Panionios F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Panionios GSS FC


fullname = "PAE Panionios Gymnastikos
Syllogos Smyrnis"
(Pan-Ionian Gymnastic
Association of Smyrna FC)
nickname = "Kyanerythri" (Blue-Reds)
"Istorikos" (Historic)
| founded = 1890
ground = Panionios Stadium, Nea Smyrni,
Athens, Greece
capacity = 11,700 (all-seated)
chairman = flagicon|Greece Georgios Katsifarakis
manager = flagicon|Germany Ewald Lienen
league = Super League Greece
"(Σούπερ Λίγκα Ελλάδα)"
season = 2007-08
position = Super League Greece, 5th
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=000088|socks2=FFFFFF

Panionios GSS FC (Greek: Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης - Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis), the "Pan-Ionian Gymnastic Association of Smyrna", is a Greek association football club based in the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni, Greece.

The club currently competes in the Super League Greece.

Early history

The club was founded in 1890 in Smyrni (Σμύρνη) İzmir, Ottoman Empire, 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 PGSS. After the Greek military defeat in 1922 the club was transferred to the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni. The club has a tradition of cultivating all major sports and was the first Greek club to establish a track and field division for women, in 1925. 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" PGSS.

Recent history

Panionios has spent nearly its entire history in the Greek First Division (now called 'Superleague'), 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 to AEK.

Panionios has produced all three major Greek strikers of the 1980s, namely Nikos Anastopoulos (later of Olympiakos), Thomas Mavros (later of AEK), and Dimitris Saravakos (later of Panathinaikos). Other notable players coming out of the club include Nikos Tsiantakis (later of Olympiakos) and Takis Fyssas, later of Panathinaikos and member of Greek national team.

In December 2001, working around bankruptcy legislation, the club was renamed to Neos ("New") Panionios FC, to avoid the threat of relegation from the first division because of financial difficulties.

Change of ownership

In 2004, shipowner Constantinos Tsakiris was elected president of the "amateur sports" PGSS. 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.

Current squad

Out on loan:

Famous former players

;flagicon|Greece Greece
*Nikos Anastopoulos
*Stelios Aposporis
*Stathis Chaitas
*Jiorgos Dedes
*Takis Fyssas
*Thanasis Intzoglou
*Antonis Manikas
*Evangelos Mantzios
*Stathis Mavridis
*Thomas Mavros
*Kostas Nestoridis
*Theologis Papadopoulos
*Yiannis Pathiakakis
*Dimitris Saravakos
*Nikos Spyropoulos
*Nikos Tsiantakis
*Alexandros Tziolis
*Leonidas Vokolos

;flagicon|Albania Albania
*Arjan Bellaj
*Sulejman Demollari
*Foto Strakosha
*Hamdi Salihi

;flagicon|Algeria Algeria
*Rafik Djebbour

;flagicon|Australia Australia
*Travis Dodd

;flagicon|Belgium Belgium
*Stéphane Demol

;flagicon|Brazil Brazil
*Luciano
*Marcelinho Paulista;flagicon|Bulgaria Bulgaria
*Teodor Barzov
*Krasimir Chomakov
*Milen Georgiev

;flagicon|Canada Canada
*Tamadani Nsaliwa

;flagicon|Cote d'Ivoire Cote d'Ivoire
*Gilles Domoraud

;flagicon|Cyprus Cyprus
*Simos Krassas
*Kyriacos Pavlou

;flagicon|Czech Republic Czech Republic
*Jaroslav Drobný
*Martin Vaniak
*Petr Vlcek

;flagicon|England England
*Marco Gabbiadini [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player/marcogabbiadini.htm]
*Gary Owen
*Mark Robins

;flagicon|Georgia Georgia
*Levan Tskitishvili

;flagicon|Hungary Hungary
*Norbert Tóth

;flagicon|Liberia Liberia
*Joe Nagbe
*Zizi Roberts

;flagicon|Poland Poland
*Adam Majewski

;flagicon|Romania Romania
*Marcel Coras
*Marian Ivan;flagicon|Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis
*Keith Gumbs

;flagicon|Serbia Serbia
*Zoran Jovičić
*
*

;flagicon|Spain Spain
*Thomas Christiansen

;flagicon|Slovakia Slovakia
*Mario Breska
*Miroslav König
*Lubomir Meszaros
*Yhomas Oravec
*Attila Pinte

;flagicon|Slovenia Slovenia
*Safet Jahič
*Goran Sankovič
*Ermin Šiljak

;flagicon|South Africa South Africa
*Dillon Sheppard

;flagicon|Turkey Turkey
*Erol Bulut

;flagicon|Uruguay Uruguay
*Juan Martin Parodi
*Alvaro Recoba

;flagicon|Wales Wales
*Gareth Roberts

National titles

=Greek Cups (2)=

1979, 1998

=Balkan Cup (1)=

1971

European record

ee also

*Panionios BC

References

External links

Official Sites
* [http://www.pgss.gr/ Official football club website]
* [http://www.panioniosbc.gr/ Official basketball club website]
* [http://www.goal4replay.net/VideoSelection.asp?Ln=En&ID=164 Panionios TV channel from Goal4Replay.net] en icon gr icon

Fans
* [http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Πανιώνιος_Γυμναστικός_Σύλλογος_Σμύρνης Greek wikipedia entry]
* [http://www.stadia.gr/nsmyrni/nsmyrni.html Panionios Stadium ]
* [http://www.panthers.gr/ official Panthers fan club ]
* [http://www.panionios1890.blogspot.com/ Panionios 1890 unofficial website]
* [http://www.lfpanioniou.gr/ Leshi filon panioniou fan club ]
* [http://www.panionios.sitesled.com/ unofficial fan website ]
* [http://www.panionios.net/ Panionios Net portal ]