Olympiacos BC filed complaints against Dimitris Giannakopoulos and Panathinaikos BC with both the EuroLeague and the Hellenic Basketball Federation (ESAKE), requesting the initiation of disciplinary proceedings and the imposition of sanctions for the events that occurred during the “Greens’” game against Baskonia, as well as for posts made by the owner of Panathinaikos BC on social media.
Earlier, Dimitris Giannakopoulos had posted a story on Instagram announcing the dual complaint filed by Olympiacos BC against him and Panathinaikos BC.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
In the complaint filed with the EuroLeague, the “Red-and-Whites” refer to an offensive banner displayed by Panathinaikos fans during the game against Baskonia, as well as a chant heard in the stands. At the same time, they claim that Dimitris Giannakopoulos reposted related images on his personal Instagram account.
In its complaint to the Hellenic Basketball League (ESAKE), Olympiacos BC focuses on posts by Dimitris Giannakopoulos on October 23, which it characterizes as defamatory, abusive, and threatening.
Specifically, Olympiacos BC highlights two points in the posts.
The first concerns the phrase “Here come the scumbags!!! Not just Parking 2, but much worse!”—which, according to the complaint, Dimitris Giannakopoulos directed at Olympiacos head coach Giorgos Bartzokas. The club links the report to the attack the Greek coach suffered at SEF in October 2014, following a Cup match against Panathinaikos, and maintains that the specific wording constitutes a threat of new, even more serious incidents against him.
The second point concerns the references to referee Vasiliki Tsaroucha and the historic emblem of Olympiacos. The “red-and-white” basketball club maintains that, through these specific posts, Dimitris Giannakopoulos presents the team’s involvement in a case under judicial investigation—concerning alleged offenses related to the manipulation of basketball game results—as a fact. At the same time, it considers that the characterizations used undermine the prestige and reputation of the club, the coach, the athletes, and its members.
Olympiacos BC requests that the competent authorities investigate the allegations and impose the appropriate disciplinary sanctions.
The full statement from the club is as follows:
Olympiacos BC has sent an official letter of complaint to the Euroleague, regarding serious violations of the disciplinary code by Mr. Dimitris Giannakopoulos and Panathinaikos BC.
On October 22, 2026, during the Panathinaikos vs. Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz game at the OAKA, hundreds of Panathinaikos fans were observed and captured on the game’s television broadcast:
A. Holding an offensive banner bearing the following text:
“FIXED GAMES… DIRTY MONEY AND YOU’VE RUINED BASKETBALL, F*** PIRAEUS”
Note: The word “PIRAEUS” was written on the banner in red, a fact that leaves no doubt that the banner’s message was directed at our club, which, as is widely known, is based in Piraeus and wears the red-and-white colors.
B. At the same time as the banner was hung and publicly displayed, they chanted the following vulgar slogan in unison:
“Oi, oi, oi! The slut in the striped jumpsuit with Liolio, both of them in jail, and let Bartzokas bring them food!”
A few moments later, Mr. Giannakopoulos posted on Instagram, where he maintains an account under the public username “dpg7000” and has more than 647,000 followers, several photos and videos with audio from the incidents in question, taken from different angles.
In this way, he ensured that the offensive content of the banner and the slogan was fully publicized and that it was clearly legible and audible, respectively, by at least hundreds of thousands of Instagram users, not counting reposts.
By publishing and publicly showcasing these incidents through his personal Instagram account, Mr. Giannakopoulos clearly adopted, confirmed, and reiterated the defamatory content of the banner and the chant as his own personal statements.
The aforementioned conduct of Panathinaikos fans and Mr. Giannakopoulos, as well as the content of the banner and the chant—both individually and collectively— are clearly defamatory, offensive, and disparaging toward our Club and our head coach, Mr. Giorgos Bartzokas.
Based on the above facts and the applicable provisions of the Euroleague Basketball Disciplinary Code, we hereby REQUEST the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against Panathinaikos BC and Mr. Giannakopoulos regarding the aforementioned incidents, as well as the imposition and announcement of appropriate sanctions.
COMPLAINT TO THE HELLENIC BASKETBALL FEDERATION (ESAKE)
Against Dimitrios Giannakopoulos and Panathinaikos BC.
With this complaint, we hereby notify you, pursuant to Article 55, paragraph 3 of the GBL Disciplinary Regulations, the following incident subject to disciplinary review: defamatory public statements made by the first respondent, which took place on October 23, 2026, and warrants the imposition on both respondents of the penalties provided for in the applicable provisions of the Disciplinary Regulations.
1. On the morning of October 23, 2026, at approximately 4:00 a.m., the owner of Panathinaikos Basketball Club, D. Giannakopoulos, posted—via the “dpg7000” account he maintains on the social media platform Instagram and which is currently “followed” by more than 661,000 users, a public post consisting of a photograph of our team’s coach, Georgios Bartzokas, speaking at a press conference, in which D. Giannakopoulos posted public slanderous, abusive, threatening, and defamatory statements against, among others, our company and our coach G. Bartzokas. The post in question is reproduced below and is incorporated verbatim into this complaint, forming an integral part thereof:
2. Specifically, the defamatory, slanderous, and abusive content of the aforementioned post and public statement by the first respondent is analyzed as follows:
“And I’ll ask again calmly… just because you didn’t like it, you were asking for foreign referees, and by then you had been relegated to the A2 league”
The first respondent’s statement above, combined with his remarks below and the photograph of our coach, that the first defendant is publicly addressing our club, which was relegated to the A2 basketball league in May 2019.
(ii) “Now that there’s officially a scandal, why don’t you care? Don’t you want to know if those who hold our investments in their hands have come into money?”
This statement must be examined in conjunction with the following section of the first defendant’s public statement.
(iii) “Here come the scoundrels!!! Not just Parking 2, but much worse!”
D. Giannakopoulos refers to the incident (which we have unequivocally condemned) of a verbal assault suffered by our coach, G. Bartzokas at the SEF arena by a group of perpetrators calling themselves fans of our team in October 2014, following our team’s loss in a Cup match against PAO BC. G. Bartzokas has publicly described this incident as “shocking” for him and has stated that he will never forget it.
Consequently, the word “tsespo,” which is an obvious anagram of the abusive expression “p@@tses,” and the offensive and derogatory word “eirona,” are clearly directed by the first defendant at the person pictured in the photo he posted, our coach G. Bartzokas.
In other words, through the above public statements, the first defendant insults and offends our coach G. Bartzokas, while at the same time clearly and unequivocally threatening him that he will once again become the victim not only of taunts but of much worse, obviously violent attacks against his physical integrity, which the first defendant clearly condones and seeks to instigate. The first defendant’s obvious purpose is to instill fear and anxiety in our coach, G. Bartzokas, so that he cannot carry out his duties calmly and without distraction, thereby negatively affecting our team’s performance.
(iv) “Don’t post any photos with Vasso on the club’s profile featuring the head of that scoundrel! Scoundrels! You scoundrels of Greek sports.”
D. Giannakopoulos publicly asserts, with brazen and vulgar lies, that our team is allegedly involved in a case currently under judicial investigation regarding criminal offenses under Law 2725/1999 concerning bribery and the acceptance of bribes with the intent to rig basketball game results—a case in which, among others, basketball referee Vasiliki Tsaroucha.
By urging our company to feature the face of V. Tsaroucha on the historic emblem of the Olympiacos club worn by our team, D. Giannakopoulos presents as fact the utterly false and defamatory claim that our team is allegedly a participant or accomplice in the criminal offenses of which V. Tsaroucha—namely, the manipulation of basketball games—and that our team has been favored or benefited from the commission of these alleged offenses.
Furthermore, D. Giannakopoulos directly and blatantly insults and undermines the prestige, dignity, and reputation of our team and our symbols, as well as the OLYMPIACOS sports club and all OLYMPIACOS athletes, fans, and members across all sports, when it shamefully refers to the laurel-crowned adolescent depicted in the historic Olympiacos logo—which has been in use for over 100 years—as a “monkey” (“the basketball club’s profile, featuring the head of the “kainodos” as its logo”).
In order to leave no room for doubt regarding his blatant and undisguised malice in infringing upon our legal personality rights, D. Giannakopoulos concludes his post with the phrase “You scoundrels of Greek sports!” with which he brutally insults our club, our coach, our club’s management, as well as our athletes and other members of our team, and directly undermines their honor and reputation.
*photo source: KYPE
