Ptoco

Ptoco Taxis 1890, commonly referred to as Ptoco, is a Talamian professional football club based in the Talamian capital city, Clinepalas, Mentrenalio, founded in 1890. Along with SF Lampride, it is Talamia's oldest football team, and the oldest Talamian football team still active to this day, with 130 years of history. The team competes in the Alfa League, the top tier of Talamian football. Domestically, the club won 23 league titles, making it the second most successful in the Alfa League's history, along with Clinepalas United.

Their home stadium has always been the historic EpopSfaira Stadium, where the very first football match in Talamia took place. Considered the "Home of Football", since 1890 it has been shared with rivals SF Lampride.

The club has been nicknamed "All-whites" since its foundation, due to the characteristic white color of its shirts. Over the years, the club's longevity has meant that journalists and fans alike began to nickname it "Sophos", which means "wise old man" in Talamian.

History
Following the unification of the seven kingdoms, dating back to 1786, HoopoeBall was recognized as the Talamian national sport. It was therefore necessary to wait more than a century before football began to gain popularity. The first official document attesting a football match in Talamia dates back to 1890. It refers to an official challenge launched by the Ptoco district of the Talamian capital city, Clinepalas, to the nearby district of Lampride. The peculiar event gathered a crowd of over five thousand people. For economic reasons, Ptoco wore white jerseys, while Lampride wore black jerseys. The colors were the cheapest to buy and the easiest find. The shirts belonged to the individual players. Those who did not have a shirt of the right color were forced to buy it with their own money at the nearby Poleterion market. The match ended 1-0 for Ptoco. Talamian football was born.

Later that same year the two companies were officially founded. The founding document of Ptoco Taxis 1890 was officially deposited in the municipal offices of Clinepalas on July 31, 1890, at 4:14 pm. The registration of the founding of Somatikì Filia Lampride, on the other hand, dates back to the same date but at 16:17. For just three minutes, therefore, it can be said that Ptoco is the oldest club in all of Talamia. Five years later, while football was played only at a friendly level, together with eight other teams from all over Talamia, Ptoco and Lampride created the Talamian Alfa Legue. The first edition saw 10 teams compete and due to the limited funds, the away matches were not played. Ptoco, who had gained much popularity following the success of five years earlier, triumphed, becoming the first ever Alfa League champion.

The first twenty years of life of the Alfa League saw as the undisputed protagonists of the championship the first two clubs born. The two districts of Clinepalas gave life to what is today called the "Twenty Years Civil War", in which the first twenty editions of the newly formed football league were shared. Although the number of affiliations grew and despite the growing interest in football throughout the country, the teams that played the very first game kept the record. At the end of the twenty years, Ptoco won the challenge. The "white" part of Clinepalas took home 15 championships, leaving only six to the "black" one. Meanwhile, the number of teams had risen from 10 to 16, so much so that in 1910 the Alfa League was forced to start for the first time in August, rather than in January, as it had been up to that point. The Alfa League, however, was about to change profoundly. In 1913 the Clinepalas United was born from the merger of some minor clubs, and it would have monopolized the victories in the following years. After two seasons in the Beta League, the new team won the first top title in the 1916-1917 season, ending the civil war.

With the start of Clinepalas United's domination, Ptoco nevertheless remained among the main forces in the league. Between 1916 and 1929, Sophos managed to take six second places and one victory. With the crisis of Talamian football on the way, Ptoco managed to remain in a stable economic situation. Over the next decade, the team took two further second places, before returning to winning the Alfa League in 1941, nearly fifteen years after their last success.

The rise of Alla Fofokoy and Clinepalas United had upset the balance of football in the Mentrenalio region. After nearly twenty years of Fortis Epops victories, the Fofokoy Archers were now the second force in Talamian football. As the Alfa League fell apart, Ptoco had to fight to stay among the top positions of the new Mentrenalio Championship. Fourth place in 1965 excluded the All-Whites from the next, first new edition of the Alfa League. For the first time in history, Ptoco did not participate in the maximum competition and had to restart from the Beta League, along with long-time rivals SF Lampride.

In the early 1960s, Ptoco made several attempts to return to the Alfa League. The great interest that football had begun to attract, however, allowed numerous new teams to emerge and make their way to the top. While SF Lampride only had to spend six seasons in the Beta League, before they could even return to winning the Alfa League in 1975, Ptoco began to run into more and more problems. The sporting tradition no longer counted as much as before and the big names in football were now performing on other stages. Left to fend for themselves, the team was relegated to the Gamma League for the first time in 1977. Their tenure in the third division lasted only three seasons and to mark the club's 90 years of history, Ptoco was promoted to the Beta League in 1980. Eight years later, Sophos had already returned to the Alfa League.

1989 ushered in a resounding new round of victories. It all started with Krater Talamia's final, in which Ptoco won 2-1 over Alla Fofokoy, fresh winners of the championship. The following season, driven by the celebrations for the hundred years of history, the team unexpectedly won the championship, two years after returning to the top division. Ptoco became what it used to be and in the space of eight years it won six championships, collecting two second places, behind Fortis Epops (1992-1993) and FK Katacra (1995-1996). The victory of 1998 remains the last of the white team, which in recent years has always settled in the middle part of the standings, with two second places centered between 2003 and 2005. These were the seasons in which the current flag of Talamian football Ansem Egemon. Today's Ptoco midfielder and captain immediately distinguished himself for strength and charisma, winning the national team jersey at the age of nineteen. Egemon is the first active footballer to whom a mural was dedicated in Orisma odo and throughout the DSA he is the symbol of Talamian football.

Colours and badge
Ptoco has always adopted completely white jerseys, shorts and socks. The reasons are not to be found in the emblem of the Clinepalas neighborhood where the team was born - which is totally blue - but in economic causes. In 1890 there was little attention to football. In organizing their first game, the captains of Lampride and Ptoco agreed on the colors that their respective teams would wear. Being the match a simple friendly with no funding, they opted for black and white. These were in fact the easiest colors to find on the market and least expensive to buy. Black was assigned to Lampride, as the district's emblem was and still is that color. It was therefore the only Ptoco to have to adapt to economic difficulties, without a real motivation to wear white kits. However, as the financial resources of the football clubs began to grow, Ptoco decided to adopt blue as the color of the away shirt, to honor their original colors. The team wore a blue kit for the very first time in 1912.

The Ptoco badge has never changed radically in its 130-year history. The simple circle that encloses a "Greek" pi traces, in fact, the hand drawings that the players made with black feathers on the uniforms of the very first game played. The only modern addition is the club's founding date, which was applied in 1990 within the circle - now in mock design style - to mark the club's 100-year history.

Ptoco and Lampride, as historical companies protected by TSS with special funding, to preserve their name and cultural heritage, never needed to wear sponsors on their shirts. The white Ptoco shirt has therefore always remained immaculate. For the first time in history, the presidents of the two clubs decided, in the summer of 2020, that the teams would wear a special shirt to celebrate the two clubs' 130-year history. For the 2020-2021 season of the Alfa League, Ptoco and Lampride wore identical kits, with inverted colors and the words "130th Civil War anniversary" on the chest, enclosed in a laurel crown. In addition, Ptoco decided to slightly change the color of their kit: not white but cream white.

Stadium
Since the first, historic match against Lampride, the home of Ptoco's matches has always been the EpopSfaira Stadium. Never a year went by without the facility being shared with SF Lampride. Located in Orisma odo, a road on the border between the homonymous neighborhoods of Clinepalas, it was chosen as the field of the inaugural challenge because of its position. At the time, it was a dirt field, immersed in mud, with stone seats as stands. The stadium was mainly used for HoopoeBall amateur matches, a few times a year.

From 1891, however, the municipality of Clinepalas began investing in the construction of a modern structure. In the space of six years, the field was first arranged, then the stands and finally the entire surrounding area, which at the time was considered a peripheral area. Over time, the EpopSfaira Stadium became the true home of Talamian football, so much so that in 1940 a giant plaque bearing the nickname "Home of Football" was affixed to the north entrance of the arena. Orisma odo became the street of football and began to be the meeting place for all the football fans of the city. The walls of the buildings began to be covered with murals reminiscent of footballers and coaches from the history of Ptoco and Lampride. Today it is considered part of the city's historical cultural heritage to be preserved and is protected and owned by ko.de.pa.so.

The last refurbishment of the stadium took place in the summer of 2010.

Domestic

 * Alfa League
 * Winners (12): 11895, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1902, 1903, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911-1912, 1912-1913, 1913-1914, 1915-1916, 1926-1927, 1940-1941, 1990-1991, 1991-1992, 1993-1994, 1994-1995, 1996-1997, 1997-1998
 * Runners-up: 1897, 1900, 1901, 1904, 1910-1911, 1914-1915, 1918-1919, 1919-1920, 1920-1921, 1922-1923, 1923-1924, 1927-1928, 1932-1933, 1938-1939, 1951, 1959, 1992-1993, 1995-1996, 2003-2004, 2004-2005
 * Beta League
 * Winners (1): 1987-1988
 * Runners-up: 1966, 1968, 1972-1973, 1985-1986
 * Gamma League
 * Champions (1): 1979-1980
 * Runners-up: 1978-1979
 * Krater Talamia
 * Champions (1): 1989
 * Mentrenalio Championship
 * Runners-up: 1962