Olympiakos was founded back in the beginning of the 30's and was the very first Greek team to have been familiarized with the American basketball.
Alekos Spanoudakis cleverly learned how to imitate the jump-shoot of the American sailors and successfully used it in Greece. His brother, Yannis, met with a basketball legend, Bob Coozie, and practiced many of his secrets on court...
The two Spanoudakis brother icaded the club when it won the first Greek Championship title (1948-49). The second title came eleven years later when the "reds" also qualified for the first time in a European Championship against Galatasaray.
The club was also present in the very first national Championship in 1963-64 but was relegated at the end of the season in the second division. Three years later, Katsafados, Rammos and Spanos laid the team to the top positions of the first division. In the middle of the 70s, a bunch of Greek-American players came to Greece in order to reinforce the team. In 1976, coached by Phaedon Mattheou, Olympiakos won the Greek Championship creating an unprecedented record: 22 victories in 22 games! The second title followed two years later, in 1978. The team reached the "top 6" of the European Cup Winners Cup. In this decade four Greek Cups ('76, '77, '78, '80) were added to the club`s collection of trophies.
For the next 11 years the club remained in a tunnel. Only in the summer of 1991, when Socratis Kokkalis took over the precidency does the club fight back. Coached by Yannis Ioannidis and Dousan Ivkovic, Olympiakos becomes a real basketball dynasty. In 1993, the club reached the "top 8" of the European Championship winning also the Greek Championship, after 15 years. The following season, the team won both titles in Greece (Cup & Championship), qualified for the "Final Four" and actually made it to the final, where Badalona beat them in the last seconds. In 1995, still dominating Greece (Championship title), Olympiakos made it again to he final of the European competition where they were defeated again, this time by Real Madrid. The following year the team won the fourth consecutive Greek championship. In 1997, Olympiakos achieved the absolute success: three titles in three tournaments, the Greek Championship, the Greek Cup as well as the European Championship, having beaten Barcelona by 73-58 in Rome.
In 1998, Olympiakos became the first Greek team to ever play against the NBA's pros in the McDonald's Championship. In 1999, the "reds" participated for the fourth time in the "Final Four" and ranked third. Last Year, Olympiakos ranked third in the Greek Championship and this year the team's main goal is to return to the absolute success:Top Level European Star such as Dino Radja, David Rivers and Stephan Risacher as well as the Greck International player, Nikos Ekonomou in cooperation with the rest of the team and the new coach, Elias Zouros, are a real promise for an extraordinary season in both Greece and Europe....
