A1 Ethniki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A1 Ethniki
Current season or competition: A1 Ethniki 2007-08

Sport	Basketball
Founded	1928
No. of teams	14
Country(ies)	Greece
Continent	Europe
Most recent champion(s)	Panathinaikos
TV partner(s)	Supersport, ERT, Skai TV
Official website	esake.gr basket.gr

The A1 Ethniki (often refered to as Greek League or Greek Championship) is the highest professional basketball competition among pro clubs in Greece. The first Greek Championship was held in 1928 by the Greek Basketball Federation which organized all the championships until 1992.

1 History
2 Teams
3 Champions
- 3.1 Performance By Club
4 A1 Finals
- 4.1 By Club
5 Greek League MVP Awards
6 Best Young Player
7 Other Competitions
8 External Links

[edit] History

There are three different Championship periods. The first one lasted from 1928 to 1963, when there wasn't a national championship and the champions of every district played at a later stage to define the Greek Champion. The second era started in the 1963-64 season when the Greek First Division (A Ethniki) was founded. Since the 1986-87 season, the A1 division (with regular season and playoffs) and the A2 division (called the A2 Ethniki) have been found.

The Greek League has been one of the most competitive basketball leagues in Europe through the years, and it currently ranks as the third best national domestic league in the world behind only the NBA and the Spanish League, and just ahead of the Italian League. The league has several great powers which belong to the most traditional European basketball clubs, especially the Euroleague giants Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. Other teams that have made significant success throughout the long history of Greek basketball are Aris and AEK Athens. These teams along with PAOK are considered the most successful Greek teams.

Despite the championship being contested 67 times, only nine teams have won so far. The dominating team of the league has been Panathinaikos, having earned the championship 28 times. Only three teams have participated in every championship since the foundation of the first division in 1964: Panathinaikos, AEK Athens and Aris.

A1 Ethniki, in its current form, has been organized since the 1992-93 season by the Greek Basketball Clubs Association (HEBA, in English, "Hellenic Basketball Clubs Association"). Thirty pro Greek basketball teams are split into two different divisions. The first division championship, which is called the "A1", in which 14 teams compete for the Greek National Championship and the second level championship, which is called the "A2", in which 16 teams compete for the second division crown. The bottom two place finishing teams each year in the A1 division standings are relegated to the A2 Ethniki due to poor performance, while the top 2 teams each year from the A2 division are promoted to the A1 Ethniki due to good performance.

[edit] Teams

The clubs for the 2008-09 season are:

Club	Position 2007-08	Arena	Seating Capacity
AEK Athens	7th	Olympic Indoor Hall	18,800 expandable to 20,000+
AEL	10th	Larissa Neapolis Arena	3,958 expandable to 5,500
Aris	5th	Alexandrio Melathron	5,010
Egaleo	9th	Egaleo Indoor Hall	1,200
Kolossos Rodou	11th	Venetoklio Indoor Hall	1,242
Maroussi	4th	Maroussi Indoor Hall	1,350
Olympia Larissa	8th	Larissa Neapolis Arena	3,958 expandable to 5,500
Olympiacos Piraeus	2nd	Peace and Friendship Stadium (SEF)	12,171 expandable to 14,095
Panathinaikos	1st	Olympic Indoor Hall	18,800 expandable to 20,000+
Panellinios	6th	Panellinios Indoor Hall	1,100 expandable to 2,500
Panionios	3rd	Helliniko Indoor Arena	8,600 expandable to 14,500
Panorama	2nd (A2 Ethniki)	Panorama Indoor Hall
PAOK	12th	PAOK Sports Arena	8,142 expandable to 8,600
Trikala	1st (A2 Ethniki)	Trikala Indoor Hall

[edit] Champions

1927-28 to 1962-63: Panhellenic Championship
1963-64 to 1985-86: A Ethniki
1986-87 to present: A1 Ethniki

Season	Team
1927-28	Iraklis
1928-29	Panellinios
1929-30	Aris
1930-31	not held
1931-32
1932-33
1933-34
1934-35	Iraklis
1935-36	Near East
1936-37	Athens University
1937-38	not held
1938-39	Panellinios
1939-40	Panellinios
1940-41	not held due to World War II
1941-42
1942-43
1943-44
1944-45
1945-46	Panathinaikos
1946-47	Panathinaikos
1947-48	not held
1948-49	Olympiacos Piraeus
1949-50	Panathinaikos
1950-51	Panathinaikos
1951-52	not held
1952-53	Panellinios
1953-54	Panathinaikos

Season	Team
1954-55	Panellinios
1955-56	not held
1956-57	Panellinios
1957-58	AEK Athens
1958-59	PAOK
1959-60	Olympiacos Piraeus
1960-61	Panathinaikos
1961-62	Panathinaikos
1962-63	AEK Athens
1963-64	AEK Athens
1964-65	AEK Athens
1965-66	AEK Athens
1966-67	Panathinaikos
1967-68	AEK Athens
1968-69	Panathinaikos
1969-70	AEK Athens
1970-71	Panathinaikos
1971-72	Panathinaikos
1972-73	Panathinaikos
1973-74	Panathinaikos
1974-75	Panathinaikos
1975-76	Olympiacos Piraeus
1976-77	Panathinaikos
1977-78	Olympiacos Piraeus
1978-79	Aris
1979-80	Panathinaikos
1980-81	Panathinaikos

Season	Team
1981-82	Panathinaikos
1982-83	Aris
1983-84	Panathinaikos
1984-85	Aris
1985-86	Aris
1986-87	Aris
1987-88	Aris
1988-89	Aris
1989-90	Aris
1990-91	Aris
1991-92	PAOK
1992-93	Olympiacos Piraeus
1993-94	Olympiacos Piraeus
1994-95	Olympiacos Piraeus
1995-96	Olympiacos Piraeus
1996-97	Olympiacos Piraeus
1997-98	Panathinaikos
1998-99	Panathinaikos
1999-00	Panathinaikos
2000-01	Panathinaikos
2001-02	AEK Athens
2002-03	Panathinaikos
2003-04	Panathinaikos
2004-05	Panathinaikos
2005-06	Panathinaikos
2006-07	Panathinaikos
2007-08	Panathinaikos

[edit] Performance By Club

Team	Winners	Years Won
Panathinaikos	29	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, 2008
Aris	10	1930, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
Olympiacos Piraeus	9	1949, 1960, 1976, 1978, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
AEK Athens	8	1958, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 2002
Panellinios	6	1929, 1939, 1940, 1953, 1955, 1957
Iraklis	2	1928, 1935
PAOK	2	1959, 1992
Near East	1	1936
Athens University	1	1937

[edit] A1 Finals

Season	Home advantage	Home disadvantage	Result	1st of Regular Season	Record
1992-93	Panathinaikos	Olympiacos Piraeus	1-3	PAOK	22-4
1993-94	Olympiacos Piraeus	PAOK	3-2	Olympiacos Piraeus	22-4
1994-95	Olympiacos Piraeus	Panathinaikos	3-2	Olympiacos Piraeus	24-2
1995-96	Olympiacos Piraeus	Panathinaikos	3-2	Olympiacos Piraeus	24-2
1996-97	Olympiacos Piraeus	AEK Athens	3-1	Olympiacos Piraeus	21-5
1997-98	Panathinaikos	PAOK	3-2	Panathinaikos	21-5
1998-99	Olympiacos Piraeus	Panathinaikos	2-3	Olympiacos Piraeus	21-5
1999-00	Panathinaikos	PAOK	3-0	Olympiacos Piraeus	21-5
2000-01	Panathinaikos	Olympiacos Piraeus	3-2	Panathinaikos	22-4
2001-02	AEK Athens	Olympiacos Piraeus	3-2	AEK Athens	23-3
2002-03	Panathinaikos	AEK Athens	3-1	Panathinaikos	21-5
2003-04	Panathinaikos	Maroussi	3-0	Panathinaikos	22-4
2004-05	Panathinaikos	AEK Athens	3-1	Panathinaikos	22-4
2005-06	Panathinaikos	Olympiacos Piraeus	3-0	Panathinaikos	24-2
2006-07	Panathinaikos	Olympiacos Piraeus	3-2	Panathinaikos	24-2
2007-08	Panathinaikos	Olympiacos Piraeus	3-2	Panathinaikos	23-3

[edit] By Club

Club	W	L	Total
Panathinaikos	10	3	13
Olympiacos Piraeus	5	6	11
AEK Athens	1	3	4
PAOK	0	3	3
Maroussi	0	1	1

[edit] Greek League MVP Awards

Season	Regular Season MVP (Team)	Playoff MVP (Team)
1986-87	Panagiotis Giannakis (Aris Thessaloniki)	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)
1987-88	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)
1988-89	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)
1989-90	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)
1990-91	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)	Nikos Galis (Aris Thessaloniki)
1991-92	Žarko Paspalj (Olympiacos Piraeus)	Panagiotis Fasoulas (PAOK)
1992-93	Walter Berry (Olympiacos Piraeus)	Žarko Paspalj (Olympiacos Piraeus)
1993-94	Walter Berry (PAOK)	Žarko Paspalj (Olympiacos Piraeus)
1994-95	Walter Berry (Iraklis)	Eddie Johnson (Olympiacos Piraeus)
1995-96	Giorgos Sigalas (Olympiacos Piraeus)	Giorgos Sigalas (Olympiacos Piraeus)
1996-97	David Rivers (Olympiacos Piraeus)	David Rivers (Olympiacos Piraeus)
1997-98	Predrag Stojaković (PAOK)	Byron Scott (Panathinaikos)
1998-99	Dejan Bodiroga (Panathinaikos)	Dino Rađa (Panathinaikos)
1999-00	Dejan Bodiroga (Panathinaikos)	Željko Rebrača (Panathinaikos)
2000-01	Alphonso Ford (Peristeri)	Željko Rebrača (Panathinaikos)
2001-02	Dimosthenis Dikoudis (AEK Athens)	Dimosthenis Dikoudis (AEK Athens)
2002-03	Jaka Lakovič (Panathinaikos)	Fragiskos Alvertis (Panathinaikos)
2003-04	Dimitris Diamantidis (Iraklis)	Nikos Hatzivrettas (Panathinaikos)
2004-05	Jaka Lakovič (Panathinaikos)	Jaka Lakovič (Panathinaikos)
2005-06	Dimitris Diamantidis (Panathinaikos)	Dimitris Diamantidis (Panathinaikos)
2006-07	Dimitris Diamantidis (Panathinaikos)	Dimitris Diamantidis (Panathinaikos)

[edit] Best Young Player

2006-07: Giorgos Printezis (Olympia Larissas BC)

2007-08: Ian Vouyoukas (Rethymno BC)

[edit] Other Competitions

[edit] External Links

A1 Greek Basketball League 2007-2008

v • d • e

International basketball

v • d • e

Africa: FIBA Africa – Africa Championship Americas: FIBA Americas – Americas Championship Asia: FIBA Asia – Asian Championship Europe: FIBA Europe – EuroBasket Oceania: FIBA Oceania – Oceania Championship