Panionios B.C.

Logos

Panionios B.C. (basketball team) logo.png| (The official logo of Panionios' parent club.) Panionios BC Logo.png | (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.

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. 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. 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

Main article: Panionios B.C. 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. 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. At various times, the club has also used the National Athletic Center Glyfada Makis Liougas, which has a capacity of 3,232.

In 2019, the club moved into the Sofia Befon Palaio Faliro Indoor Hall for the 2019–20 season. The arena seats 1,204 people. 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 was scheduled to open for the 2022–23 season but after many delays the stadium is still unfinished. The club will play at a smaller arena in Nea Smyrni neighborhood, Andreas Varikas Indoor Hall, until its new arena is completed. Now, until the construction of the new stadium is completed, Panionios has its home ground at National Athletic Center Glyfada Makis Liougas

Retired numbers

Roster

Current roster

• BIH Nenad Markovic
• GRE Apollon Tsochlas
• GRE Giannos Tzanis

; Athletic trainer(s)

• GRE Stratos Tsampis

; Team Manager

• GRE Angelos Konstantopoulos ; Physical Therapist
• GRE Anastasios Matsos

; Team Captain

Depth chart

Honours and titles

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 : Runners-up (1): 2023–24

• Greek 3rd Division : Winners (1): 2015–16

• Greek UNICEF Basketball Cup : Winners (2): 2022–23, 2023–24

European competitions

• FIBA Korać Cup : Semifinalist (2): 1993–94, 1998–99

Other competitions

• Athens, Greece Tournament : Winners (1): 2011

International record

Main article: Panionios B.C. in international competitions

Season-by-season results

Notable players

Greece:

• GRE Dimitris Agravanis
• GRE Vangelis Angelou
• GRE Ioannis Athanasoulas
• GRE Ioannis Athinaiou
• GRE Nikos Barlos
• GRE Marios Batis
• GRE Georgios Bogris
• GRE Nikos Chatzis
• GRE Christos Christodoulou
• GRE Fanis Christodoulou
• GRE Makis Dendrinos
• GRE Georgios Diamantopoulos
• GRE Dimos Dikoudis
• GRE Makis Dreliozis
• GRE Dimitris Fosses
• GRE Georgios Gasparis
• GRE Ioannis Georgallis
• GRE Panagiotis Giannakis
• GRE Charis Giannopoulos
• GRE Alexi Giannoulias
• GRE Giannis Giannoulis
• GRE Savvas Iliadis
• GRE-SRB Vlado Janković
• GRE Panagiotis Kafkis
• GRE Georgios Kalaitzis
• GRE Giannis Kalampokis
• GRE Andreas Kanonidis
• GRE Georgios Karagkoutis
• GRE Vassilis Kavvadas
• GRE Vassilis Kikilias
• GRE Takis Koroneos
• GRE Angelos Koronios
• GRE Alexis Kyritsis
• GRE Georgios Limniatis
• GRE Nikos Linardos
• GRE Antonis Mantzaris
• GRE Dimitris Marmarinos
• GRE Faidon Matthaiou
• GRE Dimitris Mavroeidis
• GRE Kostas Missas
• GRE Nikos Oikonomou
• GRE-CAN George Papadakos
• GRE Theo Papaloukas
• GRE Dimitris Papanikolaou
• GRE-CYP Nikos Pappas
• GRE Michalis Pelekanos
• GRE Stratos Perperoglou
• GRE Nondas Papantoniou
• GRE Vangelis Sakellariou
• GRE-SRB Dušan Šakota
• GRE Christos Saloustros
• GRE Zisis Sarikopoulos
• GRE Georgios Sigalas
• GRE Alexandros Sigkounas
• GRE Ioannis Sioutis
• GRE Vangelis Sklavos
• GRE Gaios Skordilis
• GRE Dimitris Stamatis
• GRE Tzanis Stavrakopoulos
• GRE Vassilis Symtsak
• GRE Christos Tapoutos
• GRE Dimitris Verginis
• GRE Vassilis Xanthopoulos

Europe:

• GER Stephen Arigbabu
• TUR Ender Arslan
• SRB Dejan Borovnjak
• SRB Branko Cvetković
• FRA Boris Dallo
• SRB Uroš Duvnjak
• SRB Zoran Erceg
• BUL Vassil Evtimov
• SRB Boban Janković
• SRB-GRE Dušan Jelić
• LTU Gintaras Kadžiulis
• LTU Antanas Kavaliauskas
• SRB Dragan Lukovski
• BIH Nenad Marković
• FRA Guy-Marc Michel
• SRB Vladimir Micov
• MNE Goran Nikolić
• SRB Žarko Paspalj
• SRB-GRE Miroslav Pecarski
• SRB-GRE Miroslav Raičević
• MNE-USA Tyrese Rice
• POR Joao Santos
• FRA Laurent Sciarra
• GEO Nikoloz Tskitishvili
• LAT Kristaps Valters
• SLO Jure Zdovc

USA:

• USA William Avery
• USA Thurl Bailey
• USA Toby Bailey
• USA Lonny Baxter
• USA Davion Berry
• USA Chris Booker
• USA P.J. Brown
• USA Rion Brown
• USA Travon Bryant
• USA Devin Cannady
• USA T. J. Carter
• USA Mateen Cleaves
• USA Devin Davis
• USA Jon Diebler
• USA Byron Dinkins
• USA Joey Dorsey
• USA Ruben Douglas
• USA Muhammad El-Amin
• USA Luke Hancock
• USA Antonio Harvey
• USA Donnell Harvey
• USA John Hudson
• USA Andre Hutson
• USA Chris Jent
• USA Billy Keys
• USA Randolph Keys
• USA Mark Landsberger
• USA Kevin Langford
• USA Travis Mays
• USA Amal McCaskill
• USA Errick McCollum
• USA Jeff McInnis
• USA Gerry McNamara
• USA Landon Milbourne
• USA Aaron Miles
• USA Chris Owens
• USA Mark Payne
• USA Gabe Pruitt
• USA Kendrick Ray
• USA Rod Sellers
• USA Paul Shirley
• USA E. J. Singler
• USA Kendall Smith
• USA Ed Stokes
• USA Jimmie Taylor
• USA Henry Turner
• USA John Wallace
• USA Travis Watson
• USA Mitchell Wiggins
• USA Kennedy Winston
• USA Ryan Woolridge
• USA Rashad Wright

Rest of Americas:

• CAN-IRE Levon Kendall
• JAM Samardo Samuels

Africa:

• NGR-USA Chinemelu Elonu
• CMR Landry Nnoko

Oceania:

• AUS Brad Newley

Head coaches

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.

:{| class="wikitable float-left" ! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Rank ! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Player ! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Games Played |- | GRE Marios Batis |}

:{| class="wikitable float-right" ! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Rank ! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Player ! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Points Scored |- | GRE Georgios Diamantopoulos |}

References

References

1. "Panionios Athens - Welcome to 7DAYS EuroCup".
2. "Team Focus: Panionios On Telecoms".
3. (April 2020). "Έμεινε εκτός Α1 ο Πανιώνιος". star.gr.
4. "Στην Α2 το Περιστέρι, στη Β’ ο Πανιώνιος". sport-fm.gr.
5. [https://www.sport24.gr/Basket/OmadesBasket/A1Panionios/kleisto-ths-odou-artakhs-kati-parapanw-apo-ena-ghpedo.5423457.html Κλειστό της Οδού Αρτάκης: Κάτι παραπάνω από ένα γήπεδο {{in lang. el.]
6. "World Stadiums - Stadiums in Greece".
7. "Competition Engine - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL".
8. "Το κλειστό γήπεδο "Σοφία Μπεφόν" στο Π. Φάληρο θα είναι η νέα έδρα του Πανιωνίου .".
9. el.]
10. [https://allstarbasket.gr/ta-eisitiria-toy-panionioy-gia-ton-proto-agona-sto-kleisto-p-faliroy-quot-sofia-mpefon-quot-pic/ Τα εισιτήρια του Πανιώνιου για τον πρώτο αγώνα στο κλειστό Π.Φαλήρου “Σοφία Μπεφόν” (pic) {{in lang. el.]
11. [http://adiakritos.gr/afto-ine-neo-klisto-gipedo-tou-paleou-falirou-fotovinteo/ Αυτό είναι το νέο Κλειστό Γήπεδο του Παλαιού Φαλήρου {{in lang. el.]
12. "Οι αριθμοί στις φανέλες των παικτών του Πανιώνιου".