Panellinios B.C. () or Panellinios Basket, full name Panellinios B.C. Athens, 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club that is located in

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 ...

, 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. Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

was founded by Panellinios G.S. athletes. The club was previously owned by the Greek businessman

Minos Kyriakou Minos Xenophon "Minas" Kyriakou (, ; 31 May 1942 – 2 July 2017) was a Greek media and shipping magnate and businessman. He was the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and was the Presi ...

History

The parent athletic club,

Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos Panellinios G.S. (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γ.Σ.), full name, Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος), is a Greece, Greek sports club, mul ...

, was founded in Athens in 1891, making it one of the oldest sports clubs in Europe. It had a team of gymnasts compete at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad () and commonly known as Athens 1896 (), were the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), wh ...

in Athens. The team's leader was Sotirios Athanasopoulos. Members included

Nikolaos Andriakopoulos Nikolaos Andriakopoulos (; 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 become Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi. Olympics performances ...

Petros Persakis Petros Persakis (; 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 the rings event. In the team parallel ...

, 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 approximately long and positioned at above the floor. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally wear ...

team event, earning a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

(retroactively awarded by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

, 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 (; 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 Being a big athletic talent, he distingui ...

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 Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 successive seasons (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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 ( PG), Dinos Papadimas ( SG), Mimis Stefanidis ( SF), Panos Manias ( PF), and Aristeidis Roubanis ( 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 (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

basketball team. Although the

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 ...

, 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 responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

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 club

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

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 scorers

Antonis Christeas Antonis Christeas (; 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 BC, Panellinios, and with them he won 2 Greek Basket League, Gre ...

and Georgios Moschos.

After the "Golden Five" era

The team stayed in the top tier Greek basketball division for 23 consecutive seasons, 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, 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 (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

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

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the European professional club basketball system, second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winn ...

(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 Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

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 * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and fourth divisions of the Greek lower leagues. New management came to the organization in 1999, when

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 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 the current coach of KK Dinamo Zagreb. Professional career Mulaomerović started his career with Sloboda Dita in 1990. Not too lo ...

and

Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje Ruben Bertrand Boumtje-Boumtje (born 20 May 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 Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

. 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. He is the father of current basketball player Gary Trent Jr. Early life Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Trent played his high school ba ...

, 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 (; ), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon". In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with ...

. 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. Th ...

, 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 seats. and played its EuroCup home games at either the 4,000 capacity seat Indoor Hall Peristeriou, or at the Hellinikon Olympic Arena, which has a capacity of 15,000 seats. 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 seats.

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 In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

(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 * Mavroskoufia Basketball Tournament : Winners (1): 2009

Seasons

Notable players

;Greece * Georgios Apostolidis * Nikos Argyropoulos * Antonis Asimakopoulos *

Kostas Charalampidis Konstantinos "Kostas" Charalampidis (alternate spellings: Constantinos, Costas, Haralampidis, Haralambidis, Haralabidis, Charalambides) (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Χαραλαμπίδης; born April 4, 1976) is a retired Gree ...

* Themis Cholevas *

* Makis Dreliozis * Ioannis Georgallis * Andreas Glyniadakis * Vassilis Goumas * Dimitris Kalaitzidis * Georgios Kalaitzis *

Sotiris Karapostolou Sotiris Karapostolou (alternate spelling: Sotirios) (; born 15 July 1978 in Larissa, Greece) is a Greek former professional basketball player and is the current assistant coach of Greek Elite League club Iraklis. During his playing days, he w ...

* 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 * Albert Mallach * Panos Manias * Nikos Oikonomou * Missas Pantazopoulos * Dinos Papadimas *

Pantelis Papaioakeim Panteleimon "Pantelis" Papaioakeim (alternate spelling: Papaeoakeim) () (born 9 September 1975) is a retired Greek professional basketball player. At a height of tall, he played at both the power forward and center positions. Professional care ...

* Manos Papamakarios * Nikos Pappas * Michalis Pelekanos * Alekos Petroulas * Aristeidis Roubanis * Vangelis Sakellariou * Vangelis Sklavos * Mimis Stefanidis * Dimitris Tsaldaris * Paraskevas Tsantalis * Christos Tsekos *

Ian Vougioukas Ian Vougioukas (alternate spelling: Ian Vouyoukas) (Greek: Ίαν Βουγιούκας; born May 31, 1985) is a Greek former professional basketball player. Standing at , he plays at the center position. He played college basketball in the United ...

* Vassilis Xanthopoulos * - Anatoly Zourpenko ;USA * Mo Bailey * Jeff Boschee * Andre Brown * Derrick Byars * 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 count ...

* Britton Johnsen * Tre Kelley * Joe Krabbenhoft * Chris Owens * Dylan Page * Andrae Patterson * Rick Rickert * Ryan Robertson * 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 *

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

Aleksandar Ćapin Aleksandar Ćapin (born October 6, 1982) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. Early life Growing up in Sarajevo, Ćapin took up association football in the FK Sarajevo youth system. In spring 1992, with the outbreak of the Bosnian ...

Jurica Golemac Jurica Golemac (born 29 May 1977) is a Slovenian professional basketball coach and former player currently serving as head coach for Dubai Basketball in the ABA League. He played at both the forward and center positions. Professional career I ...

* Jan-Hendrik Jagla * Marijan Kraljević *

* Stevan Nađfeji * Đuro Ostojić * - Vladimir Petrović-Stergiou *

Ivan Radenović Ivan Radenović (; 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. He played college basketball f ...

* 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 Samo Udrih (born August 2, 1979) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player and basketball coach. Professional career Udrih played with the Dallas Mavericks NBA Summer League team in 2005. In November 2010, he signed with Panellinios ...

;Africa *

* Mamadou N'Diaye ;Oceania *

Brad Newley Brad Newley (born 18 February 1985) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Frankston Blues of the NBL1 South. After starting his career in Australia, playing for the Australian Institute of Sport and the Townsville Crocodiles, ...