AEK Basketball Club (Greek: ΚΑΕ ΑΕΚGreek pronunciation:[ˈaek]; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupóleos, "Athletic Union of Constantinople"), also known as AEK B.C. or AEK, and more commonly known in European competitions as AEK Athens,[4] is a Greek professional basketball club based in Athens, Greece, part of the major multi-sport clubAEK. The club was established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).
AEK B.C. has been considered as one of the best Greek teams in all sports, at either the sports club or national team level, in 1965, 1966, and 1968, by SJA of Greece (the Sports Journalists' Association of Greece, Greek: ΠΣΑΤ).
History
Early years
The basketball team in 1928Constantinople in 1914
The large Greek population of Constantinople, not unlike those of the other Ottoman urban centres, continued its athletic traditions in the form of numerous athletic clubs. Clubs such as Enosis Tataoulon (Ένωσις Ταταούλων), from the Tatavla district, Megas Alexandros (Μέγας Αλέξανδρος), Hermes (Ερμής) of Galata, Olympias (Ολυμπιάς) of Therapia, and Kati Kioi (Κατί Κίοϊ) of Chalcedon, existed to promote Hellenic athletic and cultural ideals. These were amongst a dozen Greek-backed clubs that dominated the sporting landscape of the city in the years preceding World War I. After the war, with the influx of mainly French and English soldiers to Constantinople, many of the city clubs participated in regular competitions, with teams formed by foreign troops. Taxim, Pera, and Tatavla became the scene of weekly competitions in not only football, but of athletics, cycling, boxing, and tennis.
Of the clubs in the city though, football was dominated by Enosis Tataoulon and Hermes. Hermes, one of the more popular clubs, was formed in 1875, by the Greek community of Pera (Galata). Forced by the Kemalist regime to change its name to Pera Club in 1923, many of its athletes fled to Greece, and settled in Athens and Thessaloniki.[6] The basketball team of AEK is actually the most successful among AEK's athletic departments. The obvious reason is the successes in general of Greek basketball, and that AEK's basketball team was the first ever Greek team to win an international trophy, in any team sport. Under Kostas Karamanlis' guidance, AEK won the club's first Greek League championship in 1958.[7]
1924–1957
Kostas Dimopoulos, one of the creators of the AEK athletic club and footballer of the early years, had the idea of also creating a basketball team. His efforts quickly were matched by others who loved the sport of basketball. He then took over the leadership of the club's basketball department, and together with the Simeonidi brothers, Eumenes Athanasiadis and others, created the club's first basketball team. In the beginning, they took part in friendly games, where they made a good impression. After that, AEK won the first regional basketball championship that was played in Athens, which was organized by the local YMCA, in 1924.
In 1928, AEK took part in the first Greek basketball championship, in the Athens-Piraeus 1927–28 regional championship. In 1929, the Greek basketball championship was not held, and AEK did not play in any league. In 1930, the basketball section was not declared in any organized competition, with the effective efforts of Kostas Dimopoulos and his associates to do so, failing. The club's basketball section then remained in obscurity for many years. However, in 1949, it reappeared, and the club's administration of that time created a new and competitive team. In the 1952–53 season, AEK played in the Greek basketball championship for the first time since 1928. In the 1954–55 Greek League championship AEK had an impressive run, however, they finished behind Panellinios.
1957–1959
In 1958, AEK B.C., led by the player-coach Kostas Karamanlis, won their first Greek League championship, after defeating Panellinios in the final, by a score of 67–54.
The club also founded a women's section at this time, which lasted for a short time. The department had success with the four sisters Chorianopoulou sisters. However, the club did not give the necessary importance to the department, and it was later dissolved.
Amerikanos' era (1960–1970): 6 Championships and a European title
"The Union", in the early 1960s, won the Athens-Piraeus Regional Championship two times in a row (1960, 1961), but did not manage to become the national league champion of Greece. But the 1960s decade was to be the most important in the history of AEK's basketball club. The team's head coach of the time, Missas Pantazopoulos, created a great roster and led the team to the top of Greece. The club's leading figure during these years was Georgios Amerikanos, who was nicknamed "Global".[citation needed]
In the 1962–63 season, AEK won the first of four consecutive Greek League championships. In the next season, AEK's leading scorer was Antonis Christeas (4th overall in the league), and the club was once again the Greek League champion. In the 1964–65 season, Georgios Amerikanos was the top scorer of the league, and AEK were once again the Greek League champions.[citation needed]
In the following 1965–66 season, AEK won its 4th consecutive Greek League championship, and also became the first Greek basketball team to play in the semi-finals of the FIBA Europe Champions Cup (now called the EuroLeague), as they played at the 1966 Final Four, which was held in Italy. These successes were accompanied by an unfortunate large loss for the team. As one of the team's players, Giorgos Moschos had contracted cancer, but he managed to participate in certain competitions that year, before he died on 29 December 1966, at age 29.[citation needed]
The next season, AEK lost the Greek League championship to Panathinaikos. However, a year later, under head coach Nikos Milas, AEK returned to the top of Greece, as they won the 1967–68 Greek League season championship, without losing a game. Georgios Amerikanos was again the Greek League's Top Scorer.[citation needed]
1968 European Cup Winners' Cup: first European title for a Greek club
AEK was the first ever Greek basketball team to participate in the FIBA European Champions Cup (now called the EuroLeague) Final Four, in 1966, which was held in Bologna, Italy. Two years later, AEK was the first-ever Greek team, not only to reach a FIBA European Cup Winners' CupFinal, but also to win a European-wide title.[8] On April 4, 1968, AEK defeated Slavia VŠ Praha, by a score of 89–82, in Athens, in front of 80,000 spectators (at the time, the Guinness world record in basketball attendance) in Kallimarmaron Stadium.[9] In 1970, AEK reached the FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals, where the team was eliminated by JA Vichy, France, in what turned out to be the last year of the first "Golden Era" of the club's history. It was called the "Golden Era" because AEK dominated Greek basketball during the 1960s, winning the Greek League championship 4 consecutive years, in 1963, 1964, 1965, and 1966, as well as in 1968 and 1970; for a total of 6 titles in 8 years.
Although there are no official records with regards to the Greek Cup before 1975, according to some sources,[10] AEK won the Greek Cup in the years of 1967 and 1971.
1970–1990
Over the next decades, AEK lost its prestige and managed to win only one trophy, the Greek Cup in 1981, under the direction of Coach Fred Develey, an American coach who previously was the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Aris of Greece, with superstar Nick Galis. In addition to winning the Greek Cup in 1981, AEK was also a finalist in the Greek Cup in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1988, and 1992, but failed to win in any of those years.
AEK made a comeback in the late 1990s, when the team played in six consecutive Greek Cup Final Fours in the years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, four consecutive Greek Cup Finals in the years 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, winning the Greek Cup in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, AEK won the Greek League championship for the first time in 32 years, becoming the first team to win the Greek League championship after having lost the first two games of a 5-game playoff series. AEK lost the first two games of the series to Olympiacos, but managed to win the next 3 games, and take the series and the title 3–2. AEK also reached the Greek Playoff Finals in the years 1997, 2003, and 2005, and the Greek Cup Semi-finals in the year 2006.
1998 ΕuroLeague runners-up and 2000 Saporta Cup winners
In this same era, AEK again reached a high level in European-wide competitions. The team reached the FIBA EuroLeague's Final Four in Barcelona in 1998, and beat Benetton Treviso, by a score of 69–66, before losing in the EuroLeague Final to Kinder Bologna, by a score of 58–44.[11] In 2000, on 11 April, AEK won their second international trophy, the FIBA Saporta Cup, by defeating Kinder Bologna 83–76.[12] The next year, 2001, AEK reached the EuroLeague semi-finals, where they lost their playoff series against Tau Cerámica, in 3 straight games. AEK had success in the EuroLeague in the 2002 season, reaching the Top 16 phase, but the 2003 and 2004 seasons were disasters in the EuroLeague. In 2005, AEK once again shined and reached the Top 16, but a few losses prevented the team from reaching the EuroLeague playoffs.
Relegation, dissolution and fresh start
After the 2005–06 season, the owner of the club and major shareholder cut off the club's funding, and various management schemes each year assumed the financial obligations of the club.
As a result, the roster gradually weakened year after year, the group declined each year to lower-level league positions and had even less success in European competitions, and the club's debts
that were accrued were impossible to pay. In April 2011, AEK was relegated down to the Greek Second Division (A2) due to serious financial
problems and there was a great danger for its participation in the next championships.
A new administration council, with Nikos Georgantzoglou as a president, defined by the Athens Court on 12 September 2011 so that the club could be saved and play in the A2 division.
AEK had a record of 20 wins and 10 losses during the 2011–12 Greek A2 Basket League season.
In the summer of 2012, AEK's board of directors announced its participation in the Greek 3rd national category Greek B League ("B Ethniki") "Southern Group",
for the 2012–13 season, as an amateur club. The team had a record of 22 wins and 3 losses and was promoted to the A2 category.
In the 2013–14 season, AEK once again played in the Greek Second Division. Finally, AEK was the winner of the second division championship and won the league promotion to be able to play in the
top Greek League again, after a 3-year period of absence. AEK had a record of 23 wins and 3 losses during the Greek A2 Basket League 2013–14 season.
In September 2014, AEK overcame heavy financial problems, after Makis Angelopoulos bought the majority stake of the club's shares, just to return to the Greek elite level, and thus wanted to showcase its tradition and ambition in Greece and Europe. In the 2014–15 season, AEK finished in fifth place in the top-tier level Greek League, with 15 wins and 11 losses.[13]
Emblem of the Palaiologos dynastyAEK BC logo (2004–2007)AEK BC logo (2015–2018)
In 1924, AEK adopted as their emblem, the image of a double-headed eagle. When AEK was created by Greek refugees from Constantinople, in the years following the Greco-Turkish War, and subsequent population exchange, the emblem and colours (yellow and black) were chosen as a reminder of lost homelands; they represent the club's historical ties to Constantinople. After all, the double-headed eagle is featured in the flag of the Greek Orthodox Church, whose headquarters are in Constantinople, and served as the Imperial emblem under the Palaiologos dynasty. The emblem of the department of AEK basketball has evolved over time. From 1924 to 2015, the emblem of the department was similar to that of the football club. Since 2015, AEK B.C. has created a new version of the emblem, by adding to it two stars at its center, which symbolize the club's 2 FIBA Saporta Cup European-wide titles.
The colours of yellow/gold, black and Imperial purple were adopted from AEK's connections with Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire.[40]
AEK has a large fan base all over Greece. The majority of AEK supporters are refugees or have refugee descent from Constantinople, and people from the population exchange of the Minor Asia Catastrophe. Original 21 is the largest supporters group. The first attempt to organize AEK supporters was Gate 21 (formed in 1975), which took its name from the gate in the Nikos Goumas Stadium at Nea Filadelfia, where the most hardcore fans of the club gathered. AEK also has many supporters worldwide, most of them being Greek immigrants, in places like North America, UK, Australia, and Cyprus.
Rivalries
The main rivalries of the AEK are the ones with Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. Against Panathinaikos, the rivalry started not only because of both competing for titles, but also because of the refugee ancestry of AEK fans, and by contrast, that Panathinaikos was considered to be the representative club of the old Athenian high class society. Against Olympiacos, the rivalry is mostly related to the football rivalry of the two clubs.
Arenas
Note: The capacities listed are the capacities of the arenas at the time AEK used them, and are not necessarily the same as the arena's current capacities. Also, the capacities only list the arena's all-seat seating capacity (if applicable), and not the arena's total capacities. In addition, in some cases, the listed capacities only reflect the number of seats currently made publicly available for use, and may not reflect the number of total seats actually in the arena.
AEK was one of three Greek teams that had always competed in the first tier Greek competition until it first experienced relegation following the 2010–11 season, and thus did not play in the top-tier in the 2011–12 season. The following table illustrates the performance of AEK in the national divisions over the years.
AEK has links with many basketball clubs in Greece, and other countries where Greek immigrants and friends of the club live, like ΑΕΚ Stockholm B.C. in Sweden, and Greek clubs like AEK Argos B.C. and AEK Tripolis B.C.
^"Ανακοίνωσε τη συμφωνία με Macron για 5 χρόνια η ΑΕΚ". sport-fm.gr (in Greek). Online. Retrieved 11 May 2023. Η Macron και η ΑΕΚ BC ανακοινώνουν, ότι από την ερχόμενη περίοδο και έως το 2028 θα πορεύονται μαζί, αφού η "Bασίλισσα" του ελληνικού μπάσκετ θα φορά ΜΑCRON HERO.
Μακρίδης, Παναγιώτης (1955). Η ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΑΕΚ(in Greek). Αθήνα, Ελλάδα: Αθλητική Ηχώ.
Συλλογικό έργο (1979). Η αθλητική δράση των Ρωμιών της Πόλης 1896–1976(in Greek). Κωνσταντινούπολη, Τουρκία: Ειδική Έκδοση.
Αλεξανδρής, Γ.Χ. (1996). Η Ιστορία της ΑΕΚ(in Greek). Αθήνα, Ελλάδα: Ιδιωτική Έκδοση Γ.Χ. Αλεξανδρής.
Καραπάνος, Παναγιώτης (1999). Το αλφαβητάρι της ΑΕΚ: Όλα όσα πρέπει να ξέρεις και δεν σου έχουν πει για την ΑΕΚ(in Greek). Αθήνα, Ελλάδα: Εκδόσεις Δίαυλος. ISBN978-960-531-066-0.
Νόταρης, Ι. Σωτήρης (2002). ΑΕΚ, κλασικός αθλητισμός: Ο καρπός της αθλητικής παράδοσης της Πόλης στη σύγχρονη Αθήνα από το 1924 έως τις μέρες μας(in Greek). Αθήνα, Ελλάδα: Εκδόσεις Καλαβρία.
Συλλογικό έργο (2007). Ο Κιτρινόμαυρος Δικέφαλος(in Greek). Αθήνα, Ελλάδα: Εκδόσεις Παπαδόπουλος. ISBN978-960-412-558-6.
Συλλογικό έργο (2009). ΑΕΚ: Για πάντα πρωταθλητές(in Greek). Αθήνα, Ελλάδα: Εκδόσεις Σκάι. ISBN978-960-482-018-4.
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