PAOK

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PAOK or Panthessalonikios Athlitikos Omilos Konstantinoupoliton (Greek: Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών), or the Pan-Thessalonican Athletic Organisation of (the people of) Konstantinople, is a sports club from Thessaloniki, Greece. PAOK maintains teams in many sports, including soccer, basketball, volleyball, handball, water polo, swimming, wrestling and weightlifting.

Contents

[edit] Sports Departments

[edit] Rivalries

PAOK's main foes are the teams of the Greek capital Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, and AEK and the other popular Thessaloniki teams Aris and Iraklis. As far as the last three are concerned, PAOK fans blame them for systematically influencing referee decisions and player transfers in order to dominate the Greek League. Furthermore, financial difficulties and bad board decisions have been the excuse for many players to leave PAOK for the "Big Three" over the years (culminating with the matter of top-player Giorgos Koudas).

[edit] Aris

Aris is the oldest rival of PAOK, both on the local and national level. The rivalry has lost its former importance over the years though, mainly because of Aris relegation to the Second National Division twice in 1996 and 2005 seasons.

[edit] Olympiacos

The rivalry started in the 1970s when Olympiacos tried to "steal" Giorgos Koudas, one of the best players of his time, from PAOK through direct negotiations with the player. Furthermore, several controversial refereeing decisions in games between the two, have aggravated relations over the years. PAOK, and Thessaloniki fans in general, believe Olympiacos use immoral tactics to ensure their domination on the Greek sports.

[edit] PAOK Fans

[edit] Organized Fans

PAOK are also known to have one of the most fanatical supporter bases in the world. PAOK's best known organized supporter club (Ultras) is Thira 4 ("Gate 4"), based very near the Toumba Stadium. Other federations include Makedones (Macedonians), 'and Ultras Fans PAOK. PAOK Supporter Clubs have also been established globally, both throughout Europe and as far away as the Americas (New York Club PAOK), Australia 'Melbourne Club PAOK.

In April 2007 by a move by the Greek government, because of a fans murder in Athens around a women's volleyball game, 13 PAOK fan clubs were shut down.

[edit] Famous fans

[edit] PAOK Marketing and Media

PAOK is the best organised club in Thessaloniki in terms of marketing. Since 1992 when PAOK Marketing Inc.was founded the club has developed rapidly.

[edit] PAOK Channel

In 2001 the second Greek Club Channel was launched (Olympiacos was first with Magic TV). It was named PAOK Channel and was loved by fans from the first moment. Unfortunally, Alpha Digital, the company responsible for the channel's broadcast went bankrupt and the service was shut down.

[edit] PAOK Boutique

PAOK Boutique is the club's official shop and it is considered to be one of the best club shops in the city. It was designed by a group of American companies and was opened in 1996. It is located in Toumba Stadium and serves PAOK fans from Greece as well as other countries, it is a must place to visit in Thessaloniki.

[edit] PAOK Shops

These are the official PAOK's shops. The offer a wide variety of products such as official PAOK merchantise, mobile phones by PAOK Telecom and more. Currently, there are shops in Athens,Herakleion,New York,Toronto,Chicago,Melbourne,Tokyo and Beijing.

[edit] PAOK Telecom

Official Telecommunications company exclusively for PAOK's fans. It offers a wide variety of products.

[edit] General PAOK Thessaloniki Links

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