The needle touches down ritualistically on the black vinyl. It tracks through the lead-in grooves on the single with the round Odeon label. Scratches and surface noise. Introduction: percussion – a chord. And the powerful voice of Vangelis Perpiniadis (with Ria Norma providing backing vocals) begins the monumental hymn “to Bukovi’s magnificent team” which generations grew up with: “Only you wear a jersey that’s glorious…”
March 2025 – the unveiling. Ten stripes. One per decade, you fancy. Each with a different weave. And below each one, the date of establishment. Stripes on the sleeves and collar (with its old-school buttons), to recall the Club’s triumphs. “Like a fairytale…”. The celebratory emblem for the centenary. Glorious, the historic Adidas logo, gold-embossed. Which is only available this season to a select group of top European clubs: Real Madrid, Bayern, Arsenal, Juventus, Manchester United. and Olympiacos.
Just Olympiacos. Always Olympiacos…
The red and white jersey isn’t just a look. It is the proud banner of a team that has continued to make history in era after era, for generation after generation.
The collectible jersey and the ‘master’
The collectible jersey, a limited edition to commemorate the golden jubilee of a Legend, could only be… exactly as it is: elegant and well-made, adorned with references to the past, with a retro feel that somehow manages to combine everything that came before it. Everything that made a Club into a Legend.
Blood and sweat. Passion and honesty. Red and white – the sacred canvas. Inspired, we learn from the stories of Yannis Andrianopoulos, “the Master”, either by the colors of his Cambridge college (the celebrated “Cambridge Red” on the coat of arms of Cambridge University), or by… Arsenal. According to the second version, he had been a fan since his student days of the London club, whose dress code in those early days was simply “red jersey – white shorts”; the white sleeves would come later. Under Chapman’s stewardship…
What about the stripes? Those, the legend goes, were the master’s idea, too. Perhaps inspired by the red and white stripes of the Piraeus Union, and worn by its team, one of Olympiacos’. footballing predecessors
The… cord and the emblem
Whatever the truth of the matter may be, behold the miracle! Seven stripes (four red, three white), long-sleeved, with white wrists, striped sleeves and collar, and a deep V-neck held together by a cord. The first jersey in the history of Olympiacos. Without the emblem, initially. The basic pattern would remain the same. With minor variations from time to time (such as, back in ‘29, the introduction of a white collar), before the first big “change” in 1946-47. In the first double: the collar is done away with (leaving a rounded neckline) and… the short-sleeved jersey is brought into play.
The smaller collar made a comeback in the Fifties; it was red, making it unique in the history of the Olympiacos strip. And for three years (1950-53), in parallel with the ’47 design (a higher neckline), the team’s jersey also featured something highly noteworthy: the first rendering of the legendary emblem of the laurel-wreathed youth. Big and bold, smack bang in the middle of the chest within a horizontal band. The jersey Mouratis played in…
And then, the classic strip: with simple stripes, a V-neck (in red or white). The more common seven stripes made their first appearance alongside the return of the collar, in the second half of the 50s, and remained throughout the 60s. With Olympiacos moving up into the top division of the National League for the 1962-63 season, the collar would make a fleeting reappearance in 1965-66, under Bukovi, along with the rounded neckline). The only substantial “parenthesis” is that of the 1963-65 period. The first jersey with the elements of the modern strip: just two broad red stripes bounding the central white one and a thick red “V”. An early version of the 1999-2000 jersey…
Nikos Youtsos in mid-air, looking very pop art. Wearing the famous 1960 jersey: A symbol of an entire era / Source: Action Images
The classic, the triangle, the brands
The 70’s… The heyday of sports marketing in which brands enter the picture and new materials, designs and ways of doing things come into play. It was in 1970-71 that the emblem appears on the left lapel for the first time. Against a white or red (but always round) background: the all-time classic “Goulandris jersey”.
The jersey passed through three distinct phases. In 1972-73, along with the season’s key motif: the triangular red collar. An iconic design with five stripes by Umbro from the UK. The first company to put its logo on the Olympiacos strip: in 1974-75 (when the design was reintroduced), on the right lapel, without the emblem.
It remained the core strip (more rarely, in a triangular version) until 1978-79 (with the following singularity: the jersey was by Umbro, but the shorts were Adidas – a cooperation). It also put in a partial appearance in Olympiacos’ first professional season (1979-80). Although the impressive Puma jersey was the norm at the time, with the two thick red stripes, the white shoulders and the emblem… on the right (and the corporate logo on the left). But not before the Legend was kitted out by a… third company for its UEFA Cup match against Napoli– Adidas– with the much-discussed, emblem-free “Bayern jersey” (three thick lines).
Sponsorship enters the picture
The… corporate coming and going settled down for five years from 1980 to 1985, when Olympiacos elected to wear a strip from the Japanese Asics Tiger brand. First, with the return (1980-81) of the classic stripped-down design of the late 50s-60s (with the rounded neckline), then (1981-82) the red V-neck. The logo and emblem have remained in their proper place ever since (albeit within a shield for a time), which is to say with the laurel-wreathed youth over the player’s heart. The start of the 1982-83 season was accompanied by something new that came in with the professional, era: advertising…
Which is how that season’s emblematic jersey with the Fiat logo came into being (followed for the next two seasons by Travel Plan, and in ’84 with eleven thinner stripes). It remained for the start of the next season, too. The only change was Adidas. At the start of the 1982-83 season: striped with a red collar. And then, the seven years of Puma (1985-92 / Citizen, Toyota, Bank of Crete, Diana). Of Detari, the Russian “MIG” signings, and the Club’s management woes. A simple strip with the classic stripes, a white V-neck and the occasional subtle tweak (like the white band on the right shoulder, 1989-92).
Partnerships with Umbro (1992-93, Diana) and Adidas (1994-95, Ethnokarta MasterCard) added another two of the absolute classic strips. With a V-neck with black details and the emblem cut back to the youth’s head in a red circle (mid-season, a second jersey was introduced with thin lines, a striped collar and the emblem atop a shield) and three thick stripes (the red one in the middle), sleeves with three stripes plus the Adidas logo, a button on the white collar (red and blue stripes) and a… coat of arms with two blue lions rampant). The first parallel jerseys with geometric “watermarks”. Together with the jersey with the Italian Lotto (Diana) that came between them (1993-94): with a white collar…
From the first lace-up collar to the golden stripes of today, the Olympiacos jersey has been a lot more than fabric – it symbolizes a glorious history that transcends the centuries
The contemporary era…
Until the winds of change did what they do. The shift into the contemporary era was accompanied by the return of two collaborators of old: Puma (1995-2000 / Ethnokarta MasterCard, Aspis Pronoia and 2005-15 / Siemens, Vodafone, Citibank, Pame Stoichima, UNICEF). With five years of Umbro in between (2000-05 / Siemens Mobile) and, in the last decade (2015-25), Adidas (Stoiximan.gr / Iroes.gr).
Thirty years, and a whole lot of… specials: a stripe on the sleeve consisting of (1995-96) or framed by (1997-98) narrow lines. A triangular collar in various versions (1996-2007, 1999-2000, 2004-05, 2011-12). With buttons (1998-99). The Champions League emblem (1997-98, sleeve). The return of the two “thick” (1999-2000, 2003-04) or multiple narrow stripes (2018-19, 2021-23). Black details – especially on the 75th anniversary edition of 2000-21, with the three stars in honor of the Gate Seven tragedy. With a lot of white (start of the 2001-02 season) or red on the shoulder and sleeves (early 2002-03 season).
Striped sleeves attached seamlessly to the body of the jersey (2006-07). Large “drawn on” v in the upper section (2009-10). With lining behind the slit in the neck (2013-14, with four stars this time round). Red horizontal lines that merge into the white stripes (2020-21). Golden details (2017-18) “We keep on dreaming”, on the inside of the collar (2016-17). And “Conference League Winner” on this year’s arm: the epic…
White, red, blue and… military-style
Competitive and commercial reasons necessitated alternate change and away strips. By the mid-80s, there were two in use: the all-white strip (which made its debut in the 60s) and the all-red (which, during the military dictatorship looked… positively communist). Both remained down the decades. In a multitude of variations. Starting with the jersey with very narrow vertical red stripes and the triangular collar used on the Adidas strip from ’82.
The third color option was from Asics (1983): white with a blue upper section. The epic jersey of the replay against Ajax (in the European Cup). Since then, with azure (80s, Puma) used in place of red. This shade of blue emerged from a whole series of variations and different colored details (white, red, black, orange) as the most popular “third color” (with a call-out to Umbro 1992-93 and its geometric “watercolors” / the season of Vaitsis and the Munich game). Until, that is, Puma debuted the black look in the 1998-99 season. Which would feature repeatedly through until 2015.
The consolidation of the three looks began with the anniversary silver strip of 2000-01 (Umbro), the so-called ‘fan’: gray (starting 2009-10), gold (2006-08), orange (2017-18), gray & orange or white – military style blue (2023-24). Many of which were much loved. And rightly so. But let’s be honest: nothing can ever hope to compete… with the eternal red and white!
