AEK Handball Club is the handball department of the major Greek multi-sports club A.E.K. It was established in 2005 and it is the most successful Greek club in European handball competitions, as it won the European Challenge Cup in 2021 and was also a runner-up in 2018 and 2025. The club is commonly known in European competitions as AEK Athens HC.

History

The department Handball of A.E.K. was founded by a decision of the General Assembly of A.E.K. on 12 July 2005.

On 5 August 2005, the Greek Handball Federation accepted a merger through the absorption of the association's Board of Handball GA Ilioupolis with AEK Handball Club.

During the period 2006–07, AEK Handball Club acquired the 3rd position in A1 (Greek Men's handball championship) and gained participation at European Cups for the first time.

During the period 2007–08, AEK participated in EHF Cup (European Handball Federation Cup) and was eliminated by Dinamo Baumit Bucuresti in the second round.

On 31 May 2009, with Nikos Georgantzoglou as president, AEK won the first Greek handball cup winning Filippos by a score of 33–31 in Serres.

For the period 2009–10 AEK participated at EHF Cup Winners' Cup.

For the third round of EHF Cup Winners' Cup, AEK HC played against BSB Izmir on 14 November 2009 in Athens (losing 24–29) and on 21 November 2009 in Smyrni (drawing 22–22). During the period 2009–10, AEK HC terminated at 4th position of A1, gaining its European participation for the 2nd consecutive time and for 3rd in general. In addition, AEK HC participated in the final four of Greek men's handball cup on 29 May 2010 in Lamia, but the semi-final game against PAOK did not take place due to fan "fights".

For the second round of the European Challenge Cup (2010–11), AEK HC won HC Dinamo Minsk 31–25 in Athens and lost 32–27 in Minsk and therefore AEK has been advanced to the top 16 teams. For the third round (phase of 16), AEK defeated Sporting Lisboa at penalties. AEK lost 27–23 in Lisboa but won 27–23 in Athens and so the game went on penalty-kicks, where AEK advanced to the top 8 with the final score of 32–27. For the Quarter-Final (phase 8), AEK played against Partizan of Beograd and was disqualified.

On 7 May 2011, AEK won the Greek handball championship through the playoffs and became champion for the first time in their short history. AEK needed only the win against PAOK at Thessaloniki and was losing by one goal (22–21) 30seconds before the final whistle but with great will and power scored twice (the final goal at the exact second of the final) and gained the first championship of its history just 6 years after its establishment. AEK participated in the first round of the EHF Champions League for the period 2011–12 and also in the first round of Challenge Cup, losing to Lions (Holland).

On 17 March 2012, AEK participated in the final game of the Greek men's handball cup against PAOK but lost the game 26–24. AEK participated to the EHF Cup for the period 2012–13 but was eliminated by Diomidis Argous in the first round, losing both games at Argos and Athens.

On 3 March 2013, AEK won the second Greek handball cup in its history, winning PAOK by a score of 27–23 in Kerkyra (Corfu). The same year on 1 June 2013 AEK won the second Greek handball championship against Diomidis.

On 19 March 2014, AEK won the third Greek handball championship in its history, winning Diomidis 18–16 in Athens.

On 29 March 2015, AEK participated in the final of the Greek men's handball cup for the fifth time in a row, against PAOK, but lost the game by a score of 27–29. The team finished third in the Greek handball championship.

On 14 and 20 May 2018, AEK HC played the final games of EHF Challenge Cup 2017–18 and became one of the three most successful teams in Greek handball (including Diomidis Argous and Filippos Verias) in European achievements. In 2020, AEK won its third Greek Championship.

On 23 May 2021, AEK HC won the fourth Greek handball cup in its history, winning PAOK by a score of 24–22 in Kozani. On 30 May of the same year, AEK HC won the first EHF European Cup in its history by winning the Swedish club Ystads IF, this way AEK HC became the most successful Greek club in European handball competitions. AEK won its fourth Greek Championship on 6 July 2021 celebrating a historic treble.

At the start of the 2022–23 season, the club made several changes in the first-team squad due to last year's unsuccessful results. The first-team changes of the summer transfer period helped AEK to finish at the top of the league in the regular season. The club was drawn to play against Olympiacos after qualifying for the championship finals through the regular season. In an exciting match series, which ended 3-2 in favor of AEK, the club was crowned champion for the fifth time.

In April 2025, AEK handball club lifted its fifth Greek handball cup winning ESN Vrilissia by a score of 43-21 in SUNEL Arena at Athens.

Kits

Honours

AEK H.C. honours aek.gr

• Shared record

Tournaments

Official Tournaments

• 47th International Handball Tournament Struga (1): 2019

• International Tournament "Andreas Papastamatis" (4): 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Unofficial team awards

European Treble (HHF League and Cup, and EHF Cup)

• Winners (1): 2020–21

National Double (HHF League and Cup)

• Winners (2): 2012–13, 2020–21

Performance in international competitions

The European Cup glory paths

European competitions record

EHF ranking

Season by season

• In the 2019–20 season, the Greek Cup final against Diomidis Argous and the EHF Challenge Cup quarterfinal against Potaissa Turda were canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Players

1. Squad for the 2026–27 season

1. Goalkeepers

2. 16 Giannis Antoniadis

3. 65 Matheus de Souza Albuquerque

4. – Jérôme Ribet

5. – Øyvind Varpe

6. Wingers

7. LW

8. 10 Lefteris Mpoutos

9. 18 Guilherme Torriani

10. 34 Souleimany Toure

11. – Cláudio Chicola

12. RW

13. 2 Evangelos Arampatzis (c)

14. 15 Vinicius Perin

15. Line players

16. 19 Giorgos Georgiadis

17. 35 Guilherme Peixoto

18. 40 Jonas Stüber

19. – Abdeldjalil Zennadi

20. Back players

21. LB

22. 14 Ognjen Radojičić

23. 25 Dylan Garain

24. – Carlos Ocaña Matas

25. CB

26. 5 Thomas Xypnitos

27. 11 Dimitrios Panagiotou

28. 13 Denys Alessandro Da Silva Barros

29. – Jan Kovačec

30. – Hiroki Matsuoka

31. – Rudolf Zvonimir Šafranko

32. RB

33. 22 Alexandros Koukoulas

34. 31 Giorgos Kolovos

35. – Guilherme Linhares de Souza

Transfers

1. Transfers for the 2026–27 season

1. Joining

2. Jan Kovačec (CB) from Jags Vöslau

3. Carlos Ocaña (LB) from CB Caserío Ciudad Real

4. Guilherme Linhares (RB) from CB Caserío Ciudad Real

5. Konstantinos Kotanidis (GK) from CB Caserío Ciudad Real

6. Cláudio Chicola (LW) from Póvoa Andebol Clube

7. Hiroki Matsuoka (CB) from Free agent

8. Rudolf Zvonimir Šafranko (CB) from Free agent

9. Leaving

10. Omar Salem (CB) to CB Caserío Ciudad Real

Transfer history

1. Leaving

2. Mario Matic (CB) to Elverum Håndball

3. Adama Sako (LB) to CSM Constanța

4. Petar Lulić (LP) to MRK Sesvete

Team officials

1. Staff for the 2025–26 season

Notable former and current coaches

Greece

• Giannis Arvanitis

• Dimitris Dimitroulias

• Kostas Toutsis

• Nikos Grammatikos (2017–19)

• Dimitris Dimitroulias (2019–22)

• Alexandros Alvanos (2022–23)

Rest of Europe

• Dragan Đukić (2023)

• Frédéric Bougeant (2024–25)

• Rui Silva (2025–26)

List of former and current players

Greece

• Christoforos Bakaoukas (2005–16)

• Savvas Karypidis (2013–15)

• Fanis Tsaousis (2005–15)

• Giorgos Papadopoulos

• Dimitris Kaffatos (2005–07, 2009–14, 2019–20)

• Dionysis Georgiadis (2010–20)

• Giorgos Perros

• Alexandros Alvanos (2012–14, 2018–19)

• Spyros Balomenos (2012–13)

• Panagiotis Nikolaidis

• Konstantinos Tsilimparis (2013–15)

• Grigoris Sanikis (2013–15)

• Nikolaos Kritikos (2023–24)

• Vyron Papadopoulos (2023–24)

• Charalampos Mallios (2023–24)

Rest of Europe

• Thomas Bauer (2020–21)

• Nikola Stevanovic (2022)

• Ivan Matskevich (2022–23)

• Tomislav Nuić (2021)

• Marin Buneta (2019–21)

• Stipe Mandalinić (2022–24)

• Nikola Jukić (2022–23)

• Patrik Martinović (2023–24)

• Petar Lulić (2024–25)

• Šime Ivić (2025–26)

• Rudolf Zvonimir Šafranko (2026–)

• Jan Kovačec (2026–)

• Lars Jacobsen (2018–20)

• Jesper Meinby (2021)

• Viktor Vlastos (2024–25)

• Celym Darsoulant (2018–19)

• Malik Hoggas (2019–20)

• Maximilien Tike (2022–23, 2024)

• Yann Genty (2024–25)

• Adama Sako (2024–25)

• Jonathan Azorin (2022–23)

• Adama Keïta (2024–25)

• Dylan Garain (2024–)

• Lukas Szukielowicz (2024–25)

• Arthur Muller (2024–25)

• Jerome Ribet (2026–)

• Erik Schmidt (2024–26)

• Julius Kühn (2025–26)

• Jonas Stuber (2025–)

• Gergö Rózsavölgyi (2019)

• Grétar Guðjónsson (2025)

• Laurynas Palevicius (2018–19)

• Mladen Rakčević (2013–14)

• Goran Andjelic (2021–22)

• Radojica Čepić (2023)

• Joakim Hykkerud (2021)

• Elias Schaaning Thome (2023–24)

• Mario Matic (2024–25)

• Øyvind Varpe (2026–)

• Łukasz Rogulski (2022–23)

• Krzysztof Komarzewski (2023)

• Gilberto Duarte (2024–25)

• Wilson Davyes (2024–25)

• Bogdan Criciotoiu (2020)

• Radule Radulovic (2017–19)

• Milan Kosanović (2019–21)

• Miljan Manić

• Mirko Lukić

• Zlatko Šuša

• Eldin Vražalica

• Igor Arsic (2019–20)

• Nemanja Živković (2022–23)

• Đorđe Golubović (2023)

• Ognjen Radojičić (2026–)

• Maros Balaz (2018–19)

• Juraj Briatka (2021–22)

• Igor Žabić (2023)

• Luis Felipe Jiménez Reina (2020–21)

• Ignacio Plaza Jiménez (2019–22)

• Cristian Ugalde (2020–22)

• Ignacio Moya Florido (2020–23)

• Carlos Ocaña Matas (2026–)

• Philip Jonsson (2023–24)

• Olexandr Shevelev (2022)

Africa

• Abderrahim Berriah (2021–22)

• Sofiane Bendjilali (2021–22)

• Abdeldjalil Zennadi (2026–)

• Cláudio Chicola (2026–)

• Aurélien Tchitombi (2022–23)

• Frédéric Beauregard (2024–25)

• Omar Salem (2024, 2025–26)

• Souleimany Toure (2024–)

• Anis Gatfi (2015–16)

• Mohamed Amine Ben Cheikh (2024–25)

Americas

• Patrick Andre Toniazzo Lemos (2020–24)

• Leonardo Domenech de Almeida (2022–23)

• Denys Alessandro Da Silva Barros (2026–)

• Guilherme Peixoto (2026–)

• Matheus de Souza Albuquerque (2026–)

• Vinicius Perin (2026–)

• Guilherme Torriani (2026–)

• Guilherme Linhares de Souza (2026–)

Asia

• Ioulios Argyrou (2018–19)

• Dan Tepper (2024–25)

• Hiroki Matsuoka (2026–)

• Yunus Özmusul (2019)

Presidential history

References

External links

Official websites

• AEK Athens H.C. at HHF

• AEK Athens H.C. at EHF

Media

• AEK Athens H.C. at Facebook