Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club,
Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', "All-Athenian Athletic Club"), is a Greek professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece.
Created in
1908
Events
January
* January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica.
* January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...
as "Podosfairikos Omilos Athinon" (''Football Club of Athens'') by
Georgios Kalafatis
Giorgos Kalafatis ( el, Γιώργος Καλαφάτης; 17 March 1890 – 19 February 1964) was a Greek football pioneer, player, coach, track and field athlete and the founder of Panathinaikos Athens multi-sports club.
Sports career
Bein ...
, they play in the
Super League Greece
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 ...
, being one of the most
successful clubs in
Greek football and one of the three clubs which have
never been relegated from the top division. Amongst their major titles are 20
Greek Championships, 19
Greek Cups, achieving eight times the
Double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
, and 3
Greek Super Cup
The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek Football (soccer), association football one-match ...
s.
They are also one of the two clubs that won a championship
undefeated, going without a loss in a top-flight campaign in the
1963–64 season.
Panathinaikos is also the most successful Greek club in terms of achievements in European competitions. It is the only Greek team that has reached the European Cup (later renamed
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
) final in 1971 (which they lost to
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
2–0), and also the semi-finals twice, in 1985 and 1996.
It is also the only Greek team that has played for the
Intercontinental Cup (1971). Furthermore, they have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League on another two occasions (in 1992 and 2002), as well as the quarter-finals of the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
twice (1988 and 2003). They have also won the
Balkans Cup
The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...
in 1977. Panathinaikos is a member of the
European Club Association
The European Club Association (ECA) is a body representing the interests of professional association football clubs in UEFA. It is the sole such body recognised by the confederation, and has member clubs in each UEFA member association. It was fo ...
.
Since the 1950s, the club maintains some of the oldest and most successful
academies
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
in Greece, producing talent for the first team and feeding the
Greece national football team
The Greece national football team ( el, Εθνική Ελλάδας, ) represents Greece in men's international football matches and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play most ...
. They have played their home games in the
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium ( el, Γήπεδο Απόστολος Νικολαΐδης), commonly known as Leoforos Alexandras Stadium or Leoforos Stadium, is a football stadium and multi-sport center in Athens, Greece. It was inaugurated in 19 ...
, considered their traditional home ground, and the
Athens Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium of Athens " Spyros Louis" ( el, Ολυμπιακό Στάδιο Αθηνών "Σπύρος Λούης", ''Olympiakó Stádio Athinon "Spyros Louis"'') is a sports stadium in Athens, Greece. It is a part of the Athens Olympic ...
.
According to research and polls, Panathinaikos is the second most popular football team in Greece, behind
Olympiacos
Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...
.
'' Έλαβον: ΟΣΦΠ 39%, ΠΑΟ 30%, ΑΕΚ 15%, ΠΑΟΚ 11%, Άρης 5%. Ύστερα από 15ετή έρευνα δύο πανεπιστημιακοί στο βιβλίο τους καταγράφουν την ιστορία και γεωγραφία του ελληνικού ποδοσφαίρου'', 30 June 2009, Τanea.gr (in Greek)[, ''H πιο πρόσφατη... «απογραφή»: 36% Oλυμπιακοί (1,677 εκατομμύρια), 30,2% Παναθηναϊκοί'', Sentragoal, Βαγγέλης Μπραουδάκης (in Greek)]
They hold a long-term rivalry with
Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos, the clash between the two teams being referred to as the "
derby of the eternal enemies
The derby of the eternal rivals ( el, Ντέρμπι των αιωνίων αντιπάλων), also called mother of all battles (Greek: μητέρα των μαχών), is a football local derby in the Athens urban area (Athens/Piraeus) between ...
".
History
Early years
According to the official history of the club, Panathinaikos was founded by
Giorgos Kalafatis
Giorgos Kalafatis ( el, Γιώργος Καλαφάτης; 17 March 1890 – 19 February 1964) was a Greek football pioneer, player, coach, track and field athlete and the founder of Panathinaikos Athens multi-sports club.
Sports career
Bein ...
on 3 February 1908, when he and 40 other athletes decided to break away from
Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos following the club's decision to discontinue its football team.
The name of the new club was "Podosferikos Omilos Athinon" (''Football Club of Athens''). It was founded with the aim of spreading and making more known this new sport (
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
) to the Athenian and Greek public in general. Also, the intention of the founders was to create a team for all of Athens and to be connected with the rest of the European football movement, which was already active.
The first president elected was Alexandros Kalafatis, brother of Giorgos. The ground of the team was in
Patission Street
Patission Street ( el, Οδός Πατησίων) is one of the major streets in central Athens, Greece. Though it is known as Patission, its name for its stretch between Panepistimiou Street and Amerikis Square, was changed to 28 October Street, ...
.
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
athlete
John Cyril Campbell was brought in as coach, the first time that a foreigner was appointed as the coach of a Greek team.
Konstantinos Tsiklitiras
Konstantinos "Kostas" Tsiklitiras ( el, Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Τσικλητήρας; 30 October 1888 – 10 February 1913) was a Greek athlete and Olympic champion.
Born in Pylos, he moved to Athens in 1905 to study commerce ...
, the great Greek athlete of the early 20th century, played as goalkeeper for the new team.
![Podosfairikos Omilos Athinon POA 1908](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Podosfairikos_Omilos_Athinon_POA_1908.jpg)
In 1910, after a dispute among a number of board members, Kalafatis with most of the players—also followed by Campbell—decided to pull out of POA and secured a new ground in
Amerikis Square
Amerikis Square ( el, Πλατεία Αμερικής, ''Plateia Amerikis'', "America Square") is located in central Athens, Greece. It is an open area adjacently to Patision Street, on the western borders of Kypseli. Formerly called Agamon Squar ...
. Subsequently, the name of the club changed to Panellinios Podosferikos Omilos ("Panhellenic Football Club") and its colours to green and white. By 1914, Campbell had returned to England but the club was already at the top of Greek football with players such as
Michalis Papazoglou
Michalis Papazoglou was a Greek athlete from Constantinople. He started with track and field sports but when he came to Athens in the early 1910s, he joined the football club PPO (later to become PAO). He was the man who had the idea of adoptin ...
, Michalis Rokkos and
Loukas Panourgias
Loukas Panourgias ( el, Λουκάς Πανουργιάς, 4 September 1899 – Athens, 17 January 1981) was a Greek athlete and footballer.
At the age of 12 he went to Athens and a year later he formed an unofficial team called ''Niki''. Soon ...
.
In 1918, the team adopted the
trifolium
Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus h ...
(
shamrock
A shamrock is a young sprig, used as a symbol of Ireland. Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, is said to have used it as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of ...
) as its emblem, as proposed by
Michalis Papazoglou
Michalis Papazoglou was a Greek athlete from Constantinople. He started with track and field sports but when he came to Athens in the early 1910s, he joined the football club PPO (later to become PAO). He was the man who had the idea of adoptin ...
.
In 1921 and 1922, the
Athens-Piraeus FCA organized the first two post-
WWI
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
championships, in both of which PPO was declared champion. By that stage, the club had outgrown both the grounds in Patission Street and Amerikis Square, due mainly to its expansion in other sports, and began to look at vacant land in the area of Perivola on
Alexandras Avenue
Alexandra's Avenue ( Greek: Λεωφόρος Αλεξάνδρας ''Leoforos Alexandras'') is a main east–west thoroughfare running from Patission Street/28 October Street and Kifissias Avenue in the northern part of the city of Athens, Gree ...
as its potential new ground.
After long discussions with the
Municipality of Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
, an agreement was finally reached and in 1922
''Leoforos'' ("Avenue" in Greek) was granted to the club.
The move to a permanent home ground also heralded another—final—name change to Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (PAO), "''All-Athenian Athletic Club''", on 15 March 1924,
from now on a
multi-sport 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 ...
. However, the decision was already taken by 1922.
In 1926, the
Hellenic Football Federation
The Hellenic Football Federation (HFF), also known as the Greek Football Federation ( el, Ελληνική Ποδοσφαιρική Ομοσπονδία; ΕΠΟ, translit=Ellinikí Podosferikí Omospondía; EPO) is the governing body of associat ...
(HFF) was founded and the first
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 ...
under its authority took place in 1927.
![Panathinaikos FC 1930](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Panathinaikos_FC_1930.jpg)
Panathinaikos won undefeated the Championship of
1929–30 under the guidance of
József Künsztler
József Künsztler (1897 in Budapest – 1977 in Nicosia) was a Hungarian footballer and manager. He won one Greek championship as manager with Panathinaikos F.C. in 1930 and 8 Cypriot championships with APOEL FC. Until today, he is the coa ...
and
Angelos Messaris
Angelos Messaris ( Greek: Άγγελος Μεσσάρης; 1910-1978) was a Greek footballer. He played for Panathinaikos and he is widely regarded as the best Greek player of the pre-war era. This is probably also due to the myth that for d ...
as the team's star player.
Other notable players of this ''Belle Époque'' period of the team were
Antonis Migiakis
Antonis Migiakis ( el, Aντώνης Mηγιάκης; born 23 October 1911 – 19 November 1999) was a star forward for Greek football team Panathinaikos in the 1930s. He is probably best remembered for his memorable performance in his team's 8 ...
,
Diomidis Symeonidis
Diomidis Symeonidis (1908 – 24 April 1981) was a Cypriot footballer, one of the founders of APOEL.
Symeonidis was born in 1908 and was, along with his brother Christos, a footballer of Aetos - a local Nicosia club - until 1926 when he met Ge ...
,
Mimis Pierrakos
Mimis Pierrakos, Greek: Μίμης Πιερράκος; 1906 – November 1940) was a Greek footballer.
Football career
A co-player of Angelos Messaris and the top goalscorer for Panathinaikos in 1936, with 18 goals in 10 games. He played for ...
and
Stefanos Pierrakos
Stephanos or Stefanos, in Greek , is a masculine given name derived from the Greek word (''stéphanos''), meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", from the verb (''stéphein''), "to encircle, to wreathe". In Ancient ...
, among others. They thrashed rivals
Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos 8–2, a result that still remains the biggest win either team has achieved against its rival, with Messaris scoring three goals. The team also defeated
Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to:
People
* Aris (surname)
Given name
* Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer
* Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player
* Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano
* Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter
* Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...
1–4 away 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 ...
. Messaris, who scored again three goals, became a hero and chant for the fans.
Crisis and WWII years
In 1931, a serious disagreement between leading board member
Apostolos Nikolaidis from one side, and some players (most notably
Angelos Messaris
Angelos Messaris ( Greek: Άγγελος Μεσσάρης; 1910-1978) was a Greek footballer. He played for Panathinaikos and he is widely regarded as the best Greek player of the pre-war era. This is probably also due to the myth that for d ...
) and club's officials on the other side,
regarding the
professionalization
Professionalization is a social process by which any tradesman, trade or occupation transforms itself into a true "profession of the highest integrity and competence." The definition of what constitutes a profession is often contested. Professional ...
in the
Greek football, which lasted two years, damaged the club and led to a counterproductive period. In the meantime, the HFF
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 ...
had commenced in 1932. The last bright moment for the Greens before World War II was winning the Cup for the first time in 1940 against Aris, 3–1.
In 1940, with the break out of the
Greco-Italian War
The Greco-Italian War (Greek language, Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdom ...
, many players of the club joined the
Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...
.
Mimis Pierrakos
Mimis Pierrakos, Greek: Μίμης Πιερράκος; 1906 – November 1940) was a Greek footballer.
Football career
A co-player of Angelos Messaris and the top goalscorer for Panathinaikos in 1936, with 18 goals in 10 games. He played for ...
was killed during the war (later, during the 1950s, his bones were transferred from Albania back to Athens). During the
Axis Occupation of Greece from 1941 to 1944, many players of the team became members of
United Panhellenic Organization of Youth
The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth, abbreviated EPON ( el, Ενιαία Πανελλαδική Οργάνωση Νέων (ΕΠΟΝ)), was a Greek resistance organization
that was active during the Axis Occupation of Greece in World ...
(PEAN) resistance organization., while
Michalis Papazoglou
Michalis Papazoglou was a Greek athlete from Constantinople. He started with track and field sports but when he came to Athens in the early 1910s, he joined the football club PPO (later to become PAO). He was the man who had the idea of adoptin ...
had a leading role in the resistance group of
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz ( el, Γεώργιος Ιβάνωφ-Σαϊνόβιτς, ''Georgios Ivanof-Sainovits''; 14 December 1911 – 4 January 1943) was a Polish-Greek athlete who fought as a saboteur in the Greek Resistance during World War II a ...
.P
After this long crisis period, Panathinaikos had to wait until 1949 to win again a Greek Championship under the guidance of the Austrian coach
Johann Strnad
Johann "Hans" Strnad (~1893 – ~1950) was an Austrian football player and manager.
Club career
Born in Vienna. While playing with Wiener Sport-Club, he played one match for the Austria national football team on April 14, 1918 in a match in Buda ...
. That same year, Vangelis Panakis and
Kostas Linoxilakis
Kostas Linoxilakis ( el, Κώστας Λινοξυλάκης; 5 March 1933 – 3 December 2014) was a Greek former international and Olympic footballer.
Career
Linoxilakis started his career at Asteras Athens and was centre back of Panathinaikos ...
came to the club and quickly became the side's new star players. Panathinaikos was again champion for the
1952–53 Panhellenic Championship.
Until 1959, the team had also won seven of the last eight
Athens Championships, the regional championships organised in Greece. In 1959,
Mimis Domazos
Dimitris "Mimis" Domazos ( el, Δημήτρης "Μίμης" Δομάζος, born 22 January 1942) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. His nickname was ''"The General"'' ''( el, "Ο Στρατηγός ...
, the emblematic captain of the team, made his first appearance with Panathinaikos and the same year took place the first season under the new system of Alpha Ethniki (
1959–60 Alpha Ethniki). Panathinaikos was the champion team.
1960s: The Golden Decade, the Bobek's rejuvenation
During the next years, Panathinaikos were again champions in 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969 and 1970. Moreover, the team won two more Greek Cups, in 1967 and 1969. Also, during these years, a long process of rejuvenation took place in the club. Notable players retired, such as Panakis, Linoxilakis,
Takis Loukanidis
Takis Loukanidis ( el, Τάκης Λουκανίδης, 25 September 1937 – 11 January 2018) was a Greek footballer of the 1950s–60s.
Career
Born in Paranesti, a village in the broader area of Drama, Loukanidis' father was killed by Bulgari ...
and
Andreas Papaemmanouil
Andreas Papaemmanouil ( el, Ανδρέας Παπαεμμανουήλ; 18 February 1939 – 1 March 2020) was a Greek professional footballer who played as a forward and a later manager.
Early life
Papaemmanouil was born on 18 February 1939 in ...
, and the team had to count on young players like Domazos,
Antonis Antoniadis
Antonis Antoniadis (Greek: Αντώνης Αντωνιάδης, born 25 May 1946) is a former Greek footballer. He scored 243 goals during his 22-years long career. He started his career in 1964 playing for Aspida Xanthi before moving to Pana ...
,
Anthimos Kapsis
Anthimos Kapsis ( el, Άνθιμος Καψής; born 3 September 1950) is a Greek former International footballer who played as a sweeper.
Career
Born in Astypalaia, Kapsis' family moved to Keratsini when he was young. Kapsis played for the P ...
,
Kostas Eleftherakis
Kostas Eleftherakis ( el, Κώστας Ελευθεράκης, born 18 July 1950) is a Greek former international football player who played as a midfielder. His nickname was ''"the Deer"'' ''( el, "το Ελάφι")''.
Club career
He started h ...
and
Takis Ikonomopoulos
Panagiotis "Takis" Ikonomopoulos ( gr, Παναγιώτης "Τάκης" Οικονομόπουλος; born 19 October 1943) is a Greek former international football player who played as a goalkeeper. He was nicknamed ''"The Bird"'' ''( gr, "Τ ...
.
Stjepan Bobek
Stjepan Bobek (; 3 December 1923 – 22 August 2010) was a Croatian and Yugoslav professional football striker and later football manager.
Usually a forward or attacking midfielder, Bobek was renowned for his technique, vision and goalscoring ...
was the main contributor to this process. In 1963, he became the club's head coach, changing the playing style of the team to a 4–3–3 and created a new team based on young players (the "Bobek's rejuvenation"). Under his guidance, Panathinaikos won the Championship of 1964 without a loss, making them one of the two teams that has won the Greek Championship (with its modern system) undefeated.
Notable players of the team included Panakis, Domazos,
Takis Ikonomopoulos
Panagiotis "Takis" Ikonomopoulos ( gr, Παναγιώτης "Τάκης" Οικονομόπουλος; born 19 October 1943) is a Greek former international football player who played as a goalkeeper. He was nicknamed ''"The Bird"'' ''( gr, "Τ ...
,
Totis Filakouris
Panagiotis "Totis" Filakouris (born 1 March 1947) is a Greek former footballer who played as a forward.
Fylakouris played for Panathinaikos for ten years from 1965 until 1975 and was a member of the team that played in the final of the Europ ...
,
Frangiskos Sourpis
Frangiskos Sourpis ( el, Φραγκίσκος Σούρπης; born 4 March 1943) is a former Greek footballer, centre-back for Panathinaikos from 1962 until 1973.
Career
Born in Kifisia, Sourpis was talented at the pole vault and volleyball, ...
and
Aristidis Kamaras
Aristidis "Kamaras" Katrodaylis ( el, Αριστείδης "Καμάρας" Κατροδαύλης; born 2 March 1939) is a retired Greek footballer and lawyer.
He started his career at Apollon Athens as a defender. His career at Apollon didn' ...
.
With the establishment of the
Greek military regime, the president of the club,
Loukas Panourgias
Loukas Panourgias ( el, Λουκάς Πανουργιάς, 4 September 1899 – Athens, 17 January 1981) was a Greek athlete and footballer.
At the age of 12 he went to Athens and a year later he formed an unofficial team called ''Niki''. Soon ...
, was forced out of the presidency. The contract of Bobek was canceled by the State, while
Apostolos Nikolaidis, the old player, manager and official of the club, went on trial.
In 1967, the great
Béla Guttmann came as coach, but he soon left and ex-player
Lakis Petropoulos
Lakis Petropoulos ( el, Λάκης Πετρόπουλος, 29 August 1932 – 30 June 1996) was a Greece, Greek association football, football player and manager.
He played for Panathinaikos F.C., Panathinaikos and capped 3 times for Greece natio ...
was appointed. Under his guidance, Panathinaikos won the championships of 1969 (with a double) and 1970.
Puskás years and the epic road to Wembley
1970–71 European Cup finalists
In 1971, under the guidance of
Ferenc Puskás
Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward, ...
, Panathinaikos were
1970–71 European Cup
The 1970–71 season of the European Cup club football tournament was won by Ajax in the final against Panathinaikos. It was the first time the cup went to Ajax, beginning a three-year period of domination, and the second consecutive championshi ...
finalists, the first and only Greek team until today, losing 2–0 to
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
.
In the road to the final, they eliminated
Jeunesse Esch
Jeunesse Esch (full name ''Association Sportive la Jeunesse d'Esch/Alzette'') is a football club, based in Esch-sur-Alzette, in south-western Luxembourg. The side play in the National Division, the highest league in the country, and have won th ...
,
Slovan Bratislava,
Everton and
Red Star Belgrade
Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...
.
Notable players included the captain
Mimis Domazos
Dimitris "Mimis" Domazos ( el, Δημήτρης "Μίμης" Δομάζος, born 22 January 1942) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. His nickname was ''"The General"'' ''( el, "Ο Στρατηγός ...
,
Anthimos Kapsis
Anthimos Kapsis ( el, Άνθιμος Καψής; born 3 September 1950) is a Greek former International footballer who played as a sweeper.
Career
Born in Astypalaia, Kapsis' family moved to Keratsini when he was young. Kapsis played for the P ...
,
Aristidis Kamaras
Aristidis "Kamaras" Katrodaylis ( el, Αριστείδης "Καμάρας" Κατροδαύλης; born 2 March 1939) is a retired Greek footballer and lawyer.
He started his career at Apollon Athens as a defender. His career at Apollon didn' ...
,
Kostas Eleftherakis
Kostas Eleftherakis ( el, Κώστας Ελευθεράκης, born 18 July 1950) is a Greek former international football player who played as a midfielder. His nickname was ''"the Deer"'' ''( el, "το Ελάφι")''.
Club career
He started h ...
,
Totis Filakouris
Panagiotis "Totis" Filakouris (born 1 March 1947) is a Greek former footballer who played as a forward.
Fylakouris played for Panathinaikos for ten years from 1965 until 1975 and was a member of the team that played in the final of the Europ ...
and the goalkeepers
Takis Ikonomopoulos
Panagiotis "Takis" Ikonomopoulos ( gr, Παναγιώτης "Τάκης" Οικονομόπουλος; born 19 October 1943) is a Greek former international football player who played as a goalkeeper. He was nicknamed ''"The Bird"'' ''( gr, "Τ ...
and
Vasilis Konstantinou
Vasilis Konstantinou ( el, Βασίλης Κωνσταντίνου; born 19 November 1947) is a former Greek football goalkeeper whose career spanned three decades: the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Club career
Born in Marousi, Konstantinou played fo ...
.
Antonis Antoniadis
Antonis Antoniadis (Greek: Αντώνης Αντωνιάδης, born 25 May 1946) is a former Greek footballer. He scored 243 goals during his 22-years long career. He started his career in 1964 playing for Aspida Xanthi before moving to Pana ...
was the top scorer in the competition scoring ten goals.
In the same year, Panathinaikos played for the
1971 Intercontinental Cup (due to the refusal of Ajax to participate), where they lost to Uruguayan club
Nacional
Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to:
Airlines
* Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002
* Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961
Bank
* Banco Nacional, a ...
(1–1 in Greece, 2–1 in Uruguay).
Totis Filakouris
Panagiotis "Totis" Filakouris (born 1 March 1947) is a Greek former footballer who played as a forward.
Fylakouris played for Panathinaikos for ten years from 1965 until 1975 and was a member of the team that played in the final of the Europ ...
was the scorer for the Greek club.
During the last amateur years of Greek football, the ''Trifolium'' won one more Championship in 1972. Antonis Antoniadis was again
top scorer with 39 goals (also second in Europe). His
record remains until today in the Greek league.
With the collapse of the
military regime
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
,
Apostolos Nikolaidis became again active for the club and was appointed honorary president of Panathinaikos. In 1975, one of the greatest coaches of his era, the Brazilian
Aymoré Moreira
Aymoré Moreira (24 April 1912 – 26 July 1998) was a Brazilian football player and coach, who played as a goalkeeper. He was a brother of Zezé Moreira and Ayrton Moreira, both of whom were also successful coaches in Brazilian football.
...
, who mainly worked in Brazil (
World Cup Champion with the
Brazilian national team in 1962), was appointed. After a year and a half of poor results, however, he was replaced by
Kazimierz Górski
Kazimierz Klaudiusz Górski (2 March 1921 – 23 May 2006) was a coach of Poland national football team and honorary president of the Polish Football Association. He was also a football player, capped once for Poland.
Playing career
He was bor ...
. With Górski, Panathinaikos won the
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
in 1977, followed by a
Balkans Cup
The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...
victory in the same year. Notable foreign players who played for the team during the late 1970s include
Juan Ramón Verón
Juan Ramón Verón (; born 17 March 1944) is an Argentine football coach and former professional player. He played as a midfielder or forward most notably for Estudiantes, where he won three consecutive Copa Libertadores titles. He is the fath ...
,
Araquem de Melo and
Óscar Álvarez.
Vardinogiannis era (1979–2012)
![Saravakos2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Saravakos2.png)
In 1979, Greek football turned professional. The Vardinogiannis family purchased PAO's football department and
Giorgos Vardinogiannis became president.
Panathinaikos were one of the first Greek clubs that formed a
women's team in 1980, but that department is currently inactive.
The transformation period lasted a few years, but in 1982 the club won its first professional era trophy,
the Greek Cup, and during the 1980s they would go on winning two championships (1984, 1986), four more Greek Cups (1984, 1986—with a 4–0 against
Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos in the final—, 1988, 1989) and the
Greek Super Cup
The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek Football (soccer), association football one-match ...
in 1988. The great star of the team during these years was
Dimitris Saravakos
Dimitris Saravakos ( el, Δημήτρης Σαραβάκος; born 26 July 1961), nicknamed "The Kid" ''( el, "ο Μικρός")'', is a Greek former international footballer who played as a forward. Saravakos is widely considered to be one of t ...
, nicknamed "The Kid." Saravakos, a high-technique explosive midfielder and iconic captain of Panathinaikos, was the alsolute idol for the fans during the 1980s, while other players included
Nikos Sarganis
Nikos Sarganis (Greek language, Greek: Νίκος Σαργκάνης; born 13 January 1954) is a Greek former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper.
Career
Born in Rafina, Att ...
,
Spiros Livathinos
Spyros Livathinos ( el, Σπύρος Λιβαθηνός; born 8 January 1955) is a former football player who played as a midfielder, coach and current scout of Panathinaikos.
Career
Born in Patras, Livathinos started his football career in th ...
,
Velimir Zajec
Velimir Zajec (born 12 February 1956) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who last managed Dinamo Zagreb.
Club career
Zajec began his career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1974, aged 18. During 10 years at the club, he helped them ...
,
Juan Ramón Rocha
Juan Ramón Rocha (born 8 March 1954) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Greek Super League 2 club Thesprotos.
Playing career
Born in Santo Tomé, Corrientes, Rocha began his profess ...
,
Christos Dimopoulos
Christos Dimopoulos ( el, Χρήστος Δημόπουλος, born 6 September 1959) is a retired Greek footballer who played as a forward for PAOK and Panathinaikos F.C.. His nickname was "Fonias" (''Φονιάς'', meaning Killer) of Greek ...
and
Giannis Kyrastas
Giannis Kyrastas ( el, Γιάννης Κυράστας; 25 October 1952 – 1 April 2004) was a Greece, Greek soccer, footballer and Coach (sport), football manager.
Club career
Born in Piraeus, Kyrastas started his football career in Olympi ...
.
In the 1984–85 season, Panathinaikos, with coach
Jacek Gmoch
Jacek Wojciech Gmoch (born 13 January 1939 in Pruszków) is a former Polish footballer, who later became a trainer and manager of the Poland National Team.
While having a successful football career he graduated in communication from the Warsaw ...
and stars
Dimitris Saravakos
Dimitris Saravakos ( el, Δημήτρης Σαραβάκος; born 26 July 1961), nicknamed "The Kid" ''( el, "ο Μικρός")'', is a Greek former international footballer who played as a forward. Saravakos is widely considered to be one of t ...
,
Velimir Zajec
Velimir Zajec (born 12 February 1956) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who last managed Dinamo Zagreb.
Club career
Zajec began his career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1974, aged 18. During 10 years at the club, he helped them ...
,
Juan Ramón Rocha
Juan Ramón Rocha (born 8 March 1954) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Greek Super League 2 club Thesprotos.
Playing career
Born in Santo Tomé, Corrientes, Rocha began his profess ...
and
Ioannis Kyrastas
Giannis Kyrastas ( el, Γιάννης Κυράστας; 25 October 1952 – 1 April 2004) was a Greek footballer and football manager.
Club career
Born in Piraeus, Kyrastas started his football career in Olympiacos, where he played his firs ...
, made a run in Europe, eliminating
Feyenoord
Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...
,
Linfield and
IFK Göteborg
Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...
to reach the semi-finals of the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
, where they were knocked out by
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
.
In
1987–88, they made it also to the quarter-finals of the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
, eliminating
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
,
Auxerre
Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...
and
Budapest Honvéd
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...
. Dimitris Saravakos was top scorer of the competition.
The 1990s were an even more successful period for the club, both nationally and internationally. Four Greek championships (1990, 1991, 1995, 1996), four Greek Cups (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995) and two
Greek Super Cup
The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek Football (soccer), association football one-match ...
s (1993, 1994) were awarded to the club.
In the
1991–92 season, Panathinaikos reached also the last eight of the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
and took part in the first ever European tournament to have a group stage.
In
1995–96, with
Juan Ramon Rocha
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
as coach and key players
Krzysztof Warzycha
Krzysztof Ireneusz Warzycha (, el, Κριστόφ Βαζέχα; born 17 November 1964) is a Greek-Polish former professional footballer who played as a forward for Ruch Chorzów and for Greek club Panathinaikos. At international level, he repre ...
,
Józef Wandzik,
Stratos Apostolakis
Stratos Apostolakis ( el, Στράτος Αποστολάκης; born 17 May 1964), nicknamed The Turbo, is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defender or a defensive midfielder.
Career
Apostolakis was no stranger to contro ...
,
Georgios Georgiadis,
Dimitris Markos
Dimitris Markos ( el, Δημήτρης Μάρκος; born 31 January 1971) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He now works as a scout for OFI.
Club career
Markos started his football career in 1987 at Naous ...
,
Giannis Kalitzakis
Giannis Kalitzakis ( el, Γιάννης Καλιτζάκης; born 10 February 1966) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a center back. His nickname was ''"The Ninja"'' due to his hard acrobatic tackles and very strong defens ...
,
Giorgos Donis
Georgios Donis ( el, Γεώργιος Δώνης; born 22 October 1969) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and currently a manager. He is the current manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Fateh. He was the first ev ...
and
Juan Jose Borrelli, Panathinaikos reached the Champions League semi-finals, finishing first in the group stage against
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
,
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
,
Aalborg BK
Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curre ...
and eliminating
Legia Warsaw
Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...
in the quarter-finals.
In the semi-finals, Panathinaikos faced
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
, recording an impressive 0–1 first leg away victory with Krzysztof Warzycha scoring the winning goal. Ajax had a record of 22 undefeated international matches until then, with Panathinaikos breaking their series. The Greek team, however, suffered a 0–3 defeat on the second leg. Thus, Panathinaikos was denied entry to a Champions League final once more.
![Georgios Karagounis 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Georgios_Karagounis_2010.jpg)
In the summer of 2000, President Giorgos Vardinogiannis resigned from his duties with complaints for the
refereeing situation in Greece and passed his shares to his nephew
Giannis Vardinogiannis
Giannis Vardinogiannis ( el, Γιάννης Βαρδινογιάννης, born 7 April 1962) is a Greek billionaire shipping magnate, the eldest son of petroleum tycoon Vardis Vardinogiannis. He is included in the Lloyd's List ''Most influential ...
, who changed the style of the club's management.
Angelos Anastasiadis
Angelos Anastasiadis (; born 8 March 1953) is a Greek football manager and former international footballer. He previously coached numerous clubs in Greece including PAOK, Panathinaikos, Platanias and PAS Giannina as well as the Greece and Cyp ...
was initially appointed coach of the team and later the ex-player
Giannis Kyrastas
Giannis Kyrastas ( el, Γιάννης Κυράστας; 25 October 1952 – 1 April 2004) was a Greece, Greek soccer, footballer and Coach (sport), football manager.
Club career
Born in Piraeus, Kyrastas started his football career in Olympi ...
.
With the arrival of coach
Sergio Markarian
Sergio may refer to:
* Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio
* Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found
* ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass
* ''Sergio'' (2009 film), a documentary film
* ''Se ...
, Panathinaikos reached the quarter-finals of the
2001–02 UEFA Champions League
The 2001–02 UEFA Champions League was the 47th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club football tournament, and the 10th since its rebranding from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The tournament was won by R ...
, being eliminated by
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. Panathinaikos had passed the first
group stage
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...
as the top club against
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
,
Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
and
Schalke 04
Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...
, and the second group stage as second against
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
, Porto and
Sparta Prague
) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští''
, ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena
, capacity = 19,416
, clubname = Sparta Prague
, image = Sparta Praha logo.png
, image_size = 160px
, fu ...
.
In the first leg of the quarter-finals, Panathinaikos managed to defeat
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
by 1–0 in
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium ( el, Γήπεδο Απόστολος Νικολαΐδης), commonly known as Leoforos Alexandras Stadium or Leoforos Stadium, is a football stadium and multi-sport center in Athens, Greece. It was inaugurated in 19 ...
. The second leg in
Camp Nou
Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...
was to be an eventful one. Panathinaikos scored first thanks to a beautiful goal by
Michalis Konstantinou
Michalis Konstantinou ( el, Μιχάλης Κωνσταντίνου; born 19 February 1978) is a Cypriot retired football striker. He played for the Cyprus national football team, and he is the all-time leading scorer with 32 goals in 85 appe ...
but eventually was eliminated as Barcelona scored three goals.
Ιn Europe, Panathinaikos made it to the quarter-finals of
UEFA Cup quarter-finals. En route, the Greek team had knocked-out
Litex Lovech
Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club.
The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion ...
,
Fenerbahçe (with an impressive 4–1 win in Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium),
Slovan Liberec
FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won three league titles and the domesti ...
and
Anderlecht
Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...
.
During the quarter-finals, although winning the first match in
Estádio das Antas
The Estádio das Antas (officially Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto) was the third (and longest occupied) stadium of the Portuguese football side FC Porto. It was in use from 1952 to 2004, replacing the earlier Campo da Constituição, 1.6km ( ...
against eventual winners of the trophy
FC Porto
Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...
of
José Mourinho
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...
, with the header of
Emmanuel Olisadebe
Emmanuel Olisadebe (; born 22 December 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker most notably for the Poland national team. He scored 11 international goals in 25 caps between 2000 and 2004, and participated in the 200 ...
, they were eliminated in the second leg after extra time.
Notable players of this team included
Takis Fyssas
Takis Fyssas ( el, Τάκης Φύσσας, born 12 June 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a left back. He works as the sporting director of the Greece national team. He was previously the technical director of the ...
,
Giorgos Karagounis
Georgios Karagkounis ( el, Γεώργιος Καραγκούνης; born 6 March 1977), known as Giorgos Karagounis ( el, Γιώργος Καραγκούνης), is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
In his club ...
,
Antonis Nikopolidis
Antonis Nikopolidis ( el, Αντώνης Νικοπολίδης; born 14 January 1971) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and former manager of the Greece under-21 national team.
He is regarded among the best ...
,
Angelos Basinas
Angelos Basinas ( el, Άγγελος Μπασινάς , born 3 January 1976) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He could also operate as a central midfielder and a centre back. He is best remembered ...
,
Nikos Lyberopoulos,
Michalis Konstantinou
Michalis Konstantinou ( el, Μιχάλης Κωνσταντίνου; born 19 February 1978) is a Cypriot retired football striker. He played for the Cyprus national football team, and he is the all-time leading scorer with 32 goals in 85 appe ...
,
Giourkas Seitaridis
Georgios "Giourkas" Seitaridis ( ; born 4 June 1981) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a right-back and occasionally as a centre-back. He has last played in 2013 for Greek Superleague side Panathinaikos, having played pr ...
,
Sotirios Kyrgiakos
Sotirios Kyrgiakos ( el, Σωτήριος Κυργιάκος, born 23 July 1979) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a central defender.
Club career
Kyrgiakos made his first football steps with a local team, Thyella Megaloc ...
,
Paulo Sousa
Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder.
Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting CP in his countr ...
,
Goran Vlaović
Goran Vlaović (born 7 August 1972) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a striker.
Club career
Born in Nova Gradiška, Vlaović started his professional career with Osijek in 1989 and moved to HAŠK Građanski in 1992, before goi ...
,
Rene Henriksen,
Joonas Kolkka
Joonas Einari Kolkka (born 28 September 1974) is a Finnish retired professional footballer who played as a left winger most of his career, but could also play on the right wing. Having started his career in his native Finland, he went on to play ...
,
Jan Michaelsen
Jan Munk Michaelsen (born 28 November 1970) is a former Danish footballer and currently is the head of coaching at Nykøbing FC. He made 20 international appearances, scored one goal for the Danish national team. He is the son of former Danish f ...
and
Emmanuel Olisadebe
Emmanuel Olisadebe (; born 22 December 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker most notably for the Poland national team. He scored 11 international goals in 25 caps between 2000 and 2004, and participated in the 200 ...
, considered by the fans one of the best teams in the club's history.
During
2002–03 Alpha Ethniki season, they lost the Greek championship in the last two games by arch-rivals Olympiacos.
Under the guidance of Israeli coach
Itzhak Shum
Itzhak Shum ( he, יצחק שום; born 1 September 1948 in Kishinev, Moldavian SSR) is a retired Israeli football player and manager, and currently the owner of Hapoel Kfar Saba.
Playing career
He played 78 times and scored 10 goals for Is ...
, Panathinaikos managed to win the championship in 2004. They won also the
Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...
, beating Olympiacos 3–1 in the final, making the double. New players like
Ezequiel González
Ezequiel "Equi" González (; born 10 July 1980 in Rosario) is a former Argentine midfielder.
Career
González started playing professionally at home-based first division Rosario Central in 1997. His success in the club from Rosario (Santa Fé) ...
,
Lucian Sanmartean and
Markus Münch had signed the summer before. In the
Champions League, they came third in the group stage facing
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
,
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...
and
Rangers.
However, Shum was unexpectedly fired early in the next season (
2004–05) and
Zdeněk Ščasný
Zdeněk Ščasný (born 9 August 1957) is a Czech football manager and former player.
Ščasný has won the Czech league championship five timesthree times as a player and twice as a coachand the Czech Cup three timestwice as a player and onc ...
succeeded him on the bench. Panathinaikos finished second in the championship, while in the Champions League they came again third in the group stage facing
Rosenborg,
PSV and Arsenal. They continued in the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
, where they were eliminated by
Sevilla
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...
.
In 2005, major changes were made in the team's roster. Players like
Angelos Basinas
Angelos Basinas ( el, Άγγελος Μπασινάς , born 3 January 1976) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He could also operate as a central midfielder and a centre back. He is best remembered ...
and
Michalis Konstantinou
Michalis Konstantinou ( el, Μιχάλης Κωνσταντίνου; born 19 February 1978) is a Cypriot retired football striker. He played for the Cyprus national football team, and he is the all-time leading scorer with 32 goals in 85 appe ...
departed, while others like
Flávio Conceição
Flávio da Conceição (born 12 June 1974) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Conceição enjoyed a successful career in Spain, where he played for two clubs—including Real Madrid with whom he won six ma ...
,
Igor Bišćan
Igor Bišćan (; born 4 May 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Croatia national under-21 team. In his playing career, he was a versatile player and could play almost every position in th ...
and
Andreas Ivanschitz
Andreas Ivanschitz ( hr, Ivančić; born 15 October 1983) is an Austrian retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
During the career, Ivanschitz played for Rapid Wien, Red Bull Salzburg, Panathinaikos, 1.FSV Mainz 05, Levante ...
arrived. Ščasný gave his seat to
Alberto Malesani
Alberto Malesani (; born 5 June 1954) is an Italian football manager and former player. As a manager, he is mostly remembered for his successful spell with Parma during the late 1990s, where he won the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup, and the Superc ...
. At the start of the
2006–07 season, Malesani left the team and was replaced by
Hans Backe
Hans Roland "Hasse" Backe (; born 14 February 1952) is a Swedish football manager and former player who most recently led Finland's national team. Prior to this he managed the New York Red Bulls.
He has coached clubs in Sweden, Norway, Greece, ...
, who left only three months after his appointment;
Víctor Muñoz
Víctor Muñoz Manrique (born 15 March 1957), known simply as Víctor in his playing days, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and a manager.
An all-around midfield unit, he was best known for his great physical strengt ...
was his replacement. For the
2007–08 season, Panathinaikos hired
José Peseiro
José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro (born 4 April 1960) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the manager of the Nigeria national team.
After an unassuming career as a player, he went on to coach several ...
.
![20130814 AT-GR Kostas Katsouranis 2377](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/20130814_AT-GR_Kostas_Katsouranis_2377.jpg)
On 22 April 2008, and under pressure from the fan base, main shareholder Giannis Vardinogiannis gave a press conference in which he announced the decision of his family to reduce their share in the club to 50%—after 30 years of full ownership—through an €80 million increase of the company's capital stock. After the negotiations and the share capital increase, the Vardinogiannis family would hold 56% of the club, the amateur Club 10% and the other shareholders 34% (with main investors
Andreas Vgenopoulos,
Pavlos Giannakopoulos
Pavlos D. Giannakopoulos (Greek: Παύλος Δ. Γιαννακόπουλος; 20 August 1929 – 10 June 2018) was a Greek businessman, owner and president of Panathinaikos B.C. and president of Panathinaikos AC.
Vianex
Along with his broth ...
,
Adamantios Polemis Adamantios Polemis is a Greek major shipowner and shareholder of Panathinaikos FC
Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Pa ...
and
Nikos Pateras
Nikos Pateras is a Greek major shipowner, president (from 2008 to 2010) and shareholder of Panathinaikos FC.
He is member of the Pateras family, a historic shipping family from Chios island. He is president of Pacific & ...
). Nikos Pateras was selected to be the new president of the club.
![Olympique de Marseille - Girondins de Bordeaux 2007 2008 Djibril Cissé](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Olympique_de_Marseille_-_Girondins_de_Bordeaux_2007_2008_Djibril_Ciss%C3%A9.jpg)
Following the major changes in 2008, Panathinaikos hired
Henk ten Cate
Hendrik Willem ten Cate (born 9 December 1954) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player.
In the 2005–06 season, he was assistant to Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona when the team won the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles. ...
as coach and bought many expensive players, such as
Gilberto Silva
Gilberto Aparecido da Silva (; born 7 October 1976) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder most notably for English Premier League club Arsenal, Super League club Panathinaikos F.C., Clube Atlétic ...
from Arsenal and
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
from
Fluminense
Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...
. In the
2008–09 season, the Greens proved that they could hold their weight in the
Champions League by reaching the
last 16. However, they disappointed in 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 ...
, finishing third in the regular season, though they managed to come second overall after the playoff mini-league.
The
2009–10 season was a successful one for Panathinaikos. During the summer transfer period, the club bought
Djibril Cissé
Djibril Cissé (; born 12 August 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward.
He started his career at AC Arles in 1989, at the age of eight. After seven years at the club, he had a six-month spell at Nîmes Olym ...
from
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
,
Kostas Katsouranis
Kostas Katsouranis ( el, Κώστας Κατσουράνης; born 21 June 1979) is a Greek former international footballer. A versatile midfielder, who won the Super League Greek Footballer of the Year Award in 2005 and 2013, as well as the Co ...
from
Benfica,
Sebastián Leto
Sebastián Eduardo Leto (born 30 August 1986) is a former Argentine professional footballer who played as a winger or forward.He is now assistant manager at Al-Gharafa SC.
Club career
Lanús
Born in Alejandro Korn, Leto began his career wit ...
from
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
and various other players, spending more than €35 million in total. Henk ten Cate left in December to be replaced by
Nikos Nioplias
Nikos Nioplias ( el, Νίκος Νιόπλιας; born 17 January 1965) is a Greek professional football manager and former player.
Playing career
Club
His career began with OFI Crete in 1983, winning the Greek Cup in 1987, and he remained fo ...
. The team managed to reach the
last 16 of the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
, eliminating
A.S. Roma
' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...
after two amazing matches in
Olympic Stadium of Athens
The Olympic Stadium of Athens " Spyros Louis" ( el, Ολυμπιακό Στάδιο Αθηνών "Σπύρος Λούης", ''Olympiakó Stádio Athinon "Spyros Louis"'') is a sports stadium in Athens, Greece. It is a part of the Athens Olympic ...
and
Stadio Olimpico
The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian Na ...
. Panathinaikos also won both 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 ...
and 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 ...
, beating
Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to:
People
* Aris (surname)
Given name
* Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer
* Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player
* Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano
* Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter
* Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...
by 1–0 in the final of the latter, thanks to a goal by
Sebastián Leto
Sebastián Eduardo Leto (born 30 August 1986) is a former Argentine professional footballer who played as a winger or forward.He is now assistant manager at Al-Gharafa SC.
Club career
Lanús
Born in Alejandro Korn, Leto began his career wit ...
.
In 2011, due to financial problems and management disagreements, Panathinaikos sold
Cissé for €5.8 million to
Lazio
it, Laziale
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
and first-choice
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
Alexandros Tzorvas
Alexandros Tzorvas ( el, Αλέξανδρος Τζόρβας; born 12 August 1982) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Club career
Early career
Ηe began his career as a member of the renowned (domazos academy) ...
to
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
to reduce the budget. New players then entered, such as
Quincy Owusu-Abeyie
Quincy Jamie Owusu-Abeyie (born 15 April 1986), often known simply as Quincy, is a former professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for Dutch amateur club SV Robinhood. Quincy is also a rapper, who goes by the name BLOW.
H ...
,
Toché,
Vitolo and
Zeca. The club also changed their president and chose Dimitris Gontikas to be the new chairman. Panathinaikos failed to qualify to the group stage of
2011–12 Champions League after they were knocked out by
Odense BK
Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...
4–5 on aggregate.
Recent years (2012–)
Panathinaikos' downfall continued as a result of the serious riots in the Panathinaikos–Olympiacos derby of 18 March 2012. The entire board quit and Panathinaikos remained headless for about two months. However, the owner of
Skai TV
Skai TV (Greek: ΣΚΑΪ) is a Greek free-to-air television network based in Piraeus. It is part of the Skai Group, one of the largest media groups in the country. It was relaunched in its present form on 1 April 2006 in the Athens metropolita ...
,
Giannis Alafouzos
Giannis Alafouzos ( el, Γιάννης Αλαφούζος, born 2 July 1957) is a Greek businessman, shipowner, and member of the Alafouzos family from Santorini.
Early life
Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and is the son of businessman, sh ...
, devised a plan to take Vardinogiannis' shares (54.7%) and make them available to fans around Greece so that everyone could contribute a desired amount, so that Panathinaikos could overcome the crisis.
His plan seemed to be working, as a new 20-member board was elected with Dimitris Gontikas at the president's chair again,
though it was yet to be seen how the fans would respond to Panathinaikos' call for help.
On 2 July 2012, the PAO Alliance 2012 finally opened to the public so that everyone could be a member and contribute a desired amount in return for privileges. After a few weeks of operation, 8,606 members had signed up, some of which were current or former Panathinaikos players, including
Jean-Alain Boumsong
Jean-Alain Boumsong Somkong (born 14 December 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. He began his senior career with French club Le Havre in 1997 before joining AJ Auxerre in 2000. His performances at Auxerre ...
,
Sotiris Ninis
Sotiris Ninis ( el, Σωτήρης Νίνης; born 3 April 1990) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a right winger for Super League club PAS Giannina.
Ninis was formerly a member of the Greek national ...
, Gilberto Silva and Djibril Cissé, among others.
On 18 July 2012, marked a historical day in Panathinaikos history, as Giannis Vardinogiannis gave his shares—54.7% of Panathinaikos—to the Panathinaikos Alliance, thereby allowing Panathinaikos to have a fresh start with their own fans at the steering wheel, who through elections (amongst the members of the Alliance) they compose the board of directors and elect the club's president. The first president elected was
Giannis Alafouzos
Giannis Alafouzos ( el, Γιάννης Αλαφούζος, born 2 July 1957) is a Greek businessman, shipowner, and member of the Alafouzos family from Santorini.
Early life
Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and is the son of businessman, sh ...
.
The first season with the Panathinaikos Alliance at the helm was nothing short of abysmal for the club. While still enduring financial troubles, Panathinaikos finished sixth in the championship and failed to qualify for the European competition for the first time in 16 years.
![Marcus Berg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Marcus_Berg.jpg)
For the
2013–14 season, the membership had risen up to 9,305 members. Starting the football year, both fans and journalists were very skeptical of Panathinaikos' chances of a successful season, and many people expected the team to suffer relegation from the
Super League Greece
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 ...
. In May 2013,
Yannis Anastasiou
Giannis Anastasiou ( gr, Γιάννης Αναστασίου; born 5 March 1973) is a Greek professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Super League club Panetolikos.
As a player, Anastasiou played as a strike ...
was appointed manager, and he planned a team based on players from the Panathinaikos Youth Academies joined by experienced foreign players looking to revive their careers. Despite the early skepticism, Panathinaikos' fans supported the team through the rough start, and the season turned out to be a massive success in light of the dire financial situation of the club and the young and inexperienced squad. The club finished fourth in the
regular season
In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...
and second after the playoffs (meaning they qualified for the
2014–15 Champions League), with
Marcus Berg
Bengt Erik Markus Berg (; born 17 August 1986) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg, which he captains. Beginning his footballing career in Sweden with IFK Göteborg in the early 2000s, ...
the top scorer of the team. Panathinaikos also won the
2013–14 Greek Football Cup
The 2013–14 Greek Football Cup was the 72nd edition of the Greek Football Cup. A total of 46 clubs, 16 less than last edition, were accepted to enter. The competition commenced on 14 September 2013 with the First Round and concluded on 26 Apri ...
after a 4–1 win over
PAOK.
On 2 November 2015, after bad performances and a home draw with
AEK Athens
A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...
, manager
Yannis Anastasiou
Giannis Anastasiou ( gr, Γιάννης Αναστασίου; born 5 March 1973) is a Greek professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Super League club Panetolikos.
As a player, Anastasiou played as a strike ...
was sacked and replaced by
Andrea Stramaccioni
Andrea Stramaccioni (; born 9 January 1976) is an Italian football manager and former player who last managed Qatari club Al Gharafa.
A football coach with experiences as a youth coach of Roma and Inter Milan, he was put in charge of first tea ...
. Further successive poor results under the latter's reign, combined with loss of dressing room control, led to the dismissal of Stramaccioni on 1 December 2016, with former Panathinaikos player and
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 ...
international
Marinos Ouzounidis
Marinos Ouzounidis ( el, Μαρίνος Ουζουνίδης, born 10 October 1968) is a Greek football manager and former professional player.
Playing career
Ouzounidis started his professional career playing for Greek club Skoda Xanthi as a de ...
taking over the management at the club. Ouzounidis had some great moments with Panathinaikos and was generally liked by the fans. His resignation, due to problems with owner Giannis Alafouzos sparked another wave of disappointment and hatred against Alafouzos from the fans.
On 24 April 2018 UEFA decided to exclude Panathinaikos FC from participating in the next UEFA club competition for which it would otherwise qualify in the next three seasons as a result of Financial Fair Play breaches
Giorgos Donis
Georgios Donis ( el, Γεώργιος Δώνης; born 22 October 1969) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and currently a manager. He is the current manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Fateh. He was the first ev ...
was announced as the new coach on 3 July 2018. Coach Donis had a great start of the season despite beginning with −6 points in the championship, counting 6 consecutive wins that put Panathinaikos on top of the table. However, due to problems with his salary and a clash with Giannis Alafouzos, he was forced to resign in 2019. This situation made the relations between Alafouzos and the fans worse, with protests and demonstrations during games against him. Panathinaikos remained one of the top clubs in Greece, but its absence from European tournaments was a major factor in the fans' disappointment with the ownership. During the summer of 2020, a series of bad decisions were made from Giannis Alafouzos, who chose to let most of the players that had contributed to a very good season go.
Spaniard
Dani Poyatos signed on as head of the club on 22 July 2020 for two years, taking over from George Donis' work. Poyatos was sacked after a poor start of the season on 12 October and was replaced by
László Bölöni
László Bölöni ( ro, Ladislau Bölöni; born 11 March 1953) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Ligue 2 club Metz. He is best known for his time at Sporting CP as a manager where he introduced C ...
. After a disappointing fifth position in the
league
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
and the failure to guide them to a European qualification spot Bölöni was sacked and replaced by
Ivan Jovanović.
During the
21-22 season under the management of Ivan Jovanović, the team achieved its major goal of returning to European Competitions finishing fourth, and won their 19th
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 ...
, beating PAOK 1-0 in the final ending an eight-year trophy drought. Ivan Jovanović was offered a two year extension to his contract, which he accepted.
For the third qualifying round of the
2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League
The 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League is the second season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA.
The final will be played at Fortuna Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. The winner ...
, Panathinaikos FC drew Czech football club
SK Slavia Prague
Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in th ...
with the first leg taking place in
Eden Arena
Fortuna Arena (formerly known as Sinobo Stadium, Eden Aréna and Synot Tip Arena) is a football stadium, in Prague-Vršovice, Czech Republic. The stadium has a capacity of 19,370 people and it is the biggest and the most modern football stadiu ...
-
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
on Thursday the 4th of August and the second leg in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
a week later. These were the first matches in European Competition for the club in five years. SK Slavia Prague won the tie 3-1, thanks to a 2-0 victory in home soil and a 1-1 draw in Athens. Contrary to the disappointment in Europe, Panathinaikos had a very strong start to the season in the domestic league, winning twelve and drawing one matche by until the break for the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
.
Crest and colours
Crest evolution
File:Podosfairikos Omilos Athina.JPG, 1908
File:Panathinaikos-football-seal.png, 1995–present
White was the colour that was first used by the team in 1908 (probably like that of the first crest). The first symbol of the club was an
association football ball
A football (also known as football ball, soccer ball, or association football ball specifically in the United Kingdom) is the ball used in the sport of association football. The name of the ball varies according to whether the sport is called " ...
of the era.
In 1911, the colours changed to green and white. In 1918,
Michalis Papazoglou
Michalis Papazoglou was a Greek athlete from Constantinople. He started with track and field sports but when he came to Athens in the early 1910s, he joined the football club PPO (later to become PAO). He was the man who had the idea of adoptin ...
proposed the
trifolium
Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus h ...
, symbol of harmony, unity, nature and good luck, as emblem of Panathinaikos.
The officials of the club were looking for a universal, non-nationalistic or localistic, symbol aiming to represent the whole
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
at the country and further at the world. Papazoglou used to have it sewn on his shirt since he was competing for a club in his native
Chalcedon
Chalcedon ( or ; , sometimes transliterated as ''Chalkedon'') was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the cit ...
,
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
(present-day Istanbul, Turkey).
He was possibly inspired by
Billy Sherring, an
Irish Canadian
ga, Gael-Cheanadaigh
, image = Irish_Canadian_population_by_province.svg
, image_caption = Irish Canadians as percent of population by province/territory
, population = 4,627,00013.4% of the Canadian population (2016)
, po ...
athlete who had won the
Athens 1906 Olympic marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
(1906 Intercalated Games) wearing a white outfit with a big green shamrock on the chest.
Georgios Chatzopoulos, member—and later president—of the club and director of the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
, took over to design the new emblem for the team. Up to the end of the 1970s, a trifolium (green or white) was sewed on heart's side of the jersey and was big in size. With the beginning of professionalism, the crest of the F.C. was created, accompanied by the club initials and the year of founding, 1908.
Until today, the team's traditional colours are green and white (green for health,
nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
, such as
physiolatry, and white for
virtue
Virtue ( la, virtus) is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standard ...
), although the white sometimes is omitted, used as trim or as an alternative. During the first years after the establishment of green as Panathinaikos' primary colour, players were wearing green shirts, white shorts and green socks. During the 1930s, an appearance with characteristic horizontal strips was established. This motive was used also in the next decades as primary or second choice. Since then, the uniform style has changed many times, but green has always remained the team's primary colour.
Shirt sponsors and manufacturers
Since 1979, when football became professional in Greece, Panathinaikos had a specific kit manufacturer and since 1983 a specific shirt sponsor as well. The following table shows in detail Panathinaikos kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors by year:
Stadiums and facilities
![Leoforos1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Leoforos1.JPG)
Panathinaikos' traditional home ground since the early 1920s is the
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium ( el, Γήπεδο Απόστολος Νικολαΐδης), commonly known as Leoforos Alexandras Stadium or Leoforos Stadium, is a football stadium and multi-sport center in Athens, Greece. It was inaugurated in 19 ...
, the oldest active football stadium in Greece, in the
Ampelokipoi district of central
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
. The stadium is located on
Alexandras Avenue
Alexandra's Avenue ( Greek: Λεωφόρος Αλεξάνδρας ''Leoforos Alexandras'') is a main east–west thoroughfare running from Patission Street/28 October Street and Kifissias Avenue in the northern part of the city of Athens, Gree ...
and is most commonly referred to as ''Leoforos'' (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
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 ...
for "Avenue"). It is considered one of the most historic stadiums in Greece, as it was used by the
Greece national football team
The Greece national football team ( el, Εθνική Ελλάδας, ) represents Greece in men's international football matches and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play most ...
as home ground for many years (most recently for the
UEFA Euro 2004
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...
qualifying matches) and even by Panathinaikos' biggest rivals,
AEK Athens
A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...
and
Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos, on various occasions.
Panathinaikos left ''Leoforos'' in 1984 to play in the newly built
Athens Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium of Athens " Spyros Louis" ( el, Ολυμπιακό Στάδιο Αθηνών "Σπύρος Λούης", ''Olympiakó Stádio Athinon "Spyros Louis"'') is a sports stadium in Athens, Greece. It is a part of the Athens Olympic ...
. In 2000, then-club president Angelos Filippidis announced a return to the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, following a €7 million renovation. Capacity was reduced from 25,000 to 16,620, new dressing rooms were built and modular stand roofing was added in compliance with
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
requirements, but in 2004, stricter standards were announced and the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium would need further expansion were it to remain suitable for UEFA-sanctioned matches. This was precluded by local zoning regulations and the team had to return to the Olympic Stadium once more until a new stadium, the proposed
Votanikos Arena, was built. The ''Leoforos'' ground was due for demolition.
On 27 January 2007, the board of Panathinaikos decided to reuse the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium for the team's 2007–08 domestic league and UEFA Cup home games. Additionally, the club officials decided to install new lawn, new seats and upgrade the press conference room and the restrooms.
As of October 2013, and due to the club's and the country's financial troubles, the construction of the Votanikos Arena has stopped and consequently the plans for the demolition of the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium have been put on hold. After another five-year spell at the Olympic Stadium, the team has returned to its traditional home ground once again.
The current president of the club,
Giannis Alafouzos
Giannis Alafouzos ( el, Γιάννης Αλαφούζος, born 2 July 1957) is a Greek businessman, shipowner, and member of the Alafouzos family from Santorini.
Early life
Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and is the son of businessman, sh ...
, declared his intention for another renovation of the stadium and the capacity increase, while the
Panathinaikos Movement
The Panathinaikos Movement ( el, Παναθηναικό Κίνημα) is a Greek political party, founded in 2012.
The Panathinaikos Movement is the first political and social political party in the history of the country, founded by people wit ...
made its propositions for a total reconstruction.
In 2019 the owner of Panathinaikos basketball team presented a funding plan for the construction of the new football and basketball stadiums. The Greek government confirmed in 2022 the construction of the
new stadiums in the
Votanikos
Votanikos ( el, Βοτανικός, ) is a neighborhood located 3 km west of the downtown part of the Greek capital of Athens. The area is named after a nearby botanical garden situated to the southwest (Athens Botanical Gardens). The easter ...
area near Eleonas metro station to be completed by 2026.
Paiania
Paiania (or ''Paeanea'' or ''Peania'' el, Παιανία, , before 1915: Λιόπεσι - ''Liopesi'', ; Arvanitika: Λοπε̱σ romanized: Lopës) is a town and a municipality in East Attica, Greece. It is an eastern suburb of Athens, located e ...
has been the training ground of Panathinaikos since 1981, the same year that the
Panathinaikos F.C. Academy was reorganized into one of the best in Greece. It became the farm that trained its top tier teams' notable players, such as
Giorgos Karagounis
Georgios Karagkounis ( el, Γεώργιος Καραγκούνης; born 6 March 1977), known as Giorgos Karagounis ( el, Γιώργος Καραγκούνης), is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
In his club ...
,
Angelos Basinas
Angelos Basinas ( el, Άγγελος Μπασινάς , born 3 January 1976) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He could also operate as a central midfielder and a centre back. He is best remembered ...
,
Sotirios Kyrgiakos
Sotirios Kyrgiakos ( el, Σωτήριος Κυργιάκος, born 23 July 1979) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a central defender.
Club career
Kyrgiakos made his first football steps with a local team, Thyella Megaloc ...
,
Sotiris Ninis
Sotiris Ninis ( el, Σωτήρης Νίνης; born 3 April 1990) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a right winger for Super League club PAS Giannina.
Ninis was formerly a member of the Greek national ...
, and the Greece national team. In 2013, the club and academy would be moved from Paiania to that of the new
Georgios Kalafatis Sports Center
Georgios Kalafatis Sports Center is the training ground and academy base of the Greek football club Panathinaikos since 2013.
In 2013, Giannis Alafouzos, president of Panathinaikos FC
Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθην ...
in
Koropi
Koropi ( el, Κορωπί, ) is a suburban town in East Attica, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality Kropia. It has been home to the new training facilities of Panathinaikos football club since the summer of 2013.
Geography
Koropi is situa ...
, to be owned by the club and academy.
Financial information
Until 1979, football was in Greece amateur. The team, such as the other departments of
Panathinaikos A.O., depended on the financial support of the club's members, while the president (responsible for all athletic departments) was elected by the Board members. In 1979, Greece's football turned professional and the Vardinogiannis family purchased the football department.
Giorgos Vardinogiannis became the new president.
Vardinogiannis family were the owners of the club the next decades.
On 22 April 2008, growing pressure of the fan base over the past 30 years compelled the main shareholder representative of the club, Giannis Vardinogiannis, to announce at a press conference the family would reduce their financial stake in the club from 100 percent to 50 percent through an €80 million increase issue of the company's capital stock. Negotiations followed and the following were agreed: Nikos Pateras was selected to be the new president; the Vardinogiannis family would hold 56 percent of the club, the amateur club 10 percent (same as before) and a group of new shareholders 34 percent (
Pavlos Giannakopoulos
Pavlos D. Giannakopoulos (Greek: Παύλος Δ. Γιαννακόπουλος; 20 August 1929 – 10 June 2018) was a Greek businessman, owner and president of Panathinaikos B.C. and president of Panathinaikos AC.
Vianex
Along with his broth ...
,
Nikos Pateras
Nikos Pateras is a Greek major shipowner, president (from 2008 to 2010) and shareholder of Panathinaikos FC.
He is member of the Pateras family, a historic shipping family from Chios island. He is president of Pacific & ...
,
Adamantios Polemis Adamantios Polemis is a Greek major shipowner and shareholder of Panathinaikos FC
Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Pa ...
and
Andreas Vgenopoulos, plus other minor shareholders).
In 2011, financial problems and management disagreements caused the club to reduce the budget and sell many players. In 2012, the owner of
Skai TV
Skai TV (Greek: ΣΚΑΪ) is a Greek free-to-air television network based in Piraeus. It is part of the Skai Group, one of the largest media groups in the country. It was relaunched in its present form on 1 April 2006 in the Athens metropolita ...
,
Giannis Alafouzos
Giannis Alafouzos ( el, Γιάννης Αλαφούζος, born 2 July 1957) is a Greek businessman, shipowner, and member of the Alafouzos family from Santorini.
Early life
Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and is the son of businessman, sh ...
, devised a plan to take Vardinogiannis' shares (54.7%) and make them available to fans around Greece so that everyone could contribute, so that Panathinaikos could overcome the crisis.
His intention was to create a new, for the Greek athletic standards,
supporter-owned football club. On 2 July 2012, the Panathenaic Alliance finally opened to the public so that everyone could be a member and contribute a desired amount in return for privileges. A few days later, Giannis Vardinogiannis gave his shares—54.7% of Panathinaikos—to the Alliance, while the other shareholders maintained their percentage. The members of the Alliance elected a board of directors and club president. The first president elected was
Giannis Alafouzos
Giannis Alafouzos ( el, Γιάννης Αλαφούζος, born 2 July 1957) is a Greek businessman, shipowner, and member of the Alafouzos family from Santorini.
Early life
Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and is the son of businessman, sh ...
. In 2013, was decided the move of the team from the previous training center of Paiania to a new one, owned by the club. Located in the area of
Koropi
Koropi ( el, Κορωπί, ) is a suburban town in East Attica, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality Kropia. It has been home to the new training facilities of Panathinaikos football club since the summer of 2013.
Geography
Koropi is situa ...
,
Georgios Kalafatis Sports Center
Georgios Kalafatis Sports Center is the training ground and academy base of the Greek football club Panathinaikos since 2013.
In 2013, Giannis Alafouzos, president of Panathinaikos FC
Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθην ...
became the new training ground and academy base of Panathinaikos.
For the
2014–15 season, the membership had risen up to 8,495 members contributing a total of €2,680,041.
Panathinaikos currently is a partially
supporter-owned football club.
According to the latest accounts in 2016 Panathenaic Alliance shares have been reduced to (15%),
Giannis Alafouzos
Giannis Alafouzos ( el, Γιάννης Αλαφούζος, born 2 July 1957) is a Greek businessman, shipowner, and member of the Alafouzos family from Santorini.
Early life
Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and is the son of businessman, sh ...
through Sortivo International Ltd and his own shares is the largest shareholder at (74%).
Giannis Alafouzos
Giannis Alafouzos ( el, Γιάννης Αλαφούζος, born 2 July 1957) is a Greek businessman, shipowner, and member of the Alafouzos family from Santorini.
Early life
Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and is the son of businessman, sh ...
suddenly decided to quit the team in September 2017, announcing his departure in a written statement and inviting potential investors to express their interest in buying the team. With rapidly growing doubts about the commitment and the sporting progression of the club, Alafouzos eventually decided to re-invest in the playing and coaching staff around June 2021.
Current sponsorships:
*Shirt sponsor: Stoiximan
*Sport clothing manufacturer:
Kappa
Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value o ...
*Official sponsors:
Cosmote
COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS S.A. ( el, COSMOTE ΚΙΝΗΤΕΣ ΤΗΛΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΕΣ Α.Ε.) known as just Cosmote is the largest mobile network operator in Greece. The company is headquartered in Athens and is a fully owned subsidia ...
,
Vivartia
Vivartia Holding S.A. ( el, Vivartia Συμμετοχών Α.Ε.) is a food production conglomerate brand in Greece. Its head office is in Marousi, Athens.
Vivartia was formed by the merger of Delta Holding S.A. and Mechelany International S.A. ...
,
Piraeus Bank
Piraeus Bank ( el, Τράπεζα Πειραιώς) is a Greek multinational financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. Piraeus Bank's shares have been listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) since January 1918.
In G ...
, Avance
*Supporters:
Powerade
Powerade is a sports drink created, manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. Its primary competitor is Gatorade, owned by PepsiCo.
History
In 1988, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Olympics, alongside Aquarius, anot ...
,
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
Supporters
![PANATHINAIKOS FANS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/PANATHINAIKOS_FANS.JPG)
Panathinaikos was founded by middle class athletes (with
Giorgos Kalafatis
Giorgos Kalafatis ( el, Γιώργος Καλαφάτης; 17 March 1890 – 19 February 1964) was a Greek football pioneer, player, coach, track and field athlete and the founder of Panathinaikos Athens multi-sports club.
Sports career
Bein ...
as a key figure) aiming of spreading and making more known football to the Athenian and Greek public in general. Also, their intention was to create a team for all of Athens and to be connected with the rest of the European football movement, which was already active.
Today, according to UEFA and numerous polls and researches by the biggest newspapers and poll companies in a span of 20 years, Panathinaikos is the second most popular football team in Greece, with the difference behind
Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos to be varied between 2% to 9% among the fans.
, ''Περισσότερους οπαδούς ο Ολυμπιακός. Ακολουθούν ΠΑΟ, ΑΕΚ, ΠΑΟΚ'', 30 June 2009, Sport24.gr (in Greek)
''Αυτοί είναι οι οπαδοί στην Ελλάδα – Ο Ολυμπιακός έχει τους περισσότερους φιλάθλους στην Ελλάδα, μετά από εκείνους που δεν υποστηρίζουν καμία ομάδα. Δεύτερος ο Παναθηναϊκός, τρίτη η ΑΕΚ και ακολουθεί ο ΠΑΟΚ.'', 26 June 2012, Gazzetta.gr (in Greek) They have the highest popularity in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
metropolitan area according to many of the corresponding polls, having also a large fanbase in all Greek prefectures, in Cyprus and in the
Greek diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia ( el, Ομογένεια, Omogéneia), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus (excluding Northern Cyprus). Such places historically include Albania, North Macedonia, parts of ...
. They historically have a large fanbase among the highly-educated Greek upper class (traditionally representing the old Athenian society), while they are also very popular among the middle and lower classes.
Panathinaikos supporters hold both records of the most season tickets sales (31,091 in 2010) and highest average attendance for a unique season (44,942 in the 1985–86 season) in the history of Greek football.
The main organized supporters of Panathinaikos are known as
Gate 13
Gate 13 ( el, Θύρα 13), is the name of the ultras group of the Greek multi-sports club Panathinaikos A.O. Officially founded on November 19, 1966, Gate 13 is the oldest supporters' union in Greece. Gate 13 is one of the most powerful ultras ...
(established in 1966), the oldest fan association in Greece, which consists of around 80 clubs alongside Greece and Cyprus.
Gate 13 style of supporting includes the use of green fireworks, large and small green flags, displaying of banners and especially the creation of colorful and large choreographies, noisy and constant cheering and other supporters stuff. Gate 13 has over the years become a part of the club by affecting club decisions and by following the club on all occasions.
They share a traditional friendship with the Hungarian club
Ferencváros
Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary.
Name
The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary.
History
The development of Fe ...
and Ultras
Rapid Wien
Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...
, based mainly on the common green and white colours. Moreover, they have been sharing since the early 10s' close relations with
Dinamo Zagreb's Bad Blue Boys
Bad Blue Boys (BBB) are an ultras group who support the Croatian football club GNK Dinamo Zagreb and Futsal Dinamo.
History
Bad Blue Boys were officially founded on 17 March 1986 in Zagreb, with members from different areas of the city. The n ...
(based on their common rivalry with Red Star and Olympiacos fans, capital city teams and mutual respect for each other's ultras achievements) and also with Fedayin of
A.S. Roma
' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...
based on the capital city team factor, their mutual respect and the ancient Athens and ancient Roma cultural connection.
PALEFIP (Panhellenic club of Panathinaikos friends) is another supporters organization.
Panathenaic Alliance, a collective organisation of the fan base, is the major shareholder of the football club, making it currently the only
supporter-owned football club in Greece. The members of the Alliance, through elections, compose the board of directors and elect the club's president.
Panathinaikos Movement
The Panathinaikos Movement ( el, Παναθηναικό Κίνημα) is a Greek political party, founded in 2012.
The Panathinaikos Movement is the first political and social political party in the history of the country, founded by people wit ...
, founded in 2012, is also a Greek political party founded by people with an initial common their love for the sports club of Panathinaikos and the wish for a new stadium for the football team, despite the bureaucracy of the Greek state.
Seasons in the 21st century
Key: R32 = Round of 32, R16 = Round of 16, QF = Quarter-finals, SF = Semi-finals, RU = Runners up, C = Champions.
Statistics and records
Mimis Domazos
Dimitris "Mimis" Domazos ( el, Δημήτρης "Μίμης" Δομάζος, born 22 January 1942) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. His nickname was ''"The General"'' ''( el, "Ο Στρατηγός ...
holds the record for Panathinaikos appearances, having played 502 first-team matches between 1959 and 1980. Striker Krzysztof Warzycha comes second, having played 390 times. The record for a goalkeeper is held by
Takis Ikonomopoulos
Panagiotis "Takis" Ikonomopoulos ( gr, Παναγιώτης "Τάκης" Οικονομόπουλος; born 19 October 1943) is a Greek former international football player who played as a goalkeeper. He was nicknamed ''"The Bird"'' ''( gr, "Τ ...
, with 303 appearances.
Krzysztof Warzycha
Krzysztof Ireneusz Warzycha (, el, Κριστόφ Βαζέχα; born 17 November 1964) is a Greek-Polish former professional footballer who played as a forward for Ruch Chorzów and for Greek club Panathinaikos. At international level, he repre ...
is the club's top goalscorer with 288 goals in all competitions between 1989 and 2004, having surpassed
Antonis Antoniadis
Antonis Antoniadis (Greek: Αντώνης Αντωνιάδης, born 25 May 1946) is a former Greek footballer. He scored 243 goals during his 22-years long career. He started his career in 1964 playing for Aspida Xanthi before moving to Pana ...
' total of 180 in January 1998.
Panathinaikos record home attendance is 74,493, for a Greek League match against
AEK Athens
A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...
in 1986 at the Olympic Stadium. The record attendance for a Panathinaikos match at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium is from 1967, when 29,665 spectators watched the Cup Winners' Cup game between Panathinaikos and
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
.
Panathinaikos is one of the two clubs in the history of Greek football to finish a
top-flight (after 1959) campaign unbeaten. This happened in the
1963–64 season.
One-Club players
Super League top scorers
Most goals in a season
Top scorers in European competitions
Uefa Champions League
UEFA Cup
Domestic team's records
International record
Honours
Domestic
*
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
**Winners (20):
1929–30,
1948–49,
1952–53,
1959–60,
1960–61,
1961–62,
1963–64,
1964–65,
1968–69,
1969–70,
1971–72,
1976–77,
1983–84,
1985–86,
1989–90,
1990–91,
1994–95,
1995–96,
2003–04,
2009–10
*
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 ...
**Winners (19):
1939–40,
1947–48,
1954–55,
1966–67,
1968–69,
1976–77,
1981–82,
1983–84,
1985–86,
1987–88,
1988–89,
1990–91,
1992–93,
1993–94,
1994–95,
2003–04,
2009–10,
2013–14,
2021–22
*
Greek Super Cup
The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek Football (soccer), association football one-match ...
**Winners (3): 1988, 1993, 1994
*
Greater Greece Cup:
**Winners (1): 1970
European competitions
*
European Cup / UEFA Champions League
** Runners-up (1):
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
** Semi-finals (2):
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
,
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
** Quarter-finals (2):
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
,
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
*
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League
** Quarter-finals (2):
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
,
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
*
Balkans Cup
The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...
** Winners (1):
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
Worldwide competitions
*
Intercontinental Cup
** Runners-up (1):
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
Doubles
*Winners (8): 1968–69, 1976–77, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1990–91, 1994–95, 2003–04, 2009–10
Trebles
*Winners (1): 1976–77
1976–77 Alpha Ethniki,
1976–77 Greek Football Cup
The 1976–77 Greek Football Cup was the 35th edition of the Greek Football Cup. The competition culminated with the Greek Cup Final, held at Karaiskakis Stadium, on 22 June 1977. The match was contested by Panathinaikos and PAOK, with Panathina ...
,
1977 Balkans Cup
The 1977 Balkans Cup was an edition of the Balkans Cup, a football competition for representative clubs from the Balkan states. It was contested by 6 teams and Panathinaikos won the trophy.
Group Stage
Group A
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Regional
*
SEGAS
The Hellenic Athletics Federation (Greek: ; abbreviated SEGAS) is Greece's governing body for amateur sport.
SEGAS was created in 1897 and has been the principal organiser of many international sporting competitions held in Greece. The associati ...
and FCA Championship
**Winners (2):
1910–11, 1922
*
Athens FCA Championship
**Winners (17) (record): 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1937, 1939, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959
Players
Current squad
Panathinaikos B and Academy
Out on loan
Retired numbers
13 – Ιn honour of
Gate 13
Gate 13 ( el, Θύρα 13), is the name of the ultras group of the Greek multi-sports club Panathinaikos A.O. Officially founded on November 19, 1966, Gate 13 is the oldest supporters' union in Greece. Gate 13 is one of the most powerful ultras ...
Former players
Contribution to the Greece national team
![Giorgos Kalafatis greek national team 1919](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Giorgos_Kalafatis_greek_national_team_1919.jpg)
Overall, Panathinaikos has a significant contribution to the
Greece national football team
The Greece national football team ( el, Εθνική Ελλάδας, ) represents Greece in men's international football matches and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play most ...
.
Giorgos Kalafatis
Giorgos Kalafatis ( el, Γιώργος Καλαφάτης; 17 March 1890 – 19 February 1964) was a Greek football pioneer, player, coach, track and field athlete and the founder of Panathinaikos Athens multi-sports club.
Sports career
Bein ...
, the founder of Panathinaikos, was the member of the Greece national team that participated in the
Inter-Allied Games
The Inter-Allied Games was a one-off multi-sport event held from 22 June to 6 July 1919 at the newly constructed Pershing Stadium just outside Paris, France following the end of World War I. The host stadium had been built near the Bois de Vin ...
in Paris, while later he was also a player/manager for Greece in the
1920 Olympic Games
The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...
in Antwerp. During the next decades, Panathinaikos highlighted some of the best Greek players in the history of Greek football, who contributed also to the national team (
Migiakis,
Linoxilakis,
Loukanidis,
Domazos,
Antoniadis,
Kapsis,
Ikonomopoulos,
Saravakos etc.). Six Panathinaikos players were members of the first appearance of the national team in a
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
in 1994 (
Saravakos,
Kolitsidakis,
Apostolakis,
Kalitzakis,
Nioplias,
Marangos).
Five players of the club were part of the golden team of 2004 that won the
UEFA Euro 2004
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...
(
UEFA Euro 2004
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...
):
Giourkas Seitaridis
Georgios "Giourkas" Seitaridis ( ; born 4 June 1981) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a right-back and occasionally as a centre-back. He has last played in 2013 for Greek Superleague side Panathinaikos, having played pr ...
,
Angelos Basinas
Angelos Basinas ( el, Άγγελος Μπασινάς , born 3 January 1976) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He could also operate as a central midfielder and a centre back. He is best remembered ...
,
Giannis Goumas
Giannis Goumas ( el, Γιάννης Γκούμας, born 24 May 1975) is a Greek professional football manager and former player, who spent his whole senior career at Panathinaikos.
Club career
Born on 24 May 1975 in the village of Ampelonas, ...
,
Dimitris Papadopoulos,
Kostas Chalkias
Konstantinos "Kostas" Chalkias ( el, Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Χαλκιάς; born 30 May 1974) is a retired Greek footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Previously he had played for Panathinaikos, Apollon Smyrni, Iraklis, Portsm ...
Personnel
Technical staff
Club staff
Management
Gallery
File:Stjepan Bobek.jpg, Stjepan Bobek
Stjepan Bobek (; 3 December 1923 – 22 August 2010) was a Croatian and Yugoslav professional football striker and later football manager.
Usually a forward or attacking midfielder, Bobek was renowned for his technique, vision and goalscoring ...
, head coach (1963–67)
File:Puskás, Bestanddeelnr 924-5181.jpg, Ferenc Puskás
Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward, ...
, head coach (1970–74)
See also
;Sports
*
Panathinaikos A.O.
*
Panathinaikos B
Panathinaikos Football Club B, known as Panathinaikos B, (Greek: ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός B) is a Greek football club based in Athens, Greece. Founded in 2021, they play as the reserve team of Panathinaikos in the Super League Greece 2.
...
*
Panathinaikos F.C. Academy
*
Panathinaikos B.C.
Panathinaikos B.C. ( el, ΚΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός), also known simply as Panathinaikos, is the professional basketball team of the major Athens-based multi- sport club Panathinaikos A.O. It is owned by the billionaire Giannakopoulos f ...
*
Panathinaikos women's basketball
Panathinaikos AC Women's Basketball is the women's basketball department of the major Greek multi-sport club Panathinaikos A.O. The club is based in Athens, Greece. The department was founded in 1937 creating the first and oldest women's baske ...
*
Panathinaikos V.C.
Panathinaikos V.C. ( el, ΤΑΑ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο.), also known simply as Panathinaikos, or with its full name Panathinaikos A.O. ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, transliterated "Panathinaikos Athlit ...
*
Panathinaikos women's volleyball
Panathinaikos AC Women's Volleyball Team is a Greek volleyball team, part of the major Athens-based multi-sport club Panathinaikos A.O. The department was founded in 1969 and is the most successful women's volleyball team in Greece, in terms of ...
;Other
*
European Club Association
The European Club Association (ECA) is a body representing the interests of professional association football clubs in UEFA. It is the sole such body recognised by the confederation, and has member clubs in each UEFA member association. It was fo ...
*
List of unrelegated association football clubs
Several association football clubs succeed in playing at the highest level of their domestic league without being relegated for several years, if at all. This page lists the clubs that managed to stay in top flight for an extended period of time, ...
References
External links
Official websites
*
Panathinaikos at
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
Panathinaikosat
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
Panathinaikosat
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
News sites
* Panathinaikos o
newspao.gr* Panathinaikos o
panathinaikos24.gr* Panathinaikos o
leoforos.gr
Panathinaikos newsfrom
Nova Sports
Nova Sports is a Greek sports pay television network owned by Nova, a subsidiary of Greek telecommunications company of the same name. It was launched in 1994 as ''SuperSport'' and at the time was the first premium sports service in Greece. It i ...
Media
Official YouTube channel
{{Authority control
Association football clubs established in 1908
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
Football clubs in Athens
1908 establishments in Greece
Unrelegated association football clubs