Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C.

Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C.
Nickname	The Elder
Leagues	Greek A2 Greek Cup
Founded	1924
History	1924 – Present
Arena	Ivanofeio Indoor Hall
Capacity	2,443
Location	Thessaloniki, Greece
Team colors	White and Blue
President	Theodoros Drakopoulos
Head coach	Vangelis Alexandris
Championships	2 Greek Championships
Website	iraklisbc.gr
Uniforms
Home Away

Active departments of GS Iraklis
Football	Basketball (Men's)	Basketball (Women's)
Volleyball	Waterpolo	Handball
Athletics	Swimming	Rugby
Ice Hockey	Judo	Wrestling
Boxing	Fencing

Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. (Greek: ΚΑΕ Ηρακλής Θεσσαλονίκης, Greek pronunciation: [iɾak'lis θesalo'nikis]) is a Greek professional basketball team that is located in Thessaloniki. It serves as the basketball section of the multi-sport club G.S. Iraklis. Iraklis will play in the Greek A2 for the 2015–16 season.

The team colors are blue and white. Iraklis has won the Greek National Championship in 1928 and 1935, and has also reached the Greek Basketball Cup final three times. Several international national team players have played for the club including: Dimitris Diamantidis, Lazaros Papadopoulos, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Nikos Chatzivrettas, Lefteris Kakiousis, Jure Zdovc, and Vasily Karasev, as well as NBA stars such as Roy Tarpley, Xavier McDaniel, and James Donaldson.

History

Iraklis won the inaugural Greek Championship in 1928 and again in 1935.

The parent athletic club was founded in 1908, and initially featured football. The club is named after Heracles (or Hercules), the mythical Greek demigod. The basketball team of Iraklis was established in 1924.^[1]

Iraklis won the inaugural Greek League championship in 1928.^[2][3] To win the championship, Iraklis had to eliminate AEK Athens and Near East, before beating VAO in the championship game.^[4] The team won its second Greek championship in 1935.^[2] 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.^[5]

Iraklis reached the semifinals of the 1994–95 FIBA European Cup, where they competed against Taugrés.^[6] Iraklis won the first game 79–78, but lost the next two games, to be eliminated 2–1 in a best of three series.^[6] In 1996, an Iraklis team led by former NBA players Xavier McDaniel and Roy Tarpley, reached the Greek Basketball Cup Final Four.^[7] By beating Apollon Patras in the semifinal, Iraklis reached the final, where it then lost 85–74 to Panathinaikos.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[9] After one season in the Greek top-tier level, Iraklis was again relegated down to the A2, with two matches left in the season.^[10] 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.^[11][12][13] 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.^[14]

Home arena

Iraklis plays its home games in the Ivanofeio Indoor Hall, an arena with a seating capacity of 2,443.^[15] 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.^[15]

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.^[16] The fan club is known for holding an antiracist stance, as it participates in the Ultras Antiracist Festival.^[17] Other activities of the fan club include the publication of a magazine, and the conducting of an annual festival.^[18][19] Other minor supporters' clubs are SFISE, Blue Boys, A.P.A.T.S.I., and Iraklis Fan Club of Athens.^[20] 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.^[21]

Players

Current rosters

Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PF 4 Angelakopoulos, Vasilis 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 37 – 24 August 1979 SG 5 Giannakidis, Michalis 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 28 – 6 April 1988 G 6 Totsios, Kostas 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 38 – 7 August 1978 G 7 Onasoglou, Thodoris 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) G/F 9 Chrysopoulos, Savas 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 27 – 26 April 1989 G 10 Gagaloudis, Ioannis 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 38 – 22 August 1978 F/C 13 Rutkauskas, Ronaldas 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 24 – 3 September 1992 F 14 Cheilaris, Dimitris 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 26 – 18 August 1990 G/F 15 Kalaitzidis, Dimitris 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 31 – 15 February 1985 C 16 Raičević, Miroslav 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 113 kg (249 lb) 35 – 13 July 1981 C 17 Despos, Dimitris 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) 101 kg (223 lb) 40 – 30 March 1976	Head coach Vangelis Alexandris Assistant coach(es) Miroslav Raičević Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 8 October 2016

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Bench 3
C	Ronaldas Rutkauskas	Dimitris Despos	Miroslav Raičević
PF	Vasilis Angelakopoulos
SF	Savas Chrysopoulos	Dimitris Cheilaris
SG	Kostas Totsios	Michalis Giannakidis	Thodoris Onasoglou
PG	Giannis Gagaloudis	Dimitris Kalaitzidis

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have either:

• Played at least one season for the club.
• 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.
• To perform very successfully during period in the club or at later/previous stages of his career.

David Ancrum Vangelis Angelou Walter Berry Roderick Blakney Steve Burtt Sr. Steve Bucknall Nikos Chatzivrettas Dimitris Diamantidis

Byron Dinkins James Donaldson Justin Hamilton Savas Iliadis Buck Johnson Lefteris Kakiousis Giorgos Karagoutis Vasily Karasev

Dimitris Karatzoulidis Manthos Katsoulis Xavier McDaniel Erik Meek Igor Milošević Aristeidis Moumoglou Dimitris Papadopoulos Lazaros Papadopoulos

Vladimir Petrović-Stergiou Sotiris Sakellariou Sofoklis Schortsanitis Nikos Stavropoulos Roy Tarpley Christos Tsekos Jure Zdovc

• Greek internationals of Iraklis
• 
  Papadopoulos played a total of six seasons for Iraklis, between 1996 and 2004.
• 
  Schortsanitis played for Iraklis from 2000 to 2003.
• 
  Dimitris Diamantidis.

Notable coaches

Jure Zdovc has played for Iraklis between 1993–1996, and coached the team in the 2005–06 season.

• Makis Dendrinos
• Lefteris Kakiousis
• Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou
• Soulis Markopoulos
• Vangelis Alexandris
• - Steve Giatzoglou
• - Lefteris Soumpotits
• - Dragan Šakota
• Jure Zdovc

Honours

• Greek Championship
  • Winners (2): 1927–28, 1934–35
  • Runner up (3): 1935–36, 1961–62, 1963–64
• Greek Cup
  • Runners-up (3): 1980–81, 1993–94, 1995–96

See also

• Iraklis B.C. in Europe
• Basketball in Greece
• List of basketball clubs in Greece
• Greek basketball clubs in European competitions
• List of basketball clubs in Greece by major honours won

References

1. Οι σημαντικές στιγμές στο πέρασμα των χρόνων (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 29 November 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
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.
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. 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 (July 3, 2013). "Ηρακλής: Ανεβαίνει Α2". onsports.gr. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
15. Ιβανώφειο (in Greek). stadia.gr. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
16. Σύνδεσμοι ΑΘ10 (in Greek). Αυτόνομη Θύρα 10 Official site. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
17. Αντιρατσιστικό οπαδικό μήνυμα (in Greek). gazzetta.gr. 4 July 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
18. Το περιοδικό της "Αυτόνομης" (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 20 September 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
19. "SICK 'N' BLUE festival στο Ιβανώφειο" (in Greek). Bluearena.gr. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
20. Ανακοίνωση Συνδέσμων - ΓΣ - ΠΑΕ - ΚΑΕ (in Greek). Αυτόνομη Θύρα 10 Official site. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
21. Τι έλαβαν όλες οι ομάδες στο "οπαδοψήφισμα" (in Greek). gazzetta.gr. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2015.

External links

• Official Website (Greek) and (English)
• Eurobasket.com Team Profile

Press

• Blue Arena