Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium - History

History

Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium holds a very important place in the history of Greek football. The first stand was built in 1928, and for almost 50 years it hosted the majority of big matches in domestic and international competitions. It was the first to have floodlights installed (1938) and the first with a grass pitch (1958). It was the home of the Greek National Team for many years.

Panathinaikos left Leoforos in 1984 and moved to the Olympic Stadium. The club returned to their home ground in 2001, following an upgrading that cost €7 million.

On January 27, 2007 Panathinaikos Amateur and Panathinaikos FC decided to reuse Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium for the 2007/2008 Greek Super League season

Due to the stadium's old construction, dearth of space and dense urbanization of the area, the club has sought to move. Negotiations are currently under way between the Greek government, the Municipality of Athens, and the football, basketball, volleyball and amateur divisions of the club in order to facilitate the building of a new, comprehensive sports complex to house all of the 21 departments of Panathinaikos elsewhere. Finally, the industrial Votanikos district has been selected among others to house the complex and there are plans for the construction to begin in 2008. Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni has stated that such a project will revitalise the area as well as benefit the club.

In 2012, seeing as Panathinaikos' bad financial situation hasn't allowed them to construct the new stadium at Votanikos and the tickets per game have dramatically decreased, the President, Giannis Alafouzos decided to move the team back to the historical Leoforos Alexandras. Although some renovations have to be made which cost about 1,000,000€ and a few political issues it is most likely that Panathinaikos will be playing again at their real home. It is possible that they will return even during the beginning of the second round (Q1 2013).