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Iraklis B.C. (Greek: Ηρακλής Κ.Α.Ε., Greek pronunciation: [iɾa'klis]) is a Greek professional basketball club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Created in 1921, it serves as the professional men's basketball department of the multi–sport club of G.S. Iraklis Thessalonikis. The club's colors are blue and white, inspired by the flag of Greece. They play their home matches at Ivanofeio Sports Arena. As of 2022, the club competes in the second–tier level Greek Elite League.

Iraklis Thessaloniki won the Greek National Championship in 1928 and 1935, and has also reached the Greek Cup final three times. Some of the greatest players in Greek, European and worldwide basketball have played for Iraklis Thessaloniki over the years including: Lefteris Kakiousis, Jure Zdovc, James Donaldson, David Ancrum, Walter Berry, Xavier McDaniel, Roy Tarpley, Nikos Chatzivrettas, Vasily Karasev, Lazaros Papadopoulos, Dimitris Diamantidis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis.

History

The parent athletic club of G.S. Iraklis Thessalonikis was founded in 1908, and initially featured football. The club was named after Heracles (or Hercules), the mythical Greek demigod. The basketball team of Iraklis was established in 1921.

Iraklis won the inaugural Greek League championship in 1928. To win the championship, Iraklis had to eliminate AEK Athens and Near East, before beating VAO in the championship game. The team won its second Greek championship in 1935. Also in the team's history, three times Iraklis finished in second place in the Greek Championship (1936, 1962, and 1964), three times Iraklis has been a Greek Cup Finalist (1981, 1994, and 1996), and two times Iraklis made it to the semifinals of the European 2nd-tier level league Cup Winners' Cup.

Iraklis reached the semifinals of the 1994–95 FIBA European Cup, where they competed against Taugrés. Iraklis won the first game 79–78, but lost the next two games, to be eliminated 2–1 in a best of three series. In 1996, an Iraklis team led by former NBA players Xavier McDaniel and Roy Tarpley, reached the Greek Cup Final Four. By beating Apollon Patras in the semifinal, Iraklis reached the final, where it then lost 85–74 to Panathinaikos. Iraklis has also twice competed in the top European continental competitions. The club played in the European top-tier level European Champions' Cup in the 1995–96 season, and also competed in the FIBA SuproLeague during the 2000–01 season.

Recent history (2005-present)

In 2006, Iraklis was relegated to the Greek A2 Basket League, after finishing 13th in the first-tier Greek League. In 2010, after four seasons in the second-tier level Greek League, the team was promoted back up to the top-tier Greek Basket League. After one season in the Greek top-tier level, Iraklis was again relegated down to the A2, with two matches left in the season. At the end of the season, Iraklis chose to play in the third-tier level of Greek basketball, the Greek B Basket League, in order to clear its debts. The club was promoted to the Greek A2 Basket League in 2013, after finishing 2nd in its group, and after Peristeri failed to receive financial clearance to participate in the league.

In the 2018–19 season, Iraklis won the promotion playoffs of the Greek A2 League, and was promoted up to the top level Greek Basket League, for the first time in 8 years. During the 2019–20 season, Iraklis is taking part in the Greek Basket League organized by the Hellenic Basketball Federation. The season started in October 2019 and was scheduled to end in June 2020. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the championship was terminated earlier. Iraklis took the 7th place with 29 points, having 9 wins and 11 losses in a total of 20 games. In the 2020–21 season, Iraklis returned to European competitions, taking part in the qualifying round of the Basketball Champions League and later on in the 2020–21 FIBA Europe Cup where the club reached the Top16 round having 3 wins and 1 loss. In the 2020–21 season Iraklis took the 10th place with 29 points, having 7 wins and 15 losses in a total of 22 games.

In European-wide competitions

Honours and titles

European competitions

• FIBA Saporta Cup

Semifinalists (2): 1994–95, 1996-97

Domestic competitions

• Greek League

Champions (2): 1927–28, 1934–35

Runners-up (3): 1935–36, 1961–62, 1963–64

• Greek Cup

Runners-up (3): 1980–81, 1993–94, 1995–96

• Greek Second Division

Champions (2): 1974–75, 1977–78

Home arena

In earlier times, Iraklis played its home games at the Thessaloniki Forum. Iraklis currently plays its home games in the Ivanofeio Sports Arena, an arena with a seating capacity of 2,221. The arena opened in 1987, and it was expanded to its current capacity in 1991. Ivanofeio is situated in the Thessaloniki city center, and it is owned by the GS Iraklis multi-sport club.

Supporters

The most prominent supporters' club of the team is Aftonomi Thira 10 (meaning Autonomous Gate 10), a fan club with a total of 15 branches in Northern Greece. The fan club is known for holding an antiracist stance, as it participates in the Ultras Antiracist Festival. Other activities of the fan club include the publication of a magazine, and the conducting of an annual festival. Other minor supporters' clubs are SFISE, Blue Boys, A.P.A.T.S.I., and Iraklis Fan Club of Athens. In a 2013 opinion poll, Iraklis was ranked as the 6th most popular basketball club in Greece, gathering 2.8% of the participating supporters' votes.

Players

Current roster

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

Iraklis B.C. roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age SF 3 Paparegkas, Nikos 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 30 – (1994-07-31)31 July 1994 PG 4 Biniakou, Dimitris 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 26 – (1998-01-04)4 January 1998 PG 6 Tsiakmas, Nikos 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 25 – (1999-10-29)29 October 1999 PG 7 Fofana, Selim 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 25 – (1999-07-08)8 July 1999 PF 10 Bilionis, Charis 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 2.02 kg (4 lb) 16 – (2008-07-20)20 July 2008 SG 11 Liapis, Michail 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 29 – (1995-03-11)11 March 1995 PF 12 Kampouridis, Kostas 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 25 – (1999-06-24)24 June 1999 C 13 Dimalis, Nikos 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 20 – (2004-08-10)10 August 2004 SG 16 Gotzamanidis, Marios 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 18 – (2006-08-31)31 August 2006 PF 25 Stone, Keith 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 27 – (1997-08-25)25 August 1997 SF 26 Kalogiros, Andreas 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 22 – (2002-08-23)23 August 2002 C 27 Kottas, Thomas 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 113 kg (249 lb) 28 – (1996-04-27)27 April 1996 SF 31 Vrettas, Vasilis 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 27 – (1997-10-21)21 October 1997 SG 56 Mastrogiannopoulos, Sarantis (C) 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 27 – (1997-12-03)3 December 1997	Head coach Charis Markopoulos Assistant coach(es) Nikos Kampouris Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 2 December 2024

Depth chart

Notable players

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

• David Ancrum (1987–92)
• Vangelis Angelou (1995–96)
• Walter Berry (1994–95)
• Roderick Blakney (2001–02)
• Steve Burtt Sr. (1995)
• Steve Bucknall (1996–98, 2002–04)
• Nikos Chatzivrettas (1997–02)
• Dimitris Diamantidis (1999–04)
• Byron Dinkins (1998–00)
• James Donaldson (1993–94)
• Toney Douglas (2021–22)
• Justin Hamilton (2004–05)
• Olivier Hanlan (2019–21)
• Savvas Iliadis (2002–05, 2011)
• Buck Johnson (1998–00)
• Lefteris Kakiousis
  (1987–97)
• Dimitris Kalaitzidis (2002–05, 2016–20)
• Georgios Karagkoutis (2000–02)
• Vasily Karasev (2000–01)
• Takis Karatzoulidis (1971–85)
• Manthos Katsoulis (1990–93)
• Vassilis Kavvadas (2019–21)
• Xavier McDaniel (1995–96)
• Erik Meek (1996–97, 2001–02)
• Igor Milošević (2003–05)
• Aristeidis Moumoglou (1960–67, 1970–72)
• Dimitris Papadopoulos (1985–94)
• Lazaros Papadopoulos (1996–01, 2003–04)
• Michalis Polytarchou (2018–19)
• Vladimir Petrović-Stergiou (2009–11)
• Sotiris Sakellariou (1971–84)
• Sofoklis Schortsanitis (2000–03)
• Charles Smith (1997)
• Nikos Stavropoulos (1992–94)
• Roy Tarpley (1996)
• Christos Tsekos (1986–92)
• Jure Zdovc (1993–96)

• Greek internationals of Iraklis
• Papadopoulos played a total of six seasons with Iraklis, in 1996–2001, and 2003–2004.
• Schortsanitis played with Iraklis, from 2000 to 2003.
• Dimitris Diamantidis played with Iraklis, from 1999 to 2004.

Head coaches

Head Coach	From	To	Titles & Honors
Makis Piritidis	1979	1980
Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou	1980	1981	1 Greek Cup Finalist 1981
Michalis Giannouzakos	1987	1987
Soulis Markopoulos	1987	1990
- Steve Giatzoglou	1990 1996	1992 1996	1 Greek Cup Finalist 1996
Theodoros Rodopolos	1992	1992
Ciko Awerbuck	1992	1992
Johnny Neumann	1992	1993
- Dragan Šakota	1993 1998	1994 2000	1 Greek Cup Finalist 1994
- Slobodan Subotić	1994 1995	1995 1995
Tom Newell	1996	1996
Zoran Slavnić	1997	1997
Vangelis Alexandris	1997 2015
Makis Dendrinos	2000	2000
Lefteris Kakiousis	2004 2009	2005 2010
Jure Zdovc	2006	2006
Darko Russo	Nov 2010	Jan 2011
Georgios Kalafatakis	Jan 2011	Feb 2011
Chris Chougkaz	Feb 2011	Sep 2011
Makis Kalantaridis	Sep 2011	Oct 2011
Thodoris Albanis	Oct 2011	Mar 2012
Antonis Kyritsis	Mar 2012	May 2012
Dimitris Vatos	May 2012	Jul 2012
Thomas Kostopoulos	Jul 2012	Jul 2013
Dimitris Tsolakis	Jul 2013	Sep 2013
Stefanos Perkos	Sep 2013	Apr 2014
Giorgos Kyroudis	Apr 2014	Nov 2014
Giannis Damalis	Nov 2014	Mar 2015
Stefanos Perkos	Mar 2015	Oct 2015
Vangelis Alexandris	Oct 2015	Jan 2018
Lefteris Chatzikyriakidis	Jan 2018	Oct 2018
Kostas Mexas	Oct 2018	Jul 2019	promoted to Greek Basket League
Ioannis Kastritis	Jul 2019	Jan 2020
Ilias Kantzouris	Jan 2020	Jul 2020
Vangelis Ziagkos	Jul 2020	Dec 2020
Stergios Kalyvas	Dec 2020	Feb 2021
Thanasis Skourtopoulos	Feb 2021	Oct 2021
Stergios Koufos	Oct 2021	Nov 2021
Kostas Mexas	Nov 2021	May 2022

References

1. Tahidromos (11 November 1921). "formation of the first team". Tahidromos Voriou Ellados (in Greek). Parliament Library. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
2. ^ Giannopoulos, Nikos (4 June 2014). Η χρυσή βίβλος του ελληνικού πρωταθλήματος μπάσκετ (in Greek). contra.gr. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
3. Mpakolas, Giorgos (29 May 2015). Θεσσαλονίκη: Μπασκετομάνα ή φτωχομάνα (in Greek). EuroHoops.net. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
4. Ιστορία (in Greek). Iraklis BC. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
5. "Iraklis club history". Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
6. ^ Maragousia, Antonia (16 April 2010). Ταξίδι στο χρόνο από το 1968 έως σήμερα (in Greek). sport24.gr. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
7. ^ Η ιστορία των τελικών Κυπέλλου Μπάσκετ (in Greek). pamesports.gr. 9 February 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
8. Κάθε χρονιά κι ένα μάθημα (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 29 April 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
9. Φινάλε με γιορτή στο Ιβανώφειο (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 29 May 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
10. Maragousia, Antonia (13 April 2011). Ηρακλής - Πανιώνιος: 52-59 (in Greek). sport24.gr. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
11. Διαλύεται η ΚΑΕ Ηρακλής (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 29 July 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
12. Αρχίζει ο σχεδιασμός για τη Β΄ Εθνική (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 1 August 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
13. "Οριστικά στη Β' Εθνική ο Ηρακλής". sport24.gr. 29 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
14. Loutsi, Alexandra (3 July 2013). "Ηρακλής: Ανεβαίνει Α2". onsports.gr. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
15. "Τα συγχαρητήρια του ΕΣΑΚΕ σε Ιωνικό και Ηρακλή". novasports.gr (in Greek). Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
16. Γήπεδο: Ιβανώφειο Χωρητικότητα: 2500 (in Greek).
17. Ivanofio Indoor Hall.
18. Σύνδεσμοι ΑΘ10 (in Greek). Αυτόνομη Θύρα 10 Official site. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
19. Αντιρατσιστικό οπαδικό μήνυμα (in Greek). gazzetta.gr. 4 July 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
20. Το περιοδικό της "Αυτόνομης" (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 20 September 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
21. "SICK 'N' BLUE festival στο Ιβανώφειο" (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
22. Ανακοίνωση Συνδέσμων - ΓΣ - ΠΑΕ - ΚΑΕ (in Greek). Αυτόνομη Θύρα 10 Official site. 2 January 2011. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
23. Τι έλαβαν όλες οι ομάδες στο "οπαδοψήφισμα" (in Greek). gazzetta.gr. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2015.

See also

• Basketball in Greece
• List of basketball clubs in Greece
• Greek basketball clubs in international competitions
• List of basketball clubs in Greece by major honours won
• Thessaloniki Forum

External links

Official websites

• Iraklis B.C.
• Iraklis B.C. Shop
• G.S. Iraklis Thessalonikis
• IRA Store
• Iraklis Radio

• Sports
• Basketball
• Greece

• Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C.
• Iraklis Thessaloniki
• Basketball teams established in 1921
• Basketball teams in Greece