Panionios F.C.
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| Panionios GSS FC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | PAE Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis (Pan-Ionian Gymnastic Association of Smyrna FC) |
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| Nickname(s) | Kyanerythri (Blue-Reds) Istorikos (Historic) |
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| Founded | 1890 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Panionios Stadium, Nea Smyrni, Athens, Greece (Capacity 11,700 (all-seated)) |
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| Chairman |  Georgios Katsifarakis |
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| Manager |  Ewald Lienen |
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| League | Super League Greece (Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα) |
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| 2007-08 | Super League Greece, 5th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Panionios GSS FC (Greek: Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης - Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis), the Pan-Ionian Gymnastic Association of Smyrna, is a Greek association football club based in the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni, Greece.
The club currently competes in the Super League Greece.
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[edit] Early history
The club was founded in 1890 in Smyrna(Σμύρνη))/İzmir,Ottoman Empire, under the name of "Orpheus Music and Sports Club". In 1893 some Orpheus members keen on sports formed a separate organization, the "Gymnasion Club", and started holding yearly sports competitions. In 1898, Orpheus and Gymnasion merged again to form PGSS. After the Greek military defeat in 1922 the club was transferred to the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni. The club has a tradition of cultivating all major sports and was the first Greek club to establish a track and field division for women, in 1925. With the gradual transformation of men's football and basketball into professional sports, Panionios FC and Panionios BC became privately owned clubs operating under the auspices of the traditional "amateur sports" PGSS.
[edit] Recent history
Panionios has spent nearly its entire history in the Greek First Division (now called 'Superleague'), having missed out from competing in Greek football's top division only twice in its more than 100-year history. Within this, Panionios rose quite often to high levels, with top achievement in terms of the league being the 2nd position that the club reached in 1971, losing the title to AEK.
Panionios has produced all three major Greek strikers of the 1980s, namely Nikos Anastopoulos (later of Olympiakos), Thomas Mavros (later of AEK), and Dimitris Saravakos (later of Panathinaikos). Other notable players coming out of the club include Nikos Tsiantakis (later of Olympiakos) and Takis Fyssas, later of Panathinaikos and member of Greek national team.
In December 2001, working around bankruptcy legislation, the club was renamed to Neos ("New") Panionios FC, to avoid the threat of relegation from the first division because of financial difficulties.
[edit] Change of ownership
In 2004, shipowner Constantinos Tsakiris was elected president of the "amateur sports" PGSS. Panionios won the women's Basketball Championship in 2006, the club's first in a team sport, and the women's volleyball team advanced to the first division. In 2006, Tsakiris acquired 85% of Neos Panionios FC stock and started restructuring the team from scratch. He changed the name of the club back to the original "Panionios GSS" FC and hired German coach Ewald Lienen who, during his first year created a team that made it to the top 5 of the Greek Super League and on to the UEFA Cup. Tsakiris has also unveiled an ambitious plan to have the aging football ground and athletics track demolished, and build a modern multi-sport arena in its place.
[edit] PAOK incident november 2007
On 25 november 2007 Panionios coach Ewald Lienen was slightly injured by glass shards in Thessaloniki when PAOK fans threw stones at the team bus. Earlier, riot police had used tear gas to disperse about 10,000 PAOK fans demanding that the state forgive at least part of club debts estimated at $45 million. PAOK beat Panionios 3-1. Ewald Lienen was shocked and deeply troubled by the incident stating it would be his main reason to leave Greece if in fact he chose to. [1]
[edit] Current squad 2008/09
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[edit] Squad changes for 2008/09 season
In:
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Out:
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[edit] Famous former players
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[edit] National titles
[edit] Greek Cups (2)
1979, 1998
[edit] Balkan Cup (1)
1971
[edit] European record
| Season | Achievement | Notes | |
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| European Cup Winners Cup | |||
| 1979–80 | Second Round | eliminated by IFK Göteborg | |
| 1998–99 | Quarter-finals | eliminated by S.S. Lazio | |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Official Sites
- Official football club website
- Official basketball club website
- Panionios TV channel from Goal4Replay.net (English) (Greek)
Fans
- Greek wikipedia entry
- Panionios Stadium
- official Panthers fan club
- Panionios 1890 unofficial website
- Leshi filon panioniou fan club
- unofficial fan website
