Panathinaikos FC

P.A.O. - team crest

Takis Loukanidis lifting the 1967 cup for Panathinaikos. L-R: Stjepan Bobek, Takis Loukanidis, Takis Economopoulos, Michalis Bellis

Panathinaikos' finest moment - Wembley 1971

PAO at Wembley Stadium

Team History

Football in Greece, made it's appearance in about 1890 but there was no official championship since it was considered as a sport for the low class people. There were some people, though, who had predicted that this sport would eventually become the most popular sport in Greece. Giorgos Kalafatis, was the one who really believed in football and in December of 1908 at the age of 18, he founded the team of Panathinaikos F.C. The president of the team was Alexandros Kalafatis, Giorgos' brother. Giorgos Kalafatis is now considered as Greek's soccer "Father". The name of the club was by then P.O.A. (Podosfairikos Omilos Athinon - Football Club of Athens). The club changed it's name twice during the time period of 1910 - 1918.

In 1918 there were two more historical decisions were taken. First of all, it was decided that the official color of the team would be the green, as in most of the matches the players were not using the same outfit. The other decision was about the club's symbol. Panathinaikos until then didn't have any official symbol and it was decided that the "Triffili" would be the one. The man who had the idea of that symbol was, Michalis Papazoglou, a great athlete from Constantinople who played for the team of Chalkidona, which had the same symbol. This idea was accepted by the Panathinaikos council. Panathinaikos got it's final name in May 15, 1924. It was changed to P.A.O. (Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos - Panathinaikos Athletic Club).

Panathinaikos became popular almost immediately and soon it's superiority was acknowledged. Greek authorities for the previously mentioned reasons didn't want football to be played in Greece, but they realized that the fans of that sport were rapidly increasing. Finally they were forced to officially recognize football and the Panathinaikos team. It was one more triumph of Giorgos Kalafatis and Panathinaikos.

In Europe

Panathinaikos played his first offical European competitive football game against the Czechoslovakian team of Spartak Hradec Kralove for the European Champions Cup on November 6, 1960 and lost 1-0.

The team today

On May of 2006, Panathinaikos FC appointed Swedish coach Hans Bakke to replace Alberto Malesani at the helm of the Greek giants. Malesani's two-year tenure was ended by mutual consent. Bakke resigned his position in September after a disappointing 1-1 UEFA Cup home draw to Ukrainian outfit Metallurg Zaporizhzhya. His replacement is Spanish coach Victor Munoz.

Star Players

30s - 40s

Angelos Messaris Antonis Migiakis Dimitris Pierrakos Dimitris Baltasis Spiros Ypofantis Antonis Tsolinas Kostas Baltasis Kostas Andritsos Deleanu Rokkos Takis Triantafyllis Panagiotis Sourmelis G. Sourmelis

Spiros Sklavounos Giorgos Argyrakis Stefanos Pierrakos Michalis Vasiliou Kostas Christodoulou Diomedes Symeonidis M. Remoundos Elias Stafylidis Yiannis Papantoniou Charalambos Fylaktos Giorgos Chatzopoulos

Tasos Kritikos Gavrilos Gazis Mathios Vitalis Nikos Simos Adamantios Sofianopoulos Nikolopoulos Chantzos Syrkos V. Svolopoulos G. Svolopoulos Strouboulis Balaskas Messinezis

50s - 60s

Tsiboukidis Jimmy Kazakos Kostas Hadjinikolaou Giorgos Ziemis Yiannis Petsanas Antonis Papantoniou Lakis Sofianos Mimis Maniakis Nikos Raditsas Arvanitis Theodoros Aloupis Maridakis Mimis Mandarakis Kostas Vourliotakis Giorgos Philippou Vangelis Panakis Lakis Petropoulos Yiannis Nembidis Costas Linoxilakis Giorgos Kourtzidis Sotiris Angelopoulos Mimis Benardos Philippos Asimakopoulos Kostas Toumbelis Yiannis Holevas

Panikos Shailos Dimitris Fylakouris Nikos Tsilis Giorgos Pyrgolios Matakis Andreas Apergis Christos Drakotas Yiannis Kosmidis Dimitris Theofanis Mimis Domazos Takis Loukanidis Michalis Voutsaras Andreas Papaemmanouil Giorgos Andreou Zacharias Pitychoutis Frangiskos Sourpis Stelios Panagiotidis Dionysis Spetsarias Giorgos Giannakopoulos Prodromos Kyriakidis Vomvas Nikos Tzounakos Totis Filakouris Yiannis Christoforidis Giorgos Rokidis

Aristides Kamaras Takis Papoulidis Takis Economopoulos Kostas Papoutsakis Yiannis Komianidis Stratos Sakellaridis Pakos Christodoulou Victor Mitropoulos Haris Grammos Stamatis Vourdamis Nikos Panousakis Pavlos Kopsachilis Yiannis Kalaitzidis Yiannis Frantzis Michalis Bellis Kostas Athanasopoulos

70s - 80s

Vasilis Konstantinou Antonis Antoniadis Giorgos Vlachos Anthimos Kapsis Kostas Eleftherakis Dimitris Dimitriou Yiannis Tomaras Giorgos Hadjiandreou Karamanlis Dimitris Kalligeris Araken Demelo Roberto Gramajo Karolos Linaris Sakis Kouvas Stelios Stefanakis Oscar Alvarez Giorgos Delikaris Nikos Vallianos Dimitris Kizas

Giorgos Deliyiannis Takis Eleftheriadis Juan Ramon Veron Juan Ramon Rocha Kostas Antoniou Grigoris Charalambidis Mike Galakos Thomas Laftsis Tscheu La Ling Grigoris Papavasiliou Kostas Tarasis Yiannis Vonortas Spyros Livathinos Nikos Karoulias Yiannis Kyrastas Velimir Zajec Dimitris Saravakos

Christos Dimopoulos Antonis Minou Kostas Mavridis Thanasis Dimopoulos Michalis Gerothodoros Kostas Batsinilas Nikos Patsiavouras Nikos Sarganis Nikos Vamvakoulas Yiannis Kalitzakis Chris Kalatzis Louis Christodoulou Lyssandros Georgamlis Marton Esterhazy Roberto Agueropolis Jozsef Fitos Hristo Kolev

90s - Today

Krzysztof Warzycha Jozef Wandzik Antonios Nikopolidis Kostas Frantzeskos Juan Jose Borelli Danut Lupu Kostas Pavlopoulos Giorgos Donis Giorgos Ch. Georgiadis Giorgos S. Georgiadis Spiros Maraggos Stratos Apostolakis Marinos Ouzounidis Nikos Nioblias Nikos Liberopoulos Yiannis Goumas Leonidas Vokolos Angelos Basinas Giorgos Karagounis Giourkas Seitaridis Panayiotis Fyssas Michalis Konstantinou Emmanuel Olisadebe Sotiris Kyrgiakos Rene Henrikksen Jan Michaelsen Erik Mykland

Goran Vlaovic Fernando Galleto Karl-Heinz Pflipsen Daniel Saric Joonas Kolkka Derek Boateng Percy Olivares Igor Sibniewski Vangelis Koutsoures Blendar Kola Erik Lincar Carlos Chainho Markus Muench Pantelis Konstantinidis Joel Epalle Raimondas Zutautas Miltiadis Sapanis Silvio Maric Kostas Chalkias Stefanos Kotsolis Xenophon Gittas Ezequiel Gonzalez Dimitris Papadopoulos Flavio Conceicao Igor Biscan Mario Galinovic Theofanis Gekas

Lucian Sanmartean Kostas Charalambidis Loukas Vyntra Sandor Torghelle Sotiris Leontiou Vangelis Mantzios Filippos Darlas Dimitris Salpiggidis Andreas Ivanschitz Pier-Owono Ebede Alexandros Tziolis Sebastian Romero Sotiris Ninis

Coaches

• Miko Forner
• Josef Kinsler
• Harry Game
• Antonis Migiakis
• Stjepan Bobek
• Lakis Petropoulos
• Ferenc Puskas
• Kazimierz Gorski
• Gavrilos Gazis
• Bruno Pesaola
• Ronnie Allen
• Andreas Papaemmanouil
• Helmut Senekowitsch
• Ivica Osim
• Stefan Kovac (1981 - 83)
• Jacek Gmoch
• Velimir Zajec
• Maik Galakos
• Vasilis Daniil
• Yiannis Kalogeras
• Gunther Bengston
• Pietr Packert
• Tomislav Ivic
• Juan Ramon Rocha
• Fernando Santos
• Yiannis Kyrastas
• Angelos Anastasiadis
• Stratos Apostolakis
• Sergio Markarian
• Yitzhak Shum
• Zdenek Skazny
• Alberto Malesani
• Hans Bakke
• Victor Munoz