Of course, the great breakthrough was made a year later by President Elias Kelesidis and his colleagues in the administration, when they decided to promote to the first team all of the youth squad of AEL, and collect all the talents that admittedly stood well in the Thessalian prefecture.

The successful policy of carefully selected few experienced and many talented young players continued and AEL not only threatened, but started slowly building a bright future, often achieving results that showed that something big was coming up.

With a stable administration, new faces on the roster, Maloumidis, Galitsios, Golandas and gradually Voutyritsas and Mitsibonas and with the advent of the technical leadership of Antonis Georgiadis, AEL was beginning to show its "teeth".

On that historic first final that was held on 19 June 1982, AEL lined up with the following players: Plitsis, Parafestas, Patsiavouras, Galitsios, Argiroulis, Dramalis (82' Voutyritsas) Maloumidis, Golantas, Koutas (82' Mitsibonas) Andreoudis, Valaoras.

The legacy left by that season in living material, was a defender named Giorgos Mitsibonas, one forward in the person of Michalis Ziogas, (a player who knew as much as anyone else to be at the right time and in the right place) and of course a "coach on the field", which was none other than the Polish international, Kazimierz Kmiecik.

However, in the pregame of that fight a common point united the two teams...AEL and PAOK lined up before the referee Makis Germanakos without their two key players (left back Nikos Patsiavouras and top scorer Christos Dimopoulos), since they both had already agreed to sign for Panathinaikos!

As for the actual game, on 22 June 1985, on the Athens Olympic Stadium before 30,000 shared fans, AEL seemed to have the upper hand from the start, but completely dominated from the 19', when Vassilakos was expelled by direct red card (hit Adamczyk off-phase) and reached its first goal at 39' with Ziogas, after an incredible attempt of the Polish striker.

After the second half κick-off Kmiecik wrote with perfect shot the 2–0 and although PAOK reduced to 55' with Skartados, Andrzej Strejlau's players finished the game at 73' with Ziogas and 75' with Valaoras, teaching modern football while creating a host of missed opportunities.

Maybe tired, perhaps it still cost them so much the leaving of their "conductor", the beloved Kazio for the Stuttgart Kickers... His compatriot Janusz Kupcewicz, who replaced him, although came right from the best lineup of the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, had injury problems and did not help as much as he could..At that time, the culmination of a transfer thriller, a player who was acquired by Toxotis Larissa and dressed in crimson, making his first professional steps and later called "the magician", Vassilis Karapialis.

The non-renewal of contracts of Parafestas and Andreoudis in the summer and the transfer of Plitsis to Olympiakos in December, were options that were not accepted by the fans, but the success of the team in conjunction with the "rising star" of Karapialis, minimized any opposition disposal.

AEL however, was largely responsible for the... psychological doping of the fans, which then helped to overcome doubt and anxiety and get proudly in the 87th minute of the penultimate game of the season against Iraklis, when that incredible shot of Mitsibonas hurled into space the enthusiasm of the crowd.

Maybe if Xamax had not turned the match at Neuchâtel and not sent by 2–1 in the overtime and the unlucky for the "crimsons" penalty shootout, Champions League would held the name of AEL in its ledger, where reigns the amazing goal of Karapialis which opened the score on the second leg of Switzerland.

More generally, although great players such as late Lefter Millos, also unjustly shed, Ştefan Stoica, Paulo Da Silva, David Embé and Vangelis Tsoukalis, wore the shirt and tried to give the team its lost glory, failed nothing more than some effects—flickering, in a prescribed downward spiral that culminated with the painful return to the Second Division after 18 years.

The team's preparation for the new season was held in the local Alcazar Park (a place with rustic picnic areas, benches and trails, totally unsuitable for professional football training),[24] near the city of Larissa.

Along with the unforgettable friend, the late Giorgos Katsogiannis and supporting factors of Amateur AEL predominantly Elias Fasoulas and Zissis Helidonis, he fought the first negative judgments and vindicated, when on 8 March 2003 he became the owner of the team with a cost of 116,000 euros in an auction that was held the previous day and in which he was the only candidate!

The new period started then vigorously and with one and only target, the promotion, which was achieved after an exhausting marathon of 38 games...On 30 May 2004, at Alcazar, AEL sealed the second place and the ticket to the higher category (which was virtually and "ironically" ensured by the victory from 1–0 at ILTEX Lykoi just a week before, in the same ground and almost two years after the incident with the Assistant referee), crashing with 5–1 the already "doomed" Pontiakos Nea Santa, while the chant "We are coming back" was rocking the crowded stadium...

And because a "good day seems from the morning", new management, technical leadership headed by Giorgos Donis, players like the effective striker Thomas Kyparissis and the presence of supporters that caused admiration through Greece, led AEL back again in the Super League, after nine years of absence.

Starting from Sunday 15, of May 2005, in Kastoria, (1–1) in front of 4000 fans who accompanied the team's bus when returning, a car convoy of 5 km in length and a midnight party at Alcazar, to Wednesday 25, and the fiesta that was set up to the stadium for winning the title after beating Proodeftiki (3–1).

Except Kyparissis, Papakostas, Ziagkas, Paleologos, Floros and Grigoriou, who continued from the previous season, players such as Christopoulos, Kipouros, the late Bahramis, Gikas, Stournaras, Föerster, Katsiaros, Digozis, Tsiatsios, Makris, Abouna, Nedeljković, Sisic, Passios, Chatziliontas, Galitsios and others, came to add their names to important pages in the team's history.

Indeed, beside them, stood from summer until December 2004 the first Greek active scorer Alexis Alexandris and a well-known name in European football, the Romanian international midfielder Dennis Şerban, who played in many major teams, top of which was the Spanish Valencia.

In the first year after its return to the big category AEL did the "bang" bringing in the summer of 2005 directly from the English courts the UEFA Euro 2004 champion and former captain of the Greece national football team, Nikos Dabizas.

The Slovakian striker opened the scoring in just the third minute with a perfect header following a free kick from Fotakis, Papadopoulos equalized with a penalty won by Föerster and masterfully executed in the 44th, however, Antchouet was the player who held the final.

AEL entered the first qualifying round as the clear underdog, but on the afternoon of 20 September 2007 at the Panthessaliko Stadium—after Alcazar did not comply to the UEFA specifications—radically subverted the data: won 2–0 in the first match[33] and lost 2–1 in the second game[34] of Ewood Park and took a proud qualification to the group stage.

In the "32" AEL faced powerful teams like Everton with a long tradition in the Premier League, rising Dutch AZ Alkmaar, German Nürnberg and the subsequent 2008 UEFA Cup winners mighty Russian Zenit Saint Petersburg.

The team failed to pick a point in the four games, but won the respect that was confirmed by great European coaches, which AEL found opposite in this journey as Louis van Gaal[35] and Dick Advocaat.

[36][37] Liberated from the burden of European obligations and with the assistance of world class players like Maciej Żurawski and Tümer Metin—AEL made an excellent championship course in the second round of the Super League and lost by one goal tie with Panionios the 5th position that led to the playoffs.

Even the most pessimistic would hardly imagine at the beginning of that year that AEL in a new stadium and with star-players (Dabizas, Venetidis, Cousin, Canobbio, Metin, Tavlaridis Čontofalský, Pancrate) would finish in the penultimate position and eventually relegate.

He hired the experienced and reputable coach in the English grounds Chris Coleman[53] and along with him players of International range like Zequinha, the famous Portuguese midfielder Luís Boa Morte, the Brazilian winger Césinha and many others.

The first season back in top flight was a difficult one, with 3 managers employed : Sakis Tsiolis left almost immediately after the club's promotion on 2 June 2016, only to return five months later and replace Angelos Anastasiadis who took over after him the previous summer.

The first attempt to organise the team's supporters was made on 31 March 1982 during the game against Diagoras 30 fans that belonged to the older but old-fashioned club Ierolochites gathered in the Gate D of the old Alcazar Stadium that was meant to be the legendary Gate-1 afterwards.