The Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament () is an international basketball pre-season tournament organised by Panathinaikos B.C. in memory of the club's former president and owner, Pavlos Giannakopoulos (1929–2018). Established in 2018, the tournament brings together professional basketball clubs from Greece and abroad, generally taking place in September before the start of the European basketball season.
From 2018 to 2023, the Athens editions took place at the OAKA Olympic Indoor Hall. The sixth edition, in 2024, was held at the historic Panathenaic Stadium, while the seventh, in 2025, took place in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. In 2026, the tournament returned to the same Athens indoor arena, now known as Telekom Center Athens.
As of 2026, eight editions of the tournament have been held. Panathinaikos is the most successful club with five titles, followed by Olimpia Milano with two and Partizan Belgrade with one.
Background and establishment
Pavlos Giannakopoulos was a Greek businessman and longtime owner and president of Panathinaikos B.C. During his involvement with the club, Panathinaikos established itself as a major force in European basketball, winning six European championships between 1996 and 2011. Giannakopoulos died on 10 June 2018, aged 88.
In July 2018, Panathinaikos announced the creation of an international basketball tournament in his memory. The inaugural edition brought together Panathinaikos, Fenerbahçe, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Khimki Moscow Region. The event was established as a recurring pre-season competition, with invited clubs participating in basketball games and commemorative activities honouring Giannakopoulos.
The first tournament was won by Panathinaikos, which defeated Fenerbahçe 85–80 in the deciding game on 28 September 2018.
Tournament format
The tournament traditionally features four invited professional basketball teams. In its conventional format, the clubs compete in two semifinals, followed by a third-place game and a final. The winners of the semifinals advance to the final, while the losing teams contest third place.
The tournament is a friendly pre-season competition and its results do not count towards the standings of the EuroLeague, EuroCup, Greek Basket League or other official national and international competitions.
The 2024 and 2025 editions featured modified schedules rather than the conventional semifinal-and-final format. In 2024, two exhibition games were played at the Panathenaic Stadium. In 2025, the competition was organised across two Australian cities, with participating European and Australian clubs playing a series of exhibition games.
History
The tournament was not held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic; it returned to the OAKA Olympic Indoor Hall in September 2021. The editions from 2018 through 2023 followed the four-team semifinal-and-final format, apart from the 2020 interruption.
2024: Panathenaic Stadium
The sixth edition, held on 21 September 2024, moved from the OAKA Olympic Indoor Hall to the historic Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. The open-air stadium, which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, was temporarily configured for basketball. The event consisted of two scheduled exhibition games rather than a knockout tournament.
Panathinaikos announced attendance of approximately 42,000 spectators.
2025: Tournament in Australia
The seventh edition was held in Australia in September 2025, the tournament's first edition outside Europe. Organised in cooperation with Australia's National Basketball League, it featured Panathinaikos and Partizan alongside the Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers. Games were held at John Cain Arena in Melbourne and Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, under a modified exhibition-game format.
2026: Return to Athens
The eighth edition returned to the same indoor arena on 18–19 September 2026, now known as Telekom Center Athens, and reinstated the semifinal-and-final format.
Editions and results 2018 The inaugural tournament took place at the OAKA Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens on 27–28 September 2018. Panathinaikos won the competition after defeating Fenerbahçe 85–80 in the final.
Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 27 September Semifinal Fenerbahçe 94–92 Maccabi Tel Aviv 27 September Semifinal Panathinaikos 90–63 Khimki 28 September Third-place game Maccabi Tel Aviv 86–82 Khimki 28 September Final Panathinaikos 85–80 Fenerbahçe
2019 The second edition took place in Athens on 21–22 September 2019. Olimpia Milano won the tournament, defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv 78–69 in the final. Panathinaikos finished third.
Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 21 September Semifinal Olimpia Milano 78–72 Panathinaikos 21 September Semifinal Maccabi Tel Aviv 85–77 Fenerbahçe 22 September Third-place game Panathinaikos 84–74 Fenerbahçe 22 September Final Olimpia Milano 78–69 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2020 The tournament was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 The third edition was held at the OAKA Olympic Indoor Hall on 18–19 September 2021, following the interruption in 2020. Panathinaikos claimed its second title, defeating Anadolu Efes 80–74 in the final.
Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 18 September Semifinal Anadolu Efes 88–69 Ratiopharm Ulm 18 September Semifinal Panathinaikos 89–85 Partizan 19 September Third-place game Ratiopharm Ulm 94–84 Partizan 19 September Final Panathinaikos 80–74 Anadolu Efes
2022 The fourth edition took place on 23–24 September 2022. Olimpia Milano claimed its second tournament title after defeating Panathinaikos 77–64 in the final.
Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 23 September Semifinal Olimpia Milano 80–71 Maccabi Tel Aviv 23 September Semifinal Panathinaikos 86–71 Anadolu Efes 24 September Third-place game Anadolu Efes 87–81 Maccabi Tel Aviv 24 September Final Olimpia Milano 77–64 Panathinaikos
2023 The fifth edition took place on 23–24 September 2023. Panathinaikos defeated Anadolu Efes 70–69 in the final, claiming its third tournament title. Bayern Munich finished third after defeating Partizan 99–95.
Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 23 September Semifinal Anadolu Efes 81–79 Partizan 23 September Semifinal Panathinaikos 80–73 Bayern Munich 24 September Third-place game Bayern Munich 99–95 Partizan 24 September Final Panathinaikos 70–69 Anadolu Efes
2024 The sixth edition was held at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on 21 September 2024. Unlike previous editions, the event consisted of two scheduled exhibition games rather than a conventional knockout tournament. Anadolu Efes defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv in the opening game, while Partizan defeated Panathinaikos in the concluding game.
Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 21 September Exhibition game Anadolu Efes 89–66 Maccabi Tel Aviv 21 September Exhibition game Partizan 75–64 Panathinaikos
2025 The seventh edition was held in Australia, with games taking place in Melbourne and Sydney on 18 and 21 September 2025. The tournament featured a modified format consisting of three exhibition games rather than a conventional semifinal-and-final system. Panathinaikos completed the event with victories over Partizan and Adelaide 36ers.
Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 18 September Exhibition game Panathinaikos 91–82 Partizan 21 September Exhibition game Partizan 93–90 Sydney Kings 21 September Exhibition game Panathinaikos 106–89 Adelaide 36ers
2026 The eighth edition was held at Telekom Center Athens on 18–19 September 2026. Alongside the host club, the participating teams were Partizan Belgrade, JL Bourg and PAOK Thessaloniki.
PAOK became the first Greek club other than Panathinaikos to participate in the tournament. In its debut appearance, PAOK defeated Partizan 100–99 in the semifinals following a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Marcus Foster. The team subsequently finished as runner-up after losing 87–81 to Panathinaikos in the final.
Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 18 September Semifinal PAOK 100–99 Partizan 18 September Semifinal Panathinaikos 90–69 JL Bourg 19 September Third-place game Partizan 101–77 JL Bourg 19 September Final Panathinaikos 87–81 PAOK
Titles by club
Club Country Titles Winning years Panathinaikos Greece 5 2018, 2021, 2023, 2025, 2026 Olimpia Milano Italy 2 2019, 2022 Partizan Serbia 1 2024
Venues
Venue City Country Editions OAKA Olympic Indoor Hall / Telekom Center Athens Athens Greece 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2026 Panathenaic Stadium Athens Greece 2024 John Cain Arena Melbourne Australia 2025 Qudos Bank Arena Sydney Australia 2025
Note: The OAKA Olympic Indoor Hall and Telekom Center Athens are the same venue; the name changed in August 2025. See also
Pavlos Giannakopoulos Panathinaikos B.C. Greek Basket League EuroLeague
References
External links
Panathinaikos BC official website Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament 2025 – National Basketball League