Gymnastikos S. Larissas Faros B.C.

GS Larissas Faros
Leagues Greek League
Greek Cup
Founded 1928
History Gymnastikos S. Larissas B.C.
(1928 – 2006)
G.S. Larissas 1928 - Foinix B.C.
(2015 – 2016)
G.S. Larissas 1928 B.C.
(2016 – 2017)
G.S.L. Faros 2017 B.C.
(2017 – present)
Arena Larissa Neapolis Indoor Arena
Arena Capacity Basketball:
4,000
(permanent upper-tier seats)
5,500
(with retractable lower-tier seats)[1]
Location Larissa, Greece
Team colors Green, White, and Blue
              
President Kostas Dastavridis[2]
Head coach Thanasis Skourtopoulos
Website GS Larissas 1928
Uniforms
Home
Away
Alternate

Gymnastikos S. Larissas Faros B.C. (Greek: Γυμναστικός Σ. Λάρισας Φάρος K.A.E.), commonly abbreviated as either G.S. Larissas Faros, or G.S.L. Faros, is a Greek professional basketball club that is based in Larissa, Greece. The club's full name is Gymnastikos Syllogos Larissas Faros 2017 (Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Λάρισας Φάρος 2017). The club’s colors are green, white, and blue, and its emblem is the Discobolus. The club is well-known for being the first team of the legendary European basketball player, Vassilis Spanoulis.

The club currently plays in Greece's top-tier level, the Greek Basket League.

Logos

History

Gymnastikos S. Larissas was originally founded in 1928, and it was the first basketball club of the city of Larissa, that played in the top-tier level Greek Basket League (A1 National). In 1979, basketball coach Giannis Ioannidis, after winning the top-tier Greek League championship with Aris, surprisingly agreed to become the head coach of Gymnastikos. Gymnastikos was in the B National (at that time, the Greek 2nd division) at the time, and had great aspirations of being promoted to the top-tier Greek league.

Ioannidis led the team to an undefeated run in the Greek 2nd Division in the 1979–80 season, which earned the club a league promotion to the top-tier division in 1980. From that time, and through the 2005–06 season, the club played several times in the top-tier Greek League (in the 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, and 2005–06 seasons). The club's best season to date was the 1994–95 season, when under head coach Vangelis Alexandris' guidance, they almost earned a qualification place in the 3rd-tier European-wide league, the FIBA Korać Cup. They were ultimately denied a place in the Korać Cup by Sporting, by just one point (86–85), in the play-off decider game that determined which team qualified for Korać Cup.

Gymnastikos later suffered relegation to the Greek second division in 1998, but against all odds, they returned to the top flight Greek league in 2005. Despite the club's low budget, they had a good season in the top-tier Greek League, during the 2005–06 season. However, due to financial problems, the club was merged with AEL 1964, in 2006, which again ended its presence in Greece's top basketball league.

Also in 2006, Keravnos Larissa, the club's feeder team, changed their name to Keravnos Gymnastikos, as a reminder of the club's past glory days. Eventually, 9 years later, in 2015, Gymnastikos returned to existence, after merging with another other local club of Larissa, Foinix Larissas.[3][4] Foinix Larissas had been founded in 1995, and in the previous season, it had played in the 3rd-tier Greek B League (Beta Ethniki).

Foinix Larissas was then replaced by Gymnastikos S. Larissas, after the two clubs merged in 2015, thus ending Foinix's presence in Greek basketball competitions.[5] The club played in the 3rd-tier level Greek B League during the 2015–16 season,[3][4][6] and was promoted to the 2nd-tier level Greek A2 League, for the 2016–17 season.

In the summer of 2017, Gymnastikos merged with Faros Keratsiniou, and then took Faros' place in the upcoming top-tier level Greek Basket League 2017–18 season.[7][8] Faros retained all of its amateur and junior clubs. Gymnastikos' club name then officially became Gymnastikos Syllogos Larissas Faros 2017, abbreviated as GSL Faros 2017.

Arenas

Gymnastikos used the 2,000 capacity Alkazar Hall as its home arena for more than 20 years, until 1995, when the Larissa Neapolis Indoor Arena was opened. The club has since played its home games at the Larissa Neapolis, which can seat up to 5,500 people for basketball games.[9]

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Gymnastikos S. Larissas Faros B.C. roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age
G United States Ware, Kevin 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 77 kg (170 lb) 24 – (1993-01-03)3 January 1993
G/F United States Conner, Willie 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 24 – (1993-05-06)6 May 1993
F Greece Vavatsikos, Giannis 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 27 – (1990-08-17)17 August 1990
F/C Greece Spyropoulos, Tasos 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 107 kg (236 lb) 22 – (1995-05-01)1 May 1995
G Greece Mouratos, Vassilis 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 19 – (1997-11-24)24 November 1997
PG Greece Chatzikyriakidis, Dimitris 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 18 – (1998-10-31)31 October 1998
C Greece Diamantakos, Georgios 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) 125 kg (276 lb) 22 – (1995-01-14)14 January 1995
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Greece Avraam Papadopoulos
  • Greece Giannis Diamantakos
Athletic trainer(s)
  • Greece Christos Chalitsios
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured

Updated: July 28, 2017

Depth chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Georgios Diamantakos
PF
SF Willie Conner Giannis Vavatsikos
SG Kevin Ware Vassilis Mouratos
PG Dimitris Chatzikyriakidis

Honors and titles

Notable players

NBA players

Over the years, the team has featured NBA players like:

Notable coaches

References

  1. ↑ Larissa Neapolis Arena.
  2. ↑ Εξαγορά Φάρου από ΓΣΛ. Retrieved 9 August 2017
  3. 1 2 "Ο Γυμναστικός των Λαρισαίων επέστρεψε". eleftheria.gr. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Η επιστροφή του ΓΣΛ!". larissasportnews.gr. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "Foinix Larissas". foinix. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "Συγχώνευση Φοίνικα – Γυμναστικού Λάρισας!". karditsasportiva.gr. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  7. ↑ Τα εισιτήρια διαρκείας του ΓΣΛ Φάρου 2017 (in Greek).
  8. ↑ Ανακοίνωσε Σκουρτόπουλο ο ΓΣΛ Φάρος (in Greek).
  9. ↑ More data: its capacity may be increased to about 5,500 through the addition of an extra lower tier of seats.
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