History
Olympiacos Basketball Club B was created in September 2019 as a controversial and unprecedented maneuver by Olympiacos Piraeus to avoid formally competing in the Greek second division, following the club’s relegation from the Greek Basket League to the Greek A2 Basket League.
The senior Olympiacos team had been relegated as a disciplinary sanction imposed by the Hellenic Basketball Federation after the club refused to play and forfeited multiple matches in the 2018–19 Greek Basket League and the 2018–19 Greek Basketball Cup. Rather than accepting relegation and participating in domestic competitions as required, Olympiacos withdrew its senior team entirely from all Greek competitions, announcing it would compete exclusively in the EuroLeague, despite EuroLeague participation not being governed by the national federation.
To facilitate this withdrawal and preserve the club’s top-level brand from appearing in the second division, Olympiacos established the so-called Olympiacos B Development Team. Although officially registered as a reserve side, the team functioned in practice as a substitute for the relegated senior team, taking over its place in all Greek domestic competitions. This arrangement was widely viewed as an attempt to bypass the sporting consequences of relegation, while maintaining Olympiacos’ presence in the national leagues under a different label.
For the 2019–20 season, Olympiacos B was registered directly in the Greek second division, occupying the slot that should have been held by the senior team. The B team also replaced the senior squad in the 2019–20 Greek Basketball Cup. At the same time, the actual senior Olympiacos roster continued to exist separately, competing only in the EuroLeague and remaining absent from all Greek competitions.
As an additional disciplinary measure, the Hellenic Basketball Federation imposed a six-point deduction (equivalent to three wins) on Olympiacos B before the start of the season, explicitly linking the penalty to the actions of the senior club.
Despite finishing the season with a strong on-court record of 17–4, second best in the league, Olympiacos B was ultimately classified sixth in the final standings due to the imposed points deduction. The team was also eliminated in the Greek Cup at the Round of 32 stage by Anatolia Thessaloniki.
In retrospect, Olympiacos B is widely regarded not as a genuine developmental or reserve team, but as a temporary and unrecognized workaround, created to shield Olympiacos’ senior identity from the consequences of relegation and to undermine the integrity of the Greek league system.
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