page_title: Basketball in Greece
section_title: Arenas
hierarchical_section_title: Basketball in Greece / Arenas
caption_attribution_description: ΟΑΚΑ Ολυμπιακό Κλειστό Γήπεδο Καλαθοσφαίρισης. Αθήνα.
context_page_description: Basketball in Greece erupted with the senior men's Greek national team's win at the EuroBasket 1987 in Athens, which caused a general basketball euphoria in the country. Since then, men's Greek national teams have reached constant international success, leading Greece to join Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, France, and Lithuania in the circle of European basketball powers. In addition to the national team's triumph in 1987, Greece won a gold medal at the EuroBasket 2005, silver medals at the EuroBasket 1989 and the 2006 FIBA World Cup, as well as the bronze medal at the EuroBasket 2009.
  At the professional club level, Greek men's basketball clubs have, at European Cup competitions, under both FIBA Europe and Euroleague Basketball, won 17 European championships, 9 of which have been at the 1st-tier EuroLeague level, as well as two world club championships at the FIBA Club World Cup, bringing the total amount of international titles won by Greek men's clubs to 19. At the women's professional club level, Athinaikos won the title of the 2nd-tier EuroCup in 2010.
context_section_description: The first professional basketball indoor arena in the country was opened in 1959, in Athens. Located at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, the Pavlos and Thanasis Giannakopoulos Indoor Hall holds 2,000 spectators, and is still home to the ladies' basketball department of Panathinaikos. Because of its confined environment, the sports hall was named The Tomb of The Indian, after the Fritz Lang feature film The Indian Tomb. In the subsequent years, a number of other arenas have arisen in Greece, located mainly in Athens and Thessaloniki. In 1966, in Thessaloniki, the Alexandreio Melathron Nick Galis Hall was opened. This 5,500 seat (including temporary seating) arena was for decades home to both of the two arch-rivals Aris and PAOK.
  The Peace and Friendship Stadium (SEF), originally a 17,000 capacity multi-purpose hall, opened in Piraeus, Athens in 1985. The arena was for the next ten years, the biggest indoor sports hall in Greece, and it hosted events such as the EuroBasket 1987, the 1994 World Volleyball Championship, the 1995 European Volleyball Championship, the 1998 FIBA World Cup, and the 1999 Olympic Weightlifting World Championship. SEF is the home of the Olympiacos men's basketball club.
  By the early 1990s, the sport of basketball had become well established in Greece, and the Greek Basket League had become the strongest professional national domestic league in Europe, as well as the richest. A rising number of television viewers in Greece were watching the league, there was a high level of Greek media interest in the sport, and the application of the country to host major sports events had left many of the nation's existing gyms too old and too small for the times. So, in Athens, the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall was opened in 1995. It holds about 20,000 spectators, and it is still the biggest indoor sports hall in Europe (counting standing room capacity), where regular basketball games are held. The Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall has hosted the 1995 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, the EuroBasket 1995, the 1998 FIBA World Cup, and the 2004 Summer Olympics. Currently, the men's clubs of Panathinaikos and AEK play home matches in the Olympic Hall. Maroussi's men's section has also played home matches there.
  Also in 1995, the 5,500 capacity arena Larrisa Neapolis, and the 5,150 capacity arena Dimitris Tofalos were built. In 2000, the first modern indoor sports arena in Thessaloniki was built, P.A.O.K. Sports Arena. The arena is under the possession of PAOK, and it holds 8,500 spectators. For the 2004 Summer Olympics, the Helliniko Indoor Arena was built. It holds 15,000 spectators, and has been used at various times, as the home arena of the Greek men's clubs Panionios, Panellinios, and AEK.
  Plans have been made to build some new modern indoor arenas in Greece. This is due to several factors, one of them being Euroleague Basketball's arena rules, which state that starting with the 2012–13 season, 1st-tier EuroLeague contract clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 10,000, non-contract EuroLeague clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 5,000, and all 2nd-tier EuroCup clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 3,000. One of these planned new indoor halls is a 5,000 seat arena owned by Panionios.
caption: Nikos Galis OAKA Indoor Hall
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