The beginning of the history of the “eternal” derby

Olympiacos and Panathinaikos cross their swords next Monday for the 9th game of the Stoiximan Basket League and ESAKE started the tributes for the derbies of the “eternals”, referring to the first meeting of the two teams.

Analytically:

“The first derby of the season for the Stoiximan Basket League is approaching as Olympiakos welcomes Panathinaikos OPAP at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Monday (22/11, 19: 30-ERT3) and esake.gr puts you in the mood. The first battle between the two teams for the Center Championship and the meeting of the “eternals” in the Panhellenic Championship.

Time is running out for the first derby of this year in the Stoiximan Basket League, a game that returns in the sports daily life of the fans after 1,100 days. Needless to say, this couple means a lot to the sporting life of the country, given that we are talking about two clubs with countless successes and titles in their record, two opponents who have offered some of the most important and shocking games in the history of the sport in country.

The times they have crossed their swords Olympiacos with Panathinaikos OPAP they are innumerable. It is indicative that in order to locate the first duel between them, we have to go back in time. To be precise, on April 22, 1946, when according to reports of the time (official data are few), the two teams crossed their swords for the Center Championship, with Panathinaikos beating Olympiakos 38-31, in matches which qualified for the Panhellenic Championship. A year later the two met again, created a series of confrontations and in fact wrote the prologue for this great joint path they followed, which went so far as to consider each of their dates as one of the top (if not the top) throughout Europe.

On July 7, 1947, the second game between them takes place, but the first for the Panhellenic Championship, this time against the background of the emergence of the Champion of Greece. Then, in the middle of the civil strife, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos compete for the 2nd Post-War Basketball Championship, in a match that -according to the reports of the time- was watched by more than 2,000 fans at the Triton stadium.

At a time when the way the game was played was very different, the “red and whites” were better in the first twenty minutes, took a small lead (18-14), with Dimitropoulos leading and the Spanoudakis brothers as protagonists, but in the process they faced big offensive problems. The reason had to do mainly with the way the greens defended, with the absolute protagonist Missa Pantazopoulos, an athlete who had been transferred from Panhellenic to Panathinaikos and was considered the top defender of his time while the attacking peak was Jack Nikolaidis. Somehow, Olympiacos achieves only 3 (!) Points in the second half, Panathinaikos is much more consistent and, in the end, reaches victory (41-21).

Characteristic is the article of “Athletiki Ihous” in the newspaper that was published on Thursday, July 10: “The match kept the numerous fans who watched it in constant interest. During the first half, Olympiakos, after a technical and combined play, leads 18-14. During the second half, however Panathinaikos were amazing. Rushing took the initiative from the first moves and scored 27 baskets against only 3 of the Olympics (!) To win the most beautiful victory with 41-21 “.

Among the distinguished for the clover were Lambrou and Giorgos Nikolaidis, with the specific green dominance putting an end to the red and whites’ aspirations to win the title. Panathinaikos creates a winning streak and somehow he reaches the conquest of the second consecutive title of Champion “.

TRIBUTE TO THE “ETERNAL” DERBY: The beginning of history #StoiximanBasketLeague #BasketLeague @ERT3Social

?? https://t.co/oGjv65niK1 pic.twitter.com/J8p6IjoUyr

– ΕΣΑΚΕ (@esakegr) November 18, 2021

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