Panionios B.C.

Panionios
Panionios
Nickname	Historic; Blue–Reds; Panthers
Leagues	Greek Basket League; Greek Cup
Founded	1919
History	List Panionios G.S.S.; (1919–1992); Chipita Panionios B.C.; (1992–1995); Panionios B.C. Afisorama; (1995–1996); Panionios B.C. Ethniki Asfalistiki; (1996–1997); Panionios B.C.; (1997–2005); Panionios B.C. Forthnet; (2005–2009); Panionios B.C.; (2009–Present);
Arena	Sofia Befon Indoor Hall
Capacity	1,204
Location	Palaio Faliro, Athens, Greece
Team colors	Red and Blue ;
President	Giorgos Christodoulopoulos
Head coach	Linos Gavriil
Ownership	Giorgos Christodoulopoulos
2018–19 position	Greek Basket League, 10th of 14
Championships	1 Greek Cup
Website	panioniosbc.gr
Home	Away

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, Athens, and that plays its home games in Palaio Faliro, Athens, 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, Athens.

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. Recent previous owners of the club were Elias Lianos, the founder of Proton Bank, Antonis Margetis, and Ion G. Varouxakis.

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, 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

(The official logo of Panionios' parent club.)
(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 Elite 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, 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 for the 2016–17 season, and were promoted back up to the top-tier level league.

Panionios in international competitions

Arenas

Helliniko Olympic Arena

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 3,500.[7]

In 2019, the club moved into the Sofia Befon Palaio Faliro Indoor Hall.[8][9][10] The arena seats 1,204 people,[11] which can be increased to 2,000 people with optional retractable seats in the lower tier. 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 will be built on the same location as the old Artaki Nea Smyrni Indoor Hall. The new arena is scheduled to be open for the 2021–22 season. The club will play at the Sofia Belfon Indoor Hall until its new arena is completed.

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Panionios B.C. roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Age
G	6	Verginis, Dimitrios (C)	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)	93 kg (205 lb)	33 – (1987-05-15)15 May 1987
G	7	Karakehagias, Ioannis	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)		20 – (1999-08-13)13 August 1999
PF	9	Malelis, Fotios	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	93 kg (205 lb)	23 – (1997-06-25)25 June 1997
G/F	12	Tsimpoukis, Sergios	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)		19 – (2000-10-07)7 October 2000
F	13	Kamarianos, Nikos	2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)	92 kg (203 lb)	23 – (1997-03-21)21 March 1997
C	15	Tzougarakis, Savvas	2.07 m (6 ft 9 in)		34 – (1986-03-23)23 March 1986
G/F	21	Kamperidis, Georgios	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	95 kg (209 lb)	20 – (1999-10-01)1 October 1999
F/C	37	Lampropoulos, Fotios	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	104 kg (229 lb)	36 – (1983-09-11)11 September 1983

Head coach

Linos Gavriil

Assistant coach(es)
Team Manager

Christos Christodoulou

Legend

(C) Team captain
Injured

Roster

Updated: June 13, 2020

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench
C	Fotios Lampropoulos	Savvas Tzougarakis
PF	Nikos Kamarianos	Fotios Malelis
SF	Georgios Kamperidis	Sergios Tsimpoukis
SG	Dimitrios Verginis
PG	Ioannis Karakehagias

Retired numbers

[12]

N°	Player	Position	Tenure
Panionios B.C. retired numbers
4	Fanis Christodoulou	SF	1983–1997
8	Boban Janković	SF	1992–1993

Honours

Total titles: 5

Domestic competitions

Greek League

Runners-up (1): 1986–87

Greek Cup

Winners (1): 1990–91

Runners-up (2): 1976–77, 1994–95

Greek 2nd Division (1961–1986) / Greek 2nd Division (1986–present)

Winners (3): 1973–74, 1980–81, 2016–17

Greek 3rd Division

Winners (1): 2015–16

European competitions

FIBA Korać Cup

Semifinalist (2): 1993–94, 1998–99

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	Division	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

Notable players