| Iraklis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname |
|
| Leagues | |
| Founded | 1921; 104 years ago (1921) |
| Arena | Ivanofeio Sports Arena |
| Capacity | 2,400 |
| Location | Thessaloniki,Greece |
| Team colors | |
| Main sponsor | Novibet |
| CEO | Anastasios Digas |
| President | Anastasios Digas |
| Vice-president | Pavlos Tsakiris |
| General manager | Georgios Pantazopoulos |
| Team manager | Giorgos Efthimiadis |
| Head coach | Zoran Lukić |
| Assistants |
|
| Team captain | Dimitrios Moraitis |
| Ownership |
|
| Championships | 2Greek Championships |
| Website | iraklis-bc |
Iraklis B.C. is aGreek professionalbasketball club based in the city ofThessaloniki,Macedonia,Greece. Created in 1921, it serves as the professionalmen'sbasketball department of themultisports club ofG.S. Iraklis Thessalonikis.[1] The club's colors areblue andwhite, inspired by theflag of Greece. They play their home matches atIvanofeio Sports Arena. As of 2025, the club competes in thefirst–tier levelGreek Basketball League.
Iraklis Thessaloniki won theGreek National Championship in 1928 and 1935, and also reached theGreek Cup final three times. Some of the greatest players in Greek, European and worldwide basketball have played for Iraklis Thessaloniki over the years including:Lefteris Kakiousis,Jure Zdovc,James Donaldson,David Ancrum,Walter Berry,Xavier McDaniel,Roy Tarpley,Nikos Chatzivrettas,Vasily Karasev,Lazaros Papadopoulos,Dimitris Diamantidis andSofoklis Schortsanitis.
The parent sporting club ofG.S. Iraklis Thessalonikis was founded on 29 November 1908, and initially featuredfootball. The club was named afterHeracles (orHercules), themythical Greekdemigod. The basketball team of Iraklis was established in 1921.[2]
Iraklis won the inauguralGreek League championship in 1928.[3][4] To win the championship, Iraklis had to eliminateA.E.K. andNear East, before beatingV.A.O. in the championship game. The team won its second Greek championship in 1935.[3] Also in the team's history, Iraklis has thrice finished in second place in the Greek Championship (1936, 1962, and 1964), twice been aGreek Cup finalist (1981, 1994, and 1996), and twice made it to the semifinals of theEuropean 2nd-tier level leagueCup Winners Cup.[5]
Iraklis reached the semifinals of the1994–95 FIBA European Cup, where they competed againstTaugrés. Iraklis won the first game 79–78, but lost the next two games, to be eliminated 2–1 in abest of three series.[6] In 1996, an Iraklis team led by formerN.B.A. playersXavier McDaniel andRoy Tarpley, reached theGreek Cup Final Four.[7] By beatingApollon Patra in the semifinal, Iraklis reached the final, where it then lost 85–74 toPanathinaikos.[7] Iraklis has also twice competed in the top European continental competitions. The club played in theEuropean top-tier levelEuropean Champions Cup in the1995–96 season, and also competed in theFIBA SuproLeague during the2000–01 season.
In2006, Iraklis wasrelegated to theGreek A2 Basket League, after finishing 13th in the first-tierGreek League.[8] In 2010, after four seasons in the second-tier levelA2 National Division, the team waspromoted back up to the top-tierGreek League.[9] After one season in the Greek top-tier level, Iraklis was again relegated down to theA2 National Division, 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, theB National Division, in order to clear its debts.[11][12][13] The club was promoted to theA2 National Division in 2013, after finishing 2nd in its group, and afterPeristeri failed to receive financial clearance to participate in the league.[14]
In the2018–19 season, Iraklis won the promotion playoffs of the Greek A2 League, and was promoted up to the top levelGreek League, for the first time in 8 years.[15] During the2019–20 season, Iraklis is taking part in theGreek League organized by theHellenic Basketball Federation. The season started in October 2019 and was scheduled to end in June 2020. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the championship was terminated earlier. Iraklis took the 7th place with 29 points, having 9 wins and 11 losses in a total of 20 games. In the 2020–21 season, Iraklis returned to European competitions, taking part in the qualifying round of theBasketball Champions League and later on in the 2020–21FIBA Europe Cup where the club reached the Top16 round having 3 wins and 1 loss. In the2020–21 season Iraklis took the 10th place with 29 points, having 7 wins and 15 losses in a total of 22 games.
In earlier times, Iraklis played its home games at theThessaloniki Forum. Iraklis currently plays its home games in theIvanofeio Sports Arena, an arena with a seating capacity of 2,400. The arena opened in 1987, and it was expanded to its current capacity in 1991. Ivanofeio is situated in theThessaloniki city center, and it is owned by theG.S. Iraklis Thessaloniki multi-sport club.[16]
The most prominent supporters' club of the team isAftonomi Thira 10 (meaning Autonomous Gate 10), a fan club with a total of 15 branches in Northern Greece.[17] The fan club is known for holding an antiracist stance, as it participates in theUltras Antiracist Festival.[18] Other activities of the fan club include the publication of a magazine, and the conducting of an annual festival.[19][20] Other minor supporters' clubs areSFISE,Blue Boys,A.P.A.T.S.I., andIraklis Fan Club of Athens.[21] 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.[22]
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| Iraklis B.C. roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Updated:November 22, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 | Bench 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Lance Ware ‡ | Derek Funderburk Jr. ‡ | Vassilis Christidis | ||
| PF | Sean–Christian Smith ‡ | Kostas Kampouridis | Thanos Vlachos | ||
| SF | Kyle Foster ‡ | Cole–John Syllas | Marios Giannikos | Zaccheus Darko–Kelly ‡ | |
| SG | Dimitris Moraitis | Marios Poulianitis | |||
| PG | Justin Wright–Foreman ‡ | Nikos Tsiakmas | Alexandros Komnianidis |
Notes:Blue ‡ – foreign player[a]
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| Criteria |
|---|
To appear in this section a player must have either:
|
David Ancrum(1987–92)
Vangelis Angelou(1995–96)Walter Berry(1994–95)
Roderick Blakney(2001–02)Steve Burtt Sr.(1995)
Steve Bucknall(1996–98, 2002–04)Nikos Chatzivrettas(1997–02)Dimitris Diamantidis(1999–04)Byron Dinkins(1998–00)
Mike DiNunno(2015–16)James Donaldson(1993–94)Toney Douglas(2021–22)
Justin Hamilton(2004–05)
Olivier Hanlan(2019–21)Savvas Iliadis(2002–05, 2011)Buck Johnson(1998–00)Lefteris KakiousisDimitris Kalaitzidis(2002–05, 2016–20)Georgios Karagkoutis(2000–02)
Vasily Karasev(2000–01)Takis Karatzoulidis(1971–85)Manthos Katsoulis(1990–93)Vassilis Kavvadas(2019–21)Mike King(2006)Xavier McDaniel(1995–96)Erik Meek(1996–97, 2001–02)
Igor Milošević(2003–05)Aristeidis Moumoglou(1960–67, 1970–72)Dimitris Papadopoulos(1985–94, 1996–97)Lazaros Papadopoulos(1996–01, 2003–04)Smush Parker(2011)Michalis Polytarchou(2018–19)Vladimir Petrović-Stergiou(2009–11)Sotiris Sakellariou(1971–84)Sofoklis Schortsanitis(2000–03)Charles Smith(1997)Nikos Stavropoulos(1992–94)Roy Tarpley(1996)Brooks Thompson(1997)Christos Tsekos(1986–92)
Jure Zdovc(1993–96)| Nationality | Head coach | From | To | Honours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soulis Markopoulos | 1987 | 1990 | |
| Steve Giatzoglou | 1990 1996 | 1992 1996 | Greek Cup Finalist 1996 |
| Theodoros Rodopoulos | 1992 | 1992 | |
| Chico Averbuck | 1992 | 1992 | |
| Johnny Neumann | 1992 | 1993 | |
| Dragan Šakota | 1993 1998 | 1994 2000 | Greek Cup Finalist 1994 |
| Slobodan Subotić | 1994 | 1996 | |
| Tom Newell | 1996 | 1996 | |
| Zoran Slavnić | 1997 | 1997 | |
| Vangelis Alexandris | 1997 Oct 2015 | 1998 Jan 2018 | |
| Makis Dendrinos | 2000 | 2000 | |
| Lefteris Kakiousis | 2002 2009 | 2005 2010 | Greek A2 League Runner–up 2010 |
| Jure Zdovc | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Kostas Mexas | 2010 Oct 2018 Nov 2021 | 2010 Jul 2019 May 2022 | Greek A2 League Runner–up 2019 |
| Darko Ruso | Nov 2010 | Jan 2011 | |
| Georgios Kalafatakis | Jan 2011 | Feb 2011 | |
| Chris Chougkaz | Feb 2011 | Sep 2011 | |
| Makis Kalantaridis | Sep 2011 | Oct 2011 | |
| Thodoris Albanis | Oct 2011 | Mar 2012 | |
| Dimitris Vatos | Mar 2012 | Jul 2012 | |
| Thomas Kostopoulos | Jul 2012 | Jul 2013 | |
| Dimitris Tsolakis | Jul 2013 | Sep 2013 | |
| Stefanos Perkos | Sep 2013 | Apr 2014 | |
| Giorgos Kyroudis | Apr 2014 | Nov 2014 | |
| Giannis Damalis | Nov 2014 | Mar 2015 | |
| Stefanos Perkos | Mar 2015 | Oct 2015 | |
| Lefteris Chatzikyriakidis | Jan 2018 | Oct 2018 | |
| Ioannis Kastritis | Jul 2019 | Jan 2020 | |
| Ilias Kantzouris | Jan 2020 | Jul 2020 | |
| Vangelis Ziagkos | Jul 2020 | Dec 2020 | |
| Stergios Kalyvas | Dec 2020 | Feb 2021 | |
| Thanasis Skourtopoulos | Feb 2021 | Oct 2021 | |
| Pantelis Boutskos | Oct 2021 | Oct 2021 | |
| Stergios Koufos | Oct 2021 | Nov 2021 |
(in Greek)
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