page_title: Panathinaikos F.C.
section_title: Vardinogiannis era (1979–2012)
hierarchical_section_title: Panathinaikos F.C. / History / Vardinogiannis era (1979–2012)
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Olympique de Marseille - Girondins de Bordeaux Djibril Cissé 2007-2008
context_page_description: Panathinaikos Football Club, known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO, is a Greek professional football club based in the capital-city of Athens, Greece. It is also considered to be the most successful Greek club in European competitions
  The name "Panathinaikos" was inspired by the ancient work of Isocrates, Panathenaicus, where the orator praises the Athenians for their democratic education and their military superiority, used for the benefit of all Greeks.
  Today a part of Panathinaikos A.O., they are the oldest active football club in Greece, initially founded only to practice this sport. Created in 1908 as "Podosfairikos Omilos Athinon" by Georgios Kalafatis, they play in the Super League Greece, being one of the most successful clubs in Greek football and one of three clubs which have never been relegated from the top division. Amongst their major titles are 20 Greek Championships, 18 Greek Cups, achieving eight times the Double, and 3 Greek Super Cups.
  . They are also one of the two clubs that won a championship undefeated, going without a loss in a top-flight campaign in the 1963–64 season.
context_section_description: In 1979, Greek football turned professional. The Vardinogiannis family purchased PAO's football department and Giorgos Vardinogiannis became president. Panathinaikos were one of the first Greek clubs that formed a women's team in 1980, but that department is currently inactive.
  The transformation period lasted a few years, but in 1982 the club won its first professional era trophy, the Greek Cup, and during the 1980s they would go on winning two championships (1984, 1986), four more Greek Cups (1984, 1986—with a 4–0 against Olympiacos in the final—, 1988, 1989) and the Greek Super Cup in 1988. The great star of the team during these years was Dimitris Saravakos, nicknamed "The Kid." Saravakos, a high-technique explosive miedfielder and iconic captain of Panathinaikos, was the alsolute idol for the fans during the 1980s, while other players included Nikos Sarganis, Spiros Livathinos, Velimir Zajec, Juan Ramón Rocha, Christos Dimopoulos and Giannis Kyrastas.
  In the 1984–85 season, Panathinaikos, with coach Jacek Gmoch and stars Dimitris Saravakos, Velimir Zajec, Juan Ramón Rocha and Ioannis Kyrastas, made a run in Europe, eliminating Feyenoord, Linfield and IFK Göteborg to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they were knocked out by Liverpool.
  In 1987–88, they made it also to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, eliminating Juventus, Auxerre and Budapest Honvéd. Dimitris Saravakos was top scorer of the competition.
  The 1990s were an even more successful period for the club, both nationally and internationally. Four Greek championships (1990, 1991, 1995, 1996), four Greek Cups (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995) and two Greek Super Cups (1993, 1994) were awarded to the club.
  In the 1991–92 season, Panathinaikos reached also the last eight of the European Cup and took part in the first ever European tournament to have a group stage.
  In 1995–96, with Juan Ramon Rocha as coach and key players Krzysztof Warzycha, Józef Wandzik, Stratos Apostolakis, Georgios Georgiadis, Dimitris Markos, Giannis Kalitzakis, Giorgos 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.
  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 Markarian, 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 Apostolos Nikolaidis 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 Apostolos Nikolaidis 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
caption: Djibril Cissé, two seasons in row top scorer for the Greek league
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