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 Athlitikos Omilos", ''Panathenaic Athletic Club'') is the professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team of the major

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 ...

based 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 ...

Panathinaikos A.O. Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest and most successful volleyball clubs in

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 ...

. They have won 20 Greek Championships finishing 6 times undefeated (1962–63, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1974–75), 6 Greek Cups, 2 Greek League Cups and 2 Greek Super Cups. They have reached also twice the

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 it was renamed CE ...

final (1979–80, 2008–09). Notable Greek player have played for the team, while foreign world-class players that have played with the club include

Dante Amaral Dante Guimarães Santos do Amaral (born 30 September 1980) is a former Brazilian professional volleyball player, who is best known as Dante. Measuring and , he played in the position of outside hitter. He was born in Itumbiara. Biography Ea ...

, Marcelo Elgarten,

André Nascimento André Luiz da Silva Nascimento (born 4 March 1979) is a former Brazilian volleyball player who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He was born in São João de Meriti São João de Me ...

, Frank Depestele, Liberman Agamez, Peter Pláteník, Jakub Novotný,

Plamen Konstantinov Plamen Georgiev Konstantinov ( bg, Пламен Георгиев Константинов) (born 14 June 1973) is a former Bulgarian volleyball player, a member of Bulgaria men's national volleyball team, head coach of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk and ...

Boyan Yordanov Boyan Yordanov ( bg, Боян Йорданов, born 12 March 1983) is a Bulgarian volleyball player, member of the Bulgaria men's national volleyball team. Boyan started his career in Levski Volley, Levski (Siconco) Sofia. He made his first cap ...

, Björn Andrae, Andrija Gerić,

Clayton Stanley Clayton Iona "Clay" Stanley (born January 20, 1978) is an American volleyball player, a member of United States men's national volleyball team, a participant of the Olympic Games ( Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012), Olympic Champion 2008, ...

, Ernardo Gómez, Renaud Herpe, Guillaume Samica,

Dawid Murek Dawid Murek (born 24 July 1977) is a Polish professional volleyball coach and former player. He was a member of the Poland national team from 1996 to 2008, and a participant in the Olympic Games Athens 2004. Personal life In 1999, he married Dor ...

, Paweł Zagumny and

Łukasz Żygadło Łukasz Tomasz Żygadło (born 2 August 1979 in Sulechów) is a Polish volleyball player, member of the Poland men's national volleyball team in 1998–2014 (247 matches in the national team) and Qatari club Al Arabi, participant at the 2012 Oly ...

History

The volleyball department of Panathinaikos was founded in 1919 and is one of the first in

. With the participation of

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 ...

in the Inter-Allied Games of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1919, and the informations he collected, the sport became more known in

. The same year the officials of the club decided the creation of a volleyball team. The first dynamic presence of the team is dated back in the years 1927–29 with many popular players of the time such as the founder

, the historical member of the board Apostolos Nikolaidis, as well as players such as

Athanasios Aravositas Athanasios Aravositas (Greek: Αθανάσιος Αραβοσιτάς; 1903–1971) was a Greek sports shooter and athlete of Panathinaikos A.O. He competed at the 1936, 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kes� ...

, Goumas, Arg. Nikolaidis, Papageorgiou and Papastefanou. In the following years the interest for volleyball became less until before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when Panathinaikos presented a powerful team with leader players such as Lambrou, Vallidis, Momferatos, Tzoumanis, Proselentis, Lykouris, Kakridis and more. During the 60’s and 70’s, Panathinaikos' volleyball club won many titles and honors due to the fact that the team roster has always included some of the leading volleyball players and coaches in Greece. The first and most popular generation of players of 60’s was Andreas and Nikos Bergeles, as well as Iliopoulos, Leloudas, Chasapis, Emmanouil, Perros and Fotiou who opened the road for the next generations. Notable coaches of this era was the leading figure of the department

Gerasimos Theodoratos Gerasimos ( el, Γεράσιμος) is a Greek given name derived from Greek "γέρας" ("gΕras", "gift of honour, prize, reward"). The suffix -ιμος gives the meaning "the one who deserves honour". It can also be Anglicisation of names, angli ...

, the

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

n Sava Grozdanović and later the ex-player of the team Andreas Bergeles. The most important achievement of the team was the participation in the final of the European Cup in 1980 with Grozdanović as coach and players such as Georgantis, Agrapidakis, Iliopoulos, Papadopoulos, Malousaris, Gountakos, Astras, Kokkinaras and Koliopoulos. In the following years, Panathinaikos team continued to dominate the Greek championship with Janusz Badora as coach and players such as Kazazis, Tentzeris, Gontikas, Galakos, Dimitriadis, Margaronis, Karamaroudis and Andreopoulos. Two of the most successful periods have been 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons, when Panathinaikos won 2 consecutive championships with Stelios Prosalikas as head coach and Andreopoulos, Triantafillidis, Filippov, Spanos, Hatziantoniou, Ouzounov, A. Kovacev, S. Kovacev, Karamaroudis, Mavrakis, Konstantinidis, Zakynthinos, Koutouleas, Tonev as players. In 2001 the department became professional under the presidency and financial support of Vlassis Stathokostopoulos and later

Thanasis Giannakopoulos Thanasis Giannakopoulos (Greek language, Greek: Θανάσης Γιαννακόπουλος; 1930/31 – 19 March 2019) was a Greek businessman, and a one-time pro sports club owner. The Giannakopoulos family has a combined estimated net worth a ...

. In 2004 the team won the Championship with the ex-player Stelios Kazazis as coach. With the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian star-player

and Marcelo Elgarten, they made a strong team and finished again first in 2006, while they reached again the final of the European Cup in 2009.

Honours

Domestic

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 ...

: (20) ** 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2006, 2020, 2022 * Greek Cup: (6) ** 1982, 1984, 1985, 2007, 2008, 2010 * Greek League Cup: (3) ** 2020, 2022, 2023 *

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 ...

: (2) ** 2006, 2022

European

** ''Runners-up (2):'' 1994, 2009

Current men's volleyball squad

''Team roster – season 2022/2023''

Technical and managerial staff

Retired numbers

Selected former players

File:Plamen konstantinov (cropped).jpg,

File:Nikos Samaras.JPG,

Nikos Samaras Nikos Samaras (1 July 1970 – 4 January 2013) was a Greek volleyball player, who competed for various Greek, Italian, Spanish and Turkish clubs. Samaras was born in Stuttgart. He led Orestiada, helping the team to become successful in Greec ...

File:Bjoern Andrae.jpg, Bjoern Andrae File:Andrija Gerić.jpg, Andrija Gerić File:Paweł Zagumny 2005-2006 1.jpg, Paweł Zagumny File:Renaud Herpe.jpg, Renaud Herpe File:Gianluca Saraceni.jpg, Gianluca Saraceni ;Albania * Albano Qualiu * Alvi Shurdhi ;Argentina * José Luis González ;Belgium * Frank Depestele * Bram Van Den Dries ;Bosnia-Herzegovina * Milorad Kovać ;Brazil *

* Eduardo Arruda * Hugo de Leon Bozo * Marcelo Elgarten * Windson Ferreira * Roberto Minuzzi * Carlos Alexandre Moreira * Andre Nascimento * Marcelo Mendes Sacchi * Cleber De Oliveira * Lucas Victor Rangel * Vinicius Raguzzoni ;Bulgaria *

Theodoros Baev Theodoros Baev ( bg, Теодорос Баев, el, Θεόδωρος Μπάεφ; born 31 May, 1977) also written as Zlatkov Bayev and Tontor-Zlatko Baev, is a Bulgarian-born Greek retired volleyball player.Plamen Konstantinov Plamen Georgiev Konstantinov ( bg, Пламен Георгиев Константинов) (born 14 June 1973) is a former Bulgarian volleyball player, a member of Bulgaria men's national volleyball team, head coach of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk and ...

Petar Ouzounov Peter Uzunov ( bg, Петър Узунов) (born ) is a former Bulgarian male volleyball player. He was part of the Bulgaria men's national volleyball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of t ...

Dimo Tonev Dimo Tonev ( bg, Димо Тонев; born ) is a former Bulgarian male volleyball player. He was part of the Bulgaria men's national volleyball team at the 1988 Summer Olympics, 1994 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship and 1996 Summer Olymp ...

* Aleksandar Simeonov *

* Ivan Kovlev * Antonis Kovachev ;Canada * Keith Sanheim * Michael Amoroso ;Colombia * Liberman Agamez ;Croatia * Danijel Galić ;Cuba * Osniel Melgarejo * Fernando Hernández ;Cyprus * Thanasis Protopsaltis ;Czech Republic * Jakub Novotný * Petr Pešl * Peter Pláteník * Dalibor Polak *

Petr Zapletal Petr is a Czech given name for males and a Czech surname. Petr is the Czech form of ''Peter''. For information on Petr as a first name, see Peter (given name). Given name * Petr Aven (born 1955), Russian billionaire banker, economist and politi ...

;Denmark * Axel Jacobsen ;Egypt * Ionas Rezk ;France *

Fabrice Bry Fabrice Bry (born April 2, 1972 in Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours, Seine-et-Marne) is a retired volleyball player from France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprise ...

* Ludovic Castard * Renaud Herpe * Guillaume Samica ;Germany * Björn Andrae ;Greece * Roulis Agrapidakis * Asimakis Alexiou *

Andreas Andreadis Andreas Andreadis (born 14 January 1982) is a Greek male volleyball player. He was part of the Greece men's national volleyball team at the 2006 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship in Japan. He currently plays for Greek club AONS Milon.

* Charalampos Andreopoulos * Dimitris Andreopoulos * Andreas Bergeles * Nikos Bergeles *

Theodoros Chatziantoniou Theodoros "Akis" Chatziantoniou (born ) is a former Greek male volleyball player. He was part of the Greece men's national volleyball team. He competed with the national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Clubs * Panathinaikos ( ...

* Kostas Christofidelis * Dimitris Gontikas *

Christos Dimitrakopoulos Christos Dimitrakopoulos (born ) is a retired Greek male volleyball player. He was part of the Greece men's national volleyball team at the 2002 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship in Argentina. He played for Olympiacos and Panathinaikos.

* Stathis Donas * Pavlos Karamaroudis * Stelios Kazazis * Michalis Koliopoulos * Antonis Kovatsev * Savvas Kovatsev *

Giannis Laios Giannis Laios ( el, Γιάννης Λάιος, born ) is a retired Greek male volleyball player and volleyball coach. He has 217 appearances with Greece men's national volleyball team. He played for Olympiacos for 12 years (1973-1985), winning 7 ...

Giannis Lambrou Ioannis Lambrou (alternate spelling: Giannis Lambrou) (23 March 1921 – 1998)Biography ...

Ilias Lappas Ilias Lappas (born ) is a former Greek male volleyball player. He was part of the Greece men's national volleyball team. He competed with the national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. On club level, he plays for AONS Milon. Se ...

* Christos Papadopoulos * Sotirios Pantaleon *

Panagiotis Pelekoudas Panagiotis Pelekoudas ( el, Παναγιώτης Πελεκούδας) (born 8 November 1989) is a Greek male volleyball player. He was part of the Greece men's national volleyball team.Giorgos Petreas Georgios Petreas ( gr, Γιώργος Πετρέας; born 19 November 1986, in Kalamata, Greece) is a Greek male volleyball player. He is the captain of the Greece men's national volleyball team. On club level he plays for Panathinaikos. Sport ...

* Spiros Protopsaltis * Thanasis Psarras *

Alexandros Raptis Alexandros may refer to: *Alexandros, a Greek name, the origin for the English name Alexander *Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great *Alexandros, Greece, a village on the island of Lefkada *Alexandros (band), a Japanese r ...

* Giorgos Spanos *

Georgios Stefanou Georgios Stefanou (born 12 January 1981) is a Greek male volleyball player. He was part of the Greece men's national volleyball team. He competed with the national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. He most notable played for Olym ...

* Nikolaos Smaragdis * Akis Sidiropoulos *

* Michalis Triantafyllidis * Giorgos Zakynthinos ;Italy * Gianluca Saraceni *

Jiří Kovář Jiří Kovář (born April 10, 1989) is an Italian volleyball player of Czech origins, a member of Italy men's national volleyball team and Greek club Panathinaikos. He was silver medalist of the European Championship 2013, bronze medalist of th ...

;Montenegro * Vojin Ćaćić ;Netherlands * Jairo Hooi ;Poland * Tomasz Józefacki * Michał Kamiński *

* Paweł Zagumny *

;Russia * Sergey Orlenko * Gennady Cheremisov ;Serbia * Andrija Gerić *

Saša Starović Saša Starović ( sr-cyrl, Саша Старовић; born 19 October 1988) is a Serbian volleyball player, a member of Serbia men's national volleyball team and French club Tourcoing Lille Métropole, a participant of the Olympic Games (Beijin ...

Miloš Stojković Miloš, Milos, Miłosz or spelling variations thereof is a masculine given name and a surname. It may refer to: Given name Sportsmen * Miłosz Bernatajtys, Polish rower * Miloš Bogunović, Serbian footballer * Miloš Budaković, Serbian foo ...

* Željko Tanasković ;Slovenia * Sašo Štalekar ;Spain * Jordi Gens ;Ukraine * Yuri Filippov ;United States * Brian Cook * Jared Moore * Jeff Nygaard *

Brenden Sander Brenden Lee Sander (born December 22, 1995) is an American volleyball player. He is a former member of the United States men's national volleyball team and on club leven he competes for Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos. His older brother Taylor S ...

Nick Vogel Nicholas August Vogel (born February 5, 1990) is an American volleyball coach and former professional volleyball player. Early life and education Vogel attended Steele Canyon High School (2004–2007) & Valhalla High School (2007–2008). H ...

;Venezuela * Hernando Gomez

Selected former coaches

* Sava Grozdanović * Andreas Bergeles * Nikos Bergeles * Aurel Constantinescu * Janusz Badora * Stelios Prosalikas * Carlos Xavier Weber *

Francisco dos Santos Francisco Enrique Crespo dos Santos (born 9 April 1974 in Rio de Janeiro), known as Francisco Dos Santos or Batata, is a Brazilian former footballer who played the majority of career with Canadian clubs in the Canadian Soccer League, and the Tor ...

Mauro Berruto Mauro Berruto (born 8 May 1969) is an Italian volleyball head coach. Career as coach Born in Turin, Berruto graduated in philosophy and started his career in volley with CUS Torino Pallavolo in 1994. In 2001 he was engaged by Copra Piacenza, whi ...

Alekos Leonis Alekos ( el, Αλέκος) is a masculine given name, a diminutive of Alexander, which may refer to: *Alekos Alavanos (born 1950), Greek politician, member of the Hellenic Parliament *Alekos Alekou (born 1983), Cypriot football striker who played ...

* Stelios Kazazis

International record

Historical performance in the league

Sponsorships

* Official Sport Clothing Manufacturer: Macron * Great Shirt Sponsor:

OPAP OPAP – Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics S.A. ( el, ΟΠΑΠ – Οργανισμός Προγνωστικών Αγώνων Ποδοσφαίρου Α.Ε.) is a Greek company organizing and conducting games of chance. It is headquarter ...

/ Pame Stoixima * Official Sponsors: Viva Fresh, Batteries.gr, Hygeia Medical Center, Avance Car Rental, Biosteel, CIEL, Civitel, Myo Cel, Boukia kai syhorio, Bolossis, Art & Fantasy * Official Broadcaster: PAO TV

Historical uniforms

Arenas

Presidents

* 2001–08: Vlassis Stathokostopoulos * 2008–09:

* 2009–11: Thodoris Liakopoulos * 2011: Stratos Sopilis * 2011–13: Chronis Akritidis * 2013–16: Manolis Ladoukakis * 2016–18: Dimitris Kassaris * 2018–20: Alexandros Ellinas * 2020– : Panagiotis Malakates

References

External links

Official website
{{A1 Greek volleyball Panathinaikos A.O. Panathinaikos V.C. Greek volleyball clubs Volleyball clubs established in 1919 Sports clubs in Athens