Olympiacos CFP


Olympiacos Sindesmos Filathlon Pireos is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments including Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Water Polo, Handball, Athletics, Swimming, Table Tennis and Boxing amongst many others, which have won numerous European and domestic titles over the club's history.
Olympiacos CFP is one of the most successful and decorated multi-sport clubs in Europe, being the only Greek club, as well as one of the few European multi-sport clubs to have won as many as 15 International titles –including 13 major European titles, 1 Intercontinental title and 1 Balkan title– in five sports . Overall, Olympiacos is the most successful Greek multi-sport club in terms of International titles won, European titles won, participations in European and International finals and the only Greek multi-sport club to have won European titles in different team sports. They have won European titles with six of their sports departments, while no other multi-sport club in Greece has more than two European title-winning sports departments.
Specifically, Olympiacos Football Team has won 1 Balkans Cup, Olympiacos Men's Basketball Team have won 3 Euroleagues and 1 FIBA Intercontinental Cup, Olympiacos Men's Volleyball Team have won 2 CEV Cups, Olympiacos Women's Volleyball Team have won 1 CEV Challenge Cup, Olympiacos Men's Water Polo Team have won 2 LEN Champions Leagues, and 1 LEN Super Cup, Olympiacos Women's Water Polo Team have won 1 LEN Euroleague, 1 LEN Trophy and 1 LEN Super Cup and :el:Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π. |Olympiacos Men's Wrestling Team has won 1 European Cela Cup. In total, Olympiacos departments have reached 38 times the final of the most prestigious and important European and Worldwide competitions, which is an all-time record for a Greek multi-sport club.
The club has also won the Triple Crown in Men's Basketball in 1997, two Quadruple Crowns in 2002 and 2018 in Men's Water Polo, the continental Treble in Women's Water Polo in 2015, as well as a continental Treble in Women's Volleyball in 2018.
With the 2002 achievement, Olympiacos Men's Water Polo Team became the first club ever in Water polo history to win four out of four competitions in a single year, thus completing the quadruple. After the :it:LEN Euro League Women 2014-2015|2015 LEN Euroleague win of Olympiacos Women's Water Polo Team, Olympiacos CFP became the only multi-sport club in European Water Polo history after Pro Recco to have been crowned European Champions with both its men's and women's departments, and the only one with both its departments currently active.
A similar impressive feat was achieved by Olympiacos CFP in another team sport in 2018: after the 2017–18 CEV Women's Challenge Cup win of Olympiacos Women's Volleyball department, Olympiacos CFP become the only multi-sport club in Greece and one of the very few in European volleyball history to have won European titles with its men's and women's teams.
Olympiacos Men's Basketball Team holds several distinctions. Winning their third Euroleague title in 2013, they are the inaugural and only Greek club to be consecutive title defenders in the modern Final Four era of the Euroleague. They beat Real Madrid in the final of the 2012–13 Euroleague Final Four in London, 100–88.
Olympiacos CFP has nurtured some of the greatest Greek athletes. Olympiacos' athletes have become Olympic medal winners, as well as World and European champions, while they are integral part of the Greek national teams. The club maintains Academies with state of the art training facilities, where thousands of children have the opportunity to learn about sports and practice. Olympiacos CFP have granted Greek sports and the club itself numerous Olympic, Worldwide and European honours. Olympiacos had 30 of its athletes and coaches from nine of its sports departments participating in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Olympiacos is the most popular Greek club with around four million fans inside Greece and millions of others in the Greek communities all over the world. As of April 2006, Olympiacos has 83,000 registered members and it's placed in the top ten of the clubs with the most paying members in the world, holding the ninth place just ahead of Real Madrid. In 2014, that figure increased and the team boasts 98,000 registered members. Olympiacos CFP was the first Greek club that made it possible for its fans to become members, and granted them the right of voting for the board of directors.

History

Olympiacos CFP was founded on March 10, 1925 in Piraeus, as a football club initially, and the club's aim, as stated in the statutes, is the systematic cultivation and development of its athletes’ possibilities for participation in athletic competitions, the spreading of the Olympic athletic ideal and the promotion of sportsmanship and fanship among the youth according to egalitarian principles, by stressing a healthy, ethical and social basis as its foundation. Members of "Piraikos Podosfairikos Omilos FC" and "Piraeus Fans Club FC" decided, during a historical assembly, to dissolve the two clubs in order to establish a new unified one, which would bring this new vision and dynamic to the community. :el:Νότης Καμπέρος|Notis Kamperos, a senior officer of the Hellenic Navy, proposed the name Olympiacos and the profile of a laurel-crowned Olympic winner as the emblem of the new club. :el:Μιχάλης Μανούσκος|Michalis Manouskos, a prominent Piraeus industrialist, expanded the name to its complete and current status, Olympiacos Syndesmos Filathlon Pireos, a name that symbolizes and encompasses the morality, the honour, the vying, the splendor, the sportsmanship and the fair play value of the Olympic ideal of Ancient Greece, which was totally consistent with the club's emblem. Besides Kamperos and Manouskos, among the most notable founding members were Stavros Maragoudakis, the Post Office director, Nikos Andronikos, a merchant, Dimitrios Sklias, a Hellenic Army officer, Nikolaos Zacharias, an attorney, Athanasios Mermigas, a notary public, :el:Κώστας Κλειδουχάκης|Kostas Klidouchakis, who became the first goalkeeper in the club's history, Ioannis Kekkes, a stockbroker, and above all, the Andrianopoulos family. Andrianopoulos, a family of well-established Piraeus merchants, played a pivotal role in the founding of Olympiacos. The five brothers, Yiannis, :el:Γιώργος Ανδριανόπουλος|Giorgos, :el:Ντίνος Ανδριανόπουλος|Dinos, Vassilis and Leonidas Andrianopoulos raised the reputation of the club and brought it to its current glory. Yiannis, Giorgos, Dinos and Vassilis were the first to play, while Leonidas, the youngest of the five, made his debut later on and played for the club for eight years. The club's offensive line, made up of the five brothers, became legendary, rising to a mythical status and soon Olympiacos gained enormous popularity and became the most successful and well-supported club in Greece. Olympiacos is also known as Thrylos, after the legendary, classic side of the 1950s which won a hatful of titles.

Olympiacos departments – History and honours

Team Sports

Olympiacos Football

is the most successful club in Greek football history, having won 45 League titles, 27 Cups and 4 Super Cups, all records. Τotalling 76 national trophies, Olympiacos is 9th in the world in total titles won by a football club. The club's dominating success can be further evidenced by the fact that all other Greek clubs have won a combined total of 38 League titles, while Olympiacos also holds the record for the most consecutive Greek League titles won, with seven in a row in two occasions, breaking their own previous record of six consecutive wins in the 1950s, when Olympiacos was unequivocally nicknamed Thrylos.
Having won the 2014–15 league title, Olympiacos became the only football club in the world to have won a series of five or more consecutive championships for five times in their history, a record that was praised by FIFA with a congratulatory letter of its president, Sepp Blatter. They are also the only Greek club to have won five consecutive national Cups, as well as six League titles undefeated. Olympiacos are one of only three clubs to have never been relegated from the top flight of Greek football, and by winning the 2012–13 title, their 40th in total, they added a fourth star above their crest, each one representing 10 League titles.
In European competitions, Olympiacos best performances are their presence in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in 1998–99, losing the semi-final spot in the last minutes of their second leg match against Juventus, as well as in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals in 1992–93. The Red-Whites are the highest ranked Greek club in the UEFA rankings, occupying the 29th place in Europe as of 2018, and one of the founding members of the European Club Association. Olympiacos won the Balkans Cup in 1963, at a time when the competition was considered the second most important in the region after the European Cup, becoming the first ever Greek club to win an international competition.
is one of the most successful clubs in European basketball, having won three Euroleague Championships, one Triple Crown, one Intercontinental Cup, twelve Greek Championships and nine Greek Cups. As a traditional European powerhouse, Olympiacos have also been five times EuroLeague runners-up and, having played a total of eight finals, they are the Greek club with the most EuroLeague Final appearances. They have also participated in ten EuroLeague Final Fours. They play their home matches at Peace and Friendship Stadium.
They are the first Greek club that ever played in a Euroleague Final, and they won their first Euroleague title in 1997, achieving the first Triple Crown ever for a Greek team. As European champions, Olympiacos played in the 1997 McDonald's Championship and reached the final of the tournament, where they met Michael Jordan's NBA champions, the Chicago Bulls. During the 1990s, besides their constant achievements in EuroLeague, also adding a third place in 1999, Olympiacos dominated the Greek Basket League with five consecutive titles, at a time when the Greek championship was considered Europe's best national basketball league. Thus, FIBA declared Olympiacos as the "Best European Team of the 1990s".
Olympiacos returned to the very top of European basketball in 2010, when they reached the final against Barcelona in Paris, but mostly in 2012, when they won their second EuroLeague title in Istanbul, by rallying from 19 points down in the championship game, to beat CSKA Moscow 62–61, on the last shot of the game, achieving the greatest comeback in European basketball finals history, and one of the greatest ever seen in European continental basketball. In 2013, Olympiacos won their third EuroLeague title and became the only Greek club and only the third club in European basketball history to be crowned back-to-back European champions in the modern EuroLeague Final Four era, after beating Real Madrid 100–88 in the London final. Later on, Olympiacos won the Intercontinental Cup, celebrating a third international title in 17 months.
is the most successful club in Greek volleyball history, having won 29 Hellenic Volley League titles, 16 Cups, 6 League Cups, all national records, and 2 Super Cups. They are the only volleyball club in Greece to have won a European competition, with 2 CEV Cup Winners' Cup/CEV Top Teams Cups, and a traditional powerhouse in European volleyball, having been runners-up in all three main CEV competitions, two times in the CEV Champions League, two in the CEV Cup and one in the CEV Challenge Cup, totalling seven European finals.
Domestically, Olympiacos holds the record for the most consecutive championships won, with eight in a row, and for winning seven championships undefeated. Internationally, their most successful period was between 1992 and 2005, when they came to be included amongst the top volleyball powers in Europe. During this period, apart from their two European trophies, they progressed to eleven final fours in total, seven of them consecutive between 1992–1998 ; they also won a fourth place in the :it:Supercoppa europea |CEV Super Cup and a third in the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship. Olympiacos came to European prominence again by playing in the 2017–18 CEV Challenge Cup final; at the same time, the women's department won their respective 2017–18 CEV Women's Challenge Cup. In this way, Olympiacos became the first volleyball club that had men and women playing simultaneously in European finals, and one of the very few to have won European trophies in both departments.
is one of the most successful teams in Europe and a traditional powerhouse of continental water polo, having won 2 LEN Champions Leagues, 1 LEN Super Cup and 2 Triple Crowns, the only Greek club to have been crowned European Champions. They have also been six times runners-up, three in the LEN Champions League, two in the LEN Cup Winners' Cup and one more in the LEN Super Cup. In 2001–02, Olympiacos became the first club ever in waterpolo history to win all four competitions they claimed, completing a Continental Quadruple. They won their second Continental Quadruple in 2017–18 season. After the 2014–15 LEN Euro League win of the women's department, parent club Olympiacos CFP became the second sports club in continental waterpolo history to have been crowned European Champions with both its men's and women's teams and the only one in Europe with both these departments currently active.
Domestically, Olympiacos is the most titled club in Greek water polo history, as the club's 59 domestic titles are the most out of any Greek club. They have won 34 League titles, a record 21 Cups, a record 4 Super Cups and a record 18 Doubles. They are the dominant force since 1992, having set a number of records including a winning streak of 163 straight wins in both the Greek League's regular season and play-offs, which lasted from May 2013 to May 2019.
is one of the most successful clubs in Europe and a traditional powerhouse of continental water polo, having won the LEN Euroleague in :it:LEN Euro League Women 2014-2015|2015, the LEN Super Cup also in 2015 and the LEN Trophy in :it:Coppa LEN 2013-2014 |2014 and having, overall, a commanding presence in European competitions. Besides their LEN Euroleague, LEN Super Cup and LEN Trophy titles, they were runners-up of the LEN Euroleague in 2017 and 2019, runners-up of the LEN Super Cup in 2014, runners-up of the LEN Trophy in 2008 and 2018 and they have participated, altogether, in 7 Champions' Cup / Euroleague Final Fours, as well as in 5 LEN Trophy Final Fours, being semi-finalists of the same competition in 2009 and 2012. Domestically, Olympiacos have won a shared record 11 Greek Championships, a shared record 1 :el:Κύπελλο Ελλάδος υδατοσφαίρισης γυναικών|Greek Cup and a record 1 Double. They also hold the all-time record for the most consecutive Greek Championships, as they are the only team to have won 7 consecutive Greek Championship titles.
In 2014 Olympiacos won the LEN Trophy in the :it:Coppa LEN 2013-2014 #Final Four|Final Four in Florence, beating home team :it:Firenze Pallanuoto|Firenze 10–9 in the final. One year later, Olympiacos were crowned :it:LEN Euro League Women 2014-2015|European Champions, winning the LEN Euroleague in the :it:LEN Euro League Women 2014-2015#Final Four|2015 Final Four in Piraeus, after a thrilling, hard-fought 10–9 win in the final against the then-reigning champions Sabadell, who were undefeated for more than 3 years with 115 consecutive wins in all competitions. Olympiacos lifted the LEN Euroleague title undefeated and having won 8 straight matches without even a single draw. As European Champions, Olympiacos participated in the final of the 2015 LEN Super Cup and won the title after a 10–6 win against Plebiscito Padova, thus completing a continental Treble in 2015, winning season's all three available titles.
After the 2015 LEN Euroleague win of Olympiacos Women's Water Polo team, Olympiacos CFP became the only multi-sport club in European Water Polo history after Pro Recco to have been crowned European Champions with both its Men's and Women's departments and the only club with both its departments currently active.
is one of the most successful volleyball clubs in Greece and the country's most successful in European competitions, having won 8 Greek League titles, a record 9 Cups, a record 7 Doubles, a CEV Challenge Cup and a Continental Treble, the only women's volleyball club in Greece to have won a European title. They hold the unique records for winning eight consecutive Greek League titles, nine consecutive national Cups and seven consecutive Doubles.
The season 2017–18 was the most successful in the club's history and the most successful by any Greek women's volleyball club in history; besides winning the aforementioned CEV Challenge Cup in their second final presence in a row, they won the domestic competitions undefeated, with 25–0 wins in the League, finishing the season with only two sets lost in an unprecedented 75–2 set record, and 4–0 wins in the Cup with a 12–1 set record, achieving a Continental Treble and their sixth consecutive domestic Double. In the same season, the men's volleyball team reached the CEV Challenge Cup final and Olympiacos became the first Greek volleyball club that had men and women playing simultaneously in European finals, and one of the very few in the continent to have won European trophies in both departments.
was initially founded in 1947, being one of the best women's basketball clubs in Greece during the 1950s and the early 1960s, when they won 3 :el:Ένωση Σωματείων Καλαθοσφαίρισης Αττικής#Πρωτάθλημα Κέντρου |Women's Division Center Championships, which was the most important competition of Greek women's basketball at the time. The department was dissolved in the mid-1960s and after a long period of inactivity, it was reorganized in 2015.
In 2015–16 season, which was the first after its reorganization, Olympiacos won the double undefeated; they won the Greek League with 22 wins in 22 matches, sweeping arch-rivals Panathinaikos with 4–0 wins in the finals and also clinched the :Greek Women's Basketball Cup|Greek Cup title, beating Panathinaikos once again in the final. They managed to repeat this achievement in 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, thus winning a record four consecutive undefeated Doubles with a record 117 straight wins in both the Greek Championship and the Greek Cup.
department was founded in 1931 and it has won 2 Greek Handball Championships, 2 Greek Cups and 2 Doubles.
In 2017–18 season, which was the first after its reorganization, Olympiacos won the domestic double. They won the Greek Handball Championship by beating AEK Athens with 3–2 wins in the finals in a dramatic fashion, as they overturned an initial 0–2 win lead by AEK and took three straight wins to secure the League title. They also won the Greek Cup, beating PAOK in the semi-final and ASE Douka in the final to complete the domestic Double.

Olympiacos Swimming">Olympiacos (Swimming club)">Olympiacos Swimming

The Gate 7 Tragedy

The history of the Karaiskakis Stadium and Olympiacos was marked by the worst tragedy that ever hit Greek sports, known as the Karaiskakis Stadium disaster. On 8 February 1981, Olympiacos hosted AEK Athens for a League match, which ended 6–0, in an unprecedented triumph for the host team of Piraeus. During the last minutes of the game, thousands of Olympiacos fans at the Gate 7 rushed to the exit, to get to the stadium's main entrance and celebrate with the players, but the doors were almost closed and the turnstiles still in place, making the exit almost impossible. As people continued to come down from the stands, unable to see what happened, the stairs of Gate 7 became a death trap; people were crushed, tens of fans were seriously injured and twenty-one young people died, most of them by suffocation.
In memory of this event, every year on February 8, there is a memorial service at the stadium in honor of the supporters that died in that incident. The service is attended by thousands of fans every year, who are rhythmically shouting the phrase "Αδέλφια, ζείτε, εσείς μας οδηγείτε.". At the tribune part of the stadium where Gate 7 is now, some seats are colored black instead of red, shaping the number "7", whereas there is also a monument on the eastern side of the stadium, bearing the names of all 21 supporters killed on that day in the stadium.
Even though this incident affected almost solely the fanbase of Olympiacos, other teams occasionally pay their respects to the people killed as well, as they consider the incident to be a tragedy not only for one team, but for the whole country. In the past, even foreign teams, such as Liverpool F.C. and Red Star Belgrade have honored the incident's victims.

Gallery

Football">Olympiacos F.C.">Football

Basketball (Men's)">Olympiacos B.C.">Basketball (Men's)

Volleyball (Men's)">Olympiacos S.C.">Volleyball (Men's)

Water Polo (Men's)">Olympiacos Water Polo Club">Water Polo (Men's)

Water Polo (Women's)">Olympiacos Women's Water Polo Team">Water Polo (Women's)

Volleyball (Women's)">Olympiacos women's volleyball">Volleyball (Women's)

Basketball (Women's)">Olympiacos Women's Basketball">Basketball (Women's)

Racing (Superleague Formula)">Olympiacos CFP (Superleague Formula team)">Racing (Superleague Formula)