Panionios B.C.
Panionios B.C. (Greek: Πανιώνιος KAE), known in European competitions as Panionios Athens[1] is the Greek professional basketball club that is based in Nea Smyrni, and that plays its home games in Palaio Faliro, Greece. The club is also widely known as Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, or Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis, which is the Pan-Ionian Gymnastic Club of Smyrna. This is usually abbreviated to the club name of Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ. Panionios B.C. is the basketball department of the Panionios Gymnastic Club that is based in Nea Smyrni.
| Panionios | |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Historic Blue–Reds Panthers |
| Leagues | Greek 2nd Division Greek Cup |
| Founded | 1919 |
| History | Panionios G.S.S. (1919–present) |
| Arena | Andreas Varikas Indoor Hall |
| Capacity | 500 |
| Location | Nea Smyrni, Greece |
| Team colors | Red and Blue |
| Main sponsor | Cosmorama |
| President | Thodoris Mikropoulos Panagiotis Iliadis |
| Team manager | Fanis Christodoulou |
| Head coach | Periklis Tavropoulos |
| Team captain | Dimitris Verginis |
| Championships | Greek Cup (1) |
| Retired numbers | 8, 4 |
| Website | panioniosbc.gr |
Panionios B.C. has been a long-time club of the top-tier level Greek Basket League, which is considered one of the best national domestic basketball leagues in Europe. Panionios B.C. has also competed in the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague. For sponsorship reasons, the club has also been known as Panionios On Telecoms and Panionios Forthnet, as well as several other sponsorship names.
Some of the well-known players that have played with the club over the years have included: Faidon Matthaiou, Takis Koroneos, Makis Dendrinos, Dimitris Fosses, Kostas Missas, Fanis Christodoulou, Giannis Giannoulis, Boban Janković, P. J. Brown, Panagiotis Giannakis, Henry Turner, Thurl Bailey, Travis Mays, Žarko Paspalj, Byron Dinkins, Mitchell Wiggins, Theo Papaloukas, Jure Zdovc, Laurent Sciarra, Nikos Chatzis, Georgios Sigalas, Angelos Koronios, Dimos Dikoudis, Nikos Oikonomou, Georgios Diamantopoulos, Stratos Perperoglou, Michalis Pelekanos, Ender Arslan, Miloš Vujanić, Alex Stepheson, Errick McCollum, and Tyrese Rice, among others.
Logos
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(The official logo of Panionios' parent club.)
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(The official logo of Panionios' basketball club.)
History
Early years
The basketball clubs' parent athletic union, the Panionios Gymnastic Club, was founded in 1890, in İzmir, Ottoman Empire (located today in the modern country of Turkey), making it one of the oldest sporting clubs in Europe. The sporting clubs' basketball department was founded in 1919. After the Greek military suffered defeat in the Greco-Turkish War in 1922, the club was transferred to the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni, in Greece.
The basketball department, Panionios B.C., began participation in the Greek Basket League starting in the 1928–29 season, and finished in second place in the league that year. Panionios B.C. finished in third place in the league the next year.
Rise of the club to prominence in Greek basketball
Panionios B.C. competed in the top-tier Greek basketball league, in consecutive years, from the 1981–82 season until the 2014–15 season. In the 1986–87 season, Panionios played in the championship finals series of the Greek League, losing out to Aris, and their two Greek basketball legends Nikos Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis (Giannakis would later go on to play for Panionios). In 1991, led by Fanis Christodoulou, the team won the Greek Cup title, by defeating PAOK by a score of 73–70. Panionios also played in the finals game of the Greek Cup in both 1977 and 1995. Ιn the 1993–94 season, after an exciting run in the European 3rd-tier level FIBA Korać Cup, and after scoring a couple of wins against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the quarterfinals, Panionios reached the semifinals, and played against PAOK Bravo. This marked the first civil conflict between Greek basketball clubs in European-wide competitions, ever.
The club finished in 3rd place in the Greek League in the 1995–96 season, under their head coach at the time, Dušan Ivković, and thus qualified to the EuroLeague for the 1996–97 season. In the FIBA EuroLeague 1996–97 season, the team was coached by Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou. Two years later, in 1999, Panionios once again reached the semifinals of the FIBA Korać Cup, where they were again eliminated, this time from the super favorites of the tournament, FC Barcelona, which featured Sasha Djordjević.
In the Greek League 2007–08 season, under the ownership of Elias Lianos, the founder of Proton Bank, Panionios, led by Ivan Zoroski, Giannis Kalampokis, and charismatic head coach Nenad Marković, finished in 3rd place in the Greek League. They came back from an 0–2 series deficit in the deciding best-of-five league third-place series against Maroussi, and won the series 3–2. That secured the team a place in the EuroLeague competition for the EuroLeague 2008–09 season. This marked the club's first EuroLeague appearance in more than a decade.[2]
Decline of the club
After the 2014–15 season, Panionios was relegated to the Greek 2nd Division, after 33 consecutive seasons with a presence in the top-tier level Greek Basket League.[3] For the 2015–16 season, Panionios preferred to play in the third-tier of Greece, the semi-pro level Greek B Basket League, due to financial difficulties.[4] They were promoted up to the Greek 2nd Division for the 2016–17 season.
They won the Greek 2nd Division title of the 2016–17 season, and were promoted back up to the top-tier level league, for the 2017–18 season. Due to financial difficulties, Panionios was demoted down to the Greek 3rd Division, prior to the 2020–21 season.
Panionios in international competitions
Arenas
Panionios played its domestic Greek League home games at "Artakis" Nea Smyrni Indoor Hall, a now demolished 1,832-seat arena that was owned by the Nea Smyrni municipality. They used the arena from its opening in 1979 to 2006, and from 2009 to its close in 2019.[5] From 2006 to 2009, the club used the Helliniko Olympic Arena, which was built for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and has a capacity of 15,000, as its home arena.[6] At various times, the club has also used the National Athletic Center Glyfada Makis Liougas, which has a capacity of 3,232.[7]
In 2019, the club moved into the Sofia Befon Palaio Faliro Indoor Hall for the 2019–20 season.[8][9][10] The arena seats 1,204 people.[11] It was opened in 2017.
The municipality of Nea Smyrni has begun the construction of a new modern-style multi-use indoor arena, called the Boban Janković Indoor Hall, named after Boban Janković, which is being built on the same location as the old Nea Smyrni Indoor Hall. The new arena is scheduled to be open for the 2022–23 season. The club will play at a smaller arena in Nea Smyrni neighborhood, Andreas Varikas Indoor Hall, until its new arena is completed.
Retired numbers
| Panionios B.C. retired numbers | |||||
| N° | Nat. | Player | Position | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Fanis Christodoulou | SF/PF | 1983–1997 | ||
| 8 | Boban Janković | SF | 1992–1993 | ||
Honours and titles
Domestic competitions
- Runners-up (1): 1986–87
- Winners (1): 1990–91
- Runners-up (2): 1976–77, 1994–95
- Winners (3): 1973–74, 1980–81, 2016–17
- Winners (1): 2015–16
- Greek National Categories Cup
- Winners (1): 2022–23
European competitions
Other competitions
- Athens, Greece Tournament
- Winners (1): 2011
International record
| Season | Achievement | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saporta Cup | |||
| 2001–02 | Quarter-finals | eliminated by Anwil Włocławek, 83–74 (W) in Athens and 59–75 (L) in Włocławek | |
| Korać Cup | |||
| 1989–90 | Quarter-finals | eliminated by CSKA Moscow, 107–85 (W) in Athens and 53–106 (L) in Moscow | |
| 1992–93 | Quarter-finals | eliminated by Philips Milano, 78–79 (L) in Athens and 74–81 (L) in Milan | |
| 1993–94 | Semi-finals | eliminated by PAOK Bravo, 83–85 (L) in Athens and 64–82 (L) in Thessaloniki | |
| 1994–95 | Quarter-finals | eliminated by Stefanel Milano, 59–73 (L) in Milan and 82–73 (L) in Athens | |
| 1998–99 | Semi-finals | eliminated by FC Barcelona, 71–80 (L) in Athens and 61–91 (L) in Barcelona | |
| EuroChallenge | |||
| 2006–07 | Quarter-finals | eliminated 2-1 by Akasvayu Girona, 68–76 (L) in Girona, 82–73 (W) in Athens and 49–83 (L) in Girona | |
Season by season results
| Season | Tier | League | Pos. | W–L | Greek Cup | European competitions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 | 1 | Basket League | 8th | Round of 16 | ||||
| 2006–07 | 1 | Basket League | 4th | Round of 16 | 3 FIBA EuroCup | QF | 8–7 | |
| 2007–08 | 1 | Basket League | 3rd | Quarterfinals | 2 ULEB Cup | L32 | 6–6 | |
| 2008–09 | 1 | Basket League | 6th | Semifinals | 1 Euroleague | RS | 3–7 | |
| 2009–10 | 1 | Basket League | 8th | Quarterfinals | ||||
| 2010–11 | 1 | Basket League | 9th | Round of 16 | ||||
| 2011–12 | 1 | Basket League | 3rd | Round of 16 | ||||
| 2012–13 | 1 | Basket League | 3rd | Quarterfinalist | 2 Eurocup | RS | 2–4 | |
| 2013–14 | 1 | Basket League | 4th | Semifinalist | 2 Eurocup | L32 | 6–10 | |
| 2014–15 | 1 | Basket League | 14th | Quarterfinalist | ||||
| 2015–16 | 3 | B Basket League | 1st | |||||
| 2016–17 | 2 | A2 Basket League | 1st | 26–4 | ||||
| 2017–18 | 1 | Basket League | 12th | 7–19 | ||||
| 2018–19 | 1 | Basket League | 10th | 8–18 | ||||
| 2019–20 | 1 | Basket League | 12th | 6–14 | ||||
Notable players
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.
| Criteria |
|---|
| To appear in this section a player must have either:
|
Greece:
- Dimitris Agravanis
- Vangelis Angelou
- Ioannis Athanasoulas
- Ioannis Athinaiou
- Nikos Barlos
- Marios Batis
- Georgios Bogris
- Georgios Bosganas
- Nikos Chatzis
- Christos Christodoulou
- Fanis Christodoulou
- Makis Dendrinos
- Georgios Diamantopoulos
- Dimos Dikoudis
- Makis Dreliozis
- Dimitris Fosses
- Georgios Gasparis
- Ioannis Georgallis
- Panagiotis Giannakis
- Charis Giannopoulos
- Alexi Giannoulias
- Giannis Giannoulis
- Savvas Iliadis
- - Vlado Janković
- Panagiotis Kafkis
- Georgios Kalaitzis
- Giannis Kalampokis
- Andreas Kanonidis
- Georgios Karagkoutis
- Theodoros Karamanolis
- Vassilis Kavvadas
- Vassilis Kikilias
- Takis Koroneos
- Angelos Koronios
- Alexis Kyritsis
- Georgios Limniatis
- Nikos Linardos
- Antonis Mantzaris
- Dimitris Marmarinos
- Faidon Matthaiou
- Dimitris Mavroeidis
- Kostas Missas
- Nikos Oikonomou
- Theo Papaloukas
- Dimitris Papanikolaou
- - Nikos Pappas
- Michalis Pelekanos
- Stratos Perperoglou
- Nondas Papantoniou
- Vangelis Sakellariou
- - Dušan Šakota
- Christos Saloustros
- Zisis Sarikopoulos
- Georgios Sigalas
- Alexandros Sigkounas
- Ioannis Sioutis
- Vangelis Sklavos
- Gaios Skordilis
- Dimitris Stamatis
- Tzanis Stavrakopoulos
- Vassilis Symtsak
- Christos Tapoutos
- Dimitris Verginis
- Vassilis Xanthopoulos
Europe:
- Stephen Arigbabu
- Ender Arslan
- Dejan Borovnjak
- Branko Cvetković
- Boris Dallo
- Uroš Duvnjak
- Zoran Erceg
- Vassil Evtimov
- Boban Janković
- - Dušan Jelić
- Gintaras Kadžiulis
- Antanas Kavaliauskas
- Dragan Lukovski
- Nenad Marković
- Guy-Marc Michel
- Vladimir Micov
- Goran Nikolić
- Žarko Paspalj
- - Miroslav Pecarski
- - Miroslav Raičević
- - Tyrese Rice
- Joao Santos
- Laurent Sciarra
- Nikoloz Tskitishvili
- Kristaps Valters
- Jure Zdovc
USA:
- William Avery
- Thurl Bailey
- Toby Bailey
- Lonny Baxter
- Davion Berry
- Chris Booker
- P.J. Brown
- Travon Bryant
- T. J. Carter
- Mateen Cleaves
- Jon Diebler
- Byron Dinkins
- Joey Dorsey
- Ruben Douglas
- Muhammad El-Amin
- Luke Hancock
- Antonio Harvey
- Donnell Harvey
- John Hudson
- Andre Hutson
- Chris Jent
- Billy Keys
- Randolph Keys
- Mark Landsberger
- Kevin Langford
- Travis Mays
- Amal McCaskill
- Errick McCollum
- Jeff McInnis
- Gerry McNamara
- Landon Milbourne
- Aaron Miles
- Chris Owens
- Mark Payne
- Gabe Pruitt
- Rod Sellers
- Paul Shirley
- E. J. Singler
- Ed Stokes
- Jimmie Taylor
- Henry Turner
- John Wallace
- Travis Watson
- Mitchell Wiggins
- Kennedy Winston
- Rashad Wright
Rest of Americas:
Africa:
Oceania:
Head coaches
| Head Coach | Years |
|---|---|
| Michalis Kyritsis | 1982–1983, 1987–1988 |
| Makis Dendrinos | 1983–1987, 1997–1998 |
| Vlade Đurović | 1988–1993 |
| Kostas Missas | 1993–1994, 2002 |
| Dušan Ivković | 1994–1996 |
| Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou | 1996–1997 |
| Lefteris Subotić | 2000–2001 |
| Panagiotis Giannakis | 2001–2002 |
| Georgios Kalafatakis | 2002–2004, 2017 |
| Memos Ioannou | 2004–2006 |
| Nikos Linardos | 2006 |
| Luka Pavićević | 2006–2007 |
| Minas Gekos | 2007 |
| Nenad Marković | 2007–2008, 2009–2010 |
| Alex Trifunović | 2008–2009 |
| Georgios Bartzokas | 2010–2012 |
| Thanasis Skourtopoulos | 2012 |
| Ioannis Sfairopoulos | 2012–2014 |
| Vangelis Alexandris | 2014–2015 |
| Chris Chougaz | 2015, 2018 |
| Vangelis Ziagkos | 2015–2016, 2017–2018 |
| Nikos Oikonomou | 2016–2017, 2018–2019 |
| Vassilis Fragkias | 2018–2019 |
| Ioannis Livanos | 2019 |
| Linos Gavriel | 2019–2020 |
Top players in games played and points scored in the Greek Basket League (since the 1992–93 season)
Panionios team leaders in games played and points scored, since the Greek Basket League became fully professional, starting with the 1992–93 season.
- Through the 2019–20 season.
Rank Player Games Played 1. Marios Batis 174
Rank Player Points Scored 1. Georgios Diamantopoulos 2,676
See also
References
- ^ "Panionios Athens - Welcome to 7DAYS EuroCup". www.eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ^ "Team Focus: Panionios On Telecoms". Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ^ "Έμεινε εκτός Α1 ο Πανιώνιος". star.gr. Retrieved 19 September 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Στην Α2 το Περιστέρι, στη Β' ο Πανιώνιος". sport-fm.gr. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
- ^ Κλειστό της Οδού Αρτάκης: Κάτι παραπάνω από ένα γήπεδο (in Greek).
- ^ "World Stadiums - Stadiums in Greece". www.worldstadiums.com. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ^ . www.euroleague.net. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ^ Το κλειστό γήπεδο "Σοφία Μπεφόν" στο Π. Φάληρο θα είναι η νέα έδρα του Πανιωνίου (in Greek).
- ^ Video από τα εγκαίνια του Κλειστού Γυμναστηρίου ΣΟΦΙΑ ΜΠΕΦΟΝ (long version) (in Greek).
- ^ Τα εισιτήρια του Πανιώνιου για τον πρώτο αγώνα στο κλειστό Π.Φαλήρου “Σοφία Μπεφόν” (pic) (in Greek).
- ^ Αυτό είναι το νέο Κλειστό Γήπεδο του Παλαιού Φαλήρου (in Greek).
- ^ "Οι αριθμοί στις φανέλες των παικτών του Πανιώνιου". Retrieved 21 September 2018.
External links
- Panionios B.C. Official Website (in Greek)
- Eurobasket.com Team Page
- Greek Basket League Team Page
- EuroCup Official Team Page
- Euroleague.net Panionios B.C. Team Profile
- Panionios Panthers Club (in Greek)