Olympiacos: Europe’s Most Successful Multi-Sport Club; 315th Title Months Before Centennial

Α reverse countdown for the highly-anticipated 100-year anniversary of Olympiacos Piraeus’ founding – March 2025 – couldn’t come at a more auspicious time, with the latest titles achieved in multiple sports affirming the immensely popular club’s presence in an elite company: world-class sports organizations whose influence leave an indelible mark.

Last April witnessed Olympiacos’ U19 team win the UEFA Youth League, followed the next month, May, with the pro team winning the Europa Conference League in Athens, marking the first time in UEFA tournament history that two teams of the same club won two out of the four annual European titles up for grabs – an achievement that still seems incredible for a Greek club.

Fast forward to July and August during the Paris Olympic Games and two Olympiacos athletes, Apostolos Christou in swimming (silver medalist in the 200m backstroke), and Emmanouil Karalis in the pole vault (bronze medal), lived up to the Reds’ long-standing tradition of producing Olympic champions, with 23 out of the 100 athletes of the Greek delegation at the Paris Games hailing from the Piraeus team.

On Saturday, Sept. 14, essentially at the beginning of the pro sports calendar for the 2024-25 season, Olympiacos’ handball team picked up the season’s first “silverware” by overcoming PAOK in the Greek Handball Premier Super Cup for the landmark 315th title in all team sports competitions since Olympiacos’ foundation. The tally is greater, by one, over Barcelona (314), which up until this past weekend was tied with Olympiacos at the top of the relevant and highly prestigious list.

In the first quarter of the 21st century Olympiacos has won international titles in football, basketball, volleyball (men’s and women’s) as well as water polo (men’s and women’s), all in tandem with an absolute dominance in domestic competitions. Handball is now another sport where Olympiacos dominates, and the title clinched on Saturday means the latter is now the pre-eminent multi-sports club.

The elite “300+ Club” has only three teams: Olympiacos with 315, followed by Barcelona with 314 and Benfica, with 301.

This ranking means that the heralded Olympiacos name is ahead of other European giants, such as Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo and Steaua Bucharest and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, venerable sports organizations whose sides traditionally dominate numerous team sports.

Naturally there’s an explanation: Olympiacos’ teams not only carry a heavy tradition, but now have “point of reference” over the past 15 years, namely, from the summer of 2010, when following Evangelos Marinakis’ assumption of the pro football team he subsequently spearheaded a rejuvenation of Olympiacos’ amateur sports.

Over the past 15 years the “Reds” have strengthened their teams in various sports, achieving huge successes and providing the country’s national sides with top-flight players.

During the Marinakis era, more amateur sports were added – such as women’s basketball and men’s handball – and others were further developed, bringing new titles and successes to the Olympiacos “galaxy”. The handball program not only managed to win the Greek championship in the 2023-2024 season, but also reached the final of a European competition for the first time, the European Cup.

Over the same period, no less than 118 titles were won by Olympiacos’ amateur sports teams, along with 15 titles by the men’s pro football side. And, of course, another 14 titles were won by Olympiacos BC under the leadership of the Angelopoulos brothers.

Olympiacos’ 315 titles

Football: 81
Men’s Basketball: 32
Men’s Water Polo: 71
Men’s Volleyball: 61
Women’s Water Polo: 28
Women’s Volleyball: 19
Women’s Basketball: 13
Men’s Handball: 10

Football 81

UEFA Europa Conference League: 1
Balkan Cup: 1
UEFA Europa League: 47
Cups: 28
Greek Super Cup: 4

Basketball 32

FIBA Intercontinental Cup: 1
Championships Europe: 3
Championships Greece: 14
Cups Greece: 12
Super Cups Greece: 2

Men’s Volleyball 61

CEV Cup: 2
CEV Challenge Cup: 1
Championships: 32
Cup: 18
League Cup: 6
Super Cup: 2

Women’s Volleyball 19

CEV Challenge Cup: 1
Championships: 8
Cups: 10

Men’s Water Polo 71

LEN Champions League: 2
LEN Super Cup: 1
Championships: 38
Cups: 25
Super Cups: 5

Women’s Water Polo 28

Len Euroleague: 3
Len Trophy: 1
Len Super Cup: 3
Championships: 15
Cups: 5
Super Cups: 1

Women’s Baskeball 13

Championships: 8
Cups: 5

Handball 10

Championships: 4
Cups: 3
Super Cups: 3