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bwin FMS Τράπεζα Πειραιώς

Panayotis & Georgios Angelopoulos

They were crazy for Olympiacos since they were kids and were following the team anywhere they played in Attica. Permanent ‘residents’ of OAKA and KARAISKAKIS since 1984 and ten years later, at the age of 20 and 21 years respectively they went to Tel Aviv to watch the 1994 Final Four and watch their great passion conquer the Champions Winners’ Cup, which a year later they attended the Zaragoza Final Four.

They could not fathom, but they were certainly imagining as they themselves have admitted that 18 years later and with the capacity of the Olympiacos’ Presidents they would conquer the European top. Giorgos and Panayotis Angelopoulos, sons of Konstantinos Angelopoulos were involved with the Club’s administration since 2004, but they completely took over the team in 2009.

It was 2004 when, together with Socrates Kokkalis, they began managing the Piraeus team and making financial contributions. They took over the team that had ranked eighth in the previous season of the Greek League and gradually started putting their own seal on the club. With each passing season the team was becoming all the more powerful.

Panayotis Angelopoulos has graduated the Moraitis School (1990), holds a B.A. in Economics from Deree College (1995) and an M.A. in Economics from Boston University (1995-1997).

Giorgos Angelopoulos is a Moraitis School graduate (1992), a graduate of the Business Administration Dpt. Of the Economics University of Athens (1992-1996) and holds an MBA (Masters of Business Administration) from the Babson College of Boston (1998-2000).

They have both served with the Navy. Giorgos Angelopoulos from 1996 to 1998 and Panagiotis Angelopoulos from 1997 to 1999.

Giorgos and Panayotis Angelopoulos have been and still spend endless hours supporting Olympiacos. They have been the ones to first of all believe in the young guys and gave them the chance to play for the team. They brought to Greece huge names, like Childress, Kleiza and Vujicic, attained young Greek players who then had a protagonist role in Europe, like Schortsanitis, Bourousis, Vasilopoulos, Vasileiadis, then Papanikolaou, Mantzaris and Sloukas as well as Papapetrou and Agravanis later on.  

With the team completely in the ownership of Giorgos and Panayotis Angelopoulos since 2009, it became obvious that it was only a matter of time before the team returned to top in both Greece and in Europe.

The beginning was in 2009 when the team returned to a Final Four following a dry spell of a decade and yet again on German soil. The last time was in Munich in 1999, and in 2009, under the Angelopoulos management, it was Berlin. Olympiacos had made its come back.  

In 2010, the team made it until the Paris final proving that it belonged to the European elite.

However, in June 2011, Giorgos and Panayotis Angelopoulos shock everyone with their decision to withdraw from both Olympiacos and Greek basketball in general, disgusted and disheartened, having exhausted any possibility to abide by morality, law and common sense.  

 

Their love for Olympiacos kept them close to the team. From the moment no one was available to take over Olympiacos, they decided not to abandon the team. At the same time, they decided to change everything.

The 2011-2012 season bore their mark and the end found Olympiacos at the top of both Greece and Europe. The Angelopoulos brothers had managed in their own unique way to conquer everything. The whole of Europe was talking about them and the Olympiacos model.

Next season once again found Olympiacos at the top of Europe. Back2Back for the Piraeus team, a unique achievement for Greek standards. Olympiacos once again made the Final Four in 2015 and made yet another final. The fourth one in the last seven years and while this was the fifth Final Four for the ‘reds’ since 2009.

Ten consecutive participations in the Euroleague Top-8, five final fours, four finals, two titles for the best team of these seven years in Europe.

In June 2015, Olympiacos once again climbs the top of the Greek League sweeping Panathinaikos 3-0 in the play offs and with a crystal clear record of 5-0 throughout the season. They did it their way. Just like when beginning ten years ago, that’s how Giorgos and Panagiotis Angelopoulos go on. In their own unique and special way.

Next season, the Presidents of Olympiacos celebrate winning the most special championship in the team's history. The two buzzer beating threes by Vassilis Spanoulis in the second and fourth final, lead the 'reds' to second League title in a row, while in 2017, the Piraeus team make one more Final Four, this time in Istanbul, eliminate CSKA in the semis but fall short against the 'hosting' team of Fenerbahce.

 

In the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons, Olympiacos, with Giannis Sfairopoulos and David Blatt in the bench, is looking for balance and identity. The Presidents of the team staff the organization with players who would later become a huge asset to the club, such as Sasha Vezenkov and in February 2019 they make the biggest decision in the history of the department.

The ‘red & whites’ organization, headed by the Angelopoulos brothers, decides to act in a decisive manner, projecting in the clearest way possible that patience has run out and there is no inclination to go backwards in terms of how they perceive the team's treatment by the referees. Olympiacos withdrew from the semi-final of the Greek Cup against Panathinaikos and requested that their games are never again officiated by "green" Greek refs, but rather by foreign nationals. Requests that the Hellenic Basketball Federation initially showed that it was considering them, until they backed down shortly before the playoffs of the Basket League. The club subsequently decided not to compete and hence play Greek competitions of upcoming seasons with the Developmental Team.

George and Panagiotis Angelopoulos received the support of the vast majority of the fans and in the years that followed, Greek basketball turned the page.
The team’s power duo brought back Giorgos Bartzokas to run it, assigning him the great task of returning to the top. And they got to see their decision vindicated and the club sweeping the domestic titles.
They also witnessed the team qualifying for Europe's premium basketball event (the Euroleague Final Four) for three consecutive years (2022, 2023, 2024), receiving universal recognition. Unfortunately, the chance of participating in the Belgrade final or winning another Euroleague title in Kaunas were lost for minor details.

This course of events in the ‘red and white history’ may have "hurt" them, but at the same time cemented their resolution to give even more to the Piraeus club in order to conquer new milestones in the future.

Board of Directors

President

Panayotis K. Angelopoulos

Vice President

Georgios Skindilias

Member

Dimitrios Prassos