Ionikos Nikaias B.C.

Ionikos Nikaias B.C. (Greek: Iωνικός Νίκαιας K.A.E.) is a Greek professional basketball club that is located in Nikaia, Piraeus, Athens. The club was founded in 1965. It is a part of the A.O. Ionikos Nikaias (Α.Ο. Ιωνικός Νίκαιας) multi-sports club. The team's colors are white and blue.

Ionikos Nikaias
Nickname	King Blue–Whites
Leagues	Greek Basket League Greek Cup
Founded	1965 (1965)
History	Ionikos Nikaias B.C. (1965 – Present)
Arena	Nikaias Platonas Indoor Fitness Center Sofia Befon Indoor Hall
Capacity	1,200 1,204
Location	Nikaia, Piraeus, Athens, Greece
Team colors	White and Blue
Main sponsor	Affidea
President	Vangelis Tsapas
Team manager	Christina Skentziou
Head coach	Stergios Koufos
2018–19 position	1st (A2)
Championships	2 Greek 2nd Division (1975 (B), 2019 (A2)) 1 Greek 3rd Division (2018)
Website	ionikosbc.gr
Home Away

The team currently plays in the Greek Basket League, the first tier level in Greek basketball.

Logos

• 
  (A.O. Ionikos Nikaias' official 1965 club logo.)
• 
  (Ionikos Nikaias B.C.'s official logo –2018.)
• 
  (Ionikos Nikaias B.C.'s official logo 2018–present.)

History

Early years

Ionikos Nikaias' men's basketball club was founded in 1965, and it played its first game in 1966, during the 1966–67 season. Over the years, the club has featured players such as: Panagiotis Giannakis, Fotis Katsikaris, Nikos Oikonomou, Vangelis Margaritis, Vassilis Kavvadas, and Marios Batis. Ionikos Nikaias played in the Greek 2nd Division for the first time, in the 1972–73 season. The club won the Greek 2nd Division first group in the 1974–75 season, and was thus promoted to the top-tier level Greek League, for the first time, for the 1975–76 season.

The club made 12 consecutive season appearances in the top-tier level Greek Basket League, during the 1970s and 1980s period, from the 1975–76 season, to the 1986–87 season. The club also competed in the 3rd-tier level European-wide competition, the FIBA Korać Cup, in both the 1979–80 and 1984–85 seasons.

On January 24, 1981, Ionikos Nikaias, led by a then 22-year-old Giannakis, played against Aris Thessaloniki, which was led at the time by Nikos Galis. Aris won in a tight game, by a score of 114–113. The game is memorable in the history of Greek pro club basketball, because in the game, Giannakis scored 73 points, and Galis scored 62 points,[1] achieving the 2nd and 4th most points scored in a single game of the Greek League basketball championship.

On August 3, 1984, Ionikos Nikaias transferred its club star Panagiotis Giannakis, to the Greek club Aris Thessaloniki. Aris paid Ionikos Nikaias a transfer fee for his player rights, in the amount of 42 million Greek Drachmas,[2] which was considered a huge amount of money for a transfer at that time. In order to complete the transfer, Giannakis also personally received a BMW car, a sporting goods store, and 8 million drachmas from Aris.

Recent years

Ionikos Nikaias won the Greek 3rd Division south conference in the 2017–18 season, and thus earned a league promotion to the Greek 2nd Division, for the 2018–19 season. That marked the first time the club had played in the Greek 2nd Division, since the 2003–04 season.

In the 2018–19 season, Ionikos won the Greek 2nd Division (A2) championship, and was promoted up to the first tier level Greek Basket League, for the first time since the 1986–87 season.[3]

Ionikos Nikaias B.C. in international competitions

Main article: Ionikos Nikaias B.C. in international competitions

Arenas

Ionikos' long-time home arena (1970–2018) is the Nikaias Platonas Indoor Fitness Center (Greek: Κλειστό Γυμναστήριο Πλάτων Νικαίας), which is an indoor arena that is located in Nikaia, Piraeus, and has a seating capacity of 1,200 people. Platonas Gymnasium is currently being renovated. For the Greek Basket League 2019–20 season, Ionikos moved into the Sofia Befon Indoor Hall,[4][5] which is located in Palaio Faliro, and has a seating capacity of 1,204 people,[6] which can be increased to 2,000 people with optional retractable seats in the lower tier.

Honors and titles

Domestic competitions

• Greek 2nd Division (B) South Conference Champion: (1974–75)
• Greek 3rd Division First Group Champion: (2017–18)
• Greek 2nd Division (A2) Champion: (2018–19)

European competitions

• Participant in FIBA Korać Cup (3rd-tier): (1979–80)
• Participant in FIBA Korać Cup (3rd-tier): (1984–85)

Season by season

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.	Greek Cup	European competitions
1972–73	2	B Basket League	--
1973–74	2	B Basket League	2nd
1974–75	2	B Basket League	1st
1975–76	1	Basket League	7th
1976–77	1	Basket League	7th
1977–78	1	Basket League	5th
1978–79	1	Basket League	6th
1979–80	1	Basket League	11th		3 Korać Cup First Round
1980–81	1	Basket League	8th
1981–82	1	Basket League	12th
1982–83	1	Basket League	8th
1983–84	1	Basket League	6th
1984–85	1	Basket League	9th		3 Korać Cup First Round
1985–86	1	Basket League	8th
1986–87	1	Basket League	10th
1987–88	2	A2 Basket League	6th
1988–89	2	A2 Basket League	6th
1989–90	2	A2 Basket League	8th
1990–91	2	A2 Basket League	4th
1991–92	2	A2 Basket League	5th
1992–93	2	A2 Basket League	5th
1993–94	2	A2 Basket League	3rd
1994–95	2	A2 Basket League	6th
1995–96	2	A2 Basket League	9th
1996–97	2	A2 Basket League	14th
1997–98	3	B Basket League	9th
1998–99	3	B Basket League	2nd
1999–00	2	A2 Basket League	8th
2000–01	2	A2 Basket League	3rd
2001–02	2	A2 Basket League	11th
2002–03	2	A2 Basket League	6th
2003–04	2	A2 Basket League	13th
2004–05	3	B Basket League	7th
2005–06	3	B Basket League	12th
2006–07	3	B Basket League	14th
2007–08	4	C Basket League	7th
2008–09	4	C Basket League	10th
2009–10	4	C Basket League	10th
2010–11	5	ESKANA A1	4th
2011–12	5	ESKANA A1	1st
2012–13	4	C Basket League	2nd
2013–14	3	B Basket League	3rd
2014–15	3	B Basket League	7th
2015–16	3	B Basket League	2nd
2016–17	3	B Basket League	5th
2017–18	3	B Basket League	1st
2018–19	2	A2 Basket League	1st

Roster

Ionikos Nikaias B.C. roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age G/F 3 Maragidis, Nikos 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 23 – (1997-07-23)23 July 1997 G/F 6 Kountouras, Giorgos 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 30 – (1990-03-08)8 March 1990 G 9 Sakellariou, Vangelis 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 31 – (1989-08-04)4 August 1989 F/C 13 Schaftenaar, Roeland 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 109 kg (240 lb) 32 – (1988-07-29)29 July 1988 PG 16 Chatzikyriakos, Giorgos 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 17 – (2002-12-28)28 December 2002 G/F Petropoulos, Andreas 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 24 – (1996-04-15)15 April 1996 G Mustafa, Muhaymin 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 20 – (1999-10-02)2 October 1999	Head coach Stergios Koufos Assistant coach(es) Sotiris Nikolaidis Aggelos Tsikliras Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: August 16, 2020

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C		Roeland Schaftenaar
PF
SF	Andreas Petropoulos	Nikos Maragkidis
SG	Muhaymin Mustafa	Giorgos Kountouras
PG		Vangelis Sakellariou	Giorgos Chatzikyriakos

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club. Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time. Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Kostas Alexandridis
• Marios Batis
• Dimitris Bogdanos
• Vasilis Charalampopoulos
• Tasos Dimitriadis
• Panagiotis Giannakis
• Georgios Kalafatakis
• Andreas Kanonidis
• Vangelis Karampoulas
• Fotis Katsikaris
• Sotiris Katoufas
• Vassilis Kavvadas
• Dimitris Kompodietas
• Thomas Kottas
• Nikos Liakopoulos
• Dimitrios Lolas
• Vangelis Margaritis
• Loukas Mavrokefalidis
• Iakovos Milentigievits
• Nikos Oikonomou
• Andreas Papadopoulos
• Michael Paragyios
• Christos Petrodimopoulos
• Giannis Sachpatzidis
• Sofoklis Schortsanitis
• Fotis Vasilopoulos
• / Angelo Tsagarakis
• Roeland Schaftenaar
• / Steve Burtt Jr.
• Eugene Lawrence
• Jamal Jones

Head coaches

Head Coach	Years
Nikos Oikonomou	2015–2016
Nikos Vetoulas	2018–2019, 2019
Stergios Koufos	2019

See also

• A.O. Ionikos Nikaias (multi-sport club)
• Ionikos Nikaias F.C. (football club)

References

1. Euroleague.net My name is Giannakis. Panayotis Giannakis.
2. "Σεισμός στην Θεσσαλονίκη, ο Γιαννάκης στον Άρη" (in Greek).
3. "Ιωνικός Νικαίας : Στην Basket League με Κουφό!". Sportime.gr (in Greek). 27 May 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
4. Στο «Σοφία Μπεφόν» ο Ιωνικός Νικαίας (in Greek).
5. Ιωνικός Νικαίας: Προς το "Σοφία Μπεφόν" για τη νέα σεζόν (in Greek).
6. Αυτό είναι το νέο Κλειστό Γήπεδο του Παλαιού Φαλήρου (in Greek).

External links

• Official website (in Greek)
• Ionikos Nikaias B.C. Twitter (in Greek)
• Ionikos Nikaias B.C. Facebook (in Greek)
• Ionikos Nikaias B.C. YouTube
• Eurobasket.com Team Profile