An empire strikes back

12:03 21/3/2025 - Πηγή: Τα Νεα

June 2010: Evangelos Marinakis rolls up his sleeves and gets down to work for Olympiacos, as Greece finds itself in the most fraught economic situation in its post-war history. And while most people are focused, reasonably, on the pressing need for a “total turnaround” from the team, which had finished fifth in the league

a few weeks ago, Miltiadis Marinakis’ son is determined to preside over a total restart. It’s around this time that the modern history of the amateur sports teams changes, too: the same sides that have earned the Red and Whites the undisputed title of top multi-sport club in Europe in 2025. A title it took from the great Barcelona and which (needless to say) it has no intention of returning…ever.

No, obviously the long history of Olympiacos’ amateur division didn’t start just 15 years ago. It has achieved a great deal in the past, too. But in 2010, a year… when Greece’s very mountains were buckling under the weight of the bailout memoranda, the big idea hatched in the port proved decisive.

Along with the way Evangelos Marinakis stood by the management that gradually formed under Michalis Kountouris – and took over the presidency a year later. At a time when some of the amateur sports teams had been left with just a couple of players, but with piling debts, and so on—when most of the country’s traditional teams took several steps back—Olympiacos leapt forward. It was an empire that did more than simply survive, providing a textbook case study on how to restart and launch a counter-attack. An emulatable model of how a true giant that encompasses more than just football and basketball can cast a longer shadow in the world of sports. An organization that has won multiple titles and has reached European finals in any number of different tournaments. A sports organization which has Olympic champions in its ranks. And which, needless to say, runs like a well-oiled machine, with new sections and the vision that befits its size.

Olympiacos’ volleyball teams continue to dominate at home in Greece, while remaining among the European elite.

The ‘Fan Card’

Back now to the Olympiacos counter-attack. The most important elements were steadily investing in all sports, reorganizing the infrastructure, and keeping the Club competitive at the highest level. At the same time, the support of Marinakis through Olympiacos FC, and by the fans through the “Fan Card” program, played a crucial role in keeping the amateur side’s finances robust.

The Olympiacos men’s and women’s volleyball teams won dozens of titles in Greece and Europe. The men’s team won consecutive championships and reached the top of Europe in 2023. Its victory in the CEV Challenge Cup against Maccabi Tel Aviv marked a great come-back by the Greek club at the international level.

For Olympiacos’ women’s volleyball, 2018 was a milestone year, as the team won the CEV Challenge Cup, the first European trophy in the history of Greek women’s volleyball. At the same time, the team won successive domestic championships and cups, while reaching yet another final in the Challenger Cup.

Water polo is one of the Club’s most successful divisions, with great European and domestic successes under the belt of both its men’s and women’s teams.  Olympiacos won the Men’s Champions League in 2018, repeating its triumph of 2002, and has earned what looks like a permanent place among the top teams of Europe. The number of finals and semi-finals it has reached has established Olympiacos as a water polo powerhouse.

The Olympiacos women’s water polo team dominated in Europe, winning the LEN Euro League in 2015, 2021 and 2022, and proving itself an irresistible force in the sport. The team also won the LEN Trophy along with three European Super Cups, while reaching the finals in another four European competitions.

Although only recently reestablished, the Olympiacos men’s handball team has won championships and cups and laid the foundations for even greater successes in the future. The men’s participation in the European Cup final in 2024 has added to the considerable momentum it has already achieved internationally.

The Olympiacos women’s basketball team is dominant in Greece, where it has won consecutive championships and Cups, and consistently earns places in the top European competitions.

team sports. Red and white international case study on how a complex and big idea evolves">Fifty appearances in the finals of international competitions in practically every team sport. Olympiacos comprises a case study on how a complex and grand idea evolves over time.

At the same time, Olympiacos has retained a top-flight presence across the sporting spectrum, producing dozens of Olympic champions, world champions, European champions, Mediterranean champions and Balkan champions—more than any other Greek club, in fact—along with literally hundreds of national champions down the decades.

It is the only Greek club that has won European titles in four different team sports and in a total of nine different sporting disciplines. Specifically, the Club has 10 European trophies in water polo to its credit (three in the men’s competition and seven in the women’s), four in volleyball (three won by the men and one by the women), three in men’s basketball, and one title each in men’s and youth football. In addition, Olympiacos athletes have distinguished themselves in men’s Greco-Roman wrestling and table tennis, winning a European title in each. At the same time, the Club has added the Intercontinental Cup in basketball and the Balkan Cup in football to its trophy cabinet, making Olympiacos the first Greek club to distinguish itself internationally in every one of the sports commonly played in Greece. It is also the only Greek club that has won the European championship in a team sport two years in a row, and with different sections bringing home the trophies to boot! Specifically, the men’s basketball team won the title in 2012 and 2013, while the women’s water polo team achieved the same feat in 2021 and 2022.

The 2014 water polo epic

It is also noteworthy that at the end of the 2013-2014 season, in which the men’s water polo, men’s volleyball and women’s volleyball teams all won the double and the women came out top in the water polo Championship (there was no cup competition back then), Olympiacos’ amateur side became the first club in the history of Greek sport to win the Greek Championship and the Greek Cup in all four sections of the two amateur team sports it hosts (men and women’s volleyball, men and women’s water polo). In addition, victory for the women’s polo team in the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the swimming, table tennis and athletics divisions all winning their respective Greek championships, earned Olympiacos no fewer than 11 titles in a single season. Incredibly, it would go on to replicate this achievement the following (2012-13) season.

Olympiacos has shown that it can play a leading role at every level, win titles, and maintain its prestige internationally.  The Club also has an impressive record with no fewer than 50 appearances in international finals across the team sports it competes in, in both men and women’s events. In addition, it holds the record for consecutive appearances in European finals: at eight years (2012-2019), it is a unique achievement for a Greek sports club.

Olympiacos continues to invest in its different sections, and to seek even greater distinctions. Creating cutting-edge sports facilities, bolstering its academies, and maintaining a high competitive level are all key priorities.

Trophies by the dozens

Olympiacos keeps on adding to its titles.  The Club has won hundreds in team sports at the national level. It dominates sports such as football, water polo, volleyball, table tennis and men and women’s swimming. In swimming, with 65 titles in the Greek Championship, it holds the record for the most wins in a specific sporting event. At the same time, it holds the record for the most consecutive wins in the history of the competition, with 29 consecutive championships and counting.

With the support of the fans, the right management, and the further enhancement of its competitiveness, Amateur Olympiacos remains at the very pinnacle of Greek sport while continuing to make history in European competitions. The renaissance that began after 2010 has been more than a recovery; it has been a journey towards the establishing of a permanent place for Olympiacos at the very top of European sport.