HANTH B.C. is the men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

department of the Greek multi-sports club HANTH. It was founded in 1919. The club is based in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The club's

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

name is X.A.N.Θ (Χριστιανική Αδελφότητα Νέων Θεσσαλονίκης), which means ''

Young Men's Christian Association YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

of Thessaloniki''. Common alternate names of the club include HANTh B.C. and HAN Thessaloniki B.C. The club is also known as being the YMCA Thessaloniki Association's basketball club, or YMCA Thessaloniki B.C.

History

In 1919, organized basketball began to be played by HANTH locally. Then in 1921, the parent athletic club Χ.Α.Ν.Θ. (English: YMCA) was formed, and it included the basketball section. HAN Thessaloniki was one of the founding members of the first Thessaloniki regional basketball tournament (1925–26), and it finished in second place in that tournament, behind

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki (), is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki. Nicknamed ''God of War'', Aris was one of the strongest Greek clubs during t ...

. HAN won the Greek 2nd Division championship in the 1968–69 season. The club played in Europe's third-tier level league, the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

competition, in the 1973 season, the 1973–74 season, and in the 1974–75 season. HAN also won the Greek 2nd Division championship in the 1976–77 season. The club won the Greek 4th Division championship in the 1991–92 season. Over the years, HAN Thessaloniki has played in the top-tier level Greek League in a total of 22 seasons.

Arena

In earlier times, HAN Thessaloniki played its home games at the

Thessaloniki Forum The Thessaloniki Forum (Greek language, Greek: Φόρουμ Θεσσαλονίκης) was an indoor arena, indoor sports arena that was located near the center of the city of Thessaloniki, in Greece. The venue was used to host basketball games, h ...

outdoor

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

. HAN Thessaloniki's current home

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

, is the Y.M.C.A. New Sports Center, which has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 1,500.

Titles and honors

National: * Greek 2nd Division: (2×) Champion: **(1969, 1977) * Greek 4th Division: Champion: **(1992) Regional: * Thessaloniki Regional Championship: 16× Champion (record): **(1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957)

Notable players

* Dionysis Ananiadis *

Michalis Giannouzakos Michalis Giannouzakos (; born 1949) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and basketball coach. Playing career Club playing career Giannouzakos began playing club basketball with the Greek club HAN Thessaloniki (YMCA) in 1964. He m ...

* Vassilis Lipiridis *

Sotos Nikolaidis Sotiris "Sotos" Nikolaidis (; (born May 25, 1974, in Thessaloniki, Greece), is a retired Greek professional basketball player and current basketball coach. During his club playing career, at a height of 1.86 m (6'1 ") tall, he played at the point ...

Anestis Petalidis Anestis is a Greek given name. Notable people with the name include: *Anestis Anastasiadis (born 1983), Greek footballer *Anestis Argyriou (born 1988), Greek footballer *Anestis Agritis (born 1981), Greek footballer *Anestis Chatziliadis (born 1991 ...

* /

Vladimir Petrović-Stergiou Vladimir "Vlado" Petrović-Stergiou ( sr-cyr, Владимир "Владо" Петровић-Стергиоу, ; born January 27, 1977) is a Serbian-Greek former professional basketball player. At 6 ft 6 in (1.99 m) tall, he played at the s ...

* Christoforos Stefanidis *

Takis Taliadoros Dimitrios "Takis" Taliadoros (1925 – 25 May 2011) was a Greek basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and ...

Georgios Trontzos Georgios Trontzos (alternate spelling: Giorgos) (Greek: Γιώργος Τρόντζος; ) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and basketball coach. At a height of 2.17 m (7'1 "), he played at the center position. In honor of his gre ...

* Lakis Tsavas *

Mimis Tsikinas Mimess () is a municipality the Hasbaya District in Lebanon. History In 1838, during the Ottoman era, Eli Smith noted the population of ''Mimis'' as being Druze and "Greek" Christians. In 1875 Victor Guérin noted: "At nine hours fifteen min ...

Kostas Vlasios Kostas or Costas () is a Greek given name and surname. As a given name, it can be a hypocorism for Konstantinos (Constantine). Given name * Costas Andreou, Greek musician * Kostas Antetokounmpo (born 1997), Greek basketball player * Costas Azariad ...

Nikos Zisis Nikolaos "Nikos" Zisis (alternate spelling: Zissis; ; born August 16, 1983) is a Greek basketball executive and former professional basketball player. During his pro club playing career, at a height of 1.97 m (6'5 ") tall, he played at both the ...

Retired numbers

Head coaches

* /

Jon Korfas Jon Anthony Korfas (alternate spelling: John, ; born August 21, 1962) is a Greek-American former professional basketball player and coach. During his professional playing career, Korfas won all three of the FIBA Europe continental-wide titles on ...

: (2010–2012) *

: (2016–2018)

Greek basketball museum

The club's headquarters also houses a Greek national basketball museum.Επέκταση για το μουσείο μπάσκετ της ΧΑΝΘ.
/ref>

References

External links

Y.M.C.A. Official Site

Eurobasket.com Team page
{{Greek B Basket League HANTH 1919 establishments in Greece Basketball teams in Greece Sports clubs and teams founded by the YMCA