The “Patriarch” of Greek basketball is the creator of the great Olympiacos team in the ‘70s. Faidon Matthaiou was born on July 12, 1924 in Thessaloniki and is considered to be the most multifunctional, Greek Champion, of all times. He was a protagonist in volleyball, water polo, track and field with the Aric athletics team in Thessaloniki, rowing with the Naval Group of Thessaloniki, ping pong, tennis, sword and of course, basketball.

The “Patriarch” of Greek basketball is the creator of the great Olympiacos team in the ‘70s. Faidon Matthaiou was born on July 12, 1924 in Thessaloniki and is considered to be the most multifunctional, Greek Champion, of all times. He was a protagonist in volleyball, water polo, track and field with the Aric athletics team in Thessaloniki, rowing with the Naval Group of Thessaloniki, ping pong, tennis, sword and of course, basketball.

As an athlete, he participated in the 1948 London Games as a rower, in 1952 in the Helsinki Games as a player of the National basketball team and in 1960 as the coach of the Greek Basketball National team in the Olympic Games of Rome. He started his basketball career with Aris, while he also played for Panathinaikos, Panionios, Sporting, Vareze and Benelli Pesaro.

Faidon Matthaiou began coaching Olympiacos in 1966 and while the team had been playing for two seasons in the 2nd division. In his first season with team, he led her again to the 1st division and put the foundations for the creation of the great “red and whites” that had a leading role in the years to come. While he was in the bench, Giatzoglou, Kastrinakis, Diakoulas and Melini wore the Olympiacos jersey and with him there, in 1976 the Piraeus team won their first double, without losing a single game!