Veria

In 1960 two local teams of Imathia, Hermes and Vermion, merged when their founders decided that this was the way to create a more competitive club and unite the local fans. Veria's first appearance in professional football championships came in 1962–63, when they finished sixth in the fourth group of Beta Ethniki. Four years later, the club had a breakthrough, finishing first in the third group of Beta Ethniki and then second in the play-offs to gain their first promotion to Alpha Ethniki. Because of this accomplishment, Veria were nicknamed "Queen of the North".

In their first appearance in Alpha Ethniki (season 1967–68), Veria finished in joint tenth position with PAOK and Panionios and two points behind the privileged fifth position which would have made them eligible for an appearance in the Balkans Cup. The following season (1968–69) saw Veria underperform and be relegated after three play-off matches against Olympiakos Volos. Despite the relegation, Veria achieved promotion the next season, again finishing first in Group C of Beta Ethniki.

Veria finished 13th in Alpha Ethniki in the 1970–71 season, during which they suffered a heavy 8–2 defeat by AEK Athens. The following season saw them finish 15th and be relegated again. Despite the relegation, Veria celebrated some notable wins such as against AEK Athens with a score 1–0, Olympiacos with a score 2–1 and against PAOK with another 1–0 score.

From 1972 until 1977, Veria competed in Beta Ethniki. They finished mid-table until 1975 but in 1976–77 tied with Kavala for first place, losing promotion due to inferior goal difference. The following season saw the club achieve promotion back to Alpha Ethniki after a seven-year absence: Veria finished joint first with Doxa Dramas, despite being penalised three points, but they won the promotion due to a superior goal difference.

Veria were relegated again in 1977–78, when they finished 16th. The relegation came after Veria attempted to bribe Christos Hatziskoulidis of Egaleo F.C. to underperform in a match. The team was suspended and deducted ten points.

For the next eight years Veria played in Beta Ethniki, finishing mid-table for seven of them. For five of those seasons Veria faced the other Imathia team, Naoussa, which led to a rivalry between the fans of the two cities. In 1982–83, Naoussa was relegated and the rivality was forgotten.

In 1985–86, Veria played again in Alpha Ethniki following promotion in the previous season. The campaign resulted in the club's best ever league position, finishing joint seventh with AEK Athens and AEL. That season, 12 out of 16 teams, including Veria, were docked six points due to a football players' strike.

Despite the great season in Alpha Ethniki, the following season saw Veria being relegated again, as they finished joint 14th out of 16 teams. They had a worse goal difference than Levadiakos and Diagoras.

After relegation from Alpha Ethniki, Veria remained in Beta Ethniki for three years before being relegated for the first time to Gamma Ethniki. 1991–92 saw them lose promotion back to Beta Ethniki in the last game of the season but they managed the feat in the following year and were able to stay in the division during 1993–94.

Between 1993 and 1997, football in Imathia was at a peak as three of the region's teams played in the professional championships for the first time. In 1994–95, Veria, Naoussa and AE Pontion Verias were part of Beta Ethniki.

In 1995–96 Veria returned to Alpha Ethniki after finishing second in Beta Ethniki. The club finished in 10th position to retain their league status in the following season, when the most notable win was the 1–0 home result against Olympiacos, who won the championship that season. Veria & AEK were the only teams to beat Olympiacos that season. The 1997–98 season saw an improved squad, with players such as Oleg Protasov, Panagiotis Tsalouchidis, finish ninth in the league.

After Veria's win against Olympiacos in season 1997–98, the club was relegated to Beta Ethniki in the following season. This was followed by a further relegation to Gamma Ethniki in the 1999–00 season.

The club experienced management problems and was relegated again in 2000–01, playing in Delta Ethniki for the first time. The new management team, with Konstantinos Gaivazis as head, had to sign 20 players in order that the club could play in Delta Ethniki.

In 2001–02, Veria finished in the mid-table of Deltha Ethniki, ending the sequence of successive relegations. The following season 2002–03, they won every match and returned to Gamma Ethniki after a play-off game against Atsalenios. Another significant achievement for the club that season was the winning of the Amateurs' Cup as they defeated Preveza with score 2–1, in Sofades Stadium at Sofades, Karditsa.

In 2003–04, one of the most powerful businessmen of Imathia became the club's owner.^[] Veria stayed for two seasons in Gamma Ethniki and in the 2004–05 season it returned to Beta Ethniki after finishing first in the North Group of Gamma Ethniki. In season 2005–06 they finished fifth in Beta Ethniki.

The following season did not start well for Veria but in the second half, with Dimitris Kalaitzidis returning as coach after being fired the previous season, they improved so much as to finish third and win promotion to Alpha Ethniki. It was at this time that Alpha Ethniki was renamed as Super League.

Veria's return in Super League was inauspicious. The club underperformed Kalaitzidis was fired three games into the season. There followed a succession of five coaches during the remainder of the campaign, which ended in relegation as they only won five games out of 30 and had also 8 draws. Further upheaval off the pitch followed as the club president, George Arvanitidis, announced his intention to leave.

The following season saw Veria relegated from Beta Ethniki to Gamma Ethniki again, after being docked by three points when Arvanitidis had a fight with the referee during a match against Ilisiakos, accusing him of being stubborn, something that it was never proved. Arvanitidis again threatened to leave the club if people did not stop blaming him for the team's relegation. At the end of the season almost every player was released.

The following season, 2009–10, Veria returned to Beta Ethniki. The promotion was secured in the last match of the season against Fokikos, a match in which Giorgos Kantimoiris saved almost every chance made by Veria. The next season, Kantimoiris joined Veria and became a vital part of the squad which celebrated the return in Super League two years later.

Veria finished 9th in Beta Ethniki in 2010–11, the season in which that division was renamed as the Football League. The season was marred by the scandal of rigged games involving many teams from both the Football League and the Super League. Veria was accused for fake translational awareness and they would be dismissed by the Football League. Something that never happened as Veria was proven to be innocent.^[]

Despite the allegations, Veria played good attacking football, with Calvin Kadi scoring at will and Kalaitzidis having returned as coach since the end of the previous season when he saved them from relegation. The club began the season with three consecutive wins, which was the best start they had ever had in the division. Successes continued and the club returned to the Super League after an absence of four years. Michael Olaitan, a vital part of the team was nominated as Talent of the Year, while Kadi was named Player of the Year, having finished second-highest goalscorer in the Football League with 19 goals. Georgios Kantimiris was nominated for the Goalkeeper of the Year award.^[]

The return to the Super League in 2012–13 was different from previous occasions. Veria signed some notable players, such as Nikos Georgeas, Pantelis Kafes, and Carlo Costly. The team performed well and retained their league status by finishing 12th in the table. Notable home wins included the 3–0 victory against Panathinaikos and the 5–0 success against Platanias.

During the summer transfer window of 2013 Veria signed 12 players, including the Serbian striker Miljan Mrdaković and the Czech midfielder, Petr Trapp. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Veria's El Fardou Ben Nabouhane became the first player from the team to finish second in the list of Super League Top Goalscorers, just one goal behind Xanthi's Esteban Solari. The club avoided relegation by finishing in 15th position. Due to the poor performances, despite avoiding relegation, Arvanitidis decided to take radical actions in order to improve matters. He decided to adopt the Spanish style of football, dismissing almost every player in the squad, signing Spanish players and promoting youngsters from the U20 team. He also hired the Spanish coach Quique Hernández as Director of Football and Jose Carlos Granero as the team manager.

On 6 August 2014 the owner and president of the club, Arvanitidis, announced his retirement after selling the club to Theodoros Karipidis, a local businessman. Karipidis failed in an attempt to sign the Argentinian attacking midfielder Ariel Ibagaza because of the player's family issues but did sign some significant players, such as Georgios Georgiadis, Giorgos Katidis, Roberto Battión, Javier Cámpora, the very promising Italian-Swedish striker Nicolao Dumitru, the Spanish star and former Real Madrid player Raúl Bravo, and the Serbian offensive midfielder, Zvonimir Vukić. During the winter transfer window Veria also signed the experienced forward, Thomas Nazlidis on a free transfer. Two more significant transfers took place during that window were Spanish midfielder Carlos Caballero, on a six-month loan from Córdoba and Andreas Tatos on a free transfer. Stelios Marangos and Neto also joined the club.

In the first season under Karipidis, Veria finished 14th in the Super League Greece. At the start of the next season, Giorgos Lanaris resigned as team manager after being accused of involvement in fixing a 2012–13 away match between Veria and Olympiacos. Quique Hernández had been fired a few months earlier, along with Granero, after several bad results. Hernández was replaced by Zisis Vryzas in May 2015. On 19 May 2015, the club was judged innocent by the disciplinary committee of the Hellenic Football Federation regarding the match-fixing allegations, despite the statements of Nikos Georgeas and Dimitris Kalaitzidis against the club.

Karipidis also applied changes to the youth squads as he decided to replace Stefanos Gaitanos, who was the head of the youth department for the last three seasons, with Apostolis Terzis, who had previously worked as the head coach of Lefkadia. The club then announced a major expansion and upgrade of Tagarochori Training Center. Karipidis and Vryzas agreed that Georgiadis should replace Granero, who left the club in March 2015.

During his second season as owner, with the help of Vryzas and the head coach, Georgiadis, Karipidis achieved some significant transfers such as the Georgian midfielder, Giorgi Merebashvili and the French defender William Edjenguélé. He also negotiated the return of the Spanish goalkeeper Jonathan López. He was at first unsuccessful in signing the Algerian midfielder, Djamel Abdoun, due to a failure to agree personal terms, but a week later, Veria made an improved offer, with an annual salary of €250,000 and a bonus if the team qualified for the UEFA Europa League through the Super League play-offs. The player and the club made an oral agreement, then waited for Abdoun to be released on a free transfer by Nottingham Forest. Abdoun was announced as a Veria player on 5 August 2015.

On 6 August 2015, Veria signed Vaggelis Nastos, former captain of Atromitos. A day later, there was one more significant transfer with the arrival of the Polish midfielder Radosław Majewski, who was released on a free transfer from Nottingham Forest along with Abdoun. With PAE Kerkyra being relegated to Football League, Veria approached and managed to sign for €100,000 per year the Bosnian forward, Saša Kajkut on a free transfer. On 22 August 2015, Vryzas made an oral agreement with the Norwegian international defensive midfielder, Abdisalam Ibrahim who last played for Greek giants Olympiacos and who had also spent seven years with Manchester City, another significant transfer was done for the club. After a bad injury to Balafas, the club signed a one-year deal with their former defensive midfielder Stefanos Siontis, who had been playing for PAE Kerkyra.

On 30 August 2015, Karipidis' confirmed that a group of Chinese businessmen were interested in buying into the club, either as a whole or in part. Karipidis claimed that the group represented a multinational company that wanted to invest in Greek football and in local society. Two days after meeting with the Chinese in September, he said that the deal would be completed in about two or three months as the transfer of shares and the paperwork was a lengthy process.

On 9 September 2015, Karipidis was named the head of football department of amateur club Aris. This automatically meant that once Aris won promotion to the Football League he would be forced to quit as owner of Veria. In further specification, the Chinese group which represent a solar power major multinational company based in Shanghai are willing to invest approximately €10 million in order to buy club's shares package, renovate or build a new training center over Tagarochori Training Center region as well as rebuild Veria Stadium. Also they opt to upgrade all local training facilities of the city of Veria.

On 19 January 2016, Karipidis fired Georgiadis and his staff as the club didn't satisfy with its performance as were as several results were disappointing. On 26 January 2016 the former goalkeeper Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos was appointed as Veria's new coach with assistant the former European champion Stylianos Venetidis. With Eleftheropoulos on the bench Veria avoid the relegation four fixtures before the finale of the championship for the first time in her recent history. During a press conference, Eleftheropoulos announced the reduction of budget to 50% of its current amount and the resignation of many players. He also stated that Veria's new season squad will be based on young talented Greek players in combination with older experienced players.

On 8 May 2016, Karipidis said he was very close to sealing a deal with a Chinese company. He quit as Veria chairman and CEO on 30 May. On 1 June 2016 it was announced that Veria reclaimed the permission of participating in 2016–17 Super League Greece and would be allowed to proceed in transfer without any limitation.

On 23 June 2016, the transfer of shares by Karipidis was complete and he quit all involvement in the club.

After the sale of the club was completed, Veria announced a new kit sponsorship for season 2016–17 with the Italian company Givova. After a poor season, both financially and on the pitch, despite remaining in the Super League Greece, Vryzas and Eleftheropoulos decided to cut the club's budget by 5 per cent. As a result, players whose contracts posed a particular burden were released on free transfers and the plan was for the club to sign new talented players who had potential to be sold on in later years.

On 2 July 2016, Karipidis and Vryzas had a disagreement that led to Vryzas quitting his post. Vryzas's departure was followed by that of Eleftheropoulos, who left in sympathy. As a result, the club started to look for new manager.

On 5 July 2016, the shares transfer was complete and the new major shareholder of the club and president, CEO was named Konstantinos Papadopoulos. A fruit and wood dealer who was Karipidis partner back in 2013 while he was also president of Olympiacos Galatades.

Despite the strict budget policy that the new majorholder of the club decided to follow, he signed to the club twenty one players in his first spell as president of the club. Some of the significant deals that he managed to seal are the signing of the Argentinian forward Pablo Vitti, Greek striker Pantelis Kapetanos, Georgian international left back Giorgi Navalovski and the Spanish midfielder Sisinio. He also appointed to the club the Greek experienced coach Alekos Vosniadis, who replaced Eleftheropoulos.

On 8 September 2016, Committee of Professional Sports didn't allow the transfer of the club's shares from Theodoros Karipidis to Konstantinos Papadopoulos, cause the folder didn't meet the criteria. As a result, Veria wasn't grant a permission of participation to the 2016–17 Super League Greece championship and they are facing a relegation penalty to Football League or even a ban from all professional football championships.

On 22 September 2016, Committee of Professional Sports granted to Veria, the permission of participating to 2016–17 Super League Greece as well as they approved the transfer shares of 93,53% from Theodoros Karipidis to Konstantinos Papadopoulos. Veria was fined €15,000 for their incomplete file on their first attempt.

On 23 September 2016, club coach Alekos Vosniadis left the club after a disagreement between him and the club's board. Thomas Grafas was appointed as his successor a day later on 24 September 2016. After a controversial 4-month spell being the head coach of the club, Grafas and Veria mutually terminated their contract. During his spell as Veria's manager, Grafas achieved to be disliked by the majority of the fans as well as any player of the club and its staff. The contract termination was announced on 26 January 2017. Grafas stayed in the bench of the club for 17 games with a record of one win, eight draws and eight defeats.

Despite the decision of the board to trust the U20 manager Tolis Terzis for the remaining of the season, after the three consecutive defeats from Olympiacos, AEK and home defeat against Panionios, the board of Veria decided to bring Ratko Dostanić for his third spell in the club and fight the battle for survival in the top tier of the Greek football till the end. On 13 February 2017, Veria announced the appointment of Ratko Dostanić for the remaining of the season.

On 9 April 2017, Veria suffered a 1–0 away loss against Panetolikos and got relegated to 2017–18 Football League.

Season's 2017–18 found Queen relegated to the Football League. The club due to heavy financial problems suffered a 6 points removal as they failed to pay Antonio Tomás González and Roberto Battión. On 23 February 2018, Veria officially withdrew from the championship due to heavy financial problems.

On 6 July 2018, the first division disciplinary board of the Football League condemned the club according to the championship's rules about mid season withdrawal to relegation to the Hellenic Amateur Divisions and also starting with –6 points.