Panionios, Greek Football Pioneers Part 3

Panionios, Greek Football Pioneers Part 3 

Kick off to Life League and a Taste of Europe

By Stephen Kountourou.

Throughout the mid 1920s, popularity in football saw a huge increase with the formation of the Greek Football federation in 1926. The first official League was formed a year later in 1927, known as the Panhellenic Championship. Sports clubs who had been formed years before were too embracing the beautiful game as part of their sporting activities.

The vast majority of the domestic league seasons from the league's formation, until the end of the 1950s were played with inconsistent numbers of teams per league season. Some League tables would have as little as two or three to as many as eight or ten with teams appearing and disappearing. This was due to the teams having to qualify for the national championship via their local football competitions. With Olympiakos, Panathinaikos and AEK refusing to participate, the first official league was played between Aris, Ethnikos Piraeus and Atromitos. Aris were victorious, claiming the first ever Greek League title. 

Panionios did not compete in the Panhellenic Championship until after World War Two. In the Period between the leagues inception and their league debut however, the organisation made huge strides for sports in the country. They organised the introduction of women's sports in Greece and they eventually found their permanent home in Nea Smyrna, settling into the Nea Smyrna stadium, where they have resided ever since.

The 1946/47 season, their first in the national championships, they finished a respectable 3rd place, only two points behind champions Olympiakos and runners up Iraklis and ahead of twice former league champions AEK. From there, Panionios would disappear from the national championships again, until 1950/51 where they finished 2nd place out of three teams, still one of the highest finishes in the clubs history, albeit in a small league. The next year, in 1952, they would reach their first Greek Cup final, losing over two legs to eventual winner Olympiakos. Once again, the Nea Smyrna club would not be seen very frequently until the end of the decade where they would go on to participate in three consecutive championships in a row, finishing 7th, 5th and 3rd in the last few years of the Panhellenic Championship era. From this point onward Panionios would be a mainstay in Greek football, consistently in and among the bigger, more successful clubs. 

From 1959 the Alpha Ethniki would replace the Panhellenic Championship as the top division in Greece and with that came changes to the league format. There was a set number of teams consistently per season, other than the occasional expansion or reduction of league size. Promotion to and relegation to and from the first tier was also added with teams finishing in the bottom three relegated to the FCA winners Championship, Greece's second tier at the time. In the first decade of the new League System, Panionios remained consistently in the top half, with a couple of drops into mid table. They most notably finished 3rd in the League in 1960/61 and reached the Greek Cup final. They once again fell short to Olympiakos, being thumped 3-0 by the Piraeus giants, who went on to qualify for the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. Panionios would also take their first breath into European football. In 1964/65 they took part in the Rapan Cup, after Olympiakos decided to no longer compete after two games and played the remainder of the matches in Group CA. They memorably dispatched Swedish giants Malmo 1-5 away in Sweden but were unable to progress from the group after drawing in the home tie against Malmo and Dinamo Zagreb and losing at home 0-3 to Toulouse.  The Nea Smyrna side would finish the decade with another Greek Cup final in 1967, only to lose again at the final hurdle, this time to Panathinaikos in a slim 1-0 win for the Prasini.

It would not be until the 1970s where Greece's oldest Club would truly taste sweet, sweet victory.

Hellas Football.