PAOK FC
PAOK FC, short for Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans, is a Greek professional football club based in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. The club is commonly known internationally as PAOK Thessaloniki or PAOK Salonica, while in Greece it is referred to simply as PAOK. PAOK are one of the top domestic clubs and the most successful and widely supported in Northern Greece.
Established on 20 April 1926 by Greek refugees who fled to Thessaloniki from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War, 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 that once belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire. PAOK currently plays in the top-flight Super League, which they have won four times. They are eight-time winners of the Greek Cup. 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 going unbeaten in a national round-robin league tournament.
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 the quarter-finals of a European competition three times; once in the 1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup and twice in the UEFA Conference League, in the 2021–22 and 2023–24 seasons. PAOK is the only Greek team that has more wins than losses in their European record 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.
History
Foundation and early years (1926–1939)
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. The football club was founded in April 1926 after a dispute with Enosis Konstantinoupoliton Thessalonikis, a social and political organisation, by Constantinopolitans 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, from which PAOK had split prior to its foundation and was attended exclusively by refugees.PAOK played its first friendly match on 4 May 1926 at the stadium of Thermaikos, defeating Megas Alexandros Thessaloniki 2–1, coached by Kostas Andreadis, who spent five years on the team's bench without demanding payment. The first professional contract was signed by the club in September 1928 for French footballer Raymond Etienne of Jewish descent from Pera Club, which ignited further controversy between the two refugee clubs. In March 1929, AEK Thessaloniki was disbanded as a sports club and their members joined PAOK. PAOK thereupon changed its emblem, adopting the Double-headed eagle, as a symbol of the club's Constantinopolitan heritage. PAOK also got possession of AEK Thessaloniki's facilities located around Syntrivani and settled there, becoming the sole refugee club in the city.
Albeit PAOK's first years in existence were marred by strife and controversy with the Macedonia Football Clubs Association and the Hellenic Football Federation, the team's ascension led to its debut in the 1930–31 Panhellenic Championship, becoming a mainstay at the national stage, with the construction of the Syntrivani Stadium being completed in 1932. The team would win its first regional title, the Macedonia Championship, in 1937, beginning a period of dominance. PAOK would reach a Greek Cup final in 1939 and the two-legged final of the Panhellenic Championship in 1940, losing both times to AEK Athens. However, the team's success would be cut short by the Greco–Italian War, where the team was dismembered, with two players dying on duty.
Regional league dominance and youth academy (1946–1959)
After World War II, in the early 1950s, a state-of-the-art youth academy named PAOK Academy was created by the Austrian coach Wilhelm Sevcik, who played for the club in the 1930's. The academy was known as the "chicos of Willi". From the newly founded academy sprang some great football players of the period, such as Leandros Symeonidis, Giannelos Margaritis and Giorgos Havanidis.In 1948, PAOK won their second Macedonia Championship, and then participated in the final phase of the Panhellenic Championship where they were ranked third. PAOK footballers dedicated the title to the memory of team captain, Thrasyvoulos Panidis, who had lost his life in the Greek Civil War a few days prior. In 1950, they became champions of Macedonia for a third time, and the following year, the team reached their second Cup final, but lost to Olympiacos.
After a busy transfer period in 1953, PAOK's offensive play was signficantly strengthened with an effective front three, consisting of Kouiroukidis, Papadakis and Yientzis and the club dominated the Macedonian championship for the rest of the decade, with four consecutive titles from 1954 to 1957, going unbeaten from 1954 to 1956, under the management of Nikos Pangalos, Erman Hoffman and Walter Pfeiffer, albeit results in the Panhellenic Championship were more mixed. The team also reached a third Cup final in 1955, losing to Panathinaikos. The concluding seasons of the decade were less successful, but the team's performance in the 1958–59 Macedonia Championship secured a spot in the newly found nationwide Alpha Ethniki, which replaced the region–based Panhellenic Championship.
Alpha Ethniki, domestic and international success, professionalism (1959–1989)
Having moved to the newly built and crowdfunded Toumba Stadium in September 1959, PAOK's first years in the nationwide division were unassuming, finishing no higher than sixth between 1960 and 1966, except for a fourth place finish in 1963. Under the captaincy of Leandros Symeonidis the club slowly built a solid foundation through its youth academy, with emerging youngsters such as Giorgos Koudas and Stavros Sarafis. In this period, PAOK became a frequent guest in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and significantly increased its attacking form under Ivor Powell and Jane Janevski. In 1968, Koudas' controversial transfer from PAOK to Olympiacos was annuled, in a string of incidents that started a heated rivalry between the two teams.The 1970s was a successful period for the club, with scouting on behalf of president Giorgos Pantelakis building a strong team, including Sarafis, Terzanidis, Iosifidis, Gounaris, Paridis, Aslanidis, Apostolidis, Fountoukidis, Kermanidis, Anastasiadis, Furtula, Guerino and captained by Koudas. From 1970 to 1974, PAOK reached five consecutive Cup finals, defeating Panathinaikos in 1972 and Olympiacos on penalties in 1974, under the management of Englishman Les Shannon. The club came close to its first nationwide league title in the 1972–73 season, finishing runners–up and Cup finalists in a controversial manner to Olympiacos. It would eventually clinch its first league title in 1976, under the management of former Hungarian Golden Team international Gyula Lóránt. Afterward, the club mounted a 62 game undefeated streak at home from 1976 to 1980.
In European competitions, the club achieved major wins against clubs like Lyon in 1973 and Barcelona in 1975, reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1974, eventually being knocked out by AC Milan. It then lost the 1977 and 1978 Cup finals and failed to defend the title in controversial fashion in 1977, with PAOK coming at odds with the Hellenic Football Federation. Further complications ensued after the 1978 Thessaloniki earthquake, which damaged Toumba Stadium and eventually led to its Gate 8 collapsing in February 1980.
In the summer of 1979, football in Greece became fully professional, with PAOK restructuring into a privately owned football limited company, with major stockholder Giorgos Pantelakis as the club's president. With the rise of PAOK's ultras group Gate 4, PAOK would become entangled in ownership controversies that would go on via various means for over two decades. As the advent of hooliganism rose dramatically in Greece, PAOK would become infamous for various incidents, starting with a loss against Panathinaikos at Toumba in 1980.
The early 1980's were trophyless for PAOK, with the club being a consistent challenger for silverware domestically, despite being struck by tragedy when Gyula Lóránt died of a heart attack in a league match against Olympiacos in 1981. Inspired by promising new players, such as Christos Dimopoulos, the club reached two Cup finals, in 1981 and 1983, ultimately losing both to Olympiacos and AEK Athens respectively, while also losing in Europe to Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich, both on penalties. Koudas and Furtula retired from football in the summer of 1984.
In the 1984–85 season, under Austrian manager Walter Skocik and leading players, such as Skartados, Alavantas, Singas, Kostikos and Paprica, PAOK clinched their second league title, while falling short of the Cup in the final against AEL. Captain Kostas Iosifidis retired at the end of the season and the rest of the 1980s were less fruitful for the club. In the 1987–88 season, the club fall short of the league title amidst increasing board controversies.
Financial issues, ownership changes, continental success (1989–2012)
In 1989, Thomas Voulinos became the club's president, initiating a rise in form entering the 1990's, with players such as Magdy Tolba and academy signing Giorgos Toursounidis.. The club slumped to a third place in the 1990 title race and entered a period of on and off–pitch instability, starting with Voulinos protesting on the pitch in a match against Panathinaikos in 1990. After losing in the double–legged Cup final in 1992 to Olympiacos, Gate 4 and PAOK's presidency became increasingly at odds, resulting in boycotts from the club's fans and a sharp decrease in attendances at the insistence of Gate 4 throughout the decade.In Europe, the club had notable encounters in the UEFA Cup with Sevilla, losing on penalties and K.V. Mechelen, defeating them away from home, but increasing discontent between Gate 4 and Voulinos resulted in heavy rioting at a UEFA Cup home game against Paris Saint-Germain in October 1992, resulting in a two-season ban from European competitions, later reduced to one year. With younger players such as Theodoros Zagorakis, the team achieved a more successful 1994–95 season under Dutchman Arie Haan. The following season, the club was threatened with its first relegation, ultimately finishing four points clear with a points deduction, following heavy rioting and arson against Thomas Voulinos after a 1–3 loss to AEK Athens in November 1995.
File:Angelos Anastasiadis.jpg|thumb|left|160px|Angelos Anastasiadis won the Cup both as a player and manager
In 1996, Thomas Voulinos handed over a debt-free PAOK to Giorgos Batatoudis. Numerous successful players such as Zisis Vryzas, Spyros Marangos, free kick specialist Kostas Frantzeskos, Percy Olivares and Joe Nagbe were signed under the new administration. Under former player Angelos Anastasiadis, after a five-year absence from European competitions, PAOK qualified for the UEFA Cup. The club's reappearance at European level was marked by a victory and qualification over eventual double winners Arsenal. Under Dušan Bajević, PAOK won the domestic Cup in 2001, defeating Olympiacos 4–2 in the final to claim the club's first trophy in 16 years. Bajević departed in 2002, to be replaced by Angelos Anastasiadis, who led PAOK to a 1–0 defeat of local rivals Aris in the 2003 Cup final, becoming the first former player to win a trophy as manager. Batatoudis's shares were transferred, he was removed from the presidency following the Cup win and was succeeded by Giannis Goumenos following a rise in the club's debt.
This period would be overshadowed by the untimely death of 21 year old player Panagiotis Katsouris in February 1998 and the Vale of Tempe disaster in 1999, which claimed the lives of six PAOK fans following an away match against Panathinaikos. Ceremonies take place every year in remembrance of the tragedies, with Katsouris' jersey number being permanently retired and a bust being erected in his memory in 2000.
After a successful 2003–04 season, in which the club qualified for the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round for the first time, the club failed to qualify to the group stage while fielding Liasos Louka, who was an ineligible player. The club's financial situation worsened, as managerial and boardroom crisis culminated in the emergence of the club's poor financial position; players declared they had been unpaid for months, which led to a decision by UEFA to ban the club from european competitions, bringing the club close to dissolution. The organized supporters' groups launched an all-out war, occupying the club's offices during the summer of 2006. After possible takeover bids failed and embezzlement allegations arose, especially after the transfer of Dimitris Salpingidis to Panathinaikos, Goumenos resigned in November 2006, with a temporary administration assuming control, as debt had tripled in Goumenos' three year presidency.
In June 2007, former player and captain Theodoros Zagorakis retired and assumed the presidency of the club. PAOK's finances gradually improved thanks to new sponsorship deals and the rising attendance from the club's fans, which contributed to the completion of the PAOK FC Sport Center in 2009. He was followed by Zisis Vryzas, who retired in 2008 to become director of football.
In his first season, the early replacement of Georgios Paraschos by Fernando Santos did little to prevent a ninth-place finish in the league. The next season was more successful, with new signings such as club favourites Vieirinha, Pablo Contreras and Pablo García, qualifying for european football for the first time since 2005.
After a successful 2009–10 season, where the team narrowly missed out on the league title and qualified for the Champions League qualifying round, Santos left the club, with former player Pavlos Dermitzakis leading the club to qualification in the rebranded UEFA Europa League against Fenerbahçe, before being sacked in October. Under Makis Chavos, PAOK reached the knockout stages before being eliminated by CSKA Moscow. The next season, under Romanian László Bölöni, was highlighted by a 1–2 win against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. PAOK finished top of its Europa League group, ultimately being defeated in the next round by Udinese. In January 2012, Zagorakis resigned from the club's presidency and was replaced by director Zisis Vryzas, in a transitional effort brought forth by increasing fan discontent following the sale of Vieirinha to VfL Wolfsburg.