About Us

About NY Greek American Soccer Club

NY Greek American SC, commonly known as the New York Greek Americans, is an American soccer team from New York City that currently plays in the Eastern Premier Soccer League and in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League. The club was formed in 1946 by Thomas Laris and is one of the most successful clubs in America’s annual national soccer tournament, the U.S. Open Cup, winning four times, in 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1974. The team is one of the oldest American soccer clubs in existence and plays its games at the Metropolitan Oval in Maspeth, Queens.

New York Greek Americans, historically known for a while as New York Greek American Atlas Astoria Soccer Club, was formed in 1946.[2] The club was founded by Greek-American Tom Laris[3] and would go on to become one of the most successful and longest continually operating teams in American soccer history. The club has a long-standing rivalry with New York’s Cypriot team and fellow multiple National Cup champion, the Pancyprian Freedoms.[4]

The team currently plays in the 5th tier of the American soccer pyramid, under the USASA in the Eastern Premier Soccer League. The club plays out of the Metropolitan Oval in Maspeth, Queens and has been a perennial contender in the league, winning five of eleven Eastern New York Championships between 2001 and 2012.[5]

National Cup success

The Greek Americans have won America’s nationwide domestic soccer tournament, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, formerly the National Challenge Cup, four times in its history, from 1967 to 1969 and in 1974. The club is one of only two teams, alongside the Seattle Sounders FC, to have won the annual tournament on three consecutive occasions.

While the club had not qualified for the Open Cup since 2005, it returned to the tournament in 2012 but lost in the first round to Reading United of the USL’s Premier Development League (PDL), by a score of 2–1.[6]

The Greeks won re-entry to the Open Cup again in 2014 thanks to their USASA Amateur Cup championship,[7] being seeded in the second round. They won their first game against PDL opponents, Ocean City Nor’easters, 2–0.[8] before falling to Richmond Kickers in the 3rd round.[9] In 2014, after appearing in three consecutive National Cup finals, Atlas would finally lift the trophy for the first time in their history after defeating Guadalajara FC 4–2 in the final.[10]

The NY Greek Americans are also one of the last clubs from the NYC area pre-MLS to represent the United States in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (Now CONCACAF Champions League) having beaten and competed against some of the famous clubs out of Mexico, such as Toluca, Cruz Azul, and Club America, as recently as 1990.

Trophies

German American Soccer League / Cosmopolitan Soccer League (9) – 1963-64, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 2004-05, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2016-17

Cosmopolitan Soccer League Indoor (4) – 1965, 1997, 1998, 2005

Manning Cup (2) – 1954, 2009

Livio D’Arpino Cup (3) – 2006, 2007, 2008

ENYSSA National Amateur Cup (2) – 2013-14, 2021-22

USASA National Amateur Cup Region I (1) – 2013-14

USASA National Amateur Cup (1) – 2013-14

National Challenge Cup / U.S. Open Cup (4) – 1967, 1968, 1969, 1974

 

Staff & Management

Tony Drizis

Assistant Coach

Tom Bouklis

Assistant Coach

Eran (Jimmy) Shalom

Assistant Coach

Board of Directors

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Nikos Arvanitis, President
Tom Bouklis, Vice-President
Treasurer, Foti Bouklis
Assistant Treasurer, Andreas Kaliambakos
General Secretary, Jimmy Arvanitis
General Manager, Tony Drizis
Assistant Manager, Foti Bouklis
Assistant Manager, Eron Sholom
Lifetime President, Takis Iliou
Lifetime President, John Pashalis

ASSOCIATE BOARD

George Mellis
Manolis Zavolas
Sarandos Koundourakis
Manolis Koundourakis
Stavros Zomopoulos
Angelos Kazolis
Peter Nikolakakos
Louie Perdikakis
George Iliou
Vasilis Vasiliadis
John Stakias