History

Panathinaikos were founded in Athens in 1908. The club has its roots in the 1896 Athens Olympics, where the Greek national team were humiliated 9-0 by Denmark.

Following this debacle a group of elite Athenians, including several English gentlemen, got together with the intention of starting a world-class football team in Athens, eventually settling on the name Panathinaikos (All Athens) to reflect the team's representation of the whole of the capital.

Ten years later, Panathinaikos confirmed their intention of establishing themselves as
an international force by being the first Greek team to hire a foreign coach - Englishman
Alfred Barnes. But they adhered to their Greek roots with the historic shamrock or
"Trifylli" from Constantinople as their emblem.

World War II took a heavy toll on PAO as many great players were lost during the Albanian
campaign, the resistance and the famine.

After post-war rebuilding the team re-emerged to enjoy their golden era in the 60s. The key to their success was Mimis Domazos, a compact and supremely gifted playermaker, the footballer of his generation, whose technique even drew admiring remarks from Johann Cruyff. Real Madrid attempted to buy Domazos but PAO hung on to their prize asset.

Towards the end of the 60s a new star appeared in the shape
of Adonis Adoniadis. The giant striker, two-metres tall, was top
scorer in Europe two seasons running and, along with the
dimunitive Domazos, the duo were known as "the short and the
tall".

While the majority of league titles went to PAO between 1960
and 1972 it was their European adventures that made history
under the management of Hungary and Real Madrid legend
Ferenc Puskas.

Panathinaikos are one of the few club teams in the world to have
taken the field at Wembley Stadium twice, once in the European
Cup and then again in the group stages of the 1998-99 Champions' League.

The 1970-71 European Cup provided PAO's fans, the Vazeli (a reference to tubs of vaseline that were handed out at games, embosssd with the club crest) with their finest hour.

In the quarter finals, PAO drew Everton and the match at Goodison Park ended 1-1 with Joe Royle grabbing a late equaliser and colliding with goalkeeper Economopoulos - knocking him unconscious in the process. The stage was set for a tense return leg in Athens and Everton players staying in central Athens' Hilton Hotel were kept awake by a non-stop relay of Vazeli on mopeds, circling the hotel all night, madly revving their engines to ensure that no one slept. A lacklustre performance the following day from Everton ended in a goalless draw and a victory on away goals.

Red Star Belgrade were next up and a 4-1 defeat in Belgrade left PAO with a mountain to climb in the return. They promptly climbed it, demolishing an off-colour Red Star in Athens 3-0 with goals from Antoniades, who top-scored in the Cup with ten goals.

The stage was set for the final at Wembley against the
mighty Ajax of Cruyff and Neeskens. Puskas sent his team
onto the field with the famous words, "they are 11, we are
11," and with this in mind PAO held them to a 1-0 lead
until a late own goal decided the tie. Consolation came
in the form of a place in the World Club Championship
after Ajax withdrew, where they lost 3-2 on aggregate to
Nacional of Uruguay.

Panathinaikos' relationship with rules and regulations
has been a frequently difficult one. In the mid-60s PAO
officials were caught trying to bribe Iraklis players with
bouquet of flowers stuffed with money. In the court hearing that followed PAO's top league status was preserved by a jury made up of club presidents who voted 3-2 not to relegate them, Olympiakos' president casting the deciding vote. The supposed helping hand from their main rivals was widely perceived as an insurance against the likely drop in gates that would have ensued without the biggest derby of them all.

The mutual favours between the big two continued in the cup the following season when the presidents were rumoured to have agreed a 0-0 result in order to cash in on a replay. Word got out and a pitch invasion followed the final whistle in a mass protest.

After the advent of professionalism in Greece in 1979, PAO president George Vardinoyiannis invested in the best players but could not break Olympiakos' hold on the title until 1984.
The highlight during this period was the emergence of another green-
shirted striking legend, Polish international Krzystof Warzycha.
Warzycha's consistent goal scoring form saw him break the records
set by Antoniadis.

The 1984 title coincided witht the club's departure from their beloved
Apostolos Nikolaides Stadium in the heights of Ambelokipi to the
newly-built Olympic Stadium. The area around the now-crumbling
stands is still a magnet for the Vazeli and proposals for the renovation
of the stadium are the subject of constant speculation among fans and
the media.

Panathinaikos nearly made it to another European final in 1996 when
they defeated Ajax in Amsterdam in the semi-final only to fall apart in front
of a capacity crowd in the Olympic Stadium late in the return leg.

In the 2000-01 season, PAO returned to the Champions' League in dramatic style eliminating Italian giants from the first phase in a memorable night of Athenian football. Another quarter-final appearance was denied by a double loss to Strum Graz in the second phase as the new format of weekly matches finally took its toll.