PAOK Handball Club is the handball section of PAOK, the major multi-

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

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

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. PAOK has both men's and women's team. So far, men's team has won 3 Greek Championships and 3 Greek Cups and women's team has won 5 Greek Championships and 6 Greek Cups. Despite its relatively short history, it is considered amongst the most successful departments of the club.

History

PAOK Handball Club was founded in 1999 after it merged with another club from

, Triton. Stelios Seikeridis, former club's coach, has connected his name with the whole club's history. PAOK promoted to

A1 Ethniki The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

for first time at the season 2000–01. Three years later, they relegated to

A2 Ethniki The Greek A2 Basket League ( el, Ελληνική Α2 Μπάσκετ Λιγκ, link=no), is a professional basketball league in Greece. It is the 2nd-tier level of pro competition, among clubs in the country. It is organized by the Hellenic Baske ...

, but they promoted back to the top-tier level the next season. As the years passed, the team became stronger and stronger and they won two consecutive Greek Handball Championships in 2009 and 2010. At the end of the 2008–09 season PAOK defeated

Panellinios Panellinios G.S. (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γ.Σ.), full name, Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος), is a Greece, Greek sports club, mult ...

in the last game of the play-offs and in 2009–10 PAOK defeated

Doukas The House of Doukas, Latinized as Ducas ( el, Δούκας; feminine: Doukaina/Ducaena, Δούκαινα; plural: Doukai/Ducae, Δοῦκαι), from the Latin title ''dux'' ("leader", "general", Hellenized as 'ðouks'', is the name of a Byzant ...

, also in the last game. At the season 2009–10, PAOK became the second Greek team after

Filippos Veria ) , nickname = , founded = 1962 , colours = Red and White , chairman = Giorgos Faiakas , club_titles = , anthem = , website Club home page A.C. Filippos Verias (Greek: Α.Σ. Φίλιππος Βέροιας) is a ...

, who reach the groups of

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the me ...

. In 2011, even though PAOK had the advantage and needed only a draw in the last game in Thessaloniki, they lost the championship to

AEK A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

. In 2012 PAOK won the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

by beating AEK with 25–24 score in

Patras ) , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 = , demographics1_info2 = , timezone1 = EET , utc_offset1 = +2 , ...

. The next year, they lost with 27–23 score by AEK at the Cup final in

Kerkyra Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

. In 2015 PAOK beats AEK again with 27–29 score at P.A.O.K. Sports Arena in

and won the

. PAOK also won the

Greek Championship The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

the same year making it a double for the first time. They faced Diomidis at the play-off finals. In 2017 PAOK beats

with 25–23 score in

Kozani Kozani ( el, Κοζάνη, ) is a city in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmona ...

winning the

for the third time.

Kits

Recent seasons

Current squad

Players

:''Squad for the 2022–23 season'' ;Goalkeepers *1 Viktor Gigov * 12 Giorgos Velissariou * 16 Milos Mojsilov ;Wingers ;LW * 6 Alexandros Dougias * 10 Nikolaos Nikolaidis ( c) * 36 Miltos Papagiotas ;RW *20 Nikolaos Marinos *26 Vasilis Kavousanakis *77 Nikolaos Tzortzinis ;Line players * 8 Tasos Tsamouridis * 14 Alexandros Apostolou * 19 Chrysanthos Tsanaxidis * 80 Alexandros Giavasidis ;Back players ;LB * 30 Dimitris Triantafyllidis * 44 Antonis Ladakis ;CB * 7 Giorgos Eleftheriaidis * 15 Tasos Triantafyllidis * 21 Nikolaos Koukmisis ;RB * 5 Dionisis Karagiozopoulos * 11 Athanasios Papazoglou * 25 Antonis Emmanouil

Administration and technical staff

Honours

: **

Winners (3): 2009, 2010, 2015 ** Silver medal with cup

Runner-up (2): 2011, 2021 *

: **

Winners (3): 2012, 2015, 2017 ** Silver medal with cup

Runner-up (2): 2013, 2021 * Double ** Winners (1): 2015

Greek Cup Finals

European record

European Distinctions

PAOK has been competing since 2006–2007 in European competitions, and has taken part in all EHF competitions up to the 2013–2014 season. PAOK returned to the European competition by taking part in the

2017–18 EHF Challenge Cup The 2017–18 EHF Challenge Cup was the 21st edition of the European Handball Federation's third-tier competition for men's Team handball, handball clubs, running from 7 October 2017 to 20 May 2018. Overview Team allocation Round and dra ...

. In 2009–2010 season the team reached at the group phase of the

, which is its biggest achievement up to date.

Women's Department

Anna Giuruki im Dress von PAOK Thessaloniki

PAOK's women handball club is also competing in the first Greek division.
On season 2012–13 they beat

Ormi Patras Ormi Patras is a Greek women's club based in Patras. It was founded in 2003 through the fusion of Thriamvos Patras, Poseidonas Patras and Foinikas Patras. It is a major protagonist in the Greek women's handball cup and championship In sport, a ...

in playoff finals with 2–1 series and won the Greek Women's Handball Championship. In the 2013–14 season, PAOK won its first cup, beating Anagennisi Arta in the final with score 22–20.

Recent seasons

Current squad

Administration and technical staff

Honours

** Winners (5): 2013, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 ** Runner-up (3): 2016, 2017, 2018 *

** Winners (6): 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 ** Runner-up (2): 2015, 2018 * Double ** Winners (4): 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

Greek Cup Finals

Women's European record

Arenas

The home ground which PAOK use for the regular season games of the domestic league is Mikra Indoor Arena III, which holds 1,380 seats. In previous years, the team had also used Mikra Indoor Arena II, which holds 650 seats, Neapoli Indoor Hall, which holds 800 seats, and Evosmos Sports Hall, which holds 2,000 seats. Additionally, PAOK often use

PAOK Sports Arena P.A.O.K. Sports Arena ( el, Κλειστό γήπεδο ΠΑΟΚ) is an indoor arena located in Pylaia, Thessaloniki, Greece, and it hosts the men's basketball, women's basketball, men's volleyball and women's volleyball departments of the mul ...

, which holds 8,500 seats, for European competitions and for the play-offs of the domestic league.

References

External links

*
official website women

EHF PAOK page

official facebook page
{{A1 Greek handball women Greek handball clubs PAOK