Panthessalonikeios Athlitikos Omilos Konstatinoupoliton (i.e. PAOK), was founded by Constantinople Greeks that had come to live in Thessaloniki in 1926. The sport of basketball that had made its first steps in Greece in 1919 in the open courts of YMCA in Thessaloniki, was an integral part of the Club from the beginning of its history, although it was practically taking its first steps at the ti...

In 1959, PAOK won the first championship ever in the history of the club in any team sport. It was a unique success for the whole club that opened the road for the first official European games of PAOK. Against the Romanian SSA Bucharest, PAOK made his debut with the European competitions and more specifically with the Champions Winners’ Cup. On November 29, 1959, in the open court of YMCA, P...

Following the 1959 Greek Championship title, PAOK went after next year’s title as well till the end, but lost it to details. With Giorgos Ekonomou once again being the pillar of the team, PAOK lost a mere single game in a whole season. The team lost to Olympiacos 60-67 for the 3^rd day of the tournaments, but that result was enough to deprive PAOK of the title and instead award it t...

The beginning of the new decade will be finding PAOK in a process of trying to create a competitive and strong team. With many players that had transferred from Aetos Thessaloniki (Tsigkos, Batzios, Petrogiannis, Tsompanakis, Karamveris) and acquired leadership roles (like the captain to be Yannis Politis), Alekos Paraskevas who played with the PAOK jersey for 14 consecutive seasons, as well as...

The end of the ‘70s marked the end of the unproductive years for PAOK that showed signs of being able to have a protagonist role from the beginning of the new decade. Panagiotis Fassoulas became the pillar of the effort made by PAOK for more than ten years. PAOK participates a Greek Cup final for the first time in its history in 1982 and despite the fact that the game is held at home, in Pala...

The first season of Nikos Stavropoulos with PAOK was combined with winning the Greek Cup. “Magic” had a catalyst role in the 74-70 victory against Aris, in a game held at the Alexandrion that remains in history as the “final of the shaved heads” for the team spirit and the heart the players of PAOK, as well coach Faithon Mathaiou showed in order to win the title.

This was the fi...

The summer of 1984 is a time for significant changes for PAOK. Nikos Vezyrtzis takes becomes the President, the person who was about to lead PAOK to the European elite, allowing the team the possibility to achieve during the next ten years what was never done up to that time.

It is also the moment that foreign players come into our life. The spectacular and very efficient scorer Billy V...

The 1988-89 season begins with Bane Prelevic on the team, the player that changed the course of the history of the basketball team of PAOK. Jon Korfas had joined PAOK since 1986, a small but miraculous Greek-American point-guard, whose presence became even more of essence with the arrival of Prelevic. The two formed an amazing guard duo, among the top ones in all of Europe.

Foreign play...

Two lost Cup finals and two failed attempts at winning the Championship being a parenthesis, PAOk sends a message to the whole of Europe in 1990, advancing to the Cup Winners’ Cup semis. The ‘rookie’ team of PAOK touched the miracle, but fell short in the last minutes of the game, losing by 20 points to Virtus Knorr Bologna, a margin really difficult to overcome. The hot atmosphere create...

It’s a mile stone in the history of PAOK, as well as that of Greek sports. Following a heart-stopping game, PAOK beats the Spanish team of CAI Zaragoza 76-72 and wins the European Cup Winners’ Cup in the unforgettable Geneva final. The date (26/3/91) will be forged forever in the collective memory, being a huge success for PAOK, who wins the European top, as well as for Greek basketball, be...

PAOK participates for the second time in a row to the European Cup Winners’ Cup final, now with Dusan Ivkovic in its bench. The opponent this time is the Queen of Europe, Real Madrid that won the title following a bucket by Brown at the end of the game and after a condemning turnover by Fassoulas. The disappointment is huge, the photo of Bane Prelevic inconsolably crying on floor of the Palai...

From the 1992-93 season, the league allowed teams to have two foreign players on their roster. So alongside Barlow, came the two time NBA champion Cliff Levingston from the Chicago Bulls. Having Korfas playing in Europe and Boudouris with many participations before his 22nd birthday, PAOK plays amazing basketball, which garners respect and admiration from all over Europe. The team qualifies for...

With Berry and Savic being the foreign player duet for the team, Soulis Markopoulos replacing Ivkovic in the middle of the season and many new faces (Galakteros, Rentzias), PAOK will become the first Greek team to win a second European title. PAOK’s course to winning the title was a triumphant one. The team literally swept any one opponent found in its way, overcame the obstacle of Panionios ...

PAOK was punctual in his meeting with history, one more final as well as the next title that was placed in the club’s trophy case. Beginning the season with Dragan Sakota in the bench and later on with Sakis Laios as his replacement, PAOK qualified for the first Greek Cup Final Four, which was held in Lamia and won with characteristic ease. Easily overcoming the obstacle of Aris in the semi-f...

The 1995-96 season was one of the weirdest ones in PAOK’s history. The season began and ended with the change of coaches. A total of four coaches got to lead the team, beginning with Vangelis Alexandris, continuing with Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou, Dimitris Itoudis who coached the team for one game, before Zeljko Lukajic took over, and coming back as a head coach for the end of the playoffs. And...

The 1996-97 season began with PAOK playing without Bane Prelevic for the first time (he had joined Kinder Bologna), with the French Michel Gomez taking over the head coaching position and an important American point guard, Scott Skiles being the new star of the team. On a purely individual level, the season was stigmatized by the serious injury Stojakovic suffered (double fracture of leg and ti...

PAOK begins the season with the Israeli Zvi Sherf as the head coach. After a long time with injuries and rehabilitations, Predrag Stojakovic returns in the beginning of the 1997-98 season, has his best season with PAOK, the only one without injuries, but also the one to be his last with the team. His talent was such that he could not remain contained within the tight limitations of Greek and Eu...

PAOK completes a great course that lasted through a decade, with continuous participations with finals and a total of five titles that came during that time. The last of them was the Greek Cup in 1999 that is the team's last great success up to this day. Beginning the season with Zvi Sherf in the bench, PAOK beats Olympiacos at the SEF 61-52 and secures participation in the Greek Cup Final Four...

With Bane Prelevic returning to Thessaloniki to wrap up his career with PAOK, the 1999-2000 season seemed to be a historical one from its beginning. And it was one, although it was not accompanied by any major competitive success. Nevertheless, PAOK went after qualification to the Euroleague Final Four to the end, a Final Four that was held in his new gym, just like the case had been with the C...

The start of the new millenium finds PAOK winning earing yet another place in Euroleague, but first has the team finding a new arena. PAOK Sports Arena opens its gates, but the team's relocation in it will be in the middle of unfortunate events that will put a stop to the previous years' success. With a new owner, the president of the football team at the time, Giorgios Batatoudis, a roster wor...

The 2007-08 season was one of the worst in the history of the team. Starting off with the American Tab Baldwin in the bench and hoping to find the right path, PAOK is faced very early in the season with a harsh reality, fighting to retain the category. With Kostas Flevarakis taking over the technical leadership of the team, PAOK returns to the right track, but nevertheless is forced to fight fo...

The serious problems of the 2007-09 two year period were permanently over; when in the summer of 2009 PAOK has once again a Court appointed administration (with Miltiadis Kanotas serving as President), with Nikos Stavropoulos leading the new endeavor from the position of the team's technical director. He chose Soulis Markopoulos, who had been awarded best coach of the previous season in Greece,...

Since summer of 2011, Nikos Stavropoulos, Soulis Markopoulos and Telis Zournatsidis were joined by Bane Prelevic, who returned to the team, this time serving as the team's President. Soulis Markopoulos would be leading the team bench for eight consecutive years, setting unique records in the history of PAOK and Greek basketball. He became the longest serving coach in the history of the team and...

PAOK celebrated 90 years of history with a series of events throughout 2016. The beginning was in April 2016, with an event incorporating of the Club's teams and sports at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, followed by the top event, the friendly game of the basketball team of PAOK against the European Champion team of CSKA Moscow. The most iconic faces in the history of the basketball team of PAOK...

In May 2017, PAOK moves on a different path, since after eight years of collaboration with the team, the time came for Soulis Markopoulos to step down. Ilias Papatheodorou fills in the head coach's position, one of the best young coaches in Greece. Despite the fact that this collaboration was marked in its beginning with some bad and tough losses at all levels, the 2017-18 was completed with PA...