Panathinaikos Athens

From Hoopedia

The Panathinaikos Basketball Club (Greek name: Κ.Α.Ε. Παναθηναϊκός, transliterated into English: K.A.E. Panathinaikos), is a Greek professional basketball team, widely known both as Panathinaikos or PAO. It was founded in 1922 and has developed into the most successful basketball team in Greece and among the best in Europe. They have won 28 national championships, 10 Greek Cups, four European Championships (most recently in 2007), and one Inter-continental Cup. It is currently owned by pharmaceutical magnates Pavlos and Thanassis Giannakopoulos.

Legends of world basketball have played with the club, including Dominique Wilkins, Byron Scott, Dino Radja, Dejan Bodiroga, Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Stojan Vrankovic, Fanis Christodoulou, Antonio Davis, and Zeljko Rebraca. Those players, along with the successful management of Pavlos and Thanassis Giannakopoulos, have made Panathinaikos one of the most successful and well-known teams in the continent, having won four Euroleague titles.

On April 1996 in Paris Final Four, Panathinaikos was the first Greek team to win the European Championships (now Euroleague), beating FC Barcelona in a unique final tournament, by 67-66. In September of the same year the team also won the Inter-continental cup, prevailing by 2-1 wins over Olympia of Argentina (83-89, 83-78, 101-76). In 2000 in Thessaloniki F4, Panathinaikos were the Champions of Europe for the second time, beating Maccabi 73-67 in the final. In 2002 in Bologna F4, Panathinaikos brought to Athens the most prestigious European trophy for the third time, beating hosts Kinder Bologna 89-83 in the final. In 2007 in Athens F4, Panathinaikos were crowned Champions of Europe for the fourth time, beating CSKA Moscow 93-91 in probably, the best Euroleague final ever.

Panathinaikos participated in the F4 of the Euroleague another four times: Tel Aviv in 1994 (3rd), Zaragoza in 1995 (3rd), Paris in 2001 (2nd) and Moscow in 2005 (3rd). Other significant successes are: the two participations in the semifinals of the Cup Winners Cup (1969, 1998), the course up to the semi-finals of the Champions Cup for the season 1971-72 (eliminated by Ignis Varese (78-70, 55-69). In the season of 1981-82, Panathinaikos participated in the finals of the Cup Champions Cup of that time, eliminating consecutively CSKA Moscow and Levski Sofia teams.

The team, which is famous for it's fans passionate support, also holds the highest attendance record in the Euroleague, which is 20,000 fans, achieved in a home match in OAKA against Benetton Treviso on March 29, 2006, for the second phase of the 2005-06 Euroleague. An attendance of 18,900 fans has also been achieved three times in home matches of the Greens, against Efes Pilsen in 2005 and TAU Ceramica (twice) in 2006.

Current Squad

As of June 2007

Number Player Position Height (m)

13 Dimitris Diamantidis PG 1.96

18 Miloš Vujanić PG 1.90

7 Sani Bečirović PG/SG 1.95

10 Nikos Hatzivrettas SG/SF 1.96

?? Kennedy Winston SF 1.98

?? Stratos Perperoglou SF 2.03

4 Fragiskos Alvertis (C) SF/PF 2.06

8 Michael Batiste PF 2.04

11 Dimosthenis Dikoudis PF 2.06

12 Kostas Tsartsaris PF/C 2.09

15 Dejan Tomašević C 2.08

19 Robertas Javtokas C 2.10

14 Vasilis Xanthopoulos PG 1.88

16 Dušan Šakota SF/PF 2.09

Coach: Željko Obradović

Championships

• Greek Championships: 28

1946, 1947, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

• Greek Cups: 10

1979, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007

• European Championships - Euroleague: 4

1996, 2000, 2002, 2007

• Intercontinental Cup: 1

1996

• Doubles: 5

1982, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007

• Triple Crown: 1

2007