It was in August 1930 when the idea was hatched in a group of young people to establish a club with a purely sporting character. The young man, then only 20 years old, Theodosis Konstantinidis, or better “Theodossakis”, as his friends used to call him, was known for his sportsmanship and one evening when he met his friends at the “Oasis” holiday resort, on Gladstonos Street, he came up with the idea of ​​establishing a sports club. At that time, Gladstonos was frequented by the elite youth of Limassol. It was the heart of the city. Theodossakis had immediately conveyed his idea to Nikos Solomonidis, who found it very interesting. The proposal was immediately circulated among the youth's hangout and found many supporters, including Dimitrakis Tsepi, who was the director of the Land Registry. Everyone had decided that the establishment of the new association was necessary.

"Nikos," Tsepis tells him, "it's a great idea. I'm with you too and I'm ready to help make this effort a success."

The first meeting was held on October 4th at the well-known Saint George's pastry shop on Agios Andreou Street, which was at that time a well-known establishment. It was on the ground floor of the three-story Kakathimi residence. About twenty people gathered and after much discussion it was decided to give the new association a name. The first meeting decided to give the name AEL. The initials came from the Limassol Athletic Association.

Then Renos Antoniadis suggested blue, yellow and white as the colors of the newly founded club. It is worth emphasizing here that there was no particular reason for the colors chosen. They liked them, they were preferred. The history of AEL had begun… That gathering was the volcano that was about to erupt. Enthusiasm had flared up, since from the first day of its foundation the club was embraced with love, enthusiasm and affection. It was the newborn that was destined to enter the battle of athletics to give brilliant successes.

The first president of the Greek Economic Union, the late Nikos Solomonides, was then 23 years old and had just returned from Paris and London, where he had studied economics. Nikos Solomonides himself stated the following in an interview:

"It was the summer of 1930, when I returned from my studies in England and France with a diploma in economics. As a young man at the time, I had my socializing with former high school classmates and other friends of mine in Limassol. With some of them, we even played football at the GSO. One evening, while I was at the Oasis center on Gladstonos Street, Theodosis Konstantinidis came and found me.

"You know," he tells me, "we thought about forming a team. If you want, come along and let's move forward."

While we were chatting, Dimitrakis the Pocket, director of the Land Registry, came up to us, also fascinated by football like us. He heard the conversation and was excited.

"Niko, he tells me it's a wonderful idea..."

"Go ahead, I tell him, go ahead and I'm with you."

The issue then began to gain momentum in Limassol and more and more people became interested. Several football players and friends of the sport approached and in a few days the idea became a reality.

The first meeting, on October 4th, took place in a climate of enthusiasm. A historic day and a double milestone for the AEL. On the one hand, the foundation of the club and on the other, the starting point of a long-term athletic journey. The general appreciation and desire was to establish a new, serious sports club that would stand out from the rest of the era. What everyone wanted from the first moment of the establishment of the AEL was for the club to be supported and founded on sound athletic principles with the sole purpose of promoting and spreading sports. The ambition of those young people was to see the new club pioneer in sports and one day emerge as the pride of Limassol.

The young fans of that pioneering team, the pioneers of the founding of AEL, were the following:

Stavros Pittas, Kriton Tornaritis, Nikos Solomonidis, Yiagos Limnatitis, the brothers Yiagos, Heraklis and Andreas Araouzos, Lefkios Zenon, Paris Pieris, Yannis Pareas, Dimitrakis Tsepis, Theodosis Konstantinidis, Marios Malikidis, Martin Williamson, Yannis Pantelidis, Loris Chrysostomidis, Kyros Platritis, Panagiotis Mavros, Takis Kallipetis, Aristos Papacharalambous, Georgios Platsiaras, Vasos Aivaliotis and Renos Antoniadis.

Although AEL has reaped laurels on the field, won titles and championships throughout its long history, it is most proud of its consistency and faithful adherence to the sound sporting principles on which it was founded.

The sporting spirit and the high sporting idea have been the lifeblood of the club from the very beginning, and the respective administrations have cultivated this with consistency and dedication.

"AEL is a sports club. No politics in sports. Do not separate athletes from their political beliefs. Athletes, regardless of race, country, religion or political ideology, are always friends and brothers," was the message of Nikos Solomonidis, which remains unchanged by all AEL administrations over the years.

With its foundation, AEL also formed a football team. However, when it was founded, the Cyprus Football Federation had not yet been established and thus no Pancyprian championship was held. However, several clubs had already been established. AEL's first match took place on 6 January 1931, at the GSO stadium, the team's home ground, against Pezoporiko Larnaca. AEL won 6-1.

The football team was founded in 1930. The first team of AEL consisted of the following football players: Onoufrios Dimitriou (back), Georgios Platsiaras (goalkeeper), Priamos Frangos (forward), Evagoras Fylaktou (forward), Kostas Soleas (back), Pygmalion Rialas (forward), Aristides Michaelides (forward), Polynikis “Pikis” Kalogirou (center), Victor Mousteris (back), Christakis Pieridis (rear goalkeeper), Vasos Aivaliotis (center), Theodosis Konstantinidis (back).

This first generation of AEL footballers managed to take the lead from Larnaca and Nicosia, which were unbeaten due to the foreign schools (American Academy of Larnaca and English School of Nicosia) which cultivated football and constantly supplied the Skali and Nicosia teams.

People with great social contribution, such as N. P. Lanitis, Kriton Tornaritis, Andreas Araouzos, Nikos Solomonidis, Stavros Galatariotis, etc., have associated their names with AEL.

"In its 38 years of existence, what AEL rightly boasts of above all else is the sportsmanship, the noble sportsmanship ethos, and the high fighting spirit of its teams. For AEL, this has been a sacred tradition." Nikos Stylianakis, president of the Greek Football Federation (KOP) in 1968

"We are an Athletic Union. Let us remain a real union, a union of people who love sports and believe in its principles. United and united, let us undertake the heavy task that lies before us, certain that through unity, we will fulfill our responsibilities towards the sports world of our city and Cyprus as a whole" Nikos Solomonides 1968

Approximately two months after the historic gathering of October 4, 1930, at which its establishment was decided, AEL was housed on the ground floor of the two-story residence of Dr. Th. Frangos, which was located on the coastal road between the G.S.O. and the Public Garden.

The members, then overcome with great enthusiasm for the establishment of the new club, gathered every day in the building, which was literally bursting with youthful vitality. Some for coffee and conversation and others to play various games, billiards, ping pong and volleyball.

The football team with 14 titles and 62 years of continuous presence in the A' division is promoted for the first time in its history. The worst moment in the history of AEL was sealed within a two-minute match. The young Giannakis Ioannou is sent off by referee Kostas Kapitanis in the first half's injury time, while with the cross in the second half, Serpo Nikolic scores for Aris. The calendar shows May 11, 1996 and the Limassol derby, two turns before the end, is not like the others. Aris was saved with a draw, AEL only with a victory.

And yet, in the summer of '95 everything seemed different. With coach Andreas Kissonergis, AEL beat (later promoted to the second division) APOEL in a friendly match in Nicosia. In Limassol, they were even talking about a championship! The positions of the three foreigners were occupied by Mirko Mihić, Boban Kitanov and the very Gennady Litovchenko, 57 times capped for the Soviet Union and 4 for Ukraine. He was 32 years old at the time. The roster included great talents such as Marios Agathokleous, Marios Neophytou, Dimitris Leonis and Rikkos Christofis. The "lions" did not start well, but they completed the first round outside the danger zone.

Kissonergis was succeeded by Apollon's successful coach, Dietelm Ferner, who did not do well and the team went six games without a win in the second round, resulting in it falling to 12th place (it was leading the second division), 6-7 games before the end. Solomonidis replaced Ferner with the Slovak Keiza Farkas. By the end of the first round, they had realized that the goal was salvation, since the team lost Litovchenko before Christmas, continuing with two foreigners. In the match of the year, AEL played with a foreigner, since Kitanov was injured, while the permanently injured Koliandris, Antoniou and Ioannou were missing.

At that time, AEL was not facing financial problems, nor bad refereeing. According to Mr. Solomonidis, "the feeling I got was that there was an alliance that wanted us to be relegated. We tried to save ourselves, but at the same time our concern was to better organize the operation of the team," says the former president of AEL and adds that "at that time I had stated that AEL would return and in four years would claim the championship, as it happened." Before the tears for the relegation had even dried, the reconstruction effort began, while at the same time 1,500 fans held a peaceful march to the Limassol Administrative Building, protesting the attitude of the police, the Football Association, the refereeing and speaking of a background that sent the team to the second division.

This relegation cost a lot but it didn't break anyone. For a moment it seemed that the world was disappearing, that AEL was being written off. But that wasn't going to happen. The world wasn't disappearing, it was there, it wasn't just there, they were stronger, they were more numerous. It didn't break, the world stubbornly united and stood by the team alongside the players. Where everyone thought that AEL was disappearing, the heartbreak came and everyone, like a fist, raised their stature so that the club wouldn't disappear.

The stubbornness, the love of the people and their displacement were enough to lead the team to where it deserves. What happened then to our team could not have happened to any other club, the immense love of the people and how the people united, stubbornly stood by the team.

The football team returns to the European halls after a 13-year absence, where they are called upon to step on the gas and show the character of a great team, honoring its colors and by extension Cypriot football. Andreas Michaelides' team is called upon to stand tall in the home of the most historic team in Hungary.

The following football players are included in the mission: Leoni, A. Chrysostomou, Ioannou, Siepok, T. Chrysostomou, Patouna, Constanti, Trattos, Christodoulou, Christofi, Charalambous, Krasias, Luciano, Michael, Lambrou, Garpozis, K. Kyriakou, Nikolaou and Hanan.

The Limassol team is accompanied to Hungary by 500 fans who will travel on various flights to Budapest. Together with those who will be with them from various cities in Europe, they are estimated to be close to 800. AEL respects Ferencváros and feels that the difficulties will be many at the ULLOI UT stadium. However, even though the Hungarians are the favorites for qualification, AEL, with faith in its strengths, will face its opponent on equal terms.

The Hungarians entered the field eager to clean up the game early, which would lay the foundation for their team's qualification, as they did, winning 4-0.
In the replay at Tsireion, AEL managed to win 2-1. Despite the heavy atmosphere and the absences of the blue and yellow team, AEL proved that they still have a lot of guts, that their players have strength and that they did not forget to play football.

The victory of AEL was completely fair, since in the first half it had a crushing superiority in all areas. It did not let Ferencváros breathe, especially after the first quarter. Konstantis in 10', Krasias in 13', Siepok in 15' and 16' and Nikolaou in 20', were perpetrators of very great opportunities. The two and a half thousand AEL fans saw their team and rubbed their eyes. The Hungarians were stunned by AEL's good performance and could not find an antidote to the running and fighting spirit of their opponents. At the end, Garami gave his congratulations to AEL in a chivalrous manner.

We are an Athletic Union. Let us remain a true union, a union of people who love sports and believe in its principles. United and united, let us undertake the heavy task that lies before us, confident that through unity, we will fulfill our responsibilities towards the sports world of our city and Cyprus as a whole.

Nikos Solomonidis 1968