The history of every sports team is intertwined with the vision, ideas, and personal journey of its founding members, the people who took the reins over time, the coaches and athletes who represented it on the playing fields, as well as the fans who emotionally and socially bonded with it.

Since its establishment in 1926, the Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans has represented the lost athletic tradition of the City, the values and principles of the Greek community, and the lost memories that found refuge in Thessaloniki after the Asia Minor Catastrophe. It was the historical continuation of Hermes, created by Greeks from Constantinople in 1875 and renamed Pera Club at the beginning of the last century.

Gradually, the club developed, began to write history, and gained hundreds of thousands of fans, surpassing the borders of Macedonia. Its founders gave their vision the emblem of the Double-Headed Eagle of Byzantium, to symbolize the origin of the club and to keep the vision of Constantinople alive for future generations. The two heads of the Eagle look towards the East and the West.

The closed wings remind of the uprooting from the homeland. Even the colors of P.A.O.K. were chosen to highlight a double symbolism: black as a sign of mourning for the loss of the lost homelands and white as the hope for a better tomorrow.

This unique historical journey, from the 1920s to today, is documented without extremes or exaggerations, but with sensitivity and a research-oriented view for the small details behind the events and the people that made the big difference. For those who were 'Forever Champions'...

The edition you hold in your hands is a comprehensive work on P.A.O.K., the fifth volume of the new series by SKAI-book, which aspires to gradually cover the history of Greek sports in Greece. It is yet another milestone in an exciting journey through the magic of sports...