Two giants of the basketball world, KK Partizan (Serbia) and Panathinaikos (Greece), are touring Australia this week with the prestigious Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament potentially being held down under later this year.
Executives from both teams arrived in Melbourne on Friday, attended Saturday night’s Melbourne United v South East Melbourne Phoenix game, and are set to visit Sydney over the coming days to do their due diligence on the potential host city for the international tournament.
“To have executives from two of the biggest basketball teams in the world in Australia is an honour and incredibly exciting,” NBL Director and Board Member, Nikola Milivojevic, said.
“The potential of having the Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament in either Sydney or Melbourne is a major coup for the NBL and Australia. It will bring more world-class basketball to our shores, attract visitors from across the globe to the host city, and strengthen cultural and sporting ties between Europe and Australia.
“Both clubs are out here to scope out the best potential location and venue for the tournament, and we look forward to discussions continuing over the coming months.”
The Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament would be a four-game series in September and feature KK Partizan, Panathinaikos, and two NBL teams. The games would be broadcast globally.
Last year’s tournament saw a record 42,000 fans attend in the original Olympic Arena in Athens, creating one of the most unique basketball atmospheres ever seen. The tournament has never been held outside of Europe.
Founded in 1919, Panathinaikos are the current EuroLeague champions, have won that title seven times, are 40x Greek champions, and have one of the most loyal and largest fan bases in basketball, including thousands in Australia.
Legendary NBA players Dominique Wilkins and Byron Scott have played for Panathinaikos before, while Tasmania JackJumpers coach Scott Roth played for the Greek club from 1991-1992.
Founded in 1945, KK Partizan have won 49 trophies and are the holders of 21 national champion titles. The club holds the record for the highest single game attendance in the ABA League history in January 2024 (23,021).
Australian basketball stars Dante Exum (2022-23), Jock Landale (2018-19) and Nate Jawai (2010-11) have all played for Partizan before.
Former Sydney King and 2012 Olympian with the Australian Boomers, Aleks Maric, has played and won trophies for both Panathinaikos and Partizan.
Source: NBL.
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