title: Dragon Age

text: "Dragon Age: The Last Court" was a free-to-play browser game released in November 2014, with its gameplay focused on drawing cards and managing resources. Set between the events of "Dragon Age II" and "Dragon Age: Inquisition", players would assume the role of the Marquis of Serault, a marquisate located on the western edge of Orlais. Previously accessible from the online platform "Dragon Age Keep", "The Last Court" was taken offline by November 17, 2020, although fans led a project to preserve its contents prior to the due date.


title: Dragon Age

text: The "Dragon Age" video game series has featured varied gameplay mechanics; "Origins" was considered to be a traditional RPG, while subsequent entries are story-driven action role-playing games. The player assumes control of one primary character as the protagonist of the story of each main series game and customizes them based on gender, race (human only in "Dragon Age II"), physical appearance, and one of three character classes (warrior, rogue, and mage), with one or two specializations centered around the three class archetypes being made available to the player later in each game. This establishes a skill tree that the player can advance through killing enemies or completing quests (and thereby gaining experience points) until a preset value is met, whereupon they level up. Players usually conduct each main series game from a third-person perspective; control is done through a user interface that allows a player to move characters and give them actions to undertake, review information on on-going quests and the statistics of characters in their party, manage their inventories, and organize the formation of the party. Each game generally follows a main story pathway with points of branching narratives and multiple side missions, allowing the player to proceed through the game as they desire. Secondary characters could be recruited as permanent or temporary companions by the player-controlled character over the course of the plot in each game. The player has the option to bring up to three of their companions with them whenever their traverse the game setting, and the player will have some degree of control over these companions, usually for combat sequences.


title: Dragon Age

text: "Origins" present the player character almost as a blank canvas, whose visage, hairstyle, voice, race, first name, origin, gender, and class are chosen by the player. In the PC version, the point of view can be shifted from the third person view to a top-down isometric view, where friendly and hostile units are labelled with different colours to distinguish them. A party companion's approval or disapproval of the player character is represented by a scaling slider which appears on the specific character's individual screen. A companion character's scaling slider can be affected by dialogue choices, by the player character's actions, or by the giving of gift items which could be found throughout the game's narrative. The player character's standing on the scaling slider determines whether certain dialogue options are available; choosing the right dialogue options may potentially lead to higher approval, and unlock quests which the player character otherwise have no opportunity to perform. In lieu of a one-off loyalty check implemented in certain RPG games, the Warden's companions always take note of the decisions the player character makes, with their approval rising and falling in response to each decision. High approval may lead to a potential romance, while low approval might result in a companion leaving or even turning on the Warden and dying as a result.


title: Dragon Age

text: In "Dragon Age II" and "Dragon Age: Inquisition", the player engages in dialogue trees with non-player characters through story encounters and missions to learn information and progress the story. This is presented through what BioWare called a Dialogue Wheel, with the fully voice acted player-character reply options shown as choices extending radially outward from a circle at the bottom of the screen. Most of these choices are simple questions and responses, but in some dialogues, they offer additional choices that either influence how the game plays out from there, or are as a result from those previous choices. In "Dragon Age II", the camera is locked in a third person perspective; in "Inquisition", the player may access Tactical View, which pauses the game and shifts the camera to a top-down isometric view similar to "Origins", allowing players to assign locations and orders to the party members and then resume the game to see their decisions play out.


title: Dragon Age

text: Dragon Age Keep, launched in October 2014, is an online platform that allows players to save their in-game choices in a "world state." If their gaming platform is connected to the internet, then a player's major decisions will be saved and can be imported into new games. This affects the events and characters that are present in-game, most noticeably so in "Dragon Age: Inquisition". Dragon Age Keep incorporates decisions made in prior DLCs as well as the major games. The platform also allows for players to customize their world states by choosing the preferred outcome for any given choice, and unlock various in-game items for "Origins" and "Dragon Age II" which were previously only available through limited promotional opportunities such as pre-order bonuses, platform exclusives and as rewards from participation in special events.


title: Dragon Age

text: Throughout the series, certain characters could enter into a romantic relationship with the player character: these included both hetero- and homosexual relationships as well as inter-species romances. This requires certain pre-requisite conditions such as gender and race being met, and possibly securing a high approval rating of the companion through the player character's actions and/or words. Successfully romancing a character would typically lead to scenes leading up to a sexual encounter though otherwise not showing anything inappropriate for the game's rating. The romance subplots in the series often take the form of side missions; they are not designed to be one-size-fits-all, and are entirely optional content.


title: Dragon Age

text: Canadian video game developer David Gaider came up with most of the background lore for the franchise's setting and served as its lead writer until 2015. The name ”Thedas” originated as shorthand for “The Dragon Age Setting”. Thedas is a world inspired by European folklore and the romances of medieval Europe, with real world analogues used as the basis of some in-universe elements. For example, the nations of Ferelden and Orlais are based on medieval England and Renaissance-era France respectively. The Qunari’s role within the setting is comparable to that of the historical Viking expansion. Gaider seeded numerous element of lore all across Thedas during the developmental cycle for "Origins", without any expectation that the material he wrote would ultimately be utilized for the final product. This left room for possible exploration of story elements or locations unused in "Origins" as the basis for tie-in material in other media, such as his debut novel "" as well as subsequent sequels to "Origin".


title: Dragon Age

text: Although "Dragon Age" has been described as a dark fantasy setting, the series utilizes many common tropes in fantasy fiction, such as quests, the presence of magic as well as elves and dwarves in its narrative, and an overarching conflict between heroes and the forces of evil. "Dragon Age" also takes inspiration from "A Song of Ice and Fire", a fantasy novel series by George R. R. Martin, particularly in the depiction of a morally ambiguous world where characters are often embroiled in no-win scenarios. An act of betrayal by the Ferelden lord Teryn Loghain Mac Tir which led to the as well as his final fate are thematically reminiscent of the treacherous political machinations depicted in "A Song of Ice and Fire". The Grey Wardens’ concept of a sworn brotherhood with its grim outlook and constant vigilance in anticipation of the threat of a monstrous invasion are particularly similar to that of the Night's Watch organization.


title: Dragon Age

text: The art style for the series underwent a drastic overhaul under the leadership of art director Matt Goldman beginning with "Dragon Age II", as the original art style for "Origins" was deemed to be "generic". The Darkspawn in particular were redesigned after the developers decided to portray them "like a complete and cohesive group" with an emphasis on their original concept as severely sickened creatures, whereas they have a more "hodgepodge appearance" in "Origins" which resembled J.R.R. Tolkien's orcs. The Qunari were initially presented in "Origins" as hornless, though the developers later determined that more space should be created between the races of "Dragon Age", and as a result the Qunari's physical appearance underwent a redesign. Subsequent instalments in the franchise retroactively explained that most Qunari in fact have horns, and that hornlessness is a rare genetic variation found in .


title: Dragon Age

text: The main series "Dragon Age" games have mostly been positively received. "Dragon Age: Origins" in particular is widely considered to be among the best video games of all time. Roberts consider "Origins" to be "an exhaustingly detailed RPG, with intricate combat and extensive ways to customise your party behind the scene", though "complex storytelling and characters" only occur in "infrequent flashes". He noted that "Origins" "did so much heavy lifting for building the world of "Dragon Age" that subsequent games have managed to find more interesting angles on its world." Richard Cobbett from "Eurogamer" described "Origins" as "a half-way house between the hardcore RPGs of old and a more modern style that was taking over, with an emphasis on the former". Its expansion pack, "Origins - Awakening" is also well received with both critics and fans across all release platforms.


title: Dragon Age

text: "Dragon Age II" was released to generally favorable reviews from video game media outlets, but received a divisive reception from players. Most of their criticism were directed at the game's wave-based enemies, excessively reused environments, and the lack of origin choices. Several critics praised the game's faster-paced combat and the companions featured in the game, while the game's dialogue system and storytelling received mixed responses, and


title: Dragon Age

text: "Dragon Age: Inquisition" garnered numerous game of the year awards and nominations from gaming publications for the year 2014. Roberts felt that "Inquisition’s" "side quest-heavy open-worlds" went in a very distant direction from where the series began.


title: Dragon Age

text: Sam Roberts from "Gamesradar" opined that unlike the "Mass Effect" video game series with its second entry, BioWare has yet to make "a truly great "Dragon Age" game" and that each main series game is flawed in some way. He observed that "BioWare keeps reinventing the mould, carrying across certain elements of the combat and remaining faithful to the fiction, but throwing a lot of stuff out. It’s an approach that may eventually lead to a world-beating RPG".


title: Dragon Age

text: "Dragon Age: Origins" topped Steam's sales chart on November 10, 2009. The "Digital Deluxe" version of the game was ranked first place, with the standard edition ranked second. The Xbox 360 version of the game was the ninth-best-selling game in the US according to the NPD Group, selling approximately 362,100 copies. According to John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, the company is very satisfied with the sales of "Origins"; more than 1 million DLC packs for the game were sold before the end of 2009. In February 2010, Electronic Arts announced that more than 3.2 million copies of the game had been sold.


title: Dragon Age

text: "Dragon Age II" sold more than one million copies in less than two weeks following its launch on March 8, 2011, a faster sales pace than its predecessor when it was released in 2009. By May 2011, it has sold over two million copies.


title: Dragon Age

text: "Inquisition" debuted at No. 5 in UK in its first launch week. According to retail monitor Chart-Track, it had sold almost the exact number of launch week copies as 2011's "Dragon Age II". This does not take into account direct digital download sales however, which have been noted to be a "significant percentage of sales" by BioWare and thus the true number of sales is higher.


title: Dragon Age

text: "Origins" marked the point at which western RPGs properly moved into the spotlight, according to Cobbett. He stated that the success of "Origins" proved that "a hardcore, older-fashioned game could still find a devoted audience", and that it "established a new baseline for the genre in much the same way as the original "Baldur's Gate" back in 1998". Van Allen of "US Gamer" claimed that Bioware's work in character-driven AAA RPG Games has inspired "imitators in games like "GreedFall"", with gameplay that feels like the continuation of many concepts from "Dragon Age".


title: Dragon Age

text: The characters of the series, particularly the party companions, have received acclaim; they have often been compared to characters from the "Mass Effect" series in critic and reader lists and are considered some of the most memorable characters in video game history.


title: Dragon Age

text: The "Dragon Age" franchise includes various types of media adaptations and merchandise outside of the video games. It setting has been used by a variety of other media, including novels, comics, graphic novels, and licensed products such as a tabletop role-playing game, action figures, and statues.


title: Tekken 3

text: "Tekken 3" features a largely new cast of characters, including the debut of several now-staple characters such as Jin Kazama, Ling Xiaoyu, Bryan Fury, Eddy Gordo, and Hwoarang, with a total of twenty-three characters. The home version includes a new beat 'em up mode called Tekken Force, and the bonus Tekken Ball mode.


title: Tekken 3

text: The game was a major hit for both arcades and consoles, selling 35,000 arcade units and more than 8 million PlayStation copies worldwide, making "Tekken 3" the fifth best-selling PlayStation game. Since its release, "Tekken 3" has been lauded as a landmark title in the fighting game genre and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. It was followed by "Tekken Tag Tournament", a non-canon installment in 1999. The direct sequel, "Tekken 4", was released in 2001.


title: Tekken 3

text: "Tekken 3" maintains the same core fighting system and concept as its predecessors. Three-dimensional movement is insignificant in previous "Tekken" games (aside from some characters having unique sidesteps and dodging maneuvers), but "Tekken 3" adds emphasis on the third axis by allowing characters to sidestep in or out of the background. Fighters now jump more reasonable heights than in the previous games, making them less overwhelming and putting more use to sidestep dodges, as jumping can no longer dodge every ground attack. New improvements include quicker recoveries from knockdowns, more escapes from tackles and stuns, more moves with juggling enabled, and newly created combo throws.


title: Tekken 3

text: "Tekken 3" introduces a beat 'em up minigame called "Tekken Force", which pits the player in various stages against enemies in a side-scrolling fashion. The concept was expanded on in a minigame for "Tekken 4," and succeeded by the "Devil Within" campaign mode in "Tekken 5". Another minigame is known as "Tekken Ball", similar to beach volleyball, where the player must hit the ball with a powerful attack to pulverize the opponent, or cause them penalty damage by letting the ball fall into the opponent's territory.


title: Tekken 3

text: The arcade version features a total of 21 characters. Because the game takes place 20 years after "Tekken 2", only six characters from the previous installment return, with the rest being new. Unlike the previous two games, the character select screen displays all characters at once, instead of hiding some offscreen and requiring players to scroll past the screen to select them.


title: Tekken 3

text: The console version adds two new characters, Dr. Bosconovitch and Gon, and also makes Anna Williams, a palette swap of Nina Williams in the arcade version, into a distinct character with her own moveset, voice clip, and ending. There are also several unplayable enemies faced only during the Tekken Force minigame. The console version only features 10 characters available by default, with the rest being unlocked by fulfilling various conditions.


title: Tekken 3

text: Fifteen years after the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2, Heihachi Mishima has established the Tekken Force: a paramilitary organization dedicated to the protection of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Using the company's influence, Heihachi is responsible for many events that have ultimately led to world peace. One day, a squadron of Tekken Force soldiers search an ancient temple located in Mexico under the premise of an excavation project. Soon after arriving there, Heihachi learns that they were obliterated by a mysterious and malevolent creature known as Ogre. Heihachi, having captured a brief glimpse of Ogre before its immediate disappearance, seeks to capture Ogre in the hopes of harnessing its immense fighting power for his own personal gain. Soon after, various known martial artists end up dead, attacked, or missing from all over the world, with Ogre behind all of it.


title: Tekken 3

text: Jun Kazama has been living a quiet life in Yakushima with her young son, Jin Kazama, fathered during the events of the previous tournament by Heihachi's son, Kazuya Mishima. However, their peaceful life is disrupted when Jun begins to sense Ogre's encroaching presence and knowing that she is now a target, instructs Jin to seek Heihachi if anything happens. Sometime after Jin's fifteenth birthday, Ogre attacks. Against Jun's wishes, Jin valiantly tries to fight Ogre off, but Ogre knocks him unconscious. When Jin awakens, he finds that the ground surrounding his house has been burnt and his mother is missing and most likely dead. Driven by revenge, Jin is confronted by the Devil, which brands Jin's left arm and possesses him. Jin goes to his grandfather, Heihachi, explaining his situation and begging him for training to become strong enough to face Ogre. Heihachi accepts and takes Jin under his wing, as well as sending him to Mishima High School where Jin meets a classmate named Ling Xiaoyu and her pet Panda.


title: Tekken 3

text: Four years later, Jin masters the Mishima karate style. On Jin's nineteenth birthday, Heihachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, and Jin himself prepares for his upcoming battle, having no idea that his grandfather is secretly using him, Xiaoyu, and the rest of the competitors as bait in order to lure Ogre out into the open.


title: Tekken 3

text: Paul Phoenix makes it to the finals of the tournament, after defeating the opposing fighters including Kuma and Jin Kazama in the previous rounds. He enters a large temple, defeats Ogre, and walks away from the tournament, thinking he is victorious. However, unbeknownst to Paul, Ogre morphs into his second, monstrous form known as "True Ogre" after absorbing Heihachi's fighting force and the tournament continues after his departure. Jin is reinstated in the tournament and replaces Paul in the finals, confronts True Ogre and manages to defeat him as Ogre completely dissolves, avenging his mother's death and winning the tournament as a result. Moments later, Jin is suddenly gunned down by a squadron of Tekken Force led by Heihachi, who no longer needing him, personally fires a final shot into his grandson's head. Jin, however, revived by the Devil within him, reawakens and dispatches the soldiers, smashing Heihachi through the wall of the temple. Jin then sprouts black, feathery wings and flies off into the night as Heihachi, who survived the fall, looks on from the ground.


title: Tekken 3

text: "Tekken 3" is the first game to have been released on Namco System 12 hardware, after the original two "Tekken" games on System 11. The animation for the combatants was created using motion capture.


title: Tekken 3

text: The game had a limited Japanese release on 28 November 1996. It was followed by a wide international release in March 1997, releasing in North America on 18 March 1997.


title: Tekken 3

text: The original port of "Tekken 3" to the PlayStation featured two new hidden characters: Gon and Dr. Boskonovitch. Anna was made into her own separate character, given her own character select spot, voice, unique attacks, and ending. The PlayStation version features new "Tekken Force" and "Tekken Ball" modes, as well as all modes present in "Tekken 2". Due to the PlayStation's hardware limitations of less video RAM and lower clock speed, the visual quality was downgraded. The backgrounds were re-made into 2D panoramic images, the number of polygons used for each character were slightly reduced, sound effects played at a high pitch, and the game runs at lower overall resolution. Namco representatives had in fact originally stated that they did not think it was possible to convert "Tekken 3" to the PlayStation. By April 1997, "Tekken 3" was popular in the arcades, and the process of its home conversion was considered certain on PlayStation but merely a controversial consideration on Nintendo 64. The music for "Tekken 3" was written by Nobuyoshi Sano and Keiichi Okabe for the arcade version, with the PlayStation version featuring additional themes by the same composers, along with Hiroyuki Kawada, Minamo Takahashi, Yuu Miyake, Yoshie Arakawa, and Hideki Tobeta.


title: Tekken 3

text: The PlayStation emulator Bleem! was released for the Sega Dreamcast that allows Dreamcast owners to play a graphically-enhanced version of "Tekken 3" using the PlayStation copy of the game. The PlayStation 2 release of "Tekken 5" features the arcade version of "Tekken 3". The PlayStation version of "Tekken 3" is among 20 "generation-defining" games on the PlayStation Classic, released on 3 December 2018.


title: Tekken 3

text: The arcade game was a major hit. In Japan, the 15 April 1997 issue of "Game Machine" listed "Tekken 3" as the most-successful arcade game of the month. It went on to be the highest-grossing arcade printed circuit board (PCB) game of 1997 in Japan, and second highest-grossing overall arcade video game below Sega's rival "Virtua Fighter 3" (1996). "Tekken 3" sold 35,000 arcade units worldwide in 1997, including 15,000 in Japan and 20,000 overseas. While "Virtua Fighter 3" was more successful in Japan at the time, "Tekken 3" was more successful worldwide. "Tekken 3" later became the overall highest-grossing arcade game of 1998 in Japan, above "Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle".


title: Tekken 3

text: The PlayStation version was also a major hit. In Japan, the game sold over copies on its first day of release. In May 1998, Sony awarded "Tekken 3" a "Platinum Prize" for sales above 1 million units in Japan. According to "Weekly Famitsu", Japan bought 1.13 million units of "Tekken 3" during the first half of 1998, which made it the country's third-best-selling game for the period. PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, reported that "Tekken 3" sold 1.11 million copies and earned in revenue during 1998 alone. This made it the third-best-selling PlayStation release of the year in the United States.


title: Tekken 3

text: In Germany, it received a "Gold" award from the (VUD) in November 1998 for sales above 100,000 units, with the VUD later raising it to "Platinum" status indicating over 200,000 sales by August 1999. At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, it took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above or in the European Union during 1998. "Tekken 3" grossed a further €57,209,778 or in Europe during 1999, adding up to over € or grossed in Europe by 1999, and more than across Europe and the United States by 1999.


title: Tekken 3

text: According to "Tekken" series producer Katsuhiro Harada, "Tekken 3" sold 8.36 million copies during its initial release on the original PlayStation, including in Japan and overseas.


title: Tekken 3

text: According to Metacritic, the game has a score of 96 out of 100, indicating universal acclaim, and is ranked number 2 on its list of greatest PlayStation games. As of April 2011, the game is listed as the twelfth-highest-rated game of all time on the review compiling site GameRankings with an average rating of 96%.


title: Tekken 3

text: "Next Generation" reviewed the arcade version, and stated that ""Tekken 3" isn't quite the artful masterpiece that ["Virtua Fighter 3"] is, but is still awesome in its own right, and has moved the series even further form its 'me too' roots. The fighting system has evolved nicely, resulting in some wild and effective moves and new characters, a faster responsiveness, and an impressive 3D fighting experience." "GamePro" gave it a 4.5 out of 5 for graphics and sound and a 5.0 for control and funfactor. While noting that it was visually not up with its competitor "Virtua Fighter 3", the reviewer said it was stunning in its own right and features phenomenally responsive and easy controls. The game was a runner-up for "Arcade Game of the Year" (behind "NFL Blitz") at "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s 1997 Editors' Choice Awards.


title: Tekken 3

text: "Tekken 3" became the first game in three years to receive a 10 from a reviewer from "Electronic Gaming Monthly", with three of the four reviewers giving it the highest possible score. "Tekken 3" is the first game to have scored a 10 under "EGM"s revised review scale in that a game no longer needed to be "perfect" to receive a 10, and the last game to receive a 10 from the magazine was "Sonic & Knuckles". The only holdout was the magazine's enigmatic fighting-game review guru, Sushi-X, who said that "no game that rewards newbies for button-mashing will ever be tops in my book", giving the game 9 out of 10. GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann gave the game a 9.9 out of 10, saying "Not much stands between "Tekken 3" and a perfect 10 score. If the PlayStation exclusive characters were better and Force mode a bit more enthralling, it could have come closer to a perfect score." He also praised the sound effects, music, and graphics.


title: Tekken 3

text: "Next Generation" reviewed the PlayStation version, and stated that "There is no better fighting game, on this system or any other. It's clearly superior to the previous games in the series and a stunning value for "Tekken" aficionados."


title: Tekken 3

text: According to "" in 2009, "Tekken 3" "is still widely considered one of the finest fighting games of all time". In September 2004, for the tenth anniversary of the PlayStation brand, it ranked No. 10 on the magazine's list of "Final PlayStation Top 10". It was also No. 177 on "Game Informer"s 2009 Top 200 games of all time.


title: Tekken 3

text: In 2011, "Complex" ranked it as the fourth best fighting game of all time. "Complex" also ranked "Tekken 3" as the ninth best arcade video game of the 1990s, commenting that "this now classic fighter served as a welcome palette cleanser to the "Mortal Kombat"/"Street Fighter" dichotomy that dominated arcades in the 90s." "Complex" also ranked "Tekken 3" as the eighth best PlayStation 1 video game, commenting, "When "Tekken 3" finally moved from our local arcade and into our living room, we knew nothing would ever be the same. With an assortment of attacks and combos to learn, along with good controls, graphics, and sound, "Tekken 3" was much more polished and smooth than its predecessors."


title: Tekken 3

text: "Tekken 3" has also been listed among the best video games of all time by "Electronic Gaming Monthly" in 1997, "Game Informer" in 1999, "Computer and Video Games" in 2000, GameFAQs in 2005, and "Edge" in 2007. ArcadeSushi ranked "Tekken 3" as the "20th Best Playstation Game", with comments "Tekken 3 changed everything. Friends became bitter rivals. Bitter rivals became even more bitter rivals. Tekken 3 was the game you played with friends you didn't want to be your friends anymore." The same site also ranked it as the "17th best fighting game", commenting, ""Tekken 3" was easily one of the best "Tekken" games ever created. Before the series became obsessed with wall splats and ground bounds, it simply had huge open 3D arenas with massive casts that may or may not have included boxing raptors." In 2015, GamesRadar ranked "Tekken 3" as the 59th "best game ever", as "it possesses one of the finest fighting systems ever, the series' well-known juggle formula percolated into a perfect storm of throws, strikes, and suplexes."


title: Tekken 3

text: In 2022 the website Pixel Bandits looked back at Tekken 3, providing a "retrospective" review score of 9/10 overall. The video and written review both praise gameplay, and the fluid and diverse combat system. Playing the title using the original PS1 disc and PS2 hardware, the review notes that while visuals are of course lacking compared to gaming experiences today, it remains one of the ultimate beat-em-up experiences.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire. The hospital's catchment area consists of four National Health Service regions: London, Eastern, South East and South West. It is managed by the West London NHS Trust.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: The hospital was first known as the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Completed in 1863, it was built to a design by Sir Joshua Jebb, an officer of the Corps of Royal Engineers, and covered within its secure perimeter.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: The first patient was a female admitted for infanticide on 27 May 1863. Notes described her as being 'feeble minded'. It has been suggested by an analysis of her records that she most likely had congenital syphilis. The first male patients arrived on 27 February 1864. The original building plan of five blocks (four for men and one for women) was completed in 1868. An additional male block was built in 1902.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Due to overcrowding at Broadmoor, an extending asylum branch was constructed at Rampton Secure Hospital and opened in 1912. Rampton was closed as a branch asylum at the end of 1919 and reopened as an institution for "mental defectives" rather than lunatics. During the First World War Broadmoor's block 1 was also used as a Prisoner-of-war camp, called Crowthorne War Hospital, for mentally ill German soldiers.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: After the escape in 1952 of John Straffen, who murdered a local child, the hospital set up an alarm system, which is activated to alert people in the vicinity, as well as the public including those in the surrounding towns of Sandhurst, Wokingham, Bracknell, Camberley and Bagshot, when any potentially dangerous patient escapes. It is based on Second World War air raid sirens, and a two-tone alarm sounds across the whole area in the event of an escape. Until 2018, it was tested every Monday morning at 10 am for two minutes, after which a single tone 'all-clear' was sounded for a further two minutes. All schools in the area must keep procedures designed to ensure that in the event of a Broadmoor escape no child is ever out of the direct supervision of a member of staff. Sirens were located at Sandhurst School, Wellington College, Bracknell Forest Council depot and other sites until they were decommissioned upon the opening of the hospital's new site.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Following the Peter Fallon QC inquiry into Ashworth Special Hospital which reported in 1999, and found serious concerns about security and abuses resulting from poor management, it was decided to review the security at all three of the special hospitals in England. Until this time each was responsible for maintaining its own security policies. This review was made the personal responsibility of Sir Alan Langlands, who at the time was chief executive of the NHS England. The report that came out of the review initiated a new partnership whereby the Department of Health sets out a policy of safety, and security directions, that all three special hospitals must adhere to.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: In 2003, the Commission for Healthcare Improvement declared the Victorian buildings at Broadmoor Hospital 'unfit for purpose'.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Broadmoor uses both psychiatric medication and psychotherapy, as well as occupational therapy. One of the therapies available is the arts, and patients are encouraged to participate in the Koestler Awards Scheme. One of the longest-detained patients at Broadmoor is Albert Haines, who set a legal precedent in 2011 when his mental health tribunal hearing was allowed to be fully public; he argued there that he had never been given the type of counselling he had always sought, and the panel urged the clinicians to work more collaboratively and clearly towards his psychiatric rehabilitation.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Because of its high walls and other visible security features, and the news reporting it has received in the past, the hospital is often assumed to be a prison by members of the public. Many of its patients are sent to it via the criminal justice system, and its original design brief incorporated an essence of addressing criminality in addition to mental illness. However, the layout inside and the daily routine are intended to assist the therapy practised there rather than to be run as a prison. Nearly all staff are members of the Prison Officers' Association, as opposed to other health service unions such as UNISON and the Royal College of Nursing.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: The first medical superintendent was John Meyer. His assistant, William Orange, succeeded him. Orange established "a management style that was greatly admired". He also advised the Home Office on how to approach criminal insanity. Orange was in charge from 1870 to 1886.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: From its opening, until 1948, Broadmoor was managed by a council of supervision, appointed by and reporting to the Home Secretary. Thereafter, the Criminal Justice Act of 1948 transferred ownership of the hospital to the Department of Health (and the newly formed NHS) and oversight to the Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency established under the Mental Deficiency Act 1913. It also renamed the hospital Broadmoor Institution. The hospital remained under direct control of the Department of Health – a situation that reportedly "combined notional central control with actual neglect" – until the establishment of the Special Hospitals Service Authority in 1989, with Charles Kaye as its first chief executive.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Alan Franey ran the hospital from 1989 to 1997, having been recommended for the post by his friend Jimmy Savile. His leadership was undermined by persistent rumours of sexual impropriety on the hospital grounds. Allegedly he ignored at least three sexual assaults that he had been informed about.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: The Special Hospitals Service Authority was abolished in 1996, being replaced by individual special health authorities in each of the high-security hospitals. The Broadmoor Hospital Authority was itself dissolved on 31 March 2001.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: On 1 April 2001, West London Mental Health (NHS) Trust took over the responsibility for the hospital. The trust reports to the NHS Executive through NHS England London. The former director, who then became the CEO of the trust, quit in 2009 after Healthcare Commission/Care Quality Commission findings of serious failures to ensure patient safety at Broadmoor. In 2014 the director of specialist and forensic services resigned (and was employed elsewhere in the NHS) just prior to the conclusions of an investigation into a bullying culture. The next permanent CEO retired in 2015 in the wake of poor Care Quality Commission findings and other problems in the Trust.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: A new head of security was appointed in March 2013, John Hourihan, who had thirty years' experience at Scotland Yard and had worked as a bodyguard for members of the royal family.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Meanwhile, the trust allowed ITV to film a two-part documentary within Broadmoor in 2014. Press releases stated that on average there are four 'assaults' per week on staff. Psychiatrist Amlan Basu, clinical director of Broadmoor since March 2014, promoted the documentary but then decided to leave the NHS in 2015 amidst funding and staffing problems, despite the trust having just highlighted investment in his skills through its 'prestigious initiative to improve the quality of patient care in the NHS.'


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Much of Broadmoor's architecture is still Victorian, including the gatehouse, which has a clock tower.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Following long-standing reports that the old buildings were unfit for purpose (for therapy or safety), planning permission was granted in 2012 for a £242 million redevelopment, involving a new unit comprising 10 wards to adjoin the existing 6 wards of the modern Paddock Unit, resulting in total bed numbers of 234. Building company Kier reported in 2013 a sum of £115 million for the new unit of 162 beds, ready to accept patients by the start of 2017, and £43 million for a separate new medium secure unit for men nearby.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: A new unit called the Paddock Centre already opened on 12 December 2005 to contain and treat patients classed as having a 'dangerous severe personality disorder' (DSPD). This was a new and much debated category invented on behalf of the UK government, based on an individual being considered a 'Grave and Immediate Danger' to the general public, and meeting some combination of criteria for personality disorders and/or high scores on the Hare Psychopathy Check list – Revised.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: The Paddock Centre was designed to eventually house 72 patients, but never opened more than four of its six 12-bedded wards. The Department of Health and Ministry of Justice National Personality Disorder Strategy published in October 2011 concluded that the resources invested in the DSPD programme should instead be used in prison based treatment programmes and the DSPD service at Broadmoor was required to close by 31 March 2012.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: The trust took possession of the first phase of the new buildings, with 16 wards and 234 beds, in May 2019.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: From at least 1968 the television presenter and disc jockey Jimmy Savile undertook voluntary work at the hospital and was allocated his own room, supported by Broadmoor CEO Pat McGrath, who thought it would be good publicity.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: In 1987 a minister in the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS), Baroness Trumpington, appointed Savile to the management board in charge of Broadmoor. He was being referred to as 'Dr Savile' by both the DHSS and Broadmoor, despite having no medical qualifications or training. In August 1988, following a recommendation by Cliff Graham, the senior civil servant in charge of mental health at the DHSS, Savile was appointed by the department's health minister Edwina Currie to chair an interim task force overseeing the management of the hospital following the suspension of its board. Currie privately supported Savile's attempts to 'blackmail' the Prison Officers Association and publicly declared her 'full confidence' in him.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: After an ITV1 documentary "Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile" in October 2012, allegations of sexual abuse by Savile were made or re-made by former patients and staff. The civil servant who first proposed Savile's appointment to the task force at Broadmoor, Brian McGinnis, who ran the mental health division of the DHSS in 1987 before Cliff Graham, has since been investigated by police and prevented from working with children.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: A Department of Health investigation led by former barrister Kate Lampard into Savile's activities at Broadmoor and other hospitals and facilities in England, with Bill Kirkup leading the Broadmoor aspects, reported in 2014 that Savile had use of a personal set of keys to Broadmoor from 1968 to 2004 (not formally revoked until 2009), with full unsupervised access to some wards. Eleven allegations of sexual abuse were known; this is thought to be a substantial under-estimate, due to how psychiatric patients in particular were disbelieved or put off from coming forward. In five cases the identity of the alleged victim could not be traced, but of the other six it was concluded they had all been abused by Savile, repeatedly in the case of two patients.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: The investigation also concluded that 'the institutional culture in Broadmoor was previously inappropriately tolerant of staff–patient sexual relationships,' and that when there were female patients they were required to undress and bathe in front of staff and sometimes visitors. A 'shocking' failure to ensure a safe or therapeutic environment for female patients had already been revealed in a 2002 inquiry prior to Broadmoor becoming male-only.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: In 2010 a female charge nurse received a suspended prison sentence for engaging in sexual activity with a patient at the hospital.


title: Broadmoor Hospital

text: Journalists invading the privacy of patients or reporting false information about them have been the subject of dozens of complaints from Broadmoor. Healthcare assistant Robert Neave took payments from "The Sun" for several years to provide them with information, including copies of psychiatric reports; this was subsequently investigated by Operation Elveden. Mental health nurse Kenneth Hall was imprisoned in June 2015 for having repeatedly sold stories to the tabloids based on stolen medical notes and fabricated documents.


title: PAOK FC

text: P.A.O.K. FC (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, " Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón", "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans"), commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional football club based in Thessaloniki, Macedonia. PAOK are one of the top domestic clubs, the most widely supported in Northern Greece and with the 3rd largest fanbase in the country, according to the latest polls and researches. A research by Marca in August 2018, reported that PAOK are the most popular Greek football team on social media.


title: PAOK FC

text: Established on 20 April 1926 by Greek refugees who fled to Thessaloniki from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), they play their home games at Toumba Stadium, a 29,000 seating capacity football ground. Their name, along with the club's emblem, the Byzantine-style double-headed eagle with retracted wings, honours the memory of the people and places (mostly from the city of Constantinople) that once belonged to the Byzantine Empire.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK currently plays in the top-flight Super League, which they have won three times (in 1976, 1985 and 2019). They are eight-time winners of the Greek Cup (in 1972, 1974, 2001, 2003, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021). The club is one of the three which have never been relegated from the top national division and the only team in Greece that have won the Double (in 2019) going unbeaten (26–4–0 record) in a national round-robin league tournament (league format since 1959).<ref name="2018/19 squad"></ref>


title: PAOK FC

text: The team has appeared several times in the UEFA Europa League, but has yet to reach the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. PAOK have reached twice the quarter-finals of a European competition, in the 1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup and in the inaugural 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League. PAOK is the only Greek team that has more wins than losses in their European record (80 wins, 62 draws and 76 defeats, as of 28 July 2022) and the 0–7 away UEFA Cup win over Locomotive Tbilisi on 16 September 1999 is the largest ever achieved by a Greek football club in all European competitions.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK FC is the oldest department of the major multi-sport club AC P.A.O.K., which is closely linked with "Hermes Sports Club", that was formed in 1875 by the Greek community of Pera, a district of Istanbul (Constantinople).


title: PAOK FC

text: The football club was founded in April 1926 by Constantinopolitan who fled to Thessaloniki after the Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War. PAOK's policy was to be open to every citizen of Thessaloniki, leading to a minor rivalry with AEK Thessaloniki, the other Constantinopolitan club of the city, in which only refugees were allowed to play. The original logo of PAOK was a horseshoe and a four-leaf clover.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK played their primary friendly match on 4 May 1926 at the stadium of Thermaikos, defeating Megas Alexandros Thessaloniki 2–1. The first coach of the club was Kostas Andreadis who spent five years on the team's bench without demanding payment. Their first captain was Michalis Ventourelis.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1926–1927 season, PAOK participated in the 2nd tier of Macedonia Football Clubs Association ( or Ε.Π.Σ.Μ.) local championship. PAOK FC historic inaugural official match was a 3–1 win against Nea Genea Kalamaria on 12 December 1926. Despite finishing at the top of the 2nd division, PAOK were forced by the organizing committee to play against the 1st division teams and defeat all of them in order to get promoted. Eventually, they defeated all four teams: Thermaikos 4–1, Aris 2–1, Atlas Ippodromiou 2–0 (w/o) and Iraklis 1–0. In 1927–1928, PAOK participated for the first time in the 1st tier of Ε.Π.Σ.Μ.


title: PAOK FC

text: The first professional contract was signed by the club on 5 September 1928. The contract stipulated that the French footballer Raymond Etienne (of Jewish descent from Pera Club) would be paid 4,000 drachmas per month. The contract was signed by Dr. Meletiou, the PAOK chairman, and Mr. Sakellaropoulos, the Hon. Secretary.


title: PAOK FC

text: In March 1929, AEK Thessaloniki was disbanded as a sports club and their members joined PAOK. PAOK thereupon changed their emblem, adopting the Double-headed eagle, as a symbol of the club's Byzantine/Constantinopolitan heritage. PAOK also got possession of AEK's facilities located around Syntrivani (i.e. Fountain) Square, next to the Children's Heritage Foundation, where today stands the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1930–1931, PAOK made their debut in the Panhellenic Championship, playing their first match on 1 February 1931 against Olympiacos at Piraeus, where they were defeated by 3–1, and ended the season in 5th place. The first foreign coach in team's history was Austrian Rudolf Gasner, who served at PAOK in 1931–1932. On 5 June 1932 the Syntrivani Stadium was inaugurated with PAOK's 3–2 victory over Iraklis. Syntrivani meant to be their home ground for 27 years.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1937, PAOK won their first title, the Macedonia championship () and participated in the Panhellenic Championship, finishing 2nd. The 1937 team included: Sotiriadis, Vatikis, Goulios, Kontopoulos, Bostantzoglou, Panidis, Glaros, Kritas, Ioannidis, Kalogiannis, Koukoulas, Kosmidis, Apostolou, Vafiadis, Vasiliadis, Anastasiadis, Moschidis, Tzakatzoglou, Zakapidas.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 28 May 1939, PAOK competed for first time in a Greek Cup final against AEK Athens and were defeated 2–1 at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. The following season, PAOK won the Northern Greece Championship and reached the two-legged final of the Panhellenic Championship, but they lost 5–3 on aggregate to AEK.


title: PAOK FC

text: The declaration of the Greco-Italian War caused mobilization in Greece and ended every sport activity. PAOK football players recruited to Hellenic Army and two of them died on duty. Goalkeeper Nikolaos Sotiriadis and left defender Georgios Vatikis. They are both among the four Greek footballers who took their last breath on the front. The others were Spyridon Kontoulis of AEK and Mimis Pierrakos of Panathinaikos. Georgios Vatikis, who was the first Greek athlete to fall on the Greek-Italian front, served as a warrant officer. He was 22 years old when he died in Battle of Morava–Ivan. After his death, Vatikis was honorarily promoted to lieutenant and awarded the Silver Cross of Valour and the Homeland of Gratitude. Nikolaos Sotiriadis, who played from 1932 until 1940 for PAOK, died on 28 January 1941 in Kleisura, fighting with the rank of Sergeant for the 5th Infantry Regiment. He was 33 years old.


title: PAOK FC

text: After the Second World War, in the early 1950s, PAOK Academy was created by the Austrian coach, Wilhelm (Willi) Sefzik, and was known as the "chicos of Willi". From the newly founded academy sprang some great football players of the period, such as , Giannelos Margaritis and Giorgos Havanidis.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1948, PAOK won the Macedonia Championship for second time in history, and then participated in the final phase of the Panhellenic Championship where they were ranked 3rd. PAOK footballers dedicated the title to the memory of team captain, Thrasyvoulos Panidis, who had lost his life (18 February 1948) in the civil war few days before. Panidis played for PAOK since 1930 and had 122 appearances. In 1950, they emerged once again champions of Macedonia, and the following year (1950–51), the team reached for second time the final of the Greek Cup, but lost 4–0 to Olympiacos at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium.


title: PAOK FC

text: During the summer transfer period of 1953 , Petridis, Progios, Geroudis, Kemanidis, Chassiotis and Angelidis joined the team. The acquirement of Lampis Kouiroukidis from Doxa Drama was the most important transfer. Along with Lefteris Papadakis and Christophoros Yientzis, they formed the famous attacking trio of that age.


title: PAOK FC

text: For four consecutive seasons (1954, 1955, 1956, 1957), PAOK won the Macedonia championship and participated in the Panhellenic Championship, finishing 4th each year. Yientzis was the top scorer in 1953–54 season and Kouiroukidis in 1955–56 season. Coached by Nikos Pangalos, PAOK won the 1954 and 1955 local Macedonia championship unbeaten. In 1955, PAOK participated for third time in a Greek Cup final and were defeated 2–0 by Panathinaikos at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium (home ground of Panathinaikos). Ιn 1956, under Hungarian coach Erman Hoffman they won their third consecutive unbeaten local championship. The successful 4-year period ended with 1957 championship, coached by the Austrian Walter Pfeiffer.


title: PAOK FC

text: The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki purchased a two-acre piece of land in the area of Syntrivani Stadium in order to construct new schools. PAOK had to relocate and a 7.5 acres area, owned by the Ministry of National Defence at Toumba district was chosen as the adequate location. The purchase cost was set at 1.5 million drachmas and was paid by PAOK administration in 20 six-month instalments of 75,000 drachmas each. On 7 February 1958, a committee of III Army Corps officers delivered the land to PAOK representatives.


title: PAOK FC

text: There were still barracks on the premises, housing victims of the Greek Civil War and the 1953 Ionian earthquake. Relocating all these people cost the club 70,000 drachmas. The total cost of the stadium's construction amounted to 6 million drachmas, with just 1.1 million coming from the General Secretariat of Sports as subvention. In spring of 1958 construction work started, based on the plans of architect Minas Trempelas and civil engineer Antonis Triglianos. In an attempt to collect the necessary funds, the club issued the "Lottery for the construction of PAOK New Stadium" in April 1958 at a cost of 20 drachmas each. Since 1956, the administration was withholding 15% of the gate income in order to fund the construction of the new stadium. Many PAOK fans, apart from money, also contributed to construction by volunteering to work as builders. The construction of the stadium was completed at a record time of one year.


title: PAOK FC

text: The inauguration event was scheduled for Sunday 6 September 1959 with a friendly encounter against AEK (PAOK prevailed 1–0 with a goal by Kostas Kiourtzis). Prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis's attendance was cancelled at the last minute. However, several ministers of his government were there for the occasion. As for the ball for the first kick-off, it fell at 17:30 off an airplane of Sedes Military Air Base. On inauguration day, 15,000 PAOK supporters packed Toumba Stadium, as that was the stadium's capacity back then. It would increase to 20,000 seats in the following months until it reached a 45,000-seat capacity in the mid-'70s through extensive expansion work.


title: PAOK FC

text: The attendance record remains at 45,252 tickets and was registered on 19 December 1976 in the goalless draw against AEK. In European football, the highest attendance was a 45,200 crowd in the 1–0 win against Barcelona (UEFA Cup, 16 September 1975).


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1959 the "Alpha Ethniki" – the precursor of the current Super League – was set up as a national round-robin tournament and the 1959–60 championship was the first nationwide league competition. In the first decade of Greek Alpha Ethniki (1959–1969), PAOK had a top-half finish in every season except from the 10th-place finish in 1961. The best outcome came out in 1963 and 1967 with a 4th-place finish. Notable players of this period were , Ioannis Giakoumis, Ignatios Mouratidis, Pavlos Papadopoulos, Anestis Afentoulidis and Giorgos Makris.


title: PAOK FC

text: Giorgos Koudas was born on 23 November 1946 in Thessaloniki. At the age of 12, he signed his first contract with PAOK and made his debut with the first team on 21 December 1963 in a 1–0 loss to Ethnikos at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. Koudas' talent immediately started to excel and in 1965–66 season he made 29 apps and scored 13 goals . On 14 July 1966, PAOK fans were shocked by the news of Koudas' descent to Piraeus, accompanied by his father (who was enraged with PAOK administration for financial reasons) and determined to sign for Olympiacos, who tempted him by offering a much higher annual salary without going into a negotiation with his club. PAOK president Giorgos Pantelakis never gave his consent for the transfer to be completed and for the next 2 seasons, Koudas participated only in Olympiacos friendly games. Military junta's Minister of Sports Kostas Aslanidis suggested in 1968 that Koudas should return to PAOK for 2 years and then move to Olympiacos, but Pantelakis turned down his proposition saying ""I may go to Gyaros island (place of exile for leftist political dissidents), but Koudas would never go to Olympiacos"". Eventually, Koudas returned to PAOK in the summer of 1968 and led the great team of the 1970s to glorious days. Fueled by this incident, Olympiacos–PAOK rivalry is considered nowadays the fiercest intercity football rivalry in Greece.


title: PAOK FC

text: The 1970s decade was one of the best periods in the history of the football club. Scouting some of the best youth players in Northern Greece at the time and signing many of them to PAOK, president Giorgos Pantelakis built a very strong team (including Stavros Sarafis, Christos Terzanidis, Kostas Iosifidis, Giannis Gounaris, Dimitris Paridis, Achilleas Aslanidis, Koulis Apostolidis, Filotas Pellios, Aristarchos Fountoukidis, , Angelos Anastasiadis, Neto Guerino and captained by Giorgos Koudas). Playing spectacular football, the team managed to win their first Championship (1976), two Cups (1972, 1974), a Greater Greece Cup (1973) and distinguish themselves in European competitions.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK participated in 7 Greek Cup finals from 1970 to 1978 . In 1969–70 Greek Cup PAOK lost 1–0 to local rivals Aris in the final held at Kaftanzoglio Stadium and in the 1970–71 Greek Cup final they were defeated 3–1 by Olympiacos at Karaiskakis Stadium (home ground of Olympiacos).


title: PAOK FC

text: The first domestic title PAOK won, was the Cup of 1971–72 season. PAOK reached the final for third straight year, sixth in total and it would be the fifth time traveling to Athens for the trophy match. This time PAOK would face league champions Panathinaikos who were also runners-up in 1971 European Cup. The final was held at Karaiskakis Stadium on 5 July 1972. PAOK players had 10,000 fans on their side and they vowed that it was about time to return with the trophy at Thessaloniki. PAOK won the game 2–1 with Koudas scoring both goals. In the second half, a magnificent bicycle kick of Matzourakis found the net, but the goal was surprisingly disallowed by referee Michas. PAOK triumph and 1st Greek Cup title was widely celebrated by the fans at Thessaloniki.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1972–73 season, PAOK came close to winning their first ever championship title playing exceptional football under the guidance of Les Shannon. On 25 February 1973 (matchday 20), PAOK who were leading the league table being 3pts (point system 3–2–1) ahead of rivals Olympiacos suffered their first loss with 1–0 in a much disputed derby against Olympiacos at Karaiskakis Stadium. PAOK had tremendous complaints against referee Fakis for not taking the proper disciplinary action against Olympiacos players who committed violent fouls. Two players (Iosifidis and Aslanidis) were substituted in the first half after sustaining injuries. One week later, PAOK lost 1–0 to Fostiras in Athens and Olympiacos drew 0–0 away to Egaleo, results that left the two teams level on pts. On 22 April 1973 (matchday 28), PAOK suffered a 3–5 shock defeat against Panachaiki at Toumba Stadium and Olympiacos who drew 1–1 away to Kavala, took the lead in the standings and went on with 6 wins in the remaining matches to win the championship. At the end of the season, PAOK participated for fourth consecutive year in the Greek Cup final and lost 1–0 to Olympiacos at Karaiskakis Stadium (home ground of Olympiacos).


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1973–74 season, PAOK reached the quarter-finals of 1973–74 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup where they were knocked out by Milan with 5–2 on aggregate. PAOK defeated Legia Warsaw with 2–1 on aggregate and Lyon with 7–3 on aggregate in the previous rounds. That season, PAOK reached the Greek Cup final for fifth consecutive year. The final was held at Nikos Goumas Stadium, once again in Athens, on Sunday 16 June, and was the first ever that was decided by penalty shoot-out. The game ended in a thrilling 2–2 draw and PAOK won 4–3 on penalties over Olympiacos with Koulis Apostolidis converting the last of the procedure.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1975–76 season, with Gyula Lóránt at the helm, the team had two daily practices instead of one and physical condition of the players improved significantly. On 4 January 1976, PAOK made an impressive 4–0 away win over Olympiacos (biggest home defeat of Olympiacos in Greek football history). On 11 April, PAOK defeated Panionios 4–0 and climbed at the top of the standings for first time that season, level on points with AEK who lost 0–1 to Panathinaikos. On matchday 25, AEK were defeated 1–0 by Aris in Thessaloniki and PAOK, with a 3–0 away win over Panachaiki, were alone at the top of the league table. The league title would be decided in two consecutive high-profile encounters at Toumba Stadium. PAOK prevailed 3–1 over Olympiacos and 1–0 over AEK with Neto Guerino scoring the winner in the 89th minute, giving the Double-Headed Eagle of the North a 4pt lead (point system 2–1–0). The league title was clinched on the following matchday, when AEK were held to a goalless draw at Panserraikos and PAOK defeated 3–1 Iraklis at Kaftanzoglio Stadium.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1976–77 season, the team tried to defend the title and reached the last 16 of 1976–77 European Cup where they were knocked out by a far superior Dynamo Kyiv side. On 1 May 1977 (matchday 28), PAOK were leading the league table and lost 1–0 to AEK at Nikos Goumas Stadium with a controversial first-half goal that was scored from a direct free kick and while goalkeeper Milinis was still setting up the wall. Referee Tsoukaladelis credited the goal to AEK despite the heavy protests from all PAOK players and he also sent off PAOK midfielder Damanakis in the first half for dangerous play. In the second half, a goal scored by Sarafis with a header was wrongly ruled out for offside. PAOK fell from the top of the table and on 12 June (matchday 32), the team had a great chance against Panathinaikos at a packed Toumba Stadium to regain the lead (Panathinaikos were 1pt ahead). The game ended in a 0–0 stalemate and it was followed by a huge disappointment among the fans not only for the missed chance to win a back-to-back championship, but also for the team performance in the championship decider which did not meet expectations. On 22 June, PAOK lost 2–1 to Panathinaikos in the Greek Cup final held at Karaiskakis Stadium. President Pantelakis was furious with referee Platopoulos who sent off Gounaris in the 64th minute and ordered PAOK players to leave the awarding ceremony without receiving their medals.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1977–78 season, PAOK finished runners-up in the league and lost 2–0 to AEK in the Greek Cup final held at Karaiskakis Stadium.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1979–80 season, five teams were battling for the championship title. On 9 March 1980 (matchday 24), PAOK were leading the table and lost 0–2 to rivals Panathinaikos at Toumba Stadium. This was the first home defeat after a 62-game unbeaten run (52 wins/10 draws). Kostikos scored two goals in the first half, but both of them were disallowed by referee Litsas. In the second half, Kostikos was brought down in the area by Kovis, but Litsas denied the penalty and sent off PAOK defender Pellios who was protesting. In the final minutes of the game, PAOK had a chance to score from the penalty spot, but the fans shouted to Orfanos to send the ball wide. Orfanos made a really weak side foot-kick which was easily saved by goalkeeper Konstantinou. After the final whistle, all hell broke loose in and around the stadium with 23 police officers and 20 fans sustaining injuries.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 31 May 1981, PAOK manager Gyula Lóránt had a heart attack in the 16th minute of the match against Olympiacos at Toumba Stadium when Koudas headed the ball wide from close range. Doctors attempted to resuscitate him on the spot, but he died before the ambulance arrived. PAOK players were told in the half-time break that he had to be transported to the hospital and his death was revealed to them only after the game had ended. PAOK eventually won the derby 1–0 with the goal of the substitute Vassilis Vasilakos who was sitting next to Lóránt on the bench when he collapsed. PAOK players wanted to dedicate a Greek Cup title to his memory, but the team lost 3–1 to Olympiacos in the Greek Cup final held at Nikos Goumas Stadium on 21 June.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 29 June 1983, PAOK participated once again in the Greek Cup final which was held for first time at the newly built Olympic Stadium of Athens. Captained for last time in a Greek Cup final by Koudas, the team lost 2–0 to AEK despite their superiority over the opponents that day. A first-half goal by Kostikos was ruled out for offside.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK also made a memorable appearance against German giants Bayern Munich in the 2nd round of 1983–84 UEFA Cup, where they were knocked out on penalties (9–8) after two goalless draws. Bayern's first penalty kick, taken by Klaus Augenthaler, was saved twice by PAOK goalkeeper Mladen Furtula, but the English referee Arthur Robinson ordered the penalty to be retaken both times. Augenthaler admitted in a 2018 interview that the referee favored Bayern and that he felt uncomfortable when he was asked to take the penalty for a third time.


title: PAOK FC

text: The second Championship of PAOK came in 1984–85 season, under Austrian manager Walter Skocik. Notable figures of the team included Giorgos Skartados, Nikos Alavantas, Thomas Siggas, Rade Paprica and attacking duo of Giorgos Kostikos and Christos Dimopoulos. It was the last season at the club for Ioannis Damanakis and captain Kostas Iosifidis, who ended his football career.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 20 January 1985 (matchday 15), PAOK gained a 5pt lead (point system 2–1–0) on the table with a 1–0 away win over Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium of Athens. The crucial goal was scored by Paprica in the 80th minute with a diving header. On 9 June, PAOK clinched the league title with a goalless draw at Nea Smyrni Stadium against Panionios, as Panathinaikos were held to a 2–2 draw by bottom of the table Pierikos. It was the only away point of Pierikos that season. On 22 June, 10-man (Vasilakos was sent-off early in the first half) PAOK lost 4–1 to Larissa in the Greek Cup final which was held at the Olympic Stadium of Athens and wasted the opportunity to win a domestic Double for first time in history. An interesting story of the final was that PAOK top goalscorer of that season Christos Dimopoulos did not participate as he left the team at Athens airport when they arrived from Thessaloniki for the game. Dimopoulos headed to the headquarters of Motor Oil (company of Panathinaikos president Vardinogiannis) in order to seal his transfer to Panathinaikos as his 5-year contract with PAOK was expiring.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1987–88 season, PAOK were fighting for the title (along with AEL and AEK) up to matchday 23, when they suffered a surprising 0–2 home defeat to Iraklis. Earlier that season, on 6 December 1987, PAOK made a record 6–1 win over rivals Olympiacos at Serres Municipal Stadium (biggest defeat of Olympiacos in Greek Alpha Ethniki/Superleague history). PAOK finished 3rd in the league and qualified for 1988–89 UEFA Cup where they faced Napoli of Maradona, Careca and Alemão. The team fought vigorously, but lost 2–1 on aggregate. Maradona, when asked on RAI TV, moments after the final whistle of the 2nd leg at Toumba Stadium, if he had ever played in such an atmosphere, said ""I have played a lot of games, but I have never seen anything like this. We couldn't find any rhythm and I believe that it was difficult for the opponents too. It was a weird encounter"".


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1989–90 season, with Magdy Tolba shining and youngster Giorgos Toursounidis rising, the team managed to reach the half-way stage of the competition topping the table (winter champions), but good form deteriorated and PAOK finished in 3rd place.


title: PAOK FC

text: 1990–91 season started with PAOK facing Sevilla in the 1st round of the UEFA Cup and they were knocked out on penalties (3–4) after two goalless draws. On 23 September 1990 (matchday 2), president Thomas Voulinos stormed the field in the 77th minute of the derby against Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium of Athens. Voulinos was furious with referee Karamanis and despite the fact that the scoreline was 3–0 and the winner was already determined, he ordered PAOK players to leave the pitch. After the game which was eventually abandoned, he said ""We felt like sheep that were heading to be butchered and that was unacceptable"". PAOK were later sentenced with a 3pt deduction and a 5 home games behind closed doors penalty by court decision. The two teams met again in the Greek Cup semi-finals and in the 57th minute of the 2nd leg at Toumba Stadium, Voulinos once again entered the pitch in anger at decisions from referee Vasilakis. Panathinaikos won 2–1 on aggregate.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1991–92 season, under Croatian manager Miroslav Blažević, PAOK qualified against the then strong KV Mechelen (winners in 1988, semi-finalists in 1989 Cup Winners' Cup / quarter-finalists in 1990 European Cup) in the 1st round of 1991–92 UEFA Cup with 2–1 on aggregate. Stefanos Borbokis scored the winner in the 85th minute of the 2nd leg at Achter de Kazerne Stadium. Blazevic was replaced by Gounaris later and the team lost in the two-legged Greek Cup final to Olympiacos with 3–1 on aggregate. On 24 May 1992 (matchday 32), PAOK lost 1–2 to Olympiacos at Toumba Stadium and suffered their first home defeat against rivals Olympiacos after a 24-game unbeaten run (21 wins/3 draws – 21 league matches/3 cup matches – goals 52/12) which lasted for 23 years. It is widely rumoured that after this shock defeat, the most renowned PAOK ultras leader Thomas Mavromichalis (nicknamed Makis Manavis, i.e., greengrocer due to his profession – PAOK ultras refer to him as «The General») decided to never set foot again at Toumba Stadium.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 1 October 1992, PAOK vs Paris Saint-Germain UEFA Cup match was abandoned due to crowd violence and PAOK were punished with a two-year ban from all European competitions by the UEFA disciplinary committee. The sentence was later reduced to one year. In 1994–95 season, under Dutch manager Arie Haan, PAOK finished 3rd in the league and Apollon Athens took their place in the next season's UEFA Cup.


title: PAOK FC

text: 1995–96 season was the worst in club's history. PAOK were seriously threatened with a possible relegation for first time in history. The team managed to avoid relegation few weeks before the end of the league and finished in 14th place.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 1996, Thomas Voulinos handed over a debt-free PAOK to . Numerous transfers of quality players such as Zisis Vryzas, Spyros Marangos, free kick specialist Kostas Frantzeskos, Percy Olivares and Joe Nagbe took place under the new administration. In May 1997, after a five-year absence from European competitions, PAOK qualified for the UEFA Cup under coach Angelos Anastasiadis. The club's reappearance at European level was marked by a victory and qualification over Arsenal with 2–1 on aggregate. Arsenal went on to win a domestic Double that season. Remembering the 1st leg encounter, captain Tony Adams and goalkeeper David Seaman spoke very highly of the atmosphere created by PAOK fans at Toumba Stadium.


title: PAOK FC

text: In the night of 9 February 1998, PAOK player Panagiotis Katsouris, aged 21, was returning from an amateur 5x5 match, when his car skidded off the road due to excessive speed, hitting the barriers at the Thermi interchange outside Thessaloniki. His death was verified in AHEPA Hospital shortly afterwards. He was buried on 12 February in the Anastaseos Cemetery in Thessaloniki. A bust was erected in his memory at Toumba Stadium and memorial services are held each year near the accident scene. In February 2009, PAOK announced that a football tournament, bearing his name, would be held annually. Katsouris' No 17 jersey was permanently retired by the club in his memory.


title: PAOK FC

text: Early in the morning of 4 October 1999, a bus accident took place in the Vale of Tempe, Thessaly, with six PAOK fans killed (Kyriakos Lazaridis, Christina Tziova, Anastasios Themelis, Charalampos Zapounidis, Georgios Ganatsios, Dimitris Andreadakis). The bus was heading back to Thessaloniki after a 1–1 draw against Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium of Athens. A ceremony in commemoration of the incident has taken place every year since.


title: PAOK FC

text: In January 2000, PAOK appointed Dušan Bajević as their new manager. PAOK won the 2001 Greek Cup beating Olympiacos 4–2 in the final held at Nikos Goumas Stadium on 12 May 2001.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 17 May 2003, PAOK defeated local rivals Aris 1–0 in the final held at Toumba Stadium with an excellent goal scored by Georgiadis and earned their 4th Greek Cup title. PAOK manager Angelos Anastasiadis became the first in club's history to win the Cup both as a player (in 1974) and manager.


title: PAOK FC

text: The 2003–04 season was an unexpected success. Batatoudis was no longer the major shareholder and under coach Anastasiadis, PAOK managed to finish 3rd in the league and to secure participation in the third qualifying round of 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, where they faced Maccabi Tel Aviv. The 1st leg at Toumba Stadium ended 1–2, but it was later awarded 0–3 against PAOK for fielding a suspended player. The club fielded Liasos Louka, a Cypriot player who was still serving a two-match ban in UEFA competitions (for his sending-off in a UEFA Intertoto Cup tie while playing for Nea Salamis on 8 July 2000). Eventually, the team failed to qualify for the group stage.


title: PAOK FC

text: Rolf Fringer succeeded Angelos Anastasiadis in September 2004, but after a few games, he was replaced by Nikos Karageorgiou, who led the club to a 5th-place finish in May 2005 and a subsequent 2005–06 UEFA Cup qualification.


title: PAOK FC

text: By the end of May 2006, the club's dramatic situation started to emerge, with players openly declaring they have been unpaid for months, plus a shocking decision by UEFA to ban the club from participating in the upcoming UEFA Cup, brought the club close to dissolution. The organized supporters' groups launched an all-out war against president Giannis Goumenos during the summer of 2006, going as far as to occupy the club's offices in Toumba stadium for a handful of days. The situation was worsening for Goumenos after various negotiations with possible investors failed, constant allegations of embezzlement emerged, and especially after his decision to sell star player Dimitris Salpingidis to Panathinaikos.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 13 November 2006, Goumenos resigned from PAOK presidency leaving huge debts behind (during the three-year period of Goumenos' ownership, the club's debts rose from about €10 million to around €30 million → €10 million were the primary debt obligations plus €20 million from additional taxes, fines and surcharges) and few weeks later, Nikos Vezyrtzis–Apostolos Oikonomidis duo (former PAOK BC presidents) assumed temporary management of the club.


title: PAOK FC

text: In June 2007, former player and captain Theodoros Zagorakis assumed the presidency of the club, replacing the Nikos Vezyrtzis and Apostolos Oikonomidis administration and thus ushered a new era, in an effort to bring the club back to successes.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 2007–2008 season, the early replacement of Georgios Paraschos by the well-known established manager Fernando Santos did little to prevent a 9th-place finish in the league. On 6 January 2008, Zisis Vryzas ended his football career coming on as a substitute in the game against AEL and immediately started his tenure as PAOK sports director.


title: PAOK FC

text: The club's finances gradually improved thanks to new sponsorship deals and to the continuing massive support from the fans (the number of season tickets was vastly increased). In June 2008, Zagorakis announced the club's intention of building a new training facility complex in the Nea Mesimvria area of Thessaloniki, owned by the club. The administration had already acquired land from the municipality of Agios Athanasios and the project would be executed by former president Vasilis Sergiannidis' construction company.


title: PAOK FC

text: In the summer of 2008, the club brought in promising winger Vieirinha and widely known internationals like Pablo Contreras, Zlatan Muslimović and Pablo García. In the winter transfer window that followed, Olivier Sorlin and Lino joined the team. The end of the 2008–09 season found PAOK in 2nd place, 8pts behind champions Olympiacos. However, team lost in the Super League playoffs (pos. 2–5) to Panathinaikos and finished in 4th place.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 2009–10 season, PAOK fought for the title up to matchday 26 (Panathinaikos were 2pts ahead), when they lost 2–0 against local rivals Aris at Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium. The club had tremendous complaints against referee Spathas and after the final whistle, Zagorakis went in the dressing room and apologized to PAOK players for not being able to protect them against poor refereeing. PAOK went on to win the league playoffs (pos. 2–5) and qualified for 2010–11 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, but the success was swiftly followed by Fernando Santos' announcement of his decision to depart, having concluded his three-year contract as head coach. It was eventually decided in mid-June that Mario Beretta would be his successor.


title: PAOK FC

text: Beretta was quickly replaced by Pavlos Dermitzakis and became the shortest-serving PAOK coach ever, sitting on the bench for 38 days only. With Dermitzakis at the helm, PAOK faced Ajax and was ultimately eliminated on the away goals rule, managing a 1–1 draw in Amsterdam and a thrilling 3–3 draw in Thessaloniki. Entering the UEFA Europa League playoff round, PAOK were drawn against Fenerbahçe, also eliminated from the Champions League third qualifying round. This time, PAOK fared much better and after winning the home game 1–0 in Thessaloniki, secured a memorable 1–1 draw after extra time in Constantinople. Dermitzakis was removed after a 1–0 loss to Panathinaikos on 17 October. His assistant, Makis Chavos, replaced him as caretaker manager and PAOK reached the knockout phase of the Europa League, losing 2–1 on aggregate to CSKA Moscow. In the league, PAOK finished 3rd and qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK board appointed Romanian László Bölöni as the club's new head coach for the following season. The team qualified from the UEFA Europa League playoff round and entered the group stage. On 30 November 2011, PAOK achieved a historic 2–1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. With this victory, the club qualified to the knockout phase for second consecutive year. On 26 January 2012, Zagorakis resigned from club's presidency and he was replaced by Vryzas.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 10 August 2012, Ivan Savvidis acquired PAOK ownership by depositing a fee of €9,951,000 and thus becoming the major shareholder of the club.


title: PAOK FC

text: In 2012–13 season, under manager Giorgos Donis, PAOK finished 2nd during the regular period, qualifying for the Super League playoffs (pos. 2–5). After a Greek Cup semi-final loss to Asteras Tripoli, Donis was replaced by technical director and former player Georgios Georgiadis, who was appointed as caretaker manager. PAOK managed to win qualification for the third qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League through the playoffs after a last game win against PAS Giannina.


title: PAOK FC

text: In June 2013, PAOK appointed Huub Stevens as their new coach, but he was dismissed in March 2014 after achieving poor results. Once again, Georgiadis was appointed as caretaker manager and the team managed to reach the 2013–14 Greek Cup final, but lost 4–1 to Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium of Athens.


title: PAOK FC

text: In March 2015, Law N° 4321/2015 on regulations for kickstarting the economy was adopted by the Greek government and stated that a total repayment of a company's primary debt obligations would lead to the deletion of all additional taxes, fines and surcharges. On 12 May 2015, PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis paid the total amount of the club's debts towards Greek public authorities, a fee of €10,886,811. On 27 May, PAOK hired Frank Arnesen as their new sports director. On 18 June, Igor Tudor was hired as the new manager of the club, signing a three-year contract. On 2 September, PAOK announced the signing of Dimitar Berbatov on a one-year deal. Playing a 3–5–2 formation, the team progressed through three qualifying rounds to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage and on 10 December, PAOK made a surprising 1–0 away win over Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park. Tudor was replaced in March 2016 by youth-team coach Vladimir Ivić and the team won the Super League playoffs (pos. 2–5) and qualified for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK won the 2016–17 Greek Cup beating AEK 2–1 in the final held at Panthessaliko Stadium with a controversial goal scored by Pedro Henrique in the 81st minute. Linesman Kalfoglou failed to indicate that the scorer was in an offside position. In the same phase of play, moments before Leovac made the cross to Henrique, Crespo was brought down in the area by Simoes, but PAOK were denied a penalty by referee Kominis. The final was marred by crowd violence before the kick-off. In the Super League playoffs (pos. 2–5) that followed, a game against Panathinaikos at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium was abandoned (scoreline 1–0 at the time) when Ivić was struck on his head by a beer can that was thrown from the crowd. The Serbian coach was taken to a public hospital and the match was interrupted by referee Kominis in the 54th minute. Panathinaikos representatives claimed that Ivić exaggerated the impact of the injury and could continue. The game was awarded 0–3 to PAOK by court decision. AEK went on to win the playoffs and PAOK finished 4th. After the end of the season, Ivić did not renew his contract and the club appointed Aleksandar Stanojević whose tenure as PAOK manager did not last long. On 11 August 2017, he was replaced by Răzvan Lucescu.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 25 February 2018 (and while PAOK were leading the league table being 2pts ahead of AEK), PAOK–Olympiacos derby was suspended before kick-off when Olympiacos manager Óscar García Junyent was hit by an object thrown from the crowd (reportedly by an unfolding cash register paper roll). Óscar García received medical attention before being taken to a private general hospital (Interbalkan Medical Center). The private clinic where García was taken issued a statement about five hours after the coach was admitted, saying that due to his medical condition (sensitivity in the jaw, neck pain, dizziness and nausea) García had to stay at the hospital overnight and PAOK vs Olympiacos game never started. Olympiacos communications chief Karapapas stated that he expected a huge apology from PAOK for the incident and that their rivals should become more civilized if they want to develop into a big club. He also claimed that the object that fell onto García was a sealed cash register paper roll, which can be as heavy as a stone and when thrown from a certain height and distance with a certain force can be a very powerful blow. PAOK representatives claimed that the whole incident was a certain tactic from Olympiacos, which eventually did not work out because there was no injury sustained. Medical report of the official doctor of the match, approved by the Greek Football Federation (EPO), stated that García was not seriously injured and could return on the bench, but Olympiacos questioned doctor's credibility because he was a PAOK employee, working in PAOK youth academy. Referee Aretopoulos (who had many controversial moments in his career) submitted two match reports to describe why the game was abandoned (an initial report at Toumba Stadium and a supplementary report few days later that was demanded by first-instance court judge). Olympiacos were later awarded a 0–3 win by court decision.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 11 March 2018, during a championship decider derby against AEK (timeline of events before the game: 24 Feb: PAOK 52pts/AEK 50pts, 25 Feb: PAOK–Olympiacos suspended before kick-off, 26 Feb: Atromitos–AEK 1–1 and PAOK 52pts/AEK 51pts, 4 Mar: Asteras Tripoli–PAOK 3–2, AEK–Panionios 1–0 and AEK 54pts/PAOK 52pts, 5 Mar: first-instance court sentence: PAOK deducted 3pts, game awarded 0–3 to Olympiacos, 2 home games behind closed doors and AEK 54pts/PAOK 49pts, 10 Mar: court of appeal sentence: 3pts returned to PAOK, game awarded 0–3 to Olympiacos, closed doors penalty suspended and AEK 54pts/PAOK 52pts), the president of the team, Ivan Savvidis, stormed onto the pitch when referee Georgios Kominis disallowed a 90th-minute goal scored by Fernando Varela with a header. The goal was initially credited to PAOK by both the referee who pointed the center spot and the linesman who never raised his flag and ran towards the center. About 10–15 seconds later and while PAOK players were celebrating, linesman Pontikis was approached by AEK players who were protesting and approximately 3 minutes after the goal was scored, they altered their decision. The goal was ruled out for offside (according to referee Kominis, Maurício influenced play). Savvidis entered the pitch with few members of his personal guard and Ľuboš Micheľ (former UEFA Elite referee). At first, he ordered his team to leave the pitch, but his request was denied by PAOK captain Vieirinha. Afterwards they went close to the referee, where Micheľ expressed his complaints about the decision. Leaving the pitch 1 minute after his entry, a tension was built between Savvidis and members of AEK bench and moments later Savvidis took off his jacket and a gun appeared attached to his belt. The referee suspended the game and sent the two teams to the dressing rooms. Savvidis tried to enter into the referees' dressing room, but he was denied entrance by security and few minutes later he left the stadium. Kominis' intention was the game to be continued after 1 hour (and blew his whistle outside the dressing rooms calling the two teams), but AEK general manager Vasilis Dimitriadis approached him and claimed (as can be heard in audio) that the players of AEK were terrified from the incident and could not continue as he felt that their safety was at risk. PAOK vice-president Chrisostomos Gagatsis is heard trying to persuade Dimitriadis to order AEK players to return on the pitch. Soon after, the game was abandoned. The incident caused the league to be suspended by the Greek government. AEK manager Manolo Jiménez giving his side of the story, confirmed that Kominis wanted the game to be concluded, but AEK president told them not to play. He also said about a year later, that AEK players and himself realized that Savvidis was actually carrying a gun on his belt when they received photos on their cellphones and not while they were on the pitch. AEK midfielder Panagiotis Kone in an interview after the game also confirmed that Kominis told them to go out and play for the remaining 5 minutes, but he did not inform AEK players as to whether he would award or overturn PAOK goal when asked in the dressing rooms. He replied that they would be informed outside on the pitch. Of course, both Jiménez and Kone condemned Savvidis' actions and held him responsible for the interruption. PAOK goalkeeper Alexandros Paschalakis stated that it was clearly a legitimate goal scored by Varela, because Maurício was behind the goalkeeper and did not influence play. He also said that Savvidis' invasion of the pitch wasn't proper. On his official match report, referee Kominis wrote down that when the match was interrupted the scoreline was 1–0 and that he decided to award the goal. Kominis received a summons to appear at the court hearing, but he sent a letter instead, explaining that he could not show up due to personal reasons. He also received a legal document with 3 questions from first-instance court judge and gave a definite answer in one of them and a vague response in the other two. Ivan Savvidis apologised for his behaviour two days after the game and he was later banned from all football stadiums for three years. PAOK were sentenced with a 3pt deduction (and 2pts from next season's championship) and AEK were awarded a 0–3 win by court decision. The 6-point swing was a major blow to PAOK's title hopes and the club was unable to secure the title as AEK were crowned champions with three match-days to go.


title: PAOK FC

text: The club still managed to end their season on a high note by winning their second consecutive Greek Cup beating AEK 2–0 in the final held at the Olympic Stadium of Athens (AEK home ground at the time), with the match refereed after many years in Greece by a foreign referee (David Fernández Borbalán). During the post-game press conference, manager Lucescu and captain Vieirinha (final MVP) both stated that 2018 championship title was stolen from PAOK.


title: PAOK FC

text: 2018–19 season was the best in club's history. During the 2018–19 Super League Greece, the major derbies, after decades in Greek football history, were refereed by foreign referees.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 21 April, PAOK beat Levadiakos 5–0 and clinched the league title, hosting a memorable celebration. On 5 May, PAOK earned their 26th win in 30 games to complete an undefeated season (26–4–0 record). This is arguably the best performance in Greek football history, the previous held by Panathinaikos, who won the 1963–64 Alpha Ethniki title undefeated, but with a 24–6–0 record. PAOK were also the only unbeaten European football club in the national championships held across Europe during the 2018–2019 season.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 11 May, PAOK won the Greek Cup for third consecutive year, defeating AEK 1–0. This was the third consecutive Greek Cup final against the same opponent and it was held for second consecutive year at the Olympic Stadium of Athens (AEK home ground at the time). The Video assistant referee (VAR) was used for the first time in Greek football and in a Greek Cup final. The winning goal came in the 45th minute with an overhead kick of Chuba Akpom. Dimitris Pelkas provided the assist. With this Greek Cup victory, PAOK FC achieved a domestic Double for first time in their history.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 22 May 2021, under Uruguayan manager and fan favorite Pablo García, PAOK won their eighth Greek Cup title, beating Olympiacos 2–1 in the final held at the Athens Olympic Stadium with Michael Krmenčík scoring the winner in the 90th minute. In 2021–22 season, PAOK reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League, losing 1–3 on aggregate to Marseille. On 21 May 2022, PAOK lost 1–0 to Panathinaikos in the Greek Cup final which was held at the Olympic Stadium of Athens.


title: PAOK FC

text: The first emblem of PAOK depicted a four-leaf clover and a horseshoe. The leaves were green and above them were the initials of the word PAOK. Kostas Koemtzopoulos, one of PAOK's founding members, came up with this idea, inspired by his favourite brand of cigarettes.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 20 March 1929, AEK Thessaloniki was dissolved and absorbed by PAOK and a mournful version of the double-headed eagle with the wings closed instead of stretched, indicating the grief for the lost homelands, was adopted as the club's new emblem.


title: PAOK FC

text: On 11 June 2013, under the presidency of Ivan Savvidis, a golden outline was added to the crest, as a symbol of the club's Byzantine heritage.


title: PAOK FC

text: The club's colours have always been black and white, black for the sorrow related to countless thousands of Greek refugees who were forced to leave the land their ancestors had been living in for centuries (Asia Minor, Eastern Thrace, Pontus, Caucasus) and white for the hope of a new beginning that came with settling in a new home. PAOK's traditional kit features a black and white vertical striped shirt, combined with black or white shorts and socks. Various types of shirts were used throughout the club's history and the most common alternatives were those with thinner or wider stripes, the all-black one and the all-white one. Over the years, several other colours were used on the 3rd kit, such as grey, silver, blue, purple, orange and red.


title: PAOK FC

text: The current kit manufacturer is "Macron", a collaboration that started in July 2015 and was extended until 2023. "Stoiximan", a Greek online gambling company, is the shirt sponsor since June 2017, with the sponsorship deal extended twice and set to last until 2025.


title: PAOK FC

text: Syntrivani Stadium was PAOK's first home ground. It was situated near the Children's Asylum, where the Theological School of Aristotle University stands today.


title: PAOK FC

text: Their current home ground is Toumba Stadium, which was built in 1959. The stadium has been renovated many times since and its seating capacity is 29,000.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK administration have already presented to the Greek public authorities an architecture study of a new Stadium at Toumba. The Greek Council of State (CoS), the country's supreme court, in April 2022 approved a proposal to setup the complete redevelopment of Toumba Stadium, with the CoS deeming legal a draft Presidential Decree concerning the approval of a Special Urban Plan for the district of Toumba, where the venue is located. On 21 June 2022, PAOK has formalized the beginning of a collaboration with a team consisting of domestic engineering and consulting firm SALFO and global architectural design company Populous to deliver the project's master plan. It is estimated that PAOK will be granted a building permit in 2023 and construction process should last three to four years. PAOK would probably move to Kaftanzoglio Stadium until the new Stadium is built.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK FC Sport Center is the training ground of the first team and Academy, located in Nea Mesimvria area of Thessaloniki. The construction started under the presidency of Theodoros Zagorakis.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK FC is the most widely supported football club in Northern Greece and with the 3rd largest fanbase in the country, according to the latest polls and researches.


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK's traditional fanbase comes from the city of Thessaloniki, where the club is based, as well as from the rest of Macedonia region and Northern Greece. They also have fans all over the country and in the Greek Diaspora (Germany, Australia, USA, etc.). Research by Marca in August 2018 reported that PAOK are the most popular Greek football team on social media.


title: PAOK FC

text: Toumba Stadium is infamous for its hostile atmosphere, a factor that led to the attribution of the Stadium as "The Black Hell". On high-profile encounters, when the players walk out of the tunnel, the song Hells Bells by AC/DC is heard from the stadium's speakers. The notorious Gate 4 is home to many PAOK organized supporters' groups from around the globe, with the homonymous "Gate 4" fan club which was founded in April 1976, being the most familiar everywhere. The supporters' group from Neapoli district of Thessaloniki that was founded in 1963 is the oldest one. One of the biggest banners in the world was created by Michaniona fan club.


title: PAOK FC

text: No 12 jersey is dedicated to the fans, the symbolic 12th man on the pitch. It was permanently retired by the club on 16 August 2000.


title: PAOK FC

text: Constantly on tour in order to follow their beloved team everywhere, some 3,000 PAOK fans descended to the Olympic Stadium of Athens for the game against Panathinaikos on 3 October 1999. A few hours later, time stopped. On its way back to Thessaloniki, the double-decker bus of the Kordelio fan club collided with a truck and fell into a ditch in the Vale of Tempe, Thessaly. The aftermath of the bus crash was devastating. Six PAOK fans lost their lives (Kyriakos Lazaridis, Christina Tziova, Anastasios Themelis, Charalampos Zapounidis, Georgios Ganatsios, Dimitris Andreadakis) and many others were injured. A roadside memorial was erected at the site of the crash bearing the following inscription: ""Their love for PAOK brought them here, left them here and went beyond"".


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK fans maintain a strong friendship with the supporters of Serbian club Partizan, the "Grobari". On many occasions, fans from both clubs traveled to watch each other's games. Lately, some PAOK supporters' groups have developed a friendship with fans of CSKA Moscow (common Orthodox faith).


title: PAOK FC

text: PAOK fans have good relations with the fans of OFI Crete, a friendship that started in October 1987 when OFI faced Atalanta for 1987–88 Cup Winners' Cup at Toumba Stadium and numerous PAOK fans supported the Cretans.


title: PAOK FC

text: The rivalry between Olympiacos and PAOK is the fiercest intercity football rivalry in Greece and is long-standing, emerging in the 1960s, when Olympiacos unsuccessfully tried to acquire Giorgos Koudas from PAOK, approaching him directly without going into a negotiation with his club.


title: PAOK FC

text: There are also some less intense rivalries, like those with Iraklis (local conflict) and AEL can be characterized as.


title: PAOK FC

text: Giorgos Koudas holds the record for most PAOK league appearances, having played 504 matches (607 overall) from 1963 to 1984.


title: PAOK FC

text: Stavros Sarafis is the club's top goalscorer with 170 goals overall (136 in league matches), from 1967 to 1981.


title: 2010 FIFA World Cup squads

text: The 2010 FIFA World Cup was an international football tournament held in South Africa from 11 June until 11 July 2010. The 32 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 23 players; only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament.


title: 2010 FIFA World Cup squads

text: Before announcing their final squad for the tournament, teams were required to name a preliminary squad of 30 players by 11 May 2010, 30 days before the start of the tournament. With the exception of those involved in the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final, the players listed in the preliminary squad were then subjected to a mandatory rest period from 17 to 23 May 2010. The preliminary squad would then have to be cut to a final 23 by 1 June 2010 (midnight CET). Replacement of seriously injured players is permitted until 24 hours before the team in question's first World Cup game, though replacement players do not have to be drawn from the preliminary squad.


title: 2010 FIFA World Cup squads

text: Players marked (c) were named as captain for their national squad. Number of caps, players' club teams and players' age as of 11 June 2010, the tournament's opening day.


title: 2010 FIFA World Cup squads

text: For the first time in World Cup history, all teams had at least one player from a European club (North Korea being the only team with just one, Hong Yong-jo). Three national squads were made up entirely of players from domestic clubs: England, Italy and Germany. Nigeria was the only team with no players from domestic clubs.


title: 2010 FIFA World Cup squads

text: The English, German, and Italian squads were made up entirely of players from the respective countries' domestic leagues. The Nigerian squad was made up entirely of players employed by overseas clubs.