Panellinios B.C.

History

The parent athletic club, Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos, was founded in Athens in 1891, making it one of the oldest sports clubs in Europe. It had a team of gymnasts compete at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. The team's leader was Sotirios Athanasopoulos. Members included Nikolaos Andriakopoulos, Petros Persakis, Thomas Xenakis, and 29 others. The team placed second out of the three teams in the parallel bars team event, earning a silver medal (retroactively awarded by the International Olympic Committee, as the awards at the first Olympic Games differed from the gold, silver, bronze format used later).

The Greek multi-sport club Panathinaikos was founded by Giorgos Kalafatis in 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. In 1929, the athletic association's basketball department, Panellinios B.C. Athens was founded, and that same year the club won the Athens basketball championship.

The "Golden Five" era

Panellinios has been the top-tier Greek League's champion 6 times, in the years 1929, 1939, 1940, 1953, 1955, and 1957. The club would have likely won several more Greek championships during the 1940s, but could not because the league was temporarily disbanded because of World War II. In the early 1950s era, the team was called "The Golden Five" (Chrysi Pentada in Greek), or "The Fabulous Five" (Panagiotis Manias, Themis Cholevas, Kostas Papadimas, Mimis Stefanidis, and Aristeidis Roubanis) and dominated not only Greek basketball, but European basketball in general. The Panellinios team headlined the Greek 1952 Olympics team. Although the EuroLeague, then known as the European Champions Cup, was not formed until the 1958 season, it is widely believed that had it been formed earlier, that Panellinios would have won several EuroLeague championships, as many considered Panellinios the best team in Europe during the early-to-mid 1950s.

During that era, Panellinios took part in the biggest international tournaments in Europe, the predecessor tournaments of the EuroLeague, that were then held instead of the EuroLeague tournament. The club advanced to the final of the 1954 San Remo Tournament, which they lost 81-74 to the Italian League club Olimpia Milano. Panellinios then won the 1955 Brussels Tournament, by defeating the Yugoslav League club Red Star Belgrade in the final, by a score of 91-67. Panellinios also won the 1956 San Remo Tournament, by defeating the Italian League club Virtus Bologna, by a score of 67-37.

In the inaugural 1958 season, the European 1st-tier level European Champions Cup (now known as the EuroLeague) was formed. By that time, the team of head coach Nikos Nisiotis was coming to the end of The Golden Five era, as only 2 players of The Golden Five remained on the team. The club was eliminated from the competition, after losing its series against Steaua SA Bucarest 2 games to 0, by scores of 63-60 and 75-72. The team was led in those years by the great scorer Antonis Christeas.

After the "Golden Five" era

The team stayed in the top Greek basketball division for 23 straight years, starting in 1963, when the league was re-formed into a new format. The club finished third in the top Greek League in both 1970 and 1978. During this era, it was Vassilis Goumas that was the leader of the team.

The club also finished as the runner-up in the Greek Cup in 1987. Panellinios also participated in the European 2nd-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup and European 3rd-tier level FIBA Korać Cup competitions several times during the 1970s and 1980s.

Rise and return to First Greek Division

The club struggled in the 1990s, and was mired in the second and third national divisions of the Greek lower leagues. New management came to the organization in 1999, when Minos Kyriakou took over the club, and the club would eventually again begin to establish itself as a strong presence in Greek basketball. In 2004, Panellinios returned to the top Greek League, after earning promotion, led by Marijan Kraljević and the Soulis brothers.

In 2006, the team advanced to the playoff round of the Greek League, led by Dimitrios Tsaldaris, Damir Mulaomerović and Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, finishing 6th in the league, after losing in the playoffs to Aris. In 2007, the club finished in 5th place in the league with players such as Mamadou N'Diaye, Michalis Pelekanos, Gary Trent, and Anthony Goldwire. The team lost to Panionios in the playoffs, but in finishing 5th in the Greek League, qualified for the new European 2nd-tier level EuroCup competition for the first time in club history.

In 2010, the club moved from Athens, where it had been based for 81 years, to the city of Lamia. In March 2010, Minos Kyriakou, withdrew from the club's ownership position. In 2011, the club moved bask to Athens.

Relegation and recent years

In the 2011–12 season, the Greek Professional Sports Committee stripped Panellinios of its professional licence, because the club faced economic problems. In addition, the club wasn't accepted by the lower tiers of the Greek basketball league system, and thus didn't play in any league during that season. The next season, (2012–13), Panellinios played in the A ESKA Category (the First Athenian Regional Division). But the team's presence in the league wasn't successful. It finished in last place, and was relegated to the B ESKA Category.

Arenas

The club plays its Greek League home games at Panellinios Indoor Hall, a small arena with a capacity of 1,700. and played its EuroCup home games at either the 4,000 capacity Indoor Hall Peristeriou, or at the Hellinikon Olympic Arena, which has a capacity of 15,000.

When the club moved to Lamia, its domestic Greek League and EuroCup home games were hosted at the Lamia Arena, which has a seating capacity of 5,000.

Honors and titles

Total titles: 10

Domestic competitions

European competitions

Seasons

Notable coaches