Gymnastikos S. Larissas 1928 B.C.


Gymnastikos Syllogos Larissas 1928 B.C., commonly known as Gymnastikos S. Larissas, G.S. Larissas, or G.S.L., was a Greek professional basketball club that was based in Larissa, Greece. The club's colors are green, white, and blue, and its emblem is the Discobolus. The club is known for being the first professional club team of the legendary European basketball player, Vassilis Spanoulis.
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History

Gymnastikos S. Larissas was originally founded in 1928, and it was the first basketball club of the city of Larissa, that played in the Greek [basketball league system|top-tier] level Greek Basket League. In 1979, basketball coach Giannis Ioannidis, after winning the top-tier Greek League championship with Aris, surprisingly agreed to become the head coach of Gymnastikos. Gymnastikos was in the B National at the time, and had great aspirations of being promoted to the top-tier Greek league.
After Ioannidis' team went undefeated in the Greek 2nd Division during the 1979–80 campaign, the team was promoted to the top division in 1980. From that time, and through the 2005–06 season, the club played several times in the top-tier Greek League. The club's best season to date was the 1994–95 season, when under head coach Vangelis Alexandris' guidance, they almost earned a qualification place in the 3rd-tier European-wide league, the FIBA Korać Cup. They were ultimately denied a place in the Korać Cup by Sporting, by just one point, in the play-off decider game that determined which team qualified for Korać Cup.
Gymnastikos later suffered relegation to the Greek second division in 1998, but against all odds, they returned to the top flight Greek league in 2005. Despite the club's low budget, they had a good season in the top-tier Greek League, during the 2005–06 season. However, due to financial problems, the club was merged with AEL 1964, in 2006, which again ended its presence in Greece's top basketball league.
Also in 2006, Keravnos Larissa, the club's feeder team, changed their name to Keravnos Gymnastikos, as a reminder of the club's past glory days. Eventually, 9 years later, in 2015, Gymnastikos returned to existence, after merging with another other local club of Larissa, Foinix Larissas. Foinix Larissas had been founded in 1995, and in the previous season, it had played in the 3rd-tier level Greek B League.
Foinix Larissas was then replaced by Gymnastikos S. Larissas, after the two clubs merged in 2015, thus ending Foinix's presence in Greek basketball competitions. The club played in the 3rd-tier level Greek B League during the 2015–16 season, and was promoted to the 2nd-tier level Greek A2 League, for the 2016–17 season.
In the summer of 2017, Gymnastikos merged with Faros Keratsiniou, and then took Faros' place in the upcoming top-tier level Greek Basket League's 2017–18 season. Faros retained all of its amateur and junior clubs. Gymnastikos' club name then officially became Gymnastikos Syllogos Larissas Faros 2017, abbreviated as G.S.L. Faros 2017. In 2018, GSL merged with Ifaistos Limnou. Ifaistos later separated its history from Gymnastikos, and ultimately the club was closed down in 2020. Gymnastikos then retained all of its own history, under its current name of Gymnastikos S. Larissas 1928 B.C.

Arenas

Gymnastikos used the 2,000 seat capacity Alkazar Hall as its home arena for more than 20 years, until 1995, when the Larissa Neapolis Indoor Arena was opened. The club has since played its home games at the Larissa Neapolis, which can seat between 4,000 and 5,500 people for basketball games.

Honors and titles

Greek Second Division

Notable players

Greece

Europe

USA

Rest of Americas

NBA players

Over the years, the team has featured players who played in the National Basketball Association before or after their stint with Gymnastikos.

Head coaches