officer used racial slurs. A widely publicized account of Liston resisting arrest—even after nightsticks were allegedly broken over his skull—added to the public perception of him as a nightmarish "monster" impervious to physical punishment. He was paroled after serving six months of a nine-month sentence, and was not prohibited from boxing during 1957. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia.


title: Sonny Liston

text: In 1958, Liston returned to boxing. He won eight fights that year, six by knockout. He also went with a new manager in 1958: Joseph "Pep" Barone, who was a front man for mobsters Frankie Carbo and Frank "Blinky" Palermo. The year 1959 was a banner one for Liston: after knocking out contender Mike DeJohn in six rounds he faced Cleveland Williams, a fast-handed fighter who was billed as the hardest-hitting heavyweight in the world against whom he showed durability, power and skill, nullifying Williams' best work before stopping him in the third round. This victory is regarded by some as Liston's most impressive performance. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff.


title: Sonny Liston

text: In 1960 Liston won five more fights, including a rematch with Williams, who lasted only two rounds. Roy Harris, who had gone 13 rounds with Floyd Patterson in a title match, was crushed in one round by Liston. Top contender Zora Folley was stopped in three rounds. After demolishing these top-ranked fighters in the heavyweight division, Liston was regarded as the top-contender champion-in-waiting.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston's streak of nine straight knockout victories ended when he won a unanimous twelve-round decision against Eddie Machen on September 7, 1960. Machen's mobility enabled him to go the distance but he was clearly outpointed despite Liston being penalised for a low blow in the 11th round. Machen's taunting and his spoiling tactics of dodging and grappling—at one point almost heaving Liston over the ropes—so alienated the audience that Liston received unaccustomed support from the crowd. Before his bout with Liston, Muhammad Ali consulted Machen and was advised that the key to survival was to make Liston lose his temper.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston became the No. 1 contender in 1960, but the handlers of world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson refused to give him a shot at the title because of Liston's links to organized crime. While Liston began working into shape with hopes for a heavyweight title shot, he also continued his criminal behavior. Two more arrests—for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and another for impersonating a cop—led to Liston being suspended by the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission on July 14, 1961. The suspension was honored in all states. Ironically, Patterson's manager, Cus D'Amato, associated with racketeers and had his manager's license revoked by the New York State Athletic Commission for alleged misconduct in connection with the Floyd Patterson–Ingemar Johansson title fight in June 1959.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Civic leaders were also reluctant, worrying that Liston's unsavory character would set a bad example for youth. The NAACP had urged Patterson not to fight Liston, fearing that a Liston victory would hurt the civil rights movement. Many African-Americans disdained Liston. Asked by a young white reporter why he was not fighting for freedom in the South, Liston deadpanned, "I ain't got no dog-proof ass." However, in 1963 in the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Liston broke off a European boxing exhibition tour to return home and was quoted as saying he was "ashamed to be in America."


title: Sonny Liston

text: U.S. President John F. Kennedy also did not want Patterson to fight Liston. When Patterson met with the president in January 1962, Kennedy suggested that Patterson avoid Liston, citing Justice Department concerns over Liston's ties to organized crime.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Jack Dempsey spoke for many when he was quoted as saying that Sonny Liston should not be allowed to fight for the title. Liston angrily responded by questioning whether Dempsey's failure to serve in World War I qualified him to moralize. Frustrated, Liston changed his management in 1961 and applied pressure through the media by remarking that Patterson, who had faced mostly white challengers since becoming champion, was drawing the color line against his own race.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Patterson finally signed to meet Liston for the world title on September 25, 1962, in Comiskey Park in Chicago. Leading up to the fight, Liston was an 8–5 betting favorite, although many picked Patterson to win. In an Associated Press poll, 64 of 102 reporters picked Patterson. "Sports Illustrated" predicted a Patterson victory in 15 rounds, stating: "Sonny has neither Floyd's speed nor the versatility of his attack. He is a relatively elementary, one-track fighter." Former champions James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. Muhammad Ali (at the time a rising contender named Cassius Clay), however, predicted a knockout by Liston in the first five rounds.


title: Sonny Liston

text: The fight turned out to be a mismatch. Liston, with a 25-pound weight advantage, to , knocked out Patterson at 2:06 of the first round, putting him down for the count with a powerful left hook to the jaw. "Sports Illustrated" writer Gilbert Rogin wrote that "that final left hook crashed into Patterson's cheek like a diesel rig going downhill, no brakes." It was the third-fastest knockout in a world heavyweight title fight, and the first time the defending champion had been knocked out in round one.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Rogin wrote that Patterson backers expected him to "go inside on Liston, fire away and then run like a thief in the night. He would not close in until the accumulated inside damage and Liston's own frustration had sapped the challenger's strength and will." Patterson's fatal mistake was that he "did not punch enough and frequently tried to clinch with Liston. ... In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston's arms. A grateful Liston found there was no need to give chase. The victim sought out the executioner." Rogin discounted speculation that Patterson had thrown the fight, writing: "The genesis of all this wide-eyed theorizing and downright baloney was the fact that many spectators failed to see the knockout blows."


title: Sonny Liston

text: Upon winning the world heavyweight title, Liston had a speech prepared for the crowd that friends had assured him would meet him at the Philadelphia airport. But upon arrival, Liston was met by only a handful of reporters and public-relations staff. Writer Jack McKinney said, "I watched Sonny. His eyes swept the whole scene. ... You could feel the deflation, see the look of hurt in his eyes. ... He had been deliberately snubbed. Philadelphia wanted nothing to do with him."


title: Sonny Liston

text: During an era when white journalists still described black athletes in stereotypes, Liston had long been a target of racially charged slurs; he was called a "gorilla" and "a jungle beast" in print. Larry Merchant, then a writer with the "Philadelphia Daily News", wrote: "A celebration for Philadelphia's first heavyweight champ is now in order. ... Emily Post would probably recommend a ticker-tape parade. For confetti we can use torn-up arrest warrants." He also wrote that Liston's win over Patterson proved that "in a fair fight between good and evil, evil must win." Some writers thought Liston brought bad press on himself by a surly and hostile attitude toward journalists. He also had a reputation for bullying people such as porters and waitresses.


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston's run-ins with the police had continued in Philadelphia. He particularly resented a 1961 arrest by a black patrolman for loitering, claiming to have merely been signing autographs and chatting with fans outside a drugstore. A month later, Liston was accused of impersonating a police officer by using a flashlight to wave down a female motorist in Fairmount Park, although all charges were later dropped. Subsequently, Liston spent some months in Denver where a Catholic priest who acted as his spiritual adviser attempted to help bring his drinking under control. After he won the title, Liston relocated to Denver permanently, saying, "I'd rather be a lamppost in Denver than the mayor of Philadelphia."


title: Sonny Liston

text: Patterson and Liston had a rematch clause in their contract. Patterson wanted a chance to redeem himself, so they met again on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas. Patterson, a 4-1 betting underdog, was knocked down three times and counted out at 2:10 of the first round. The fight lasted four seconds longer than the first one. Liston's victory was loudly booed. "The public is not with me. I know it", Liston said afterward. "But they'll have to swing along until somebody comes to beat me."


title: Sonny Liston

text: Liston made his second title defense on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida against Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali). Liston was a heavy favorite. In a pre-fight poll, 43 of 46 sportswriters picked Liston to win by knockout. Odds makers gave Liston 7–1 to win. Clay countered in verse, "If you want to lose your money, then bet on Sonny!” Liston was supremely confident of easily beating Clay, trained minimally for the fight and went ahead with it despite an injury to his left shoulder.


title: Sonny Liston

text: From the opening bell Liston attempted to close with Clay, looking to land a hard punch to the head to end the fight quickly and decisively. Although Clay often carried his gloves down at his waist, seemingly open to attack, he proved very difficult to hit. With Clay quickly ducking his head left, right or away, Liston's leading left jabs largely failed to land. As Liston pursued his target Clay retreated, using his foot speed to slip away into open space in the ring, largely circling to the left and away from the threat of a Liston left hook. Although the opening round saw Clay largely on the defensive, it was soon established that Clay could reverse roles quickly and take to the offensive with a remarkably fast series of combinations delivered to Liston's head. A sudden violent combination delivered with 30 seconds left in the round electrified the crowd. The opening round was fought an extra eight seconds, since both fighters and referee Barney Felix apparently did not hear the bell.


title: Sonny Liston

text: The second round saw Liston continue to pursue Clay. At one point, Liston had Clay against the ropes and landed a hard left hook. Clay confessed later he had been hurt by the punch, but Liston was unable to press his advantage home. Two of the three official scorers, or judges, awarded the round to Liston, and the other scored the round even.


title: Sonny Liston

text: In the third round, Clay began to take control of the fight. At about 30 seconds into the round he hit Liston with several combinations, causing a bruise under Liston's right eye and a cut under his left, which eventually required eight stitches to close. It was the first time in his career that Liston had been cut. At one point in this attack, Liston was rocked as he was driven to the ropes. A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round when Clay seemed tired, delivering punishing body shots. It was probably Liston's best moment in the entire fight. Sitting on his stool between rounds, however, Liston was breathing heavily as his cornermen worked on his cut.


title: Sonny Liston

text: During the fourth round Liston appeared dominant as Clay coasted, keeping his distance. Joe Louis commenting on TV at ringside said "It's looking good for Sonny Liston". However, when Clay returned to his corner, he started complaining that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. "I didn't know what the heck was going on", Angelo Dundee, Clay's trainer, recalled on an NBC special 25 years later. "He said, 'Cut the gloves off. I want to prove to the world there's dirty work afoot.' And I said, 'Whoa, whoa, back up, baby. C'mon now, this is for the title, this is the big apple. What are you doing? Sit down!' So I get him down, I get the sponge and I pour the water into his eyes trying to cleanse whatever's there, but before I did that I put my pinkie in his eye and I put it into my eye. It burned like hell. There was something caustic in both eyes."