Panionios F.C.

 Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the "Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna" (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, "Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis"), more commonly known as Panionios F.C. or simply Panionios, is an amateur Greek football club based in Nea Smyrni, Athens, Greece. Part of Panionios G.S.S. (founded in 1890 in İzmir, Ottoman Empire), Panionios F.C. is the oldest Greek football club.
In the wake of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) and the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the multi-sport club Panionios G.S.S. was transferred to Athens. They have won two Greek Cups (in 1979 and 1998), while they were runners-up in the Greek Championship during the 1950–51 and 1970–71 seasons. They have won also the 1971 Balkans Cup and reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1998–99 season.
The team is currently set to compete in the amateur fourth division of Greek football known as Gamma Ethniki, after failing to secure sufficient investment to continue to compete at a professional level. 
They play their home games in Nea Smyrni Stadium with a capacity of 11,700 seats.
History.
Early years.
The club was founded in 1890 by a part of the sizeable Greek population of İzmir (Greek: Σμύρνη), under the name of "Orpheus Music and Sports Club". In 1893, some Orpheus members keen on sports formed a separate organization, the "Gymnasion Club", and started holding yearly sports competitions. In 1898, Orpheus and Gymnasion merged again to form Panionios GSS. Members of Panionios represented Greece in all international track and field games until these developed in the modern Olympic Games.
After the Greek military defeat in 1922 the club was forced to transfer, firstly to Athens and later, to the Athenian suburb of New Smyrna, where much of the population of Smyrna re-settled. The club always had a strong tradition of cultivating all major sports; it was the first Greek club to establish a track and field division for women, in 1925. Another major example of the club's contribution to Greek sports rests in the fact that it was Panionios that introduced Basketball and Volleyball in Greek sports society.
With the gradual transformation of men's football and basketball into professional sports, Panionios FC and Panionios BC became privately owned clubs operating under the auspices of the traditional "amateur sports" Panionios GSS. To date, Panionios remains the only sports club in Greece that was awarded the Golden Cross from the Athens Academy as a recognition of the club's rich and continuous enrichment of Greek sports.
Recent years.
Panionios has spent nearly its entire history in the Greek First Division (now called 'Super League'), having missed out from competing in Greek football's top division only twice in its more than 100-year history. Within this, Panionios rose quite often to high levels, with top achievement in terms of the league being the 2nd position that the club reached in 1971, losing the title from AEK Athens. After 8 years, specifically on 9 June 1979, Panionios took his revenge back from AEK Athens in the final of the Greek Cup and conquering the title for the first time in his history after winning 3–1.
Panionios has produced all three major Greek strikers of the 1980s, namely Nikos Anastopoulos (later of Olympiacos), Thomas Mavros (later of AEK Athens), and Dimitris Saravakos (later of Panathinaikos). Other notable players coming out of the club in the 1990s include Nikos Tsiantakis (later of Olympiacos) and Takis Fyssas, later of Panathinaikos, Benfica and member of Greek national team. Within the 2000s another five Greek national team players came out from the club, namely Alexandros Tziolis, Evangelos Mantzios, Nikos Spiropoulos, Grigoris Makos and Giannis Maniatis.
The club had faced financial difficulties which triggered the transfer of the ownership to the municipality of Nea Smyrni in 1992. Those difficulties remained all through the 1990s forcing the team's league performance to drop. Yet, it remained in a high level and won the Greek Football Cup competition in 1998 and participate successfully in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup the year after, reaching the quarter-finals. In December 2001 large part of the club's shares moved away from the Municipality back to private hands, where working around bankruptcy legislation the club was renamed to Neos Panionios FC, to avoid the threat of relegation from the first division.
Constantinos Tsakiris period.
In 2004, shipowner Constantinos Tsakiris was elected president of the "amateur sports" Panionios GSS. Panionios won the women's Basketball Championship in 2006, the club's first in a team sport, and the women's volleyball team advanced to the first division. In 2006, Tsakiris acquired 85% of Neos Panionios FC stock and started restructuring the team from scratch. He changed the name of the club back to the original Panionios GSS FC and hired German coach Ewald Lienen who, during his first year created a team that made it to the top 5 of the Greek Super League and on to the UEFA Cup. Tsakiris has also unveiled an ambitious plan to have the aging football ground and athletics track demolished, and build a modern multi-sport arena in its place. Apart from a 12,000 capacity football stadium, the proposed complex would include facilities for basketball, volleyball, aquatic sports, track & field, boxing, gymnastics, wrestling and more.
On the summer transfer window of 2008, the club signed Uruguay national team members Álvaro Recoba and Fabián Estoyanoff, but shortly after Lienen resigned by mutual consent on 11 November 2008, reason being disagreement with the Panionios' board.
On 12 November 2008 Greek coach Takis Lemonis was hired and resigned on 3 December 2008 after the refuse of Panionios' board to accept Lemonis' request to dismiss three members of Panionio's coaching and management staff.
Assistant coach Joti Stamatopoulos lead the club until the end of the season. He was replaced by Belgian manager Emilio Ferrera.
Under the Tsakiris presidency, the club built its own training facility just outside Athens in the region of Koropi. The training ground is operating since 2008 but was fully completed in 2009.
Stadium.
In November 1937, Panionios G.S.S. Board of Directors led by President D. Karabatis and the Municipality of Nea Smyrni agreed to relocate the club in Nea Smyrni, the Athens suburb that was mainly inhabited by Greek World War I refugees coming from İzmir, the club's historical home. Construction works started in 1938, and were completed one year later.
In the summer of 1940 the first football matches take place, with the club donating the money to support the repair of Greek Warship "Elli" which was hit by Italian forces on World War II. On September later that year Panionios G.S.S. celebrated its 50th year together with the completion of building the new stadium. Since then it has been used constantly for over 70 years from Panionios G.S.S. associated clubs and sports divisions.
Improvement works have been undertaken in 2001 and 2003 including a cafeteria, Panionios G.S.S. sports shop, press and office facilities, improved medical and player facilities etc. Additionally a roof was placed above the East wing of the stadium. In 2009 Panionios G.S.S. installed an electronic ticketing system on the stadium to improve security in the team's matches.
Despite the improvements the core fan base of the team as well as its management strongly support that the old stadium is inadequate to cover the team's needs in terms of quality of services provided to the fans. Additionally, there are safety concerns as the stadium does not have enough entry and exit points in case of emergency.
The highest attendance ever recorded was in 1974 against Panathinaikos with 20,950 spectators. After the installation of seats and the reduction of the stadium's capacity there have been numerous matches with full attendance mainly in European competitions. The most recent ticket 'sold-out' was against Panathinaikos in 2008.
Apart from Panionios G.S.S. and its associated youth teams, the stadium was used for decades from Panionios G.S.S. athletes on track & field and numerous times from the Greek National U-21 and U-23 football teams. Additionally, due to the closing of many stadiums for renovation for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Nea Smyrni stadium was partly used from other football clubs as well. Those included AEK Athens for the first half of the 2003–04 football season and Olympiacos for one match in February 2003 against OFI. Last it has been the venue site for the 2004 Greek Cup final played by Panathinaikos and Olympiacos.
Due to its densely populated location, Nea Smyrni stadium has rarely been used as a concert site. The most famous concert ever taken place was Metallica's first appearance in Greece on 27 June 1993.
Crest and colours.
Crest.
The first emblem of Panionios in Smyrna was a figure of Nike. In the mid-1990s, when the group belonged to the municipality of Nea Smyrni, a new emblem was introduced, influenced by the Barcelona mark. In this the shield had striped blue-colored colors and at the top left the Greek flag of the land and on the right an Ionic-style capital on a red background, referring to the Hellenism of the union and its Ionian roots. A similar crest has Panionios of Kalamata. Tsakiris reinstated the classic emblem of the club, the emblem that the club now uses, a shield with the colours of the group (cyan and red), used by the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire in a variety of events (for example the Hellenic-Ethos naval flag).
Colours.
Panionios' colours are blue, red and white, mainly used as trim or as an alternative.
On the appearances of the team there was a characteristic diagonial strip, which can be seen today in the crest of the team.
Current sponsorships:
Support.
In 1983, at Nea Smyrni Square. There, in a night before a game of the team, the idea of Panthers began to get flesh and bones. A companionship that thought to do something different in Panionios' stadium decided to act. In that night, the name "Panthers" was first heard, which was to be the name of the companionship and then of the club. The Panthers officially started their activity as a club of organized fans, having been recognized by the administration of the association, which had then passed into the hands of the lasting Michalis Stamatelatos, who together with the also lasting Panagiotis Ammanitis, and they believed the different perception they used to see as fans.
After 2003, the Panthers against the then Achilleas Beos administration created many problems. The club lived a long period of persecution (courts, etc.), all of which led to an organizational contraction, as well as a difficulty finding a home. After 2006, the Panthers club is going through another season, as the Tsakiris administration approves and gives Panthers a space within the boundaries of the stadium where the current club is placed.
The official friendships of Panthers Club 1983 are the fans of the Italian club Genoa and the Holmesdale Fanatics from the English club Crystal Palace. In Greece, Niki Volos has always been considered brotherly association, as the refuge, the emblem of Niki Volos, as the first sign of Panionios in Smyrna, as well as the presence of Panagiotis Ammanitis, a beloved administrative agent in the two associations, contributed in this direction.
Common joints and recent joint actions with the Basso Rango Ultras of Apollon Smyrnis make this relationship a very important bridge between Panionios fans and other Group Associations.
Lastly, the respect among fans of PAOK and Panionios, since 1999, makes this relationship a long-lasting and robust bridge of communication. Lastly, contact with the Warriors - Gate 6 of Panetolikos is also a relationship with good communication and contact.
Panthers Club 1983 has a great social action that has grown significantly in recent years. Also, their lighthouse is Dimitros Dallas, the man who kept their beloved team alive from Smyrna and gave Panionios life again in Athens.
Seasons in the 21st century.
Best position in bold.
Key: 3R = Third Round, 4R = Fourth Round, 5R = Fifth Round, GS = Group Stage, QF = Quarter-finals, SF = Semi-finals.