Panathinaikos Water Polo Club

Last updated
Panathinaikos Water Polo
NicknamesThe Trifolium
Founded1928;97 years ago (1928)
League A1 Ethniki Water Polo
LEN Euro Cup
Based in Athens, Greece
ArenaSerafio City of Athens
ColoursGreen and White
  
PresidentDimitris Vranopoulos
Head coach Dimitris Mazis
Website pao1908.com

Panathinaikos AC Water Polo, founded in 1930, is the water polo department of Panathinaikos A.C., the Athens-based Greek multi-sport club. Despite its early establishment it doesn't have any particular honours so far. The best result it has achieved in the A1 Ethniki Water Polo is the second place. [1]

Contents

History in the Greek Championship

Panathinaikos AC Water Polo was initially established in 1930, but three years later it was forced to close because of the lack of a swimming pool. The club was re-established in 1959. Without facing any particular difficulties it won the tournaments of the lower divisions and managed to qualify for the first division 3 years later, in 1962. In the years 1963, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 Panathinaikos WPC reached the third position. In 1993 PAO WPC returned for another time to second division. Until now PAO WPC have never won a national title.

In 2011 the club took the third place, along with the participation ticket for the first time in its history in the LEN Euroleague. The club ended up in the third place once again in the season 2013-2014. The team finished second for the first time in its history in the season 2014-15.

Greek Cup

In the Greek Water Polo Cup Panathinaikos participated in the final in the seasons 2014-15, 2022-23 and 2024-25.

The team had previously reached the semi-finals in the seasons: 1983-84, 1984-85, 2001-02, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12.

European Honours

Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre Athens Indoor Olympic Aquatic Center.jpg
Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre

In its first participation in the LEN Euroleague (2011–12), Panathinaikos succeeded in advancing from the preliminary round to the first group stage. The club succeeded in winning against Kharkiv and VK Primorac Kotor (8-11) but it was eventually eliminated from the second group stage.
Following its elimination from the Euroleague, PAO went on to compete in the LEN Trophy, where it advanced until the round of "16" after winning against Le Ben and eventually having a draw 7-7 against Galatasaray. [2] Finally Panathinaikos did not advance to the quarter-finals after being eliminated by Panionios 6-8 in OAKA, and 13-14 (10-12) in Nea Smirni. [3]

Current roster

Season 2025–26 [4]

NumberNationalityPlayerHeightDate of birth
Goalkeepers
Flag of the United States.svg Adrian Weinberg 1.9625/11/2001
Flag of Greece.svg Nektarios Iliopoulos
Defense
Flag of Greece.svg Dimitrios Skoumpakis 2.0318/12/1998
3 Flag of Greece.svg Giorgos Nikolaidis17/02/2005
9 Flag of Greece.svg Marios Chatzigoulas07/04/1995
Center
Flag of Montenegro.svg Dušan Banićević 1.8612/10/1998
4 Flag of Greece.svg Nikos Papanikolaou (C)1.9231/08/2000
Offense
Flag of Greece.svg Aristeidis Chalyvopoulos20/03/2002
Flag of Greece.svg Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis 1.9119/11/1999
Flag of Greece.svg Nikolaos Kopeliadis05/08/1996
6 Flag of Greece.svg Nikolas Alvertis14/01/1995
7 Flag of Greece.svg Nikolaos Kourouvanis26/10/2000
10 Flag of Greece.svg Nikolas Papasifakis1.8001/04/1998
15 Flag of Greece.svg Perseas Portokalis20/11/2008

Technical and managerial staff

Staff
Head coach Flag of Greece.svg Dimitris Mazis
Assistant coach Flag of Greece.svg Nasos Ireiotis
Assistant coach Flag of Greece.svg Makis Voltirakis
Trainer Flag of Greece.svg Michalis Vlachos
Physiotherapist Flag of Greece.svg Ilias Arvanitakis
Team manager Flag of Greece.svg Andreas Papadimitrakopoulos

Notable players

References

  1. Panathinaikos, the Greek Sports Master :: Departments : Water Polo Club
  2. "Πρόκριση για Παναθηναϊκό! | Gazzetta".
  3. "Πανιώνιος - Παναθηναϊκός 13-14 (10-12 (κ.α.) - Πράσινα νέα - Ενημέρωση, παρασκήνιο και άποψη για τον Παναθηναϊκό". Archived from the original on 2011-11-12. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  4. ΡΟΣΤΕΡ 2024-25. pao1908.com (in Greek). Retrieved 9 October 2021.