It was the 18th of June 2010, when Evangelos Marinakis became the man at the helm of our country’s largest club, OLYMPIACOS, in what was the most difficult financial conjecture both for Greece and our debt-ridden club.
It is 9 years since that fay; years of successes and affirmation, European recognition, social offering and work, always with respect to the principles and ideals of OLYMPIACOS.
Many titles won, great individuals and world-class players proudly honoring our jersey bearing the emblem of the laurel-crowned adolescent; but, first and foremost, hard work delivered with a sense of responsibility and seriousness that, no doubt, brings about result and distinctions.
The list is so long, when one tries to summarize all LEGEND’s successes, across the board, in this 9-year spell of our leader, Evangelos Marinakis.
OLYMPIACOS really took off in athletic terms. Seven championships won in nine years, seven of which in a row, which equaled a record set by the LEGEND itself back in the 7-year period 1997-2003. In the same period, the club won the Greek Cup –and thus the double- three times, which made those years an amazing period of success. In the year 2012/13, OLYMPIACOS added on its glorious jersey its forth star, since the club reached number 40 of domestic championship titles –currently at 44- and set out for its fifth star.
ΟLYMPIACOS soared to European acclaim by means of its glorious achievements under his presidency. In the years of Evangelos Marinakis, the great Piraeus outfit made it for the first time to EUFA Club ranking #24, which stands for the club’s best performance ever.
This has been a deed built on victorious international battles of historic proportions. Big wins against mythical squads of the likes of Dortmund, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Benfica, Anderlecht, Manchester United and Milan; these are some of the clubs that suffered the might of Karaiskakis. Moreover, who can forget the 0-3 triumph against Anderlecht in Brussels, or those amazing away wins on French soil against domestic champions Marseille and Montpellier, in Zagreb over Dynamo, in frozen Moscow to Rubin; or that win in Turkey against Osmanlispor that sealed our side’s qualification to the Εuropa League top 16, and that magical evening in London beating Arsenal 2-3… And certainly the night when even Lionel Messi and our own Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona were held back by the Legend’s amazing home performance.
Taking off and the miracle of OLYMPIACOS Academies
But it is not just the Football Teams that experienced moments of glory in the era of Evangelos Marinakis. The OLYMPIACOS Academies, which represent the very foundations of the club, truly took off!
Unbelievable it might sound, it is the absolute truth: until Mr Marinakis arrival, the OLYMPIACOS Academies had won no more than 70 titles; from 2010 to date, with our leader’s unreserved support, the LEGEND has won 74!!! Through this process, ΟLYMPIACOS became the top domestic club also in terms of academies, featuring an operational status second to none.
Our Academies success in Europe has also been immense. Over the past 9 years, the club has won 5 more European trophies! European Championship in Men water polo, European championship, European Super Cup and LEN Trophy in Women water polo, and the Challenge Cup in Women volleyball. A kind of unsurpassed grandeur that, apart from winning titles, involves ongoing participation in finals of European tournaments that has secured a place for our Academies amongst Europe’s fines.
Consistency and hard work is evident when it comes to titles, but also to investments and growth. Under Evangelos Marinakis, other Academies grew massively or were established out of nothing, like e.g. the Women basketball team that has won four consecutive doubles and registered a winning streak of 113 domestic matches, or the Men handball team that has already started piling up trophies.
Olympiacos ambassadors and major projects
Some world-class players and individuals have featured under our flag and helped make OLYMPIACOS known all over the world.
Riera, Fuster, Rommedahl, Pantelic, Ibagaza, Modesto, Miralas, Samaris, Manolas, Roberto, Cholebas, Chori, Saviola, Milivojevic, Fortounis, Elabdellaoui, Abidal, Afellay, Ideye, Cambiasso, Cardozo, Retsos, Christodoulopoulos, Toure, Podence and Sa, are merely some of the names that made the LEGEND even bigger, and the list will keep on growing.
A very significant project that is also a huge legacy for the entire OLYMPIACOS organization is the modernization and extension project of the Rentis facilities, which are currently considered to be the best in Greece and amongst Europe’s finest. Amongst others, new guestrooms were built to accommodate players and young Academy athletes, while focusing on their training.
More, maintenance and development works in our home ground of Karaiskakis make it the most sophisticated and safe football pitch in Greece. Our new locker room area is one of the best in Europe, as well as the Press Area which has been praised by international journalists. The restaurant offers high-level services. New suites and meeting rooms were also built.
Multi-action social responsibility plan
After Evangelos Marinakis took on OLYMPIACOS FC, he deployed an extensive plan of CSR-related actions both in Greece and abroad. Being ready to offer became a way of living for the red-and-whites.
Recent examples include his tangible financial support to flood-ridden area of Mandra in 2017 and to Mati after the devastating 2018 wildfire.
Starting in, Evangelos Marinakis and OLYMPIACOS offer morale and financial support to the “ELPIDA” Association of Friends of Children with Cancer.
In December of that year, OLYMPIACOS organized the “8th Match against Poverty – Zidane friends vs Ronaldo friends” at Karaiskakis Stadium; all revenues were donated as financial aid to Haiti and Pakistan.
OLYMPIACOS was also there to substantially support Japan’s effort for recovery following the 2011 disastrous tsunami. In fact, we were the first club globally to contact official Japan delegates, by inviting the Japanese Ambassador to a special ceremony in which the club presented him with a cheque to use and mitigate the results of that natural disaster.
In June 2012 and through the “Greece Debt Free” NGO, bought 1,364,000€ worth of the Greek debt, offering another 168,590€ on behalf of OLYMPIACOS FC’s 55 players and staff.
In 2013, OLYMPIACOS FC announced its major international partnership with UNICEF to finance the “100% Campaign”, the most important initiative ever taken to vaccinate children across the globe. This partnership was renewed in 2017.
Moreover, Evangelos Marinakis greatly strengthened the “Steven Gerrard Foundation” that is connected to great British football veteran, former player of Liverpool and England, Steven Gerrard. This organization focuses on children in distress and those suffering from serious diseases.
In the past six years, OLYMPIACOS has been keeping the flame lit for those very special individuals, children with cancer accommodated by the “Floga”, the Parents Association for Children with Cancer. Since 2016, Evangelos Marinakis has been substantial supporting the globally-reaching work of the University of Harvard on the Global Right to Inclusive Participation in Sports. In fact, in September 2017, he funded a conference held in Athens in collaboration with the University of Harvard on “Reinforcing, Crossing, and Transcending Borders: Soccer in a Globalized World”, an event with specific reference to.
Following that, OLYMPIACOS signed the “Athens Principle for the Right to Participate in Sports”, an initiative also supported by Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Juventus, Fenerbahce, Real Madrid, Euroleague and the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), all co-signatories of the “Athens Principle”.
From May 31st until June 2nd, 2018, the 3rd conference, with the support of OLYMPIACOS FC and Mr Evangelos Marinakis, was organized at the University’s seat in Massachusetts, US.
The 2016 refugee crisis was another major concern for the leader of OLYMPIACOS. Under his guidance and inspiration, the OLYMPIACOS organization made a lasting and humane intervention: from March 4th, 2016, and for a duration of 2 months, until the government took over, OLYMPIACOS provided food, water, clothing and footwear to refugees staying at the Ports of the Port of Piraeus. More than 70,000 portions of food were distributed, and more than 150,000 items of clothing and toys were given away.
Moreover, since 2014 until today, OLYMPIACOS is the main sponsor of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in Heraklion Myrtia village, supporting thus in practice their daily operations and all evets related to promoting the work of that great scholar and man of letters.
The “Together in Life – Together in OLYMPIACOS” program is also worth mentioning, as developed by the red-and-whites since 2016. Mentally challenged children from Special Schools in Piraeus receive training in the premises of the OLYMPIACOS Academy, take part in specific football tournaments and attend matches played in the G. Karaiskakis Stadium. This program was recognized as a European Best Practice in a survey of the Ulster University entitled “The Engagement of Disabled People in European Football – Best Practice Cases”, carried out on behalf of UEFA.
Also, in the context of the Special Olympics European Football Week, OLYMPIACOS FC and Special Olympics Hellas co-organized at the Rentis Training Center and for 2 consecutive years (2017 and 2018) an amazing Special Olympics 7×7 football tournament and Unified matches featuring players from the club’s Academies. In the tournament, we also had the participation of the OLYMPIACOS FC’s “Together in Life – Together in OLYMPIACOS” program team. Our collaboration with the Special Olympics Hellas still goes on.
Via OLYMPIACOS FC, Mr Evangelos Marinakis, in 2017, made a donation in memory of his father Miltiadis Marinakis to the Children’s Hearts Association for people with Congenital Heart Diseases, established in Northern Greece, to purchase all necessary equipment for the Relatives’ Medical Practice for Adults with Congenital Diseases in the A’ Heart Clinic of the AHEPA Hospital. This medical practices serves almost 600 patients and helps to facilitate their diagnosis and follow-ups in Thessaloniki, and thus avoid the Athens-Thessaloniki travel for medical reasons for both children and their parents.
Last but not least, Mr Evangelos Marinakis supports the work of the Holy Metropolitan Church of Piraeus, covering expenses in the past 8 years for their soup kitchens that have been feeding thousands of people. He also the Church’s children camp that was reopened thanks to the support by OLYMPIACOS FC.
