Attending a Football match in Athens

Champions League Game at OAKA Stadium (© Copyright: Michalakis Ppalis)

Attending a Football match in Athens

In Athens sports, lovers can watch professional football, in both national and international championships. Football is the most popular sport and is organized in three professional national divisions.

The top professional football division, Super League runs from September to May and contains 14 teams which compete on weekends.

The victory of the Greek National Football team of the UEFA Euro 2004 intensified the interest of the Greek sports fans regarding professional football and raised numbers of attendance at the Super League games. Super League clubs have an average attendance of 22,853 spectators per game.

Olympiakos FC, Panathinaikos FC, and AEK are the most popular and successful clubs in Greek football. Panathinaikos has a long time rivalry with Olympiakos and the derby between the two teams is most of the times explosive, with violent incidents in the past enforcing authorities to take measures and empty the football pitch.

Some of the most prestigious and historic football pitches in Athens such as the Karaiskaki Stadium, Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, and O.A.K.A. Stadium, facilitate major sporting and cultural events all year round.