PAOK F.C.
PAOK Thessaloniki (Greek ΠΑΟΚ, also P.Α.Ο.Κ., acronym of: Panthessalonikischer Sports Club of Constantinople ) also known as PAOK Salonika is a football club based in Thessaloniki. The team was founded in 1926 by Greek refugees from Constantinople Opel.
- 2.1 Current squad 2013/14
- 2.2 Title
- 2.3 No longer assigned numbers
History
PAOK Thessaloniki sees itself as a successor of the company founded in Istanbul's Pera Club in 1875, the Association Hermes (Greek: Ερμής ), who had to stop his activity as a result of population shifts after the Greco- Turkish War. Refugees in Thessaloniki founded the club PAOK on April 20, 1926. emblem of the team is the double-headed eagle, the house coat of arms of the Byzantine Empire. However, this created from grief over the loss of their homeland, the wings. The club color black stands for just this mourning, white for the hope of a better future.
Since 2012
The Greek- Russian entrepreneur Ivan Savvidis took over in the summer of 2012, after lengthy negotiations, the majority of shares in the ailing football club. He invested directly 10 million euros and the club also granted a loan of 2 million euros.
Football
The department carries out its top-flight football in the Toumba Stadium. The stadium was renovated for the 2004 Summer Olympics and was intended as a training ground. It holds around 29,000 spectators ( seats).
In the summer of 2005, the " prodigal son " of PAOK, Theodoros Zagorakis came ( captain of the Greek national team in the triumph of the Greeks in the 2004 European Championships ), from Italy ( Bologna FC ) back again to continue his career in Salonika and end there as well. In June 2007, he took over the presidency. PAOK is one of the four teams that have never been relegated to the second league, and one of the most popular in Greece.
2010 was the team championship as third parties ( and playoff winner) in the qualification for the Champions League where they narrowly failed to Ajax Amsterdam (3rd qualifying round). Then we sat down in the play-offs Europa League against Fenerbahce Istanbul through, which one came in the group stage of the Europa League and it was so in the European Cup. In the group stage you could FC Bruges reach the second place behind FC Villarreal and Dinamo Zagreb and before. Against CSKA Moscow was closing in Sixteenth-finals. The following season the team began when in fourth and second table in the play- offs, in the Europa League qualifying round. Once you could prevail against Vålerenga Oslo (Qualifying round 3 ) and Karpaty Lviv (play- offs ), the renewed European Cup participation was assured. The Europa League group stage ended the team, unlike 2010/11, as group winners; against Rubin Kazan and Tottenham Hotspur. In the Round of Udinese Calcio proved to be too large. 2012/13 does not take PAOK part in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, as the team failed in the play-off 2-1 and 0-3 at SK Rapid Wien.
PAOK Salonika was in season 2012/13 Greek runner-up and qualified for the third round of qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League. There they met the Ukrainian vice-champion Metalist Kharkiv against UEFA had initiated investigations in 2008 due to a match-fixing scandal from the year. Salonika retired after a 0:2 and 1:1 from the competition. A few days later graduated from Metalist UEFA from all European competitions, which Salonika could move up in the Champions League play-off round. PAOK met the German club Schalke 04 in the first leg at Schalke we achieved a 1-1, but lost the return match 2:3.
Current squad 2013/14
Title
- Greek Champion (2x): 1976, 1985
- Greek Cup winner (4x): 1972, 1974, 2001, 2003
No longer assigned numbers
Two numbers are no longer awarded to players, the " 12" ( representative of the fans as the " 12th man ") and the "17" to commemorate the 1998 fatally injured in a traffic accident player Panagiotis Katsouris.
Stadium
The PAOK Stadium, or Toumba Stadium, is located in the 4th district of the city, the eponymous district of Toumba, near the city center. It is the third largest football stadium in Greece, but the biggest exploiting dividend privately owned stadium in the country and the largest in the city. The football team of PAOK bear its home games here.
Other departments
Besides football, a large number of other sports are practiced such as basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, handball, water polo, swimming, wrestling, track and field, weightlifting and Taekwondo at the club.
Fanfreundschaft
There is a close Fanfreundschaft to Partizan Belgrade, a motto / quote to the Partizan fans is:
- Partizan Beograd - PAOK Saloniki iste buoy - ista vera ( Serbian )
- Partizan Belgrade - PAOK Saloniki same colors - the same faith ( German )
With the same faith, the same religion, referring to the widespread amongst most Greeks and Serbs Orthodox Christian faith (see Orthodoxy ).
Many a time have to see PAOK fans in Belgrade, vice versa are also Partizan fans, especially their ultras called Grobari (engl. " The Gravedigger " ), in Thessaloniki as a guest. This rain visits are especially basketball games of PAOK Thessaloniki.