The first league of national football in Greece, called the Panhellenic Championship, was officially established in 1927. The league ran until 1959 when the more familiar Alpha Ethniki replaced it. Countless football games and memorable moments have taken place since then, but let’s look at the stadiums that have hosted these games.

Since 1960, 84 different stadiums have been used around Greece in the First Division, and we take a look at the ten stadiums that have hosted the most number of these games.

Number 10: Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium (Yedi Kule)

Location: Heraklion, Crete

Home Club: OFI

Capacity: 9,088

First Division games hosted: 577

The Boutique stadium in Crete was built in 1951 and is the home of Crete’s biggest club, OFI. It is never short of an amazing atmosphere with the fans close to the action.

The stadium, nicknamed the Yedi Kule (“Seven Towers” in Turkish), was built on an old cemetery site (Christian, Jewish, and Armenian) shortly after World War II (WWII). Since then, the stadium has been upgraded in 1987, 2001, and 2004 to its more recent appearance. Being a Boutique stadium, it’s capacity is small. It peaked at 11,000, however, with modern requirements, it now seats 9,088.

The record-breaking attendance game for the stadium was on September 25, 1988, in a match between OFI and Olympiacos. The stadium hosted 12,391 fans as OFI won 2-1.



The ground has seen some fantastic games, including a UEFA Cup clash with Atletico Madrid in November 1993. OFI won that game 2-0, in a team that included the club’s legendary striker Nikos Machlas.

credits and more of the article: www.agonasport.com