Karaiskakis Stadium Guide Olympiacos FC

Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece

Karaiskakis Stadium (Στάδιο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης) is the home ground of Olympiacos FC, the most successful club in Greek football.

The 33,334 capacity soccer-specific stadium is the second largest soccer stadium in Greece after the Olympic Stadium of Athens, which is not soccer-specific. The Olympic Stadium of Athens has served as the home ground of rivals Panathinaikos and AEK during its history. Indeed, Olympiacos themselves were also tenants of the Olympic Stadium from 1984 to 1989.

Now Olympiacos' new stadium is named after Georgios Karaiskakis (1782-1827), a hero of the Greek War of Independence, who was killed during a battle inside the Acropolis by Ottoman forces.

History

The stadium has its roots in the first Olympic Stadium built for the first Olympic Games of the modern period in 1896.

Renovated in the 1960s, the stadium was demolished and rebuilt, reopening in 2004 in time for the football competition of the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Within the stadium is the Olympiacos Museum dedicated to all the sports teams of Olympiacos, not just soccer.

Opposite the ground is the Peace and Friendship Stadium, an indoor arena and home to the Olympiacos basketball team.

The most successful club in Greek football history. — The most successful club in Greek football history

Olympiacos

Founded in 1925, the club is the most successful in Greece. Besides a hatful of domestic trophies - Olympiacos are the only football club in the world to have won five or more consecutive championships five times, for example - the Erythroleykoi or 'Red-Whites' also won the 2024 Conference League final, beating Fiorentina 1-0 at the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens (home to rivals AEK), to become the first Greek club to win a major European competition.

Nations League, Karaiskakis Stadium. — Nations League match, Greece v Republic of Ireland, Karaiskakis Stadium

Players

The top scorer in the red and white stripes is Giorgos Sideris with 224 goals in two spells at the club - 1959 to 1970 and his last two games as a pro in 1971 to 1972. In between he spent a season at Royal Antwerp becoming the first Greek player to play outside Greece.

Serbian Predrag Đorđević has the most appearances for the club (493) and netted the most goals by an overseas player (157).

Nikos Anastopoulos, aka "The Bomber", was a prolific striker in the 1980s, scoring over 100 goals for the club.

Other notable foreign players who have played for the club include Brazilian Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, Eric Abidal (just 9 games) and Christian Karembeu both of France, Yaya Touré, and Rivaldo, who contributed over 40 goals in his 80 games or so for the club in the twilight of his career.

Greek stars in the modern era include Kostas Mitroglou, Stelios Giannakopoulos (who spent several seasons at Bolton Wanderers in England), Kostas Fortounis, Vasilis Torosidis and Giorgos Anatolakis.