The Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Sports Complex is a complex in the coastal zone of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It consists of two indoor arenas and a

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

, and it hosted

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

Taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

, and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

events at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. The complex is located in Faliro,

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

. The complex consists of the following venues:

Peace and Friendship Stadium

The Peace and Friendship Stadium SEF, known as ''S.E.F.'' is an indoor arena located in Faliro,

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

that hosted indoor volleyball at the

Athens, Greece Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. The arena which was built in 1981 and it opened in 1985 had previously hosted various major international events, including the Final tournament of the

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

Men's European Basketball Championships and preliminary games of the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

World Basketball Championships. Renovations for the Olympics commenced in April 2002 and were completed on June 30, 2004. The new stadium was officially opened on August 11, 2004, shortly before the opening of the games. The venue's current regular seating capacity is 14,940 seats, while the regular capacity was 17,000 seats before the 2004 Summer Olympics renovation. However, for home playoff matches of the

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

basketball club, for which the SEF arena is their regular home court, the seating capacity can be increased to 16,000-17,000 with temporary seating.

Sports Pavilion

The Faliro Sports Pavilion Arena () is an

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

Palaio Faliro Palaio Faliro (, ; Katharevousa: Palaion Faliron, Παλαιόν Φάληρον, meaning "Old Phalerum") is a town on the Saronic Gulf coast and a municipality in the southern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. At the 2021 census it had ...

, in

. It was the site of preliminary matches in

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

and the

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

competition in the

. The arena was completed on December 20, 2003, and officially opened on August 12, 2004, shortly before the Olympics. The arena seats 8,536, though only 5,800 seats were publicly available during the Olympics.

Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre

After the games

The Peace & Friendship Stadium is used by Olympiacos Basketball Club (as it was before the Olympics) and regularly holds crowds of up to 14,905 fans, especially for

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

basketball games. Some of the facilities are presently in use or in the process of being converted for post-Olympics use, as shown below:

References

2004 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2. pp. 349, 403, 417, 425. {{2004 Summer Olympic venues Venues of the 2004 Summer Olympics Sports complexes in Greece Sports venues in Athens Olympic Parks