Greek Basket League 2026/27 (M)

Greece's first champion did not come from Athens. In 1927/28 the title went to Iraklis of Thessaloniki, in a championship that pitted the winners of the regional tournaments against each other. A true national league only arrived in 1963/64, play-offs in 1986/87 and foreign players in 1988/89; in 1992/93 ESAKE, the clubs' association, took over and the competition turned professional.

In between came the decade that changed Greek basketball. The Aris of Nikos Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis strung together seven straight titles from 1985 to 1991 and that team is credited with igniting the Greek public's interest in basketball. Aris have not been champions since.

What followed fits in a single number: of the 34 leagues of the professional era, Panathinaikos have won 21, Olympiacos 12, and only one got away from them — AEK's in 2002, when they came back from 0-2 down in the final against, of all teams, Olympiacos. In the 24 seasons since, nobody has managed it again. Across the full roll of honour Panathinaikos have 40 titles, nine of them in a row between 2003 and 2011, and Olympiacos have 16.

Twenty-four games, twenty-four wins. Giorgos Bartzokas's Olympiacos went through the 2025/26 regular season without a single defeat, beating Panathinaikos 90-86 and 101-94 along the way; the Greens finished second at 19-5. PAOK (17-7) and AEK (16-8) completed the leading group, and Panionios, last at 6-18, went down to the Elite League.

The early rounds were close to a formality. Five of the six quarter-final and semi-final series ended 2-0; only AEK needed three games to get past Aris, with a 102-99 in the decider. The final was a pendulum instead: 82-76 to Olympiacos on 3 June at the SEF, 68-58 to Panathinaikos two days later at the OAKA, 102-92 red, 93-86 green. Game five, back in Piraeus, was set up by a 47-35 half-time lead that Panathinaikos nearly wiped out after the break.

Evan Fournier was MVP of that final, three weeks after earning the same honour at the EuroLeague Final Four, won 92-85 against Real Madrid inside Panathinaikos's own arena. It was the third time Olympiacos had paired the EuroLeague with the Greek title in the same season, after 1997 and 2012.

The two giants start below zero. A fight outside the SEF locker rooms during June's final cost each club two points from the 2026/27 table, plus €150,000 in fines and one game behind closed doors. Olympiacos will serve theirs on 11 October against Kolossos, their home debut at the SUNEL Arena in Ano Liosia — AEK's building, where they will play until the renovation of the SEF is finished.

On the green bench, an era turns. Željko Obradović returns to Panathinaikos fourteen years after leaving, with eleven Greek titles already won in that very seat, and takes over from Ergin Ataman. With him come Guerschon Yabusele, Sylvain Francisco and Moustapha Fall, who crosses straight over from Olympiacos after five seasons in red. The champions answer with Jean Montero, the Dominican point guard who left Valencia by triggering his buyout; Valencia, in turn, took T. J. Shorts from Panathinaikos.

Behind them come two Thessaloniki projects with openly stated EuroLeague ambitions. PAOK have signed Cedi Osman for three seasons after buying him out of Panathinaikos. Aris, thirty-five years after their last title, have handed the team to Vassilis Spanoulis, an Olympiacos legend, and have Kostas and Thanasis Antetokounmpo on the same roster.

Fourteen teams, 26 rounds home and away and 182 games between 3 October and 17 April. The return to fourteen had been planned since the summer of 2025: one relegation, Panionios's, and two promotions from the Elite League. The regular season crowns nobody; it ranks the eight who enter the play-offs and hands out home advantage. At the bottom, the last-placed side drops to the Elite League.

Since 2025/26 the bracket has run on short series: quarter-finals and semi-finals are best of three, the final best of five. A contender can be gone in four days, although last season only one of the six series before the final went to a third game.

The number worth keeping in front of you before predicting is a different one. Panathinaikos went unbeaten through the 2024/25 regular season and lost the final 3-1; Olympiacos went 24-0 a year later and the final still went the distance. Finishing first guarantees playing the last game at home, not winning it. And with both giants starting two points down, top spot has never looked less reserved.