Panathinaikos F.C.
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| Full name | P.A.E. Panathinaikos | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Trifylli (The Shamrock) | |||
| Founded | 3 February 1908 |
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| Ground | OAKA Athens, Greece (Capacity: 71,030[1]) |
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| Chairman |  Nikos Konstantopoulos |
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| Head Coach | Nikos Nioplias |
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| League | Super League Greece | |||
| 2009–10 | Super League Greece, Champion [2] | |||
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 Current season |
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Panathinaikos FC (Greek: Π.Α.Ε. Παναθηναϊκός), is a Greek professional football club based in Athens. Founded in 1908, they play in the Super League Greece and are one of the oldest clubs in Greek football history. They have won 20 Greek championship titles and 17 Greek Cups.
Panathinaikos is the most successful greek club in terms of achievements in European competitions . They have reached the Champions League final in 1971 ( former European champions' club cup), the semi-finals twice (1985,1996), and in 1971 , they lost to Nacional Montevideo for the Intercontinental Cup (1-1 in Greece, 1-2 in Uruguay), in which they played due to Ajax's absence. However, Panathinaikos is the second most successful regarding the titles conquered in Greek competitions.
Panathinaikos FC is the football department of Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos multi-sport club (Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος), the Pan-Athenian Athletic Club, from which the club's other name, P.A.O., derives. In 1979, the department became professional and independent. They have played their home games in a number of fields, most significantly in Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, which is considered as their traditional home stadium, and in Athens Olympic Stadium. In 2008, the club announced the signing of a contract for the construction of its new stadium, Marfin Stadium, the project has yet to begin.
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History
Panellinios Podosfairikos Omilos(poa)
In late 1909, after a dispute between a number of board members and subsequent exodus of some, Kalafatis, unable to cement his control of the board, decided together with most of the players to pull out of the club and secure a new ground at Amerikis Square.[3] They changed their name to P.P.O. - Panellinios Podosfairikos Omilos (Greek: Π.Π.Ο. - Πανελλήνιος Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος), the Panhellenic Football Club, their colour from pink to green (from red-white),and were afterwards followed by most of the board members and fans. In 1912, Oxford University athlete John Campbell was brought as coach,[4] until then Kalafatis had been both playing and coaching. The Englishman's impact was immediate as he introduced football skills and tactics not yet seen in Greek football, but considered rudimentary by English standards. It was the first time that a foreigner was appointed as coach of a Greek team. By 1914, Campbell had returned to England but the club was already dominating Greek football with players such as Michalis Papazoglou, Michalis Rokos, Loukas Panourgias and Apostolos Nikolaidis.
Panellinios Podosfairikos Agonistikos Omilos
At the conclusion of the Great War, the name of the club was changed again to P.P.A.O. - Panellinios Podosfairikos ke Agonistikos Omilos (Π.Π.A.Ο. - Πανελλήνιος Ποδοσφαιρικός και Αγωνιστικός Όμιλος), the Panhellenic Football and Sports Club, because its athletes were by then competing not only in football but in other sports as well.[3] In 1919, the club adopted green as its official colour and the Tryfilli (shamrock) as its emblem, as proposed by Michalis Papazoglou.[3][5] That same year the "Union of Football Clubs of Athens and Piraeus" organized the first post war championship in which Panathinaikos was declared champion.[6] By this stage, the club had outgrown both the grounds at Patission Avenue and Amerikis Square, due mainly to its expansion in other sports, and began to look at vacant land at Perivola on Alexandras Avenue as its potential new ground. After long discussions and serious problems an agreement was reached and in 1924 Leoforos Alexandras was finally awarded to the club.
Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos
The move to a permanent home ground also heralded another, final, name change to P.A.O. - Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (Π.Α.Ο. - Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος), the Pan-Athenian Athletic Club.[3]
In 1926, the Hellenic Football Federation was founded and the first autonomous Greek Championship took place in 1927, replacing the S.E.G.A.S. Cup.
Post-war
Post-war performance was better and until 1965, they had won 7 Championships (1949, 1953, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965) and 2 Cups (1948, 1955).
Panathinaikos were crowned back to back Champions (1969, 1970) and won 2 Greek Cups (1967, 1969). In the last amateur days, PAO won one Championship in 1972 and the Double in 1977.
Vardinogiannis era
In 1979, Greek football turned professional and the Vardinogiannis family, who are mostly known for their oil refining, oil exploration, media and entertainment enterprises, purchased the club's football department and George Vardinogiannis became president.[4] 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 their first professional era trophy, the Greek Cup, put everything in order and they would go on winning 2 Championships (1984, 1986), 4 more Greek Cups (1984, 1986, 1988, 1989) and their first Greek Super Cup in 1988.
The 1990s were a more successful period for the club, both nationally and internationally. Four Greek Championships (1990, 1991, 1995, 1996), 4 Greek Cups (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995) and 2 Greek Super Cups (1993, 1994) were awarded to the club.
The 2000 decline and gradual rise
In the summer of 2000, president George Vardinogiannis resigned from his duties. He was succeeded by his nephew Giannis, who changed the style of management into the team. Aggelos Anastasiadis was appointed as coach. Although Panathinaikos was doing well in Europe, it failed completely in domestic matches, remaining without a title once again.
The 2002–03 season was slightly better than the previous. Panathinaikos lost the league in the two last games by arch-rivals Olympiacos. In Europe, the team was eliminated in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, by FC Porto.
Double in season 2003-04
The changes were immediate: with Itzhak Shum as coach, Panathinaikos managed to win the Double after almost ten years. New players were signed the summer before, like Ezequiel González, Lucian Sanmartean, and Markus Munch. However, Shum was unexpectedly fired and goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis was transferred to Olympiacos.
2005 - 2008
Alberto Malesani succeeded him on the bench. The team struggled but didn't manage to win a title till the end of the season. However, Malesani remained as coach of the team.
In July 2005, major changes were made into Panathinaikos' roster. Many stars like Angelos Basinas and Michalis Konstantinou left, while others like Flávio Conceição and Igor Biscan arrived. But for another time, Vardinnogiannis missed by far his targets of the Greek League, Greek Cup, and the Champions League, where Panathinaikos collected only four points in six matches.
During the start of the 2006–07 season, Malesani left the team, and he was replaced by the lackluster Hans Backe, who left after three months after his appointment. Víctor Muñoz applied for coach, but the team didn't manage to do a serious achievement since the double once again, especially after losing the cup final to Larissa, much to the supporters' disappointment.
In the 2007-08 season, Panathinaikos got José Peseiro, but nothing changed: Panathinaikos missed every competition, losing the league in the final five matches, but managing to get to the next year's Champions League, thanks to very good results in the Super League's play-offs, which it won. However, it was decided long before that Pesseiro would leave, the main reason was the heavy defeat 4-0 from their arch-rivals, Olympiacos Piraeus.
On 22 April 2008, 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 a €80 million increase of the company's capital stock. After the negotiations and the share capital increase, Vardinogiannis family would hold 56% of the club, Amateur Panathinaikos 10% and the rest shareholders 34%.
2008-09
Following major presidential changes in the 2008 summer, and with Nikos Pateras as president instead of Giannis Vardinogiannis, Panathinaikos transferred Dutch Henk ten Cate as manager, and bought many expensive players, such as Gilberto Silva from Arsenal, and Brazilian Gabriel from Fluminense . With the changes made, the Greens proved that they could hold their weight in Champions League by reaching the 16th-finals. However, they disappointed in the league, coming 3rd in the regular season behind PAOK, but managing to come 2nd overall by virtue of the playoff mini-league. The Greek Cup campaign is also regarded as a failure, as the team went out to Panserraikos F.C. in the quarterfinals.
Recent years
The 2009-10 season was very successful for Panathinaikos. At the summer transfer window the club bought Djibril Cissé from Marseille, Kostas Katsouranis from Benfica, Sebastian Leto from Liverpool and various other players spending more than 35€ millions. The team managed to enter the final 16 of Europa League from Standar Liege (they were previously disqualified on the third round of European Champions League) and win the Greek Championship. Panathinaikos won the Greek Cup as well, at the Cup Final against Aris on 24th of April.
At the summer transfer window, Panathinaikos, signed Jean-Alain Boumsong and Sidney Govou from Olympique Lyonnais as well as Luis Garcia as free agents. Goalkeeper Daniel Fernandes as a loan transfer from Bochum,Georgios Ioannidis who left Iraklis F.C. after winning his contractual freedom in court and Damien Plessis from Liverpool F.C. also joined the team.
Crest and colours
The crest and colours were first used by the club in 1908 with a pink shirt. In 1919 player Michalis Papazoglou, a Constantinopolitan, proposed that the club adopt the colour green that means hope, with a shamrock (Greek: Tριφύλλι - Trifylli) as an emblem, as used by his Chalcedon-based former club of Chalkidona. The jersey colours are green and white, although the white sometimes is omitted, used as trim or as an alternative.
During the first years after the establishment of green (instead of pink) as Panathinaikos' primary color, players were wearing green shirts, white shorts and green socks. Since then, the uniform style has changed many times but green has always remained the team's primary color.
Honouring the club's past and in part of the centenary season's celebrations, two new jerseys (home and away) were introduced on 6 January 2008. A centennial year logo was also introduced, chosen via the club's website through a contest that took place within all Panathinaikos' fans in 2007. The logo combines Panathinaikos' traditional logo along with the number 100. It was designed by Nikos Karokis, an electrical-engineer and dedicated fan of the team.
Stadium
Panathinaikos FC's original home ground since the early 1920s was the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium in the Ampelokipi district in central Athens. The stadium is located on Alexandras Avenue and is most commonly referred to as the "Leoforos" (i.e. Avenue). It's considered one of the most historic stadium in Greece, as it was used by the Greek national football team as home ground for many years (most recently for the UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying matches) and even by Panathinaikos' biggest rivals, AEK Athens (for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League matches) and Olympiacos (for friendly matches).
Panathinaikos left Leoforos in 1983 to play in the newly built Olympic Stadium of Athens. In 2000, the then club president Aggelos Philippides announced a return to 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 requirements, but in 2004 stricter standards were announced and 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 Athens Olympic stadium once more, until a new stadium, the Votanikos Arena, is built (projected for late 2008). The Leoforos ground is due for demolition and will become a park. A small section of the west curve spectator stands, the legendary "Gate 13", will be retained and house a small Panathinaikos museum.
On 27 January 2007, Panathinaikos Amateur and Panathinaikos FC decided to reuse Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium for the 2007–08 Greek Super League season and UEFA Cup matches. Also, the club directors decided to install new lawn, new seats and upgrade the press conference room and all the restrooms.
| Stadium Name | Capacity | Years |
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| Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium | original: 25.000 (16.620 after 2001 renovation) |
1923-84, 2000-05, 2007-08 |
| Athens Olympic Stadium | 71.000 | 1984-00, 2005-07, 2008- |
| Marfin Stadium | 46.000 (project) | Only project |
Honours
Domestic competitions
- Greek Championship: (20) [7]
- 1930, 1949, 1953, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2010
- Greek Cup: (17)
- 1940, 1948, 1955, 1967, 1969, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2004, 2010
- Greek Super Cup: (4)
- 1970, 1988, 1993, 1994
International competitions
- European Cup: Runners-Up
- 1971
- Intercontinental Cup: Runners-Up
- 1971
- Balkans Cup: (1)
- 1978
Current squad
- The numbers and squad are established according to the official website: www.pao.gr
As of 31 August 2010
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For recent transfers, see List of Greece football transfers summer 2010
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Under-21 Squad
As of 2010 [8]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Current technical staff
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Head Coach | Nikos Nioplias |
| Assistant Coach |  Krzysztof Warzycha |
| Assistant Coach | Michalis Iordanidis |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Vasilis Alexoudis |
| Fitness Coach | Antonis Kezos |
| Academy Technical Manager | Ioannis Samaras |
| U21 Team Head Coach |  Juan Ramon Rocha |
Last updated: 29 July 2010
Source: Panathinaikos F.C. official website
Notable former players
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All time leaders in appearances and goals
| Rank | Name | Caps | Still Active? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mimis Domazos |
504 | No |
| 2 | Krzysztof Warzycha |
390 | No |
| 3 | Kostas Antoniou |
322 | No |
| 4 | Anthimos Kapsis |
319 | No |
| 5 | Frangiskos Sourpis |
309 | No |
| Rank | Name | Goals | Still Active? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Krzysztof Warzycha |
288 | No |
| 2 | Antonis Antoniadis |
197 | No |
| 3 | Dimitris Saravakos |
156 | No |
| 4 | Nikos Lyberopoulos |
97 | Yes[9] |
| 5 | Kostas Eleftherakis |
88 | No |
Former coaches
As of 3 November 2009.
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References
- ↑ "Athens Olympic Stadium". stadia.gr. http://www.stadia.gr/oaka/oaka-f.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
- ↑ "2009-10 Super League standings". Galanis Sports Data. http://www.galanissportsdata.com/football/national/season2009_10/rank.asp?day=30.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Foundation and transformations of Panathinaikos" (in Greek). sansimera.gr. http://www.sansimera.gr/archive/articles/show.php?id=400&feature=PAO. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kyriazis, Christos (2008-02-04). "The Golden Age of PAO" (in Greek). Ethnosport (Pegasus Publishing S.A.). http://sports.e-go.gr/article.asp?catid=8332&subid=2&pubid=772208. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ↑ "Do Panathinaikos Have Secret Irish Connections?". The Guardian. 2 August 2001. http://football.guardian.co.uk/news/theknowledge/0,9204,530929,00.html. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
- ↑ "Panathinaikos FC history". pao.gr. http://www.pao.gr/en/history/.
- ↑ "Greek Champions' history". Galanis Sports Data. http://www.galanissportsdata.com/football/national/season2009_10/history.asp.
- ↑ "PAO U-21 Squad". pao.gr. http://www.pao.gr/en/akadimies/U21/.
- ↑ http://www.aekfc.gr/index.asp?a_id=322
External links
- Panathinaikos FC - official website (in Greek & English)
- Panathinaikos Youth Academy (in Greek)
- Gate 13 - fan website (in Greek & English)
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