History is not just the past. It is identity. And its people, like Giorgos Oikonomou, are the silent protagonists who continue to define the magnitude of a great club’s legacy.
With a gesture of high symbolism, recognition, and respect, PAOK BC will honor Giorgos Oikonomou before the tip-off of the first FIBA Europe Cup semifinal, PAOK vs UCAM Murcia.
Giorgos Oikonomou was part of the very foundations of PAOK’s basketball team. He was a key figure in the team that won the Greek Championship in 1959 — the first-ever title in the club’s history. He played in PAOK’s starting lineup at the age of 17, was a pillar of the championship team of 1959, and became the first player in the history of Greek basketball to exceed two meters in height.
PAOK was his great love, and he served the club not only as a player but also as a coach.
The timing gives this tribute to Giorgos Oikonomou a special significance. On April 1st, at the beginning of the month that marks 100 years of PAOK’s existence, the past meets the present in a moment of deep recognition.
The symbolism becomes even stronger as the award will take place before the tip-off of the major FIBA Europe Cup semifinal, with PAOK symbolically returning to the very beginning of its European journey. Back then, Oikonomou himself was on the court in the team’s first official European match in 1959, against the then Romanian champions, CCA Bucharest. It was the beginning of a journey that has now reached nearly 500 games on European courts.
From that first, then-unknown chapter, to today’s pursuit of another European distinction — the man who stood at the starting point of this journey is honored at a moment when PAOK once again looks high.
Giorgos Oikonomou, a humble figure with an immense contribution to PAOK basketball, returns to the spotlight not as a memory, but as a living symbol.
We will all be there, at the PAOK Sports Arena, to honor him.