Preview

August 7, Athens, Olympic Stadium of Athens Spyros Louis, 21:00
Live broadcast will be available on Kyivstar TV

History and path to the Europa League

Panathinaikos FC was founded on February 3, 1907 and is the oldest and one of the most decorated football clubs in Greece. Throughout their history, the Athenians have been crowned Greek champions 20 times (most recently in 2010), won 20 national Cups and 3 domestic Super Cups. On the international stage, the Greens’ biggest achievements include reaching the European Cup final (1971), where they lost to Ajax (0-2), winning the Balkans Cup (1977), and in the modern era – reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (2002) and the UEFA Cup quarter-finals (2003).

In the 2024/25 season, Panathinaikos finished second in the Greek Super League (32 matches, 17 wins, 8 draws, 7 losses, goal difference: 42-32), trailing their arch-rivals Olympiacos by 16 points. This result earned the Athenians a place in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, but they were eliminated in the first round by Scottish side Rangers (0-2 away, 1-1 at home), thus dropping into the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

Squad and leaders

The head coach of Panathinaikos is 55-year-old Portuguese specialist Rui Vitória. As a player, he featured in the lower divisions in his homeland and began his coaching career in 2002. His previous roles include spells at Benfica (2015–2019), Al-Nassr (2019–2020) and the Egypt national team (2022–2024). Vitória has been in charge of the Athenians since October 31, 2024.

The captain of Panathinaikos is 25-year-old Greek forward Fotis Ioannidis. He, along with Serbian player Filip Djuricic and Brazilian winger Tete, were the team’s top scorers last season (each netting 11 goals). The Greens’ first-choice goalkeeper is Polish international Bartlomiej Dragowski. Their key defenders at the start of this season are newcomers Ahmed Touba and Georgios Kyriakopoulos, as well as American Erik Palmer-Brown, while the midfield is led by experienced Anastasios Bakasetas and another new player – the Spaniard Pedro Chirivella.

Stadium

The Olympic Stadium of Athens Spyros Louis (also known as OAKA) was opened in 1982 and renovated at the start of the new millennium, becoming the main sports venue for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The arena is named after Spyridon Louis, the Olympic marathon champion of the first modern Olympics in 1896. Currently, the stadium has a capacity of 70,000 and meets UEFA Category 4 standards. The best-attended match last season was the Panathinaikos vs Olympiacos game, which drew 56,087 fans. Besides the Greens, the stadium also hosts the home matches of AEK and the Greece national team.

Head-to-head record

Shakhtar and Panathinaikos have never met in competitive matches before. However, the Shakhtar played 3 European games against Greek teams: in 2005, the Miners defeated PAOK (1-0) in the UEFA Cup, and in the 2005/06 Champions League group stage, they tied with Olympiacos twice (2-2 and 1-1). Panathinaikos played six matches against Ukrainian teams, (3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss).

The Panathinaikos vs Shakhtar match will be officiated by the judging panel from Belgium: referee Erik Lambrechts, assistants Jo de Weirdt and Kevin Monteny, with Clay Ruperti as the video assistant referee.