PAOK BC (
Greek: ΚΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstantinopolitón, "Pan-Thessalonikian
Athletic Club of
Constantinopolitans"), commonly known in European competitions as PAOK,[1] is the professional
basketball department of the major
Greek multi-sports club
A.C. PAOK, which was founded in 1926, and is based in
Thessaloniki. The club's basketball section was founded in 1928. The club's home arena is the
PAOK Sports Arena, which is an
indoor arena with a
seating capacity of 8,142 people.
Over the years, the PAOK basketball club has established itself with a firm reputation in Greek pro basketball, especially due to its successes in European-wide competitions. In the past, the club has won Greece's top-tier level
Greek Basket League twice, in the years 1959 and 1992. The club has also won the top national
Greek Cup competition three times, in the years 1984, 1995, and 1999.
The men's basketball section of the multi-sports club
PAOK AC was created in 1928, when Alekos Alexiadis, a young member of the administration council of PAOK AC (founded in 1926), took the initiative to create a men's basketball team. He "gave birth" to the basketball department again, after
World War II. After the war, Alekos Alexiadis began to organize a basketball team from the children that played at the only basketball court in
Thessaloniki. The first honor for PAOK's basketball section was the win of the 1958–59
Greek League championship. The team was crowned the Champions of Greece, with the following players; Dapontes, Kyriakou,
Oikonomou, Paschalis, Stalios, Kokkos, Theoridis, Angelidis, Stergiou, Konstantinidis, and
player-coach Irakleios Klagas. The next year, PAOK competed for the first time in a European-wide competition and was eliminated in the first round of the
European Champions Cup by the Romanian champions
CCA București. Three years later, the Greek League was reconstructed into a Nation-wide League, but PAOK was placed in the
Second National Division, where they won an immediate
league promotion to the first division the next year. The worst season of the club to date was in 1976–77, when PAOK avoided
relegation, with a 66–53 play-out win over Dimokritos.
1981–1990
PAOK met
Panathinaikos in its first
Greek Cup Final, in 1982. The Athenians managed to scrape through to a two-point victory, despite the game being played in
Alexandreio Melathron, which was PAOK's home arena at that time. In the following 1982–83 season, the team finished in second place behind
Aris.
The success of both Aris and PAOK, fueled the
ongoing rivalry between the clubs, that had long been established in
football. In 1984, the two teams reached the Greek Cup Final. PAOK's head coach at that time,
Faidon Matthaiou, in trying to boost his team's morale, ordered the players to completely shave their heads. PAOK won the Greek Cup by four points (74–70), in what is now remembered as the "final of the shaven heads".
The then 22-year-old
Bane Prelević, debuted with the club in the 1988–89 season. He became the definitive leader of PAOK, and a fan favorite. He was often compared to the great
Nikos Galis, who was at the time the
captain of Aris. Prelević was often quoted for his loyalty to the team. He had a number of injuries and medical emergencies because of weak legs, but he would constantly choose to take heavy dosages of painkillers, rather than missing out on important games. During the 1980s decade, PAOK was second in the Greek League only to Aris.
In the following
1991–92 season, PAOK once again reached
the final of the same competition (then called the
FIBA European Cup), but they lost to the Spanish League club
Real Madrid Asegurator, by a score of 65–63. The game was heading to
overtime, as the two teams were equal at 63 points, when
Panagiotis Fasoulas lost the ball to
Rickey Brown in the last 2 seconds of the game, and Real Madrid scored an unexpected basket. The same year, PAOK won the
Greek League championship, by beating
Aris in the league's final four mini stage, and then
Olympiacos in the playoff's finals.
In the
1993–94 season, PAOK returned to European success, by winning the European third-tier level
FIBA Korać Cup competition, in a two-legged final against the Italian League club
Stefanel Trieste. PAOK won both at home and away, by 9 points. The following year, PAOK won the
Greek Cup title, in a 19-point victory against
Chipita Panionios, by a score of 72–53. In the
1995–96 season, PAOK once again reached the final of the
FIBA European Cup (Saporta Cup), but they lost to the Spanish club
Taugrés, by a score of 88–81. Three years later in 1999, PAOK again won the Greek Cup title, by defeating
AEK Athens, by a score of 71–54.
The new home of PAOK, the
PAOK Sports Arena, able to hold 8,500 fans, was inaugurated on 17 March 2000. That marked the end of a long period of time, in which the club had shared the home court of
Alexandreio Melathron with
Aris. Bane Prelević returned to PAOK, after having quick spells at
Kinder Bologna and
AEK Athens, and then quit playing basketball at the end of the 1999–00 season. He later returned to PAOK in the 2001–02 season, as an
assistant coach.
During the 1990s decade, PAOK was one of the top teams in the Greek League. They won the Greek League championship in 1992, and also played in the league's finals in 1994, 1998, and 2000. In addition to that, PAOK also made it to the league's semifinals each year, and they finished in 3rd place in the Greek league 1993, 1997, and 1999.
During a
2006–07 Greek League season game, PAOK and
Aris put on a spectacular show, that PAOK ended up winning, after two
overtime periods.[2] The team finished that season's Greek League in 6th place, after losing to
Olympiacos in the league's playoffs. PAOK also played in the ULEB Cup (EuroCup) in the
2006–07 season. They made it to the league's Top 16 Round that season, where they lost to the
Italian League club
Montepaschi Siena.
The
2007–08 Greek League season was one of the worst in PAOK's history, with PAOK finishing in a disastrous 12th place in the league. However, during that Greek League season, PAOK picked up a great victory against Olympiacos. In that same
2007–08 season, PAOK also had a disappointing finish in the now defunct European-wide third- level competition, the
FIBA EuroCup (
EuroChallenge). Because of that, PAOK's management decided for the club to take a break from Pan-European leagues, and to instead focus mainly on the Greek League. So the club did not compete in any European-wide leagues in the following 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons.
PAOK finished 3rd place in the Greek League in the
2010–11 season. That success allowed PAOK to play in the
EuroLeague's qualifying tournament in the
2011–12 season. However, in the
2011–12 season, PAOK finished in a disappointing 8th place in the Greek League, and thus missed out on European-wide competition for the 2012–13 season. In the
2012–13 season, PAOK finished in 5th place in the Greek League, and was then able to return to European competition for the following season. In the next season, they competed in the 2nd-tier level
EuroCup. In the Greek League, PAOK finished in 3rd place, in both the
2013–14 and
2014–15 seasons. In the
2015–16 season, PAOK finished in 5th place in the Greek League. After the
2015–17 FIBA–Euroleague Basketball controversy, PAOK decided to return to
FIBA organized competitions, and chose to play in the
FIBA Champions League, rather than in the EuroCup. After finishing in 5th place in the Greek League in the
2016–17 season, the club replaced head coach
Soulis Markopoulos with
Ilias Papatheodorou. In the
2017–18 season, PAOK finished in 3rd place in the Greek League. The
2019–20 season was the worst on PAOK history because PAOK finished in the last place of Greek basketball league; but due to
COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn't relegated.
2020–present
2020–21 PAOK started the new decade from the scratch, with a new contributor Mr.
Thanasis Chatzopoulos, PAOK kept the team's leader
Vangelis Margaritis, brought in some talented young players such as
Elijah Mitrou-Long and gave more playing time to athletes from his academy, like
Konstantinos Iatridis. These changes seem to be the first step in returning to the higher positions of the Greek League, as well as a steady comeback to European competitions.
Arenas
In earlier times, PAOK played its home games at the
Thessaloniki Forum. After that, PAOK played its home games for many years at the 5,183 seat
Alexandreio Melathron (Nick Galis Hall). In 2000, the club moved to the 8,500 seat
PAOK Sports Arena.
progressed to semifinals after beating 2-1
Promitheas Patras in a best-of-3 series at the quarter finals, lost 3-0 to
Olympiacos in a best-of-five series at the semi finals, lost 3-0
Peristeri in a best-of-five series for the 3rd place