Early years According to the official history of the club, Panathinaikos was founded by the 17 years old track and field athlete
Giorgos Kalafatis on 3 February 1908, when he decided to break away from
Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos following the club's decision to discontinue its football team. The name of the new club was "Podosferikos Omilos Athinon" (
Football Club of Athens). It was founded with the aim of spreading and making more known this new sport (
football) to the Athenian and Greek public in general. Also, the intention of the founders was to create a team for all of Athens and to be connected with the rest of the European football movement, which was already active. According to
Loukas Panourgias, "
they wanted their Club not to be like all the others, but a team for Athens, for the entire capital." Establishing a football-only club at that time was a challenge to the prevailing norms of Greek society. "
The founding of a football club at a time when this sport was universally regarded as a street game and was openly persecuted by everyone, both authorities and non-authorities alike, was a clear act of rebellion against the prevailing perceptions of sports at the time (Athlitismos, 1927)." (center, holding the ball) and coach
John Cyril Campbell (sitting on the far right). The first president elected was Alexandros Kalafatis, brother of Giorgos. The ground of the team was in
Patission Street.
Oxford University athlete
John Cyril Campbell was brought in as coach, the first time that a foreigner was appointed as the coach of a Greek team. Founder
Giorgos Kalafatis served in all three wars, eventually reaching the rank of rear admiral and later on served as a military doctor in the
Asia Minor campaign. In 1910, after a dispute among a number of board members, Kalafatis with most of the players — also followed by Campbell —decided to pull out of POA and secured a new ground in
Amerikis Square (and the next year the team won the
1911 SEGAS Championship). Subsequently, the name of the club changed to Panellinios Podosferikos Omilos ("Panhellenic Football Club") and green and white were established as its colours. By 1914, Campbell had returned to England but the club was already at the top of Greek football with players such as
Michalis Papazoglou, Michalis Rokkos and
Loukas Panourgias and went on to win the football tournament of
1915. In 1918, the team adopted the
trifolium (
shamrock) as its emblem, symbol of harmony, unity, nature, fertility and good luck, as proposed by
Michalis Papazoglou. In 1921 and 1922, the
Athens-Piraeus FCA organised the first two post-
WWI championships, in both of which PPO was declared champion. By that stage, the club had outgrown both the grounds in Patission Street and Amerikis Square, due mainly to its expansion in other sports, and began to look at vacant land in the area of Perivola on
Alexandras Avenue as its potential new ground. Other notable players of this
Belle Époque period of the team were
Antonis Migiakis,
Diomidis Symeonidis,
Mimis Pierrakos and
Stefanos Pierrakos, among others. They thrashed rivals
Olympiacos 8–2, a result that still remains the biggest win either team has achieved against its rival, with Messaris scoring three goals. The team also defeated
Aris 1–4 away in
Thessaloniki. Messaris, who scored again three goals, became a hero and chant for the fans.
Crisis and WWII years In 1931, a serious disagreement between leading board member
Apostolos Nikolaidis from one side, and some players (most notably
Angelos Messaris) and club's officials on the other side, while
Michalis Papazoglou had a leading role in the resistance group of
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz. After this long crisis period, Panathinaikos had to wait until 1949 to win again a Greek Championship under the guidance of the Austrian coach
Johann Strnad. That same year, Vangelis Panakis and
Kostas Linoxilakis came to the club and quickly became the side's new star players. Panathinaikos was again champion for the
1952–53 Panhellenic Championship. Until 1959, the team had also won seven of the last eight
Athens Championships, the regional championships organised in Greece. In 1959,
Mimis Domazos, the emblematic captain of the team, made his first appearance with Panathinaikos and the same year took place the first season under the new system of Alpha Ethniki (
1959–60 Alpha Ethniki). Panathinaikos was the champion team.
1960s: The Golden Decade, the Bobek's rejuvenation During the next years, Panathinaikos were again champions in 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969 and 1970. Moreover, the team won two more Greek Cups, in 1967 and 1969. Also, during these years, a long process of rejuvenation took place in the club. Notable players retired, such as Panakis, Linoxilakis,
Takis Loukanidis and
Andreas Papaemmanouil, and the team had to count on young players like Domazos,
Antonis Antoniadis,
Anthimos Kapsis,
Kostas Eleftherakis and
Takis Ikonomopoulos.
Stjepan Bobek was the main contributor to this process. In 1963, he became the club's head coach, changing the playing style of the team to a 4–3–3 and created a new team based on young players (the "Bobek's rejuvenation"). Under his guidance, Panathinaikos won the Championship of 1964 without a loss, making them one of the two teams that has won the Greek Championship (with its modern system) undefeated. Notable players of the team included Panakis, Domazos,
Takis Ikonomopoulos,
Totis Filakouris,
Frangiskos Sourpis and
Aristidis Kamaras. With the establishment of the
Greek military regime, the president of the club,
Loukas Panourgias, was forced out of the presidency. The contract of Bobek was cancelled by the State, while
Apostolos Nikolaidis, the old player, manager and official of the club, went on trial. In 1967, the great
Béla Guttmann came as coach, but he soon left and ex-player
Lakis Petropoulos was appointed. Under his guidance, Panathinaikos won the championships of 1969 (with a double) and 1970.
Puskás years and the epic road to Wembley . against
Ajax.
1970–71 European Cup finalists In 1971, under the guidance of
Ferenc Puskás, Panathinaikos were
1970–71 European Cup finalists, the first and only Greek team until today, losing 2–0 to
Ajax at
Wembley Stadium. Notable players included the captain
Mimis Domazos,
Anthimos Kapsis,
Aristidis Kamaras,
Kostas Eleftherakis,
Totis Filakouris and the goalkeepers
Takis Ikonomopoulos and
Vasilis Konstantinou.
Antonis Antoniadis was the top scorer in the competition scoring ten goals. In a warmup game before the 1971 final, they defeated Worcester Park 16 - 0. In the same year, Panathinaikos played for the
1971 Intercontinental Cup (due to the refusal of Ajax to participate), where they lost to Uruguayan club
Nacional (1–1 in Greece, 2–1 in Uruguay).
Totis Filakouris was the scorer for the Greek club. During the last amateur years of Greek football, the
Trifolium won one more Championship in 1972. Antonis Antoniadis was again
top scorer with 39 goals (also second in Europe). His
record remains until today in the Greek league. With the collapse of the
military regime,
Apostolos Nikolaidis became again active for the club and was appointed honorary president of Panathinaikos. In 1975, one of the greatest coaches of his era, the Brazilian
Aymoré Moreira, who mainly worked in Brazil (
World Cup Champion with the
Brazil national team in 1962), was appointed. After a year and a half of poor results, however, he was replaced by
Kazimierz Górski. With Górski, Panathinaikos won the
double in 1977, followed by a
Balkans Cup victory in the same year. Notable foreign players who played for the team during the late 1970s include
Juan Ramón Verón,
Araquem de Melo and
Óscar Álvarez.
Vardinogiannis era (1979–2012) (2009). Top scorer in the
1987–88 UEFA Cup, one of the best players in the club's history and
Greek football. In 1979, Greek football turned professional. The Vardinogiannis family purchased PAO's football department and
Giorgos Vardinogiannis became president. In
1995–96, with
Juan Ramon Rocha as coach and key players
Krzysztof Warzycha,
Józef Wandzik,
Stratos Apostolakis,
Georgios Georgiadis,
Dimitris Markos,
Giannis Kalitzakis,
Georgios Donis and
Juan Jose Borrelli, Panathinaikos reached the Champions League semi-finals, finishing first in the group stage against
Nantes,
Porto,
Aalborg BK and eliminating
Legia Warsaw in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Panathinaikos faced
Ajax, recording an impressive 0–1 first leg away victory with Krzysztof Warzycha scoring the winning goal. Ajax had a record of 22 undefeated international matches until then, with Panathinaikos breaking their series. The Greek team, however, suffered a 0–3 defeat on the second leg. Thus, Panathinaikos was denied entry to a Champions League final once more. , captain of Panathinaikos and the
Greece national football team. In the summer of 2000, President Giorgos Vardinogiannis resigned from his duties with complaints for the refereeing situation in Greece and passed his shares to his nephew
Giannis Vardinogiannis, who changed the style of the club's management.
Angelos Anastasiadis was initially appointed coach of the team and later the ex-player
Giannis Kyrastas. With the arrival of coach
Sergio Markarián, Panathinaikos reached the quarter-finals of the
2001–02 UEFA Champions League, being eliminated by
Barcelona. Panathinaikos had passed the first
group stage as the top club against
Arsenal,
Mallorca and
Schalke 04, and the second group stage as second against
Real Madrid, Porto and
Sparta Prague. In the first leg of the quarter-finals, Panathinaikos managed to defeat
Barcelona by 1–0 in
Leoforos Alexandras Stadium. The second leg in
Camp Nou was to be an eventful one. Panathinaikos scored first thanks to a beautiful goal by
Michalis Konstantinou but eventually was eliminated as Barcelona scored three goals. Ιn Europe, Panathinaikos made it to the quarter-finals of
UEFA Cup quarter-finals. En route, the Greek team had knocked-out
Litex Lovech,
Fenerbahçe (with an impressive 4–1 win in Leoforos Alexandras Stadium),
Slovan Liberec and
Anderlecht. During the quarter-finals, although winning the first match in
Estádio das Antas against eventual winners of the trophy
FC Porto of
José Mourinho, with the header of
Emmanuel Olisadebe, they were eliminated in the second leg after extra time. Notable players of this team included
Takis Fyssas,
Giorgos Karagounis,
Antonis Nikopolidis,
Angelos Basinas,
Nikos Lyberopoulos,
Michalis Konstantinou,
Giourkas Seitaridis,
Sotirios Kyrgiakos,
Paulo Sousa,
Goran Vlaović,
Rene Henriksen,
Joonas Kolkka,
Jan Michaelsen and
Emmanuel Olisadebe, considered by the fans one of the best teams in the club's history. During
2002–03 Alpha Ethniki season, they lost the Greek championship in the last two games by arch-rivals Olympiacos. Under the guidance of Israeli coach
Itzhak Shum, Panathinaikos managed to win the championship in 2004. They won also the
Cup, beating Olympiacos 3–1 in the final, making the double. New players like
Ezequiel González,
Lucian Sanmartean and
Markus Münch had signed the summer before. In the
Champions League, they came third in the group stage facing
Manchester United,
VfB Stuttgart and
Rangers. However, Shum was unexpectedly fired early in the next season (
2004–05) and
Zdeněk Ščasný succeeded him on the bench. Panathinaikos finished second in the championship, while in the Champions League they came again third in the group stage facing
Rosenborg,
PSV and Arsenal. They continued in the
UEFA Cup, where they were eliminated by
Sevilla. In 2005, major changes were made in the team's roster. Players like
Angelos Basinas and
Michalis Konstantinou departed, while others like
Flávio Conceição,
Igor Bišćan and
Andreas Ivanschitz arrived. Ščasný gave his seat to
Alberto Malesani. At the start of the
2006–07 season, Malesani left the team and was replaced by
Hans Backe, who left only three months after his appointment;
Víctor Muñoz was his replacement. For the
2007–08 season, Panathinaikos hired
José Peseiro. On 22 April 2008, and under pressure from the fan base, main shareholder Giannis Vardinogiannis gave a press conference in which he announced the decision of his family to reduce their share in the club to 50%—after 30 years of full ownership—through an €80 million increase of the company's capital stock. After the negotiations and the share capital increase, the Vardinogiannis family would hold 56% of the club, the amateur Club 10% and the other shareholders 34% (with main investors
Andreas Vgenopoulos,
Pavlos Giannakopoulos,
Adamantios Polemis and
Nikos Pateras). Nikos Pateras was selected to be the new president of the club. , two consecutive seasons
top scorer for the
Greek league Following the major changes in 2008, Panathinaikos hired
Henk ten Cate as coach and bought many expensive players, such as
Gilberto Silva from Arsenal and
Gabriel from
Fluminense. In the
2008–09 season, the Greens proved that they could hold their weight in the
Champions League by reaching the
last 16. However, they disappointed in the
Super League, finishing third in the regular season, though they managed to come second overall after the playoff mini-league. The
2009–10 season was a successful one for Panathinaikos. During the summer transfer period, the club bought
Djibril Cissé from
Marseille,
Kostas Katsouranis from
Benfica,
Sebastián Leto from
Liverpool and various other players, spending more than €35 million in total. Henk ten Cate left in December to be replaced by
Nikos Nioplias. The team managed to reach the
last 16 of the
Europa League, eliminating
A.S. Roma after two amazing matches in
Olympic Stadium of Athens and
Stadio Olimpico. Panathinaikos also won both the
Super League and the
Greek Cup, beating
Aris by 1–0 in the final of the latter, thanks to a goal by
Sebastián Leto. In 2011, due to financial problems and management disagreements, Panathinaikos sold
Cissé for €5.8 million to
Lazio and first-choice
goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas to
Palermo to reduce the budget. New players then entered, such as
Quincy Owusu-Abeyie,
Toché,
Vitolo and
Zeca. The club also changed their president and chose Dimitris Gontikas to be the new chairman. Panathinaikos failed to qualify to the group stage of
2011–12 Champions League after they were knocked out by
Odense BK 4–5 on aggregate.
Alafouzos era (2012–present) Panathinaikos' downfall continued as a result of the serious riots in the Panathinaikos–Olympiacos derby of 18 March 2012. The entire board quit and Panathinaikos remained headless for about two months. However, the owner of
Skai TV,
Giannis Alafouzos, devised a plan to take Vardinogiannis' shares (54.7%) and make them available to fans around Greece so that everyone could contribute a desired amount, so that Panathinaikos could overcome the crisis. His plan seemed to be working, as a new 20-member board was elected with Dimitris Gontikas at the president's chair again, though it was yet to be seen how the fans would respond to Panathinaikos' call for help. On 2 July 2012, the
PAO Alliance 2012 finally opened to the public so that everyone could be a member and contribute a desired amount in return for privileges. After a few weeks of operation, 8,606 members had signed up, some of which were current or former Panathinaikos players, including
Jean-Alain Boumsong,
Sotiris Ninis, Gilberto Silva and Djibril Cissé, among others. On 18 July 2012, marked a historical day in Panathinaikos history, as Giannis Vardinogiannis gave his shares—54.7% of Panathinaikos—to the Panathinaikos Alliance, thereby allowing Panathinaikos to have a fresh start with their own fans at the steering wheel, who through elections (among the members of the Alliance) they compose the board of directors and elect the club's president. The first president elected was
Giannis Alafouzos. The first season with the Panathinaikos Alliance at the helm was nothing short of abysmal for the club. While still enduring financial troubles, Panathinaikos finished sixth in the championship and failed to qualify for the European competition for the first time in 16 years. For the
2013–14 season, the membership had risen up to 9,305 members. Starting the football year, both fans and journalists were very sceptical of Panathinaikos' chances of a successful season, and many people expected the team to suffer relegation from the
Super League Greece. In May 2013,
Yannis Anastasiou was appointed manager, and he planned a team based on players from the Panathinaikos Youth Academies joined by experienced foreign players looking to revive their careers. Despite the early scepticism, Panathinaikos' fans supported the team through the rough start, and the season turned out to be a massive success in light of the dire financial situation of the club and the young and inexperienced squad. The club finished fourth in the
regular season and second after the playoffs (meaning they qualified for the
2014–15 Champions League), with
Marcus Berg the top scorer of the team. Panathinaikos also won the
2013–14 Greek Football Cup after a 4–1 win over
PAOK. On 2 November 2015, after bad performances and a home draw with
AEK Athens, manager
Yannis Anastasiou was sacked and replaced by
Andrea Stramaccioni. Further successive poor results under the latter's reign, combined with loss of dressing room control, led to the dismissal of Stramaccioni on 1 December 2016, with former Panathinaikos player and
Greece international
Marinos Ouzounidis taking over the management at the club. Ouzounidis had some great moments with Panathinaikos and was generally liked by the fans. His resignation, due to problems with owner Giannis Alafouzos sparked another wave of disappointment and hatred against Alafouzos from the fans. On 24 April 2018 UEFA decided to exclude Panathinaikos FC from participating in the next UEFA club competition for which it would otherwise qualify in the next three seasons as a result of Financial Fair Play breaches.
Georgios Donis was announced as the new coach on 3 July 2018. Coach Donis had a great start of the season despite beginning with −6 points in the championship, counting 6 consecutive wins that put Panathinaikos on top of the table. However, due to problems with his salary and a clash with Giannis Alafouzos, he was forced to resign in 2019. This situation made the relations between Alafouzos and the fans worse, with protests and demonstrations during games against him. Panathinaikos remained one of the top clubs in Greece, but its absence from European tournaments was a major factor in the fans' disappointment with the ownership. During the summer of 2020, a series of bad decisions were made from Giannis Alafouzos, who chose to let most of the players that had contributed to a very good season go. Spaniard
Dani Poyatos signed on as head of the club on 22 July 2020 for two years, taking over from George Donis' work. Poyatos was sacked after a poor start of the season on 12 October and was replaced by
László Bölöni. After a disappointing fifth position in the
league and the failure to guide them to a European qualification spot Bölöni was sacked and replaced by
Ivan Jovanović. During the
21–22 season under the management of Ivan Jovanović, the team achieved its major goal of returning to European Competitions finishing fourth, and won their 19th
Greek Cup, beating PAOK 1–0 in the final ending an eight-year trophy drought. Ivan Jovanović was offered a two-year extension to his contract, which he accepted. After a five-year absence from European Competitions, Panathinaikos won a place in the third qualifying round of the
2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, drawing Czech
Slavia Prague. Any chance of return to a European group stage was lost after losing 3–1 on aggregate. Their exclusion from Europe wasn't enough, since the squad was off to an exceptional start to the
2022–23 Super League Greece season, ultimately hitting
the largest unbeaten streak in Europe for the 2022–23 season) of 16 matches, 3 of which were drawn. The streak ended when Panathinaikos faced second-placed
AEK Athens, which ended in a 1–0 away loss. All eyes were on the fact that Panathinaikos finished the
regular season placed first with 61 points, followed by AEK Athens with 59 points, a small difference between the two teams, with the remaining play-off round deciding who would lift the trophy. In the last round, Panathinaikos faced
Aris Thessaloniki F.C. and the match ended at 1–1, (making it 78 points), ultimately ending hopes of achieving the first league title since 2010. AEK faced
Volos, who were at the bottom of the play-offs table, which resulted in a 4–0 home win and the winning of the 2022-23 league for AEK Athens. Their
2023–24 Super League Greece season started poorly. After finishing fourth in their Europa League group and losing 3–2 to
Atromitos, Jovanović was rumoured to be sacked by the board. After a 3–0 win against
Volos in late December, he was relieved of his duties, with Panathinaikos sitting in second place. He was replaced by
Fatih Terim, who lasted less than 5 months and was relieved on 17th May 2024. Ultimately under the temporary stewardship of
Christos Kontis, Panathinaikos ended the season by winning the
2023–24 Greek Football Cup after defeating Aris in the final 1–0, thus clinching their 20th Greek Cup title and sealing their position in the following year's
2024–25 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. On October 30, 2024, the club announced that
Rui Vitória would be its next coach. The
2024-25 season proved to be difficult, overshadowed by the accidental death of squad player
George Baldock. Despite this tragic loss, the team rallied and ended the season in 2nd place, securing Champions League play-offs. However during a lackluster start to their
2025–26 campaign, Panathinaikos terminated
Vitória's contract on the 15 September 2025, less than a year after his appointment. A month later, on October 19, 2025, the club announced that
Rafael Benítez would be its next coach. ==Crest and colours==