Panellinios B.C. ( el, Πανελλήνιος K.A.E., link=no) or Panellinios Basket, is a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

club that is located in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece. The club was founded in 1929. The name Panellinios can be translated as Pan-Hellenic in English, and can be interpreted to mean "The Greek Nation". B.C. stands for basketball club. So the club's name can be interpreted to mean "The National Basketball Club". The Greek multi-sports club Panathinaikos A.O. was founded by Panellinios G.S. athletes. The club was previously owned by the Greek businessman Minos Kyriakou.

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 Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

compete at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. The team's leader was Sotirios Athanasopoulos. Members included

Nikolaos Andriakopoulos Nikolaos Andriakopoulos ( el, Νικόλαος Ανδριακόπουλος; 1878 in Patras – after 1896) was a Greek gymnast. He was a member of Panachaikos Gymnastikos Syllogos, that merged in 1923 with Gymnastiki Etaireia Patron to be ...

Petros Persakis Petros Persakis ( el, Πέτρος Περσάκης; born 1879 in Athens) was a Greek gymnast. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Persakis competed in the individual rings and team parallel bars events. He placed third in ...

, Thomas Xenakis, and 29 others. The team placed second out of the three teams in the

parallel bars Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars slightly over long and positioned at roughly head height. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally we ...

team event, earning a silver medal (retroactively awarded by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

, 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 Giorgos Kalafatis ( el, Γιώργος Καλαφάτης; 17 March 1890 – 19 February 1964) was a Greek football pioneer, player, coach, track and field athlete and the founder of Panathinaikos Athens multi-sports club. Sports career Bein ...

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 level Greek League's champion 6 times, in the years 1929, 1939, 1940, 1953, 1955, and 1957. In the club's early years, it featured the player Missas Pantazopoulos. 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In the early 1950s era, the team was called "The Golden Five" ("Chrysi Pentada" in Greek), or "The Fabulous Five". "The Golden Five" consisted of

Themis Cholevas Themistokles "Themis" Cholevas (; 12 April 1926 – 30 December 2007) was an international Greek professional basketball player and professional basketball coach. Professional career Cholevas was the team captain of the Panellinios Basketball Cl ...

( PG), Dinos Papadimas ( SG),

Mimis Stefanidis Dimitrios "Mimis" Stefanidis ( el, Δημήτριος "Μίμης" Στεφανίδης, born 28 October 1931) is a former international professional basketball player and basketball coach, from Greece. He was born in Athens. Professional career S ...

( SF), Panos Manias ( PF), and

Aristeidis Roubanis Aristeidis Savvas Roubanis (alternate spelling: Aristidis) ( el, Αριστείδης Ρουμπάνης, 9 March 1932, Tripoli – 13 January 2018, Greece) was a Greek international basketball player and javelin thrower. During his club basket ...

( C). "The Golden Five" dominated not only Greek club basketball, but European club basketball in general. The Panellinios team also headlined the Greek

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

basketball team. Although the EuroLeague, then known as the FIBA 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 to be the best club team in Europe during the early-to-mid 1950s. In that era, the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the team was Nikos Nissiotis. During that era, Panellinios took part in the biggest international club 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 Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

. Panellinios then won the 1955 Brussels Tournament, by defeating the

Yugoslav League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League (Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

club

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

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 Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

, 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 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. During that era, the team also featured the great scorer

Antonis Christeas Antonis Christeas ( el, Αντώνης Χρηστέας; 1 February 1937 – 9 October 2011) was a Greek professional basketball player of the 1950s and 1960s era. Club career Christeas was a key member of Panellinios, and with them he won 2 Gr ...

and Georgios Moschos.

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 the legendary Greek player

Vassilis Goumas Vassilis Goumas (alternate spellings: Vasilis, Vasillos, Gkoumas) (Greek: Βασίλης Γκούμας; born 15 November 1946) is a retired Greek professional basketball player. During his playing career, he was nicknamed "The Emperor". Early ca ...

, that was the leader of the team. In the 1970–71 season, Panellinios player Paraskevas Tsantalis, scored 73 points in a Greek Basket league game against

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

. The club also finished as the runner-up in the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

in 1987. Panellinios also participated in the European 2nd-tier level

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA ...

(Saporta Cup), and in the European 3rd-tier level

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

competition, 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

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and fourth 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-level Greek League, after earning a league promotion, led by

Marijan Kraljević Marijan "Mario" Kraljević (born April 30, 1970 in Pforzheim, West Germany) is former Slovenian-Croatian professional basketball player. National team career Kraljević was a member of the senior Slovenia national basketball team. He competed a ...

and the Soulis brothers. In 2006, the team advanced to the playoff round of the Greek League, led by Dimitrios Tsaldaris,

Damir Mulaomerović Damir Mulaomerović (born 19 September 1974) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for Cedevita Junior of the Croatian League. Professional career Mulaomerović started his career with S ...

and

Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje Ruben Bertrand Boumtje-Boumtje (born May 20, 1978) is a Cameroonian professional basketball executive and former player who last served as the assistant general manager of the Delaware Blue Coats of the NBA G League. He played college basketball ...

, and finished 6th in the league, after losing in the playoffs to

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

. In 2007, the club finished in 5th place in the league, with players such as Mamadou N'Diaye, Michalis Pelekanos,

Gary Trent Gary Dajaun Trent Sr. (born September 22, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player. Early life Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Trent played his high school basketball at Hamilton Township High School. In his senior season ...

, and Anthony Goldwire. The team lost to

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

, where it had been based for 81 years, to the city of

Lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...

. In March 2010, Minos Kyriakou, withdrew from the club's ownership position. In 2011, the club moved back 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 The Greek basketball league system is a number of interconnected competitions for professional basketball clubs in Greece. The system has a hierarchical format with a promotion and relegation system between competitions at different levels. There ...

, 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.

In Europe

Arenas

The club plays its Greek League home games at Panellinios Indoor Hall, a small arena with a capacity of 1,800. 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

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

Honours and titles

European competitions

* European International Club Tournament : Champions (2): 1955 Brussels Tournament, 1956 San Remo Tournament : ''Runners-up (1)'': 1954 San Remo Tournament * EuroCup : Final Four (1): 2009–10

Domestic competitions

* Greek League : Champions (6): 1928–29, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1956–57 : ''Runners-up (4)'': 1934–35, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1953–54 *

: ''Runners-up (1)'': 1986–87 * Greek League A2 : Champions (2): 1986–87, 2003–04 * Greek League C : Champions (1): 1998–99

Seasons

:''Scroll down to see more.''

Notable players

;Greece *

Georgios Apostolidis Georgios Apostolidis (alternate spelling: Giorgos) (Greek: Γιώργος Αποστολίδης; born June 22, 1984) is a Greek professional basketball player. He is 2.00 m (6 ft 6 in) tall. He can play at the point guard, shooting guard, ...

* Nikos Argyropoulos * Antonis Asimakopoulos * Kostas Charalampidis *

Makis Dreliozis Prodromos "Makis" Dreliozis (Greek: Πρόδρομος "Μάκις" Δρελιώζης; born March 31, 1975 in Athens, Greece), is a retired Greek professional basketball player. At 2.01 m (6 ft. 7 in.) in height and 91 kg. (200 lb ...

* Ioannis Georgallis * Andreas Glyniadakis *

* Dimitris Kalaitzidis * Georgios Kalaitzis *

Sotiris Karapostolou Sotirios "Soto" Karapostolou (alternate spelling: Sotiris) (Greek: Σωτηρης "Σωτω" Καραποστολου; born July 15, 1978) is a Greek former professional basketball player and current basketball assistant coach. During his playing ...

* Ioannis Karathanasis * Kimon Kokorogiannis *

Markos Kolokas Markos Kolokas (Greek: Μάρκος Κολώκας; born April 21, 1977, in Athens, Greece) is a Greek former professional basketball player and professional basketball coach. At a height of 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) tall, he played at both the sma ...

* Dimitris Kompodietas *

Georgios Limniatis Georgios "George" Limniatis (alternate spellings: Giorgos, Giorgios) ( el, Γιώργος Λιμνιάτης; born March 22, 1971) is a Greek retired professional basketball player and a professional basketball coach. He played at the point guard ...

* Albert Mallach * Panos Manias *

Nikos Oikonomou Nikolaos "Nikos" Oikonomou (alternate spellings: Ikonomou, Ekonomou) (Greek: Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Οικονόμου; born February 19, 1973) is a retired Greek professional basketball player, and a current professional basketball coach. ...

* Missas Pantazopoulos * Dinos Papadimas *

Pantelis Papaioakeim Panteleimon "Pantelis" Papaioakeim (alternate spelling: Papaeoakeim) ( el, Παντελεήμων "Παντελής" Παπαϊωακείμ) (born 9 September 1975) is a retired Greek professional basketball player. At a height of 2.06 m (6'9") t ...

Manos Papamakarios Emmanouil "Manolis" "Manos" Papamakarios (Greek: Εμμανουήλ "Μανόλης" "Μάνος" Παπαμακάριος; born August 26, 1980) is a retired Greek professional basketball player. He is 1.92 m (6 ft 3 in) tall and he mainly ...

* Nikos Pappas * Michalis Pelekanos * Alekos Petroulas *

* Vangelis Sakellariou * Vangelis Sklavos *

Dimitris Tsaldaris Dimitrios Tsaldaris (alternate spelling: Dimitris) ( el, Δημήτρης Τσαλδάρης; born 7 March 1980) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach. During his playing career, at a height of 1.96 m (6'5") tall, he played a ...

* Paraskevas Tsantalis * Christos Tsekos *

Ian Vougioukas Ian Vougioukas (alternate spelling: Ian Vouyoukas) (Greek: Ίαν Βουγιούκας; born May 31, 1985) is a Greek professional basketball player who last played for Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague. Standing at , h ...

* Vassilis Xanthopoulos * - Anatoly Zourpenko ;USA * Mo Bailey *

Jeff Boschee Jeffrey Allen Boschee (; born on December 21, 1979) is an American former basketball player and current coach. He currently serves as head coach of the men's team at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. He was formerly the head coach ...

* Andre Brown *

Derrick Byars Derrick JaVaughn Byars (born April 25, 1984) is an American professional basketball player and entrepreneur. Collegiately, he played for Virginia, and later for Vanderbilt. He was drafted 42nd overall in the 2007 NBA draft. High school career B ...

* Josh Davis * Anthony Goldwire * Anthony Grundy *

Marcus Hatten Marcus Isaiah Hatten (born December 13, 1980) is a retired American professional basketball player. Standing at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), he played as point guard and had an extensive professional career in several European and South-American coun ...

* Britton Johnsen *

Tre Kelley Alfrie Eugene "Tre" Kelley III (born January 23, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the University of South Carolina. High school career Kelley g ...

Joe Krabbenhoft Joseph Krabbenhoft (born March 24, 1987) is a retired American professional basketball player and current associate head coach at the University of Wisconsin. College career Born in Spring Valley, Illinois, Krabbenhoft played college basketball ...

* Chris Owens *

Dylan Page Dylan Page (born March 28, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for Movistar Estudiantes of the Spanish Liga ACB. College career He played for the NCAA Division I Milwaukee Panthers from 2000-2004 where he, along with Clay Tucke ...

Andrae Patterson Andrae Malone Patterson (born November 12, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who currently works with the Portland Trail Blazers as the assistant General Manager. He played college basketball with Indiana. College career ...

Rick Rickert Rick Rickert (born February 11, 1983) is a former American professional basketball player. He is a 2001 graduate of Duluth East High School where he was a basketball star and highly recruited college prospect. He was named 2001 Minnesota Mr. Baske ...

Ryan Robertson Ryan Ashley Robertson (born October 2, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the 2nd round (45th pick) of the 1999 NBA draft. He played college basketball at the University of Kans ...

* Melvin Sanders *

Mustafa Shakur Mustafadeen "Mustafa" Abdush-Shakur (born August 18, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of Arizona and has previously played professionally in Europe, Lebanon, the NBA D-Le ...

* Devin Smith * Steven Smith * Larry Stewart *

Jamel Thomas Jamel Thomas (born July 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a guard/ forward. Thomas was born in Brooklyn, New York. He played collegiately for Provide ...

* Jitim Young ;Canada * Juan Mendez ;Europe * Miroslav Berić * - Roderick Blakney * Aleksandar Ćapin *

Jurica Golemac Jurica Golemac (born May 29, 1977) is a Croatian-born Slovenian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as the head coach for Cedevita Olimpija of the Slovenian League, ABA League and the EuroCup. He is 2.09 m ...

* Jan-Hendrik Jagla *

* Stevan Nađfeji * Đuro Ostojić * -

Vladimir Petrović-Stergiou Vladimir "Vlado" Petrović-Stergiou ( sr-cyr, Владимир "Владо" Петровић-Стергиоу, gr, Βλάντιμιρ "Βλάντο" Πέτροβιτς–Στεργίου; born January 27, 1977) is a Serbian-Greek former professi ...

Ivan Radenović Ivan Radenović ( sr, Иван Раденовић; born June 10, 1984) is a Serbian former professional basketball player who last played for Spirou Charleroi of the Belgian League. Standing at , he plays at the power forward and center positions ...

* Damir Rančić *

Vlado Šćepanović Vlado Šćepanović (born 13 November 1975) is a Montenegrin professional basketball coach and former player. At , he played the shooting guard position. Professional career Šćepanović began his professional career with Budućnost during the ...

* Samo Udrih ;Africa *

* Mamadou N'Diaye ;Oceania *

Brad Newley Brad Newley (born 18 February 1985) is an Australian professional basketball player for Melbourne United of the National Basketball League (NBL). After starting his career in Australia, playing for the Australian Institute of Sport and the Tow ...