Ιraklis (Greek: Ηρακλής Θεσσαλονίκης), is a Greek football club, branch of Gymnastic Club Iraklis Thessaloniki, based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. The club used to play in the Greek Superleague and is one of the oldest clubs in Greek football and the oldest in Thessaloniki, hence the nickname Ghireos (meaning the Elder). Iraklis was a founding member of Macedonia Football Clubs
Association as well as the Hellenic Football Federation. The club has featured in all, but one, seasons of the top tier of Greek football up until 2011, when it was relegated to the amateur divisions of the Greek Football Federation. Iraklis FC was established in 1908, as Makedonikos Gymnastikos Syllogos, to change its name to Ottomanikos Ellinikos Gymnastikos Syllogos Thessalonikis "Iraklis" in 1911. In 1914 the club's operation was accepted by the Greek courts under the name Gymnastikos Syllogos Iraklis. The club is named after Heracles (Greek: Ηρακλής), the mythical Greek demigod. Iraklis holds a string of long-standing rivalries with few other clubs; the most notable of these being with neighbours Aris and P.A.O.K., with whom they regularly contested the Thessaloniki derbies. Before the formation of the nationwide league of Alpha Ethniki Iraklis competed in the league that was run by the Macedonia Football Clubs Association, winning it in no less than five occasions. The club has also played in five Greek Cup finals, lifting the trophy once. The club's last title was an international one, as Iraklis won the Balkans Cup in 1985.
