Panathinaikos Football Club ( ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; Panathinaikós Athlitikós Ómilos, ), is a Greek professional football club based in Athens, Greece.
Panathinaikos was founded in 1908 as "Podosfairikos Omilos Athinon" (Football Club of Athens) by Giorgos Kalafatis. They play in Super League Greece, being one of the most successful clubs in Greek football and one of the three clubs which have never been relegated from the top division. Among their major titles are 20 Greek Championships, 20 Greek Cups, achieving eight times the Double and 3 Greek Super Cups. They are also one of three clubs to win a Greek championship undefeated, going without a loss in a top-flight campaign in the 1963–64 season. Panathinaikos is the only Greek team that has reached the UEFA Champions League final, in 1971 (which they lost to Ajax), and also the semi-finals twice, in 1985 and 1996. It is also the only Greek team that has played for the Intercontinental Cup (1971). Furthermore, they have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League on another two occasions (in 1992 and 2002), as well as the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup twice (1988 and 2003). They have also won the Balkans Cup in 1977. Panathinaikos is one of the most widely supported clubs in Greece, based on national opinion polls. Panathinaikos is also a member of the European Club Association.
They have played their home games at the Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, considered their traditional home ground, and the Athens Olympic Stadium. Panathinaikos hold a long-term rivalry with Olympiacos, the clash between the two teams being referred to as the "Derby of the Eternal Enemies".
History
Early years According to the official history of the club, Panathinaikos was founded by the 17 years old track and field athlete Giorgos Kalafatis on 3 February 1908, when he decided to break away from Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos following the club's decision to discontinue its football team. The young athlete was followed by the athletes Alexandros Kalafatis (the founder's brother), and Mr. Doukakis, Bouboulis, Chrisis, Granitsas, Mantzakos, Papageorgiou, Gaetas, Demertzis, Stavropoulos, Paschos, Misakian, Reppas, Sapounias and Garoufalias.
The name of the new club was "Podosferikos Omilos Athinon" (Football Club of Athens). It was founded with the aim of spreading and making more known this new sport (football) to the Athenian and Greek public in general. Also, the intention of the founders was to create a team for all of Athens and to be connected with the rest of the European football movement, which was already active. According to Loukas Panourgias, "they wanted their Club not to be like all the others, but a team for Athens, for the entire capital." Establishing a football-only club at that time was a challenge to the prevailing norms of Greek society. "The founding of a football club at a time when this sport was universally regarded as a street game and was openly persecuted by everyone, both authorities and non-authorities alike, was a clear act of rebellion against the prevailing perceptions of sports at the time (Athlitismos, 1927)." Cited in: "Αθλητισμός, 1927".
The first president elected was Alexandros Kalafatis, brother of Giorgos. The ground of the team was in Patission Street. Oxford University athlete John Cyril Campbell was brought in as coach, the first time that a foreigner was appointed as the coach of a Greek team. Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, the great Greek athlete of the early 20th century, played as goalkeeper for the new team.
During the turbulent 1910s, marked by the Balkan Wars and World War I, football activity declined. Goalkeeper Konstantinos Tsiklitiras volunteered for the army, fought at the Battle of Bizani, contracted meningitis, and died in Athens at 24. Founder Giorgos Kalafatis served in all three wars, eventually reaching the rank of rear admiral and later on served as a military doctor in the Asia Minor campaign. In 1910, after a dispute among a number of board members, Kalafatis with most of the players — also followed by Campbell —decided to pull out of POA and secured a new ground in Amerikis Square (and the next year the team won the 1911 SEGAS Championship). Subsequently, the name of the club changed to Panellinios Podosferikos Omilos ("Panhellenic Football Club") and green and white were established as its colours. By 1914, Campbell had returned to England but the club was already at the top of Greek football with players such as Michalis Papazoglou, Michalis Rokkos and Loukas Panourgias and went on to win the football tournament of 1915.
In 1918, the team adopted the trifolium (shamrock) as its emblem, symbol of harmony, unity, nature, fertility and good luck, as proposed by Michalis Papazoglou. In 1921 and 1922, the Athens-Piraeus FCA organised the first two post-WWI championships, in both of which PPO was declared champion. By that stage, the club had outgrown both the grounds in Patission Street and Amerikis Square, due mainly to its expansion in other sports, and began to look at vacant land in the area of Perivola on Alexandras Avenue as its potential new ground. After long discussions with the Municipality of Athens, an agreement was finally reached and in 1922 Leoforos ("Avenue" in Greek) was granted to the club.
The move to a permanent home ground also heralded another — final — name change to Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (PAO), "All-Athenian Athletic Club", on 15 March 1924, from now on a multi-sport club. However, the decision was already taken by 1922.
In 1926, the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) was founded and the first Panhellenic Championship under its authority took place in 1927. The club dominated Athenian football, winning the Athens championships of 1925, 1926, 1927 and 1929 organized by the Athens Football Clubs Association.
Panathinaikos won undefeated the Championship of 1929–30 under the guidance of József Künsztler and Angelos Messaris as the team's star player. Other notable players of this Belle Époque period of the team were Antonis Migiakis, Diomidis Symeonidis, Mimis Pierrakos and Stefanos Pierrakos, among others. They thrashed rivals Olympiacos 8–2, a result that still remains the biggest win either team has achieved against its rival, with Messaris scoring three goals. The team also defeated Aris 1–4 away in Thessaloniki. Messaris, who scored again three goals, became a hero and chant for the fans.
Crisis and WWII years In 1931, a serious disagreement between leading board member Apostolos Nikolaidis from one side, and some players (most notably Angelos Messaris) and club's officials on the other side, regarding the professionalisation in the Greek football, which lasted two years, damaged the club and led to a counterproductive period. In the meantime, the HFF Greek Cup had commenced in 1932. The last bright moment for the Greens before World War II was winning the Cup for the first time in 1940 against Aris, 3–1. In 1940, with the break out of the Greco-Italian War, many players of the club joined the Hellenic Army. Mimis Pierrakos was killed during the war (later, during the 1950s, his bones were transferred from Albania back to Athens). During the Axis Occupation of Greece from 1941 to 1944, Panathinaikos participated in friendly tournaments organized by the Germans, and the Leoforos stadium was also used by the occupiers for friendly games between teams of the German and Italian armies. The possibility of a friendly match between Panathinaikos and the Germans was also discussed by newspapers. Also during the occupation, many players of Panathinaikos became members of United Panhellenic Organization of Youth (EPON) resistance organisation, while Michalis Papazoglou had a leading role in the resistance group of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz.
After this long crisis period, Panathinaikos had to wait until 1949 to win again a Greek Championship under the guidance of the Austrian coach Johann Strnad. That same year, Vangelis Panakis and Kostas Linoxilakis came to the club and quickly became the side's new star players. Panathinaikos was again champion for the 1952–53 Panhellenic Championship.
Until 1959, the team had also won seven of the last eight Athens Championships, the regional championships organised in Greece. In 1959, Mimis Domazos, the emblematic captain of the team, made his first appearance with Panathinaikos and the same year took place the first season under the new system of Alpha Ethniki (1959–60 Alpha Ethniki). Panathinaikos was the champion team.
1960s: The Golden Decade, the Bobek's rejuvenation During the next years, Panathinaikos were again champions in 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969 and 1970. Moreover, the team won two more Greek Cups, in 1967 and 1969. Also, during these years, a long process of rejuvenation took place in the club. Notable players retired, such as Panakis, Linoxilakis, Takis Loukanidis and Andreas Papaemmanouil, and the team had to count on young players like Domazos, Antonis Antoniadis, Anthimos Kapsis, Kostas Eleftherakis and Takis Ikonomopoulos.
Stjepan Bobek was the main contributor to this process. In 1963, he became the club's head coach, changing the playing style of the team to a 4–3–3 and created a new team based on young players (the "Bobek's rejuvenation"). Under his guidance, Panathinaikos won the Championship of 1964 without a loss, making them one of the two teams that has won the Greek Championship (with its modern system) undefeated. Notable players of the team included Panakis, Domazos, Takis Ikonomopoulos, Totis Filakouris, Frangiskos Sourpis and Aristidis Kamaras.
With the establishment of the Greek military regime, the president of the club, Loukas Panourgias, was forced out of the presidency. The contract of Bobek was cancelled by the State, while Apostolos Nikolaidis, the old player, manager and official of the club, went on trial.
In 1967, the great Béla Guttmann came as coach, but he soon left and ex-player Lakis Petropoulos was appointed. Under his guidance, Panathinaikos won the championships of 1969 (with a double) and 1970.
Puskás years and the epic road to Wembley
1970–71 European Cup finalists In 1971, under the guidance of Ferenc Puskás, Panathinaikos were 1970–71 European Cup finalists, the first and only Greek team until today, losing 2–0 to Ajax at Wembley Stadium. In the road to the final, they eliminated Jeunesse Esch, Slovan Bratislava, Everton and Red Star Belgrade. Notable players included the captain Mimis Domazos, Anthimos Kapsis, Aristidis Kamaras, Kostas Eleftherakis, Totis Filakouris and the goalkeepers Takis Ikonomopoulos and Vasilis Konstantinou. Antonis Antoniadis was the top scorer in the competition scoring ten goals. In a warmup game before the 1971 final, they defeated Worcester Park 16 - 0.
In the same year, Panathinaikos played for the 1971 Intercontinental Cup (due to the refusal of Ajax to participate), where they lost to Uruguayan club Nacional (1–1 in Greece, 2–1 in Uruguay). Totis Filakouris was the scorer for the Greek club.
During the last amateur years of Greek football, the Trifolium won one more Championship in 1972. Antonis Antoniadis was again top scorer with 39 goals (also second in Europe). His record remains until today in the Greek league.