Panathinaikos

Panathinaikos Football Club (in Greek, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος) is a Greek football club based in the city of Athens, Greece. Like all professional sports clubs in the country, it must prefix its name with a reference to its sporting and fiscal activity using the initials Π. Α. Ε. (in Greek, Ποδοσφαιρικές Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία; literally translated as Football Public Limited Company), and so it is referred to as Π. Α. Ε. Παναθηναϊκός (hereafter it will be referred to only by its transliterations).

Panathinaikos was founded on 3 February 1908 as Podosfairikós Ómilos Athina (Athens Football Club) as an amateur section of the parent entity, and for this reason the football team is sometimes also referred to by its initials P. A. O.

It plays in the Super League of Greece, the top division in the country, where it has hosted home matches at various venues; the most significant are the Stádio Apóstolos Nikolaídis, where it played for most of its history, and the Olympiakó Stádio Athinon, commonly known as the Athens Olympic Stadium, which it has alternated between since its first move in 1984. Since 2018 it has played at the Olympic venue, as it is newer and not as deteriorated as the first.

In 1979 the section became professional and in this way separated itself administratively and financially from P. A. O. Together with Olympiakós Peiraiós and Panthessaloníkeios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstantinoupolitón (P. A. O. K.), it belongs to the trio of the only teams that have never been relegated. It is also considered one of "the big three" teams of Greek football, together with the aforementioned Olympiakós Peiraiós, its greatest historic rival, and Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupóleos (A. E. K.); it is the oldest of them all.

As for sporting achievements, it is one of the most decorated and recognized entities in the country, where it is the second club with the most national titles, among which twenty league championships and eighteen cups stand out, while it is the most successful in UEFA competitions. In them it is the only team in the country to reach the final of the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) in the 1970-71 season, and the semi-finals in 1984-85 and 1995-96. It is also the only Greek team that has played the Intercontinental Cup (1971), a competition that designated the best club in the world through a match against the winner of the Copa Libertadores, or champion of the Americas. Played against the Uruguayan Club Nacional de Football, it qualified as European runner-up when Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax declined its right.

According to the results of surveys of football fans in Greece in 2014, Panathinaikos is indicated as the second most popular club, with a percentage gap relative to the first that varies between 2% and 9%. The club has millions of fans in the country, joined by others from Greek communities around the world.

It plays the "Derby of the Eternal Enemies