Near East BC

Near East BC
Leagues	Greek A2 League Greek Cup
Founded	1927
History	1927 - Present
Arena	Near East Indoor Arena (capacity: 1,300)
Location	Kaisariani, Athens, Greece
Team colors	Red and White
Head coach	Tolis Karnesis
Championships	1 Greek Championship (1936) 1 A2 Championship (1998)
Website	Eurobasket.com
Uniforms
Home Away

AO Near East BC is one of the oldest professional basketball clubs in Greece. The basketball club was founded in the year 1927. The team is located in Kaisariani, Greece, which is a suburb of the city of Athens, Greece. Near East's home arena, Near East Indoor Arena, is located only about 2 miles from the downtown center of Athens.

History

Early history

Near East BC was one of the teams that participated in the first Pan-Hellenic Basketball tournament, which took place in Thessaloniki, Greece. In 1936, Near East BC won its first official Greek Championship by defeating The University of Athens basketball team in Thessaloniki. To this day, this is still the only Greek National Championship the club has won. In 1937, Near East BC finished second in the Greek Championship as The University of Athens basketball club defeated them in the Championship's final.

Recent history

In more recent times, the Near East basketball team struggled to hold onto its position in the top league in Greece's first division the Greek A1 League. In 1998, the team won the top Greek pro league's second division championship the Greek A2 League. The team participated in the Korać Cup in the years 2000 and 2001. In 2002, the team competed in the A1 first division for the last time in recent years.

Championships

• Total Titles: 2

• National: 1
  • Greek Championship:
    • 1936

• Divisional: 1
  • Greek A2 League:
    • 1998

Notable players

Kostas Tsartsaris Christos Tapoutos Giorgos Karagoutis Vasilis Xanthopoulos Kostas Politis Kostas Kaimakoglou Marios Batis Nikos Papanikolopoulos - Anatoly Zourpenko - Franko Nakić

Anthony Bowie Shawn Respert Randy White David Vaughn III Lynn Greer Andres Guibert Shane Heal

Notable coaches

• Takis Koroneos

External links

• Eurobasket.com Team Page