Nea Smyrni Stadium

Panionios FC playing a home game in Nea Smyrni Stadium

In November 1937, Panionios G.S.S. Board of Directors led by President D. Karabatis and the Municipality of Nea Smyrni agreed to relocate the club in Nea Smyrni, the Athens suburb that was mainly inhabited by Greek World War I refugees coming from Smyrna, the club's historical home. Construction works started in 1938, and were completed one year later.

In the summer of 1940 the first football matches take place, with the club donating the money to support the repair of Greek Warship "Elli" which was hit by Italian forces on World War II. On September later that year Panionios G.S.S. celebrated its 50th year together with the completion of building the new stadium. Since then it has been used constantly for over 70 years from Panionios G.S.S. associated clubs and sports divisions.

Discover more about Early history related topics

Panionios G.S.S.

Panionios G.S.S.

Panionios G.S.S., the Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna, is a Greek multi-sport club founded in 1890. Originally based in Smyrna/Izmir, the club was uprooted in the population exchange between Greece and Turkey following the Asia Minor Catastrophe in 1922. It is now based in the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni in Greece, where many of the refugees from Smyrna settled.

Nea Smyrni

Nea Smyrni

Nea Smyrni is a municipality in South Athens, Greece. At the 2011 census, it had 73,076 inhabitants. It was named after the former Greek city Smyrna, whence many refugees arrived and settled in the Nea Smyrni area following the 1922 catastrophe of Asia Minor and the Great fire of Smyrna, as a result of the Greco-Turkish war..

Smyrna

Smyrna

Smyrna was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The name of the city since about 1930 is İzmir.

Greek cruiser Elli (1912)

Greek cruiser Elli (1912)

Elli was a 2,600 ton Greek protected cruiser named for a naval battle of the First Balkan War in which Greece was victorious. She was completed in 1913 and commissioned in 1914. Elli saw action during World War I and in the disastrous Asia Minor Expedition. An Italian submarine sank her before the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War on 15 August 1940 while she sat at anchor.

Improvement works have been undertaken in 2001 and 2003 including a cafeteria, Panionios G.S.S. sports shop, press and office facilities, improved medical and player facilities etc. Additionally a roof was placed above the East wing of the stadium.^[1] In 2009 Panionios G.S.S. installed an electronic ticketing system on the stadium to improve security in the team's matches.^[2][3]

Despite the improvements the core fan base of the team as well as its management strongly support that the old stadium is inadequate to cover the team's needs in terms of quality of services provided to the fans. Additionally, there are safety concerns as the stadium does not have enough entry and exit points in case of emergency.

View from the stadium's East Wing

The highest attendance ever recorded was on 1974 against Panathinaikos with 20,950 spectators. After the installation of seats and the reduction of the stadium's capacity there have been numerous matches with full attendance mainly in European competitions. The most recent ticket 'sold-out' was against Panathinaikos in 2008.

Apart from Panionios G.S.S. and its associated youth teams, the stadium was used for decades from Panionios G.S.S. athletes on track & field and numerous times from the Greek National U-21 and U-23 football teams. Additionally, due to the closing of many stadiums for renovation for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Nea Smyrni stadium was partly used from other football clubs as well. Those included AEK FC for the first half of the 2003/2004 football season and Olympiacos F.C. for one match in February 2003 against OFI. Last it has been the venue site for the 2004 Greek Cup final played by Panathinaikos and Olympiacos.^[4]

Due to its densely populated location, Nea Smyrni stadium has rarely been used as a concert site. The most famous concert ever taken place was Metallica's first appearance in Greece on June 27, 1993.

Discover more about Recent history related topics

Panionios G.S.S.

Panionios G.S.S.

Panionios G.S.S., the Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna, is a Greek multi-sport club founded in 1890. Originally based in Smyrna/Izmir, the club was uprooted in the population exchange between Greece and Turkey following the Asia Minor Catastrophe in 1922. It is now based in the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni in Greece, where many of the refugees from Smyrna settled.

Panathinaikos F.C.

Panathinaikos F.C.

Panathinaikos Football Club, known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO, is a Greek professional football club based in Athens, Greece.

2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad and also known as Athens 2004, were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes compete, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries, with 301 medal events in 28 different sports. The 2004 Games marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance, and also marked the first time Athens hosted the Games since their first modern incarnation in 1896 as well as the return of the Olympic games to its birthplace. Athens became one of only four cities at the time to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games on two occasions. A new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since 1928. The new design features the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens rectifying the long-running mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue. The 2004 Games was the first of two consecutive Olympic games to be held in Southern Europe since the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and was followed by the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Olympiacos F.C.

Olympiacos F.C.

Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus, known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club based in Piraeus, Attica. Part of the major multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP, their name was inspired from the ancient Olympic Games and along with the club's emblem, the laurel-crowned Olympic athlete, symbolize the Olympic ideals of ancient Greece. Their home ground is the Karaiskakis Stadium, a 32,115-capacity stadium in Piraeus.

Greek Football Cup

Greek Football Cup

The Greek Football Cup, commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation.

Metallica

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine, who formed Megadeth after being fired from the band, and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are former members of the band.

Panionios G.S.S. President Constantinos Tsakiris has announced the willingness of the club to replace the old stadium with a brand new 29.000 m² athletic centre cost of which will be approximately 60 million euro.^[5] The new athletic centre will include a modern football stadium of 12,000 seats, a basketball and a volleyball arena, an aquatic complex (including a water polo pool of 33m., 1 swimming pool of 25m., pools for children learning), a track and field training center as well as facilities for boxing, rhythmic gymnastics, wrestling, etc. Additionally, it will include a building complex of 6.500 m² for complementary amenities of the football stadium like vestry, administration offices, restaurants, VIP accommodations, and press facilities.^[6] The extra facilities other than the football stadium will be used by Panionios G.S.S., the multi-sport club under which Panionios G.S.S. belongs.

The new stadium project has triggered a minor controversy as small number of petitioners alongside side with members of the council of the Municipality of Nea Smyrni are objecting in its construction and are threatening to take legal action unless a new formula will be agreed between all parties regarding certain aspects of the project. The main argument of the opposition group is that the new athletic center will have increased commercial spaces (measured in square meters) in comparison to the existing one, thus increasing traffic and congestion in the area. The club responds that this extra space for commercial use in the project's architectural plans mainly consist of parking spaces and administration offices for Panionios G.S.S. and Panionios G.S.S. which is a common land use for the area and not department stores as the opposition believes. Additionally, the club legally argues that according to the current urban planning status of the existing stadium there is space for extra commercial uses that are not in operation/lease (have been in the past but failed to stay open).

The debate has temporarily paused, with the club pointing that without the commercial spaces in place the new project cannot generate enough income to repay its construction cost and has promised to come back with an alternative proposal that will satisfy all parties. Moreover, the Municipality of Nea Smyrni which has collectively taken a positive stance towards the new athletic center is expected to facilitate the debate and assist its resolution.^[7]