KarpìStomà

KarpìStomà Sunafe 1965, commonly referred to as KarpìStomà, is a Talamian professional football club based in KarpìStomà. The club was formed in 1965 from the merger of two existing small sports clubs, Karpì and Stomà, following the unification of the homonymous cities. The team competes in the Alfa League, the top tier of Talamian football.

Both the team name and jersey reflect this, the first being a combination of the former names, the second incorporating the former teams' colours (blue-white and white-red) in a single design.

KarpìStomà play at the Potam Park, capacity 55,000, which was once shared between Karpì and Stomà.

The club has been nicknamed "Brawlers" by his fans before the 2019/2020 season, when it was acquired by the billionaire owner of the wrestling federation TooToughTalamia, Tape Amilla.

Origins
Gumnastiké Karpì was founded in 1901, opening its football section in 1904. Koinonia Stomà, on the other hand, was founded in 1905, immediately with the aim of concentrating on football activity and training.

Karpì did not enroll in any Talamian championship for its first three years of life, starting from the Omega League, the last level of the national football pyramid, in 1905. In the same year, Stomà enrolled in the Gamma League championship, the third level.

The two teams represented the two cities of the same name, which were still separate at the time. Karpì to the north of the mouth of the homonymous river, Stomà to the south. They did not clash for twenty years. While Stomà managed to win the Gamma League in the late '10s, in fact, Karpì decided to devote himself exclusively to youth training. closing the first team after just two years of participation in the Omega League. It was in 1906 that the rivalry between the two teams began. The strongest players of Karpì, released from the team, were all bought by Stomà. Thanks to the new additions, the team won the Beta League in 1907, participating the following year for the first time in the Alfa League. The setback was so much that a Karpì fan decided to buy the club. Aneer Kruso enrolled the club in the next edition of the Omega League and the team, made up of only very young players, sensationally won. Meanwhile, Stomà was relegated from the Alfa League after just one season and its period of crisis began. The teams thus found themselves taking part in the same Gamma League championship in the 1919/1920 season.

The first "River Derby" was held on 12 October 1919, in the small stadium of Stomà. In fact, at the time, the two clubs did not share the same stadium. Stomà arrived at the match after a dull start to the championship, due to the crisis that had hit the club for some years now. Karpì, on the other hand, had come close to being promoted to Beta League the previous season. The elderly team of Stomà faced the now grown fruits of the Karpì youth teams, losing sensationally at home 3-1. At the end of the championship, Karpì placed himself in fourth position, losing again the final of the play-offs to move up to the Beta League. On the other hand, Stomà finished the season in a disappointing ninth place, considering she was a recent retarder and therefore its goal was to be promoted again immediately.

The two clubs continued to frequent the Gamma League over the next thirty years, with a few exceptions. Stomà was first relegated to the Omega League in the 1935/1936 season, followed by Karpì the following year. Karpì immediately regained the promotion, while Stomà had to wait three seasons. The two teams, after the very heated rivalry of recent years, found themselves in the same championship in 1936/1937. Until the 1950s, the River Derby were many. There are 24 wins for Karpì, 16 for Stomà and 8 draws.

Foundation
In 1954, the state of Talamia had started the procedure for the unification of the two cities under the single province of KarpìStomà, to meet the needs of the population and to amortize the costs of the nation in economic crisis. Football was also experiencing a moment of profound crisis and soon the Alfa League would be dissolved. When the city was unified the following year, the two clubs resisted following the same fate. In 1956, after two years of severe economic crisis, both failed and had to enroll in the provincial non-professional championship. Here the traces are lost, until 1964.

In September, the two teams met in the first provincial league matchday. The game, which was immediately very tense, was marked by a serious accident: the young player from Karpì, Terpsi Epithumo, collapsed to the ground after a heart attack in the 33rd minute. His team was not equipped with a stretcher and an adequate medical kit to support the situation. Stomà's doctors then intervened and managed to transport the boy to the nearest hospital, where his life was saved. The incident prompted the two supporters to twin up and reconsider the possibility of merging the clubs in order to restore prestige to the city. The municipality decided to tear down the old and small stadiums of the teams and build a new one: Potam Park.

The following year the KarpìStomà club was born. The young Epithumo, who had to retire from the activity of footballer due to heart problems, was chosen as the coach. A new cycle of victories began, leading the fledgling club to join the Beta League six years later. Terpsi succeeded in the extraordinary feat of winning consecutively Omega League (1968/1969) and Gamma League (1969/1970).

In their first season in the Beta League, KarpìStomà saved themselves from relegation and managed not to be relegated for the next five seasons. Terpsi Epithumo died of a heart attack in 1975. The team and the city suffered from the bereavement. The north curve of the Potam Park stadium was dedicated to him in his honor.

The club, however, went down the rankings and found itself, within ten years, to be among the non-professionals again. A new push came in the 1990s, when a new wave of promising youngsters returned KarpìStomà to a place in the Beta League. Led by promising strikers Doxaglaos Skaios and Lignus Nape, the team surprised the Talamian football universe and won the Omega League in 1986 and the Gamma League in 1988.

Modern era
1991 was the year of the milestone. With twenty-one goals scored each, Skaios and Nape, then close to retirement due to advanced age, dragged KarpìStomà to second place in the Beta League and the sensational victory of the play-offs for promotion. For the first time in history, almost thirty years after its foundation, the team participated in the Alfa League championship in 1991/1992. From here there are eleven participations in the top league and twenty-one in the Beta League.

Meanwhile, Skaios had become the team's manager. A new cycle began in 2019, when Tape Amilla, billionaire owner of the TooToughTalamia wrestling federation, decided to buy the club and invest significant amounts in its development. The fans did not take the news well, fearing that their team could become a simple company, losing its historical value. Skaios resigned and in his place Dunastratos Prosfato was chosen as the new coach, a symbol of rebirth and a new football thinking. The fans had to change their mind: KarpìStomà reached an historic fourth place in the 2019/2020 season, becoming one of the first Talamian teams to take part in the IFCF Challenger's Cup.

Colours and badge
The colors of KarpìStomà represent the fusion of the two old teams Karpì and Stomà. Both had white among their colors, to which Karpì added blue, and Stomà red. When in 1954 the municipalities merged, becoming the only city of KarpìStomà, the same city coat of arms incorporated the old colors. When the teams did the same in 1965, the badge took the same pattern and the shirt the same colors, with horizontal bands to recall the flow of the Karpia river, around which the city rises.

Many point to the KarpìStomà uniform as the most beautiful of all the Talamia teams.

In 2019, when Tape Amilla bought the club, the badge was slightly updated and the second kit, which historically was red and blue, took on the colors of the TooToughTalamia wrestling federation, becoming red and black.

Stadium
In their first years of life, Karpì and Stomà played in two different stadiums. The facilities were small, the public was small, as was the money available. The cities had converted old athletics stadiums, equipping them with temporary stands. Karpì played in the Polemiste stadium, Stomà in the Sidereu stadium. In 1964, the newly formed municipality of KarpìStomà built the Potam Park stadium on the ashes of the Sidereu stadium. The latter was chosen because of the two old structures it was the closest to the riverfront, in order to meet the needs of both fans.

In 1975, after Terpsi Episthumo's death, the northern curve of the stadium was named after him.

The stadium will be modernized in 2021, thanks to the investments of the new owner Tape Amilla and in view of the first Comrades Cup, which will be hosted by Talamia.

Domestic

 * Beta League
 * Winners: 1996/1997, 2005/2006
 * Runners-up: 1990/1991, 1998/1999, 2011/2012
 * Gamma League
 * Winners: 1969/1970, 1987/1988
 * Omega League
 * Winners: 1968/1969, 1985/1986