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It was used during the 1896 Summer Olympics as a velodrome where FranceFrenchman Paul Masson (cyclist)Paul Masson took the three track cycling gold medals. It was renovated during the 1960s and was completely rebuilt in 2004 into a 26,500 capacity all seater stadium ready for the Football at the 2004 Summer Olympicsfootball competition of the 2004 Summer Olympics. The last renovation took a record time of only 14 months, finishing just in time for the Olympic Games. At this "renovation" the stadium was totally demolished and built again from the beginning, facing a different direction. After the last deal ended in 1998, Olympiacos is using the stadium once again, on loan from 2003-04 in Greek football2003 and until 2052 and is traditionally labelled as the club's true home. In 2002, Olympiacos President Socratis Kokkalis, when announcing the project to rebuild Karaiskakis, said, "It is our wish that [the new stadium] will also be used by Ethnikos F.C., as Karaiskaki is the historic home of both [Olympiacos and Ethnikos]". In the contract signed by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, the owner of the stadium, and Olympiacos, a clause was included stating that should Ethnikos wish to return to the stadium, they may do so without sharing any significant maintenance costs, as those are covered by Olympiacos. As of the 2009/10 season though, Ethnikos has opted not to do so. The ticket sales average higher than any team's in recent decades for the Super League Greece history (rarely have they dropped under the 25,000 mark) and are not expected to drop in the foreseeable future. Sales for national team matches had also been higher, but this was for the most part due to Greece national football teamGreece's success in the Euro 2004. As of 2008 and after Greece's disappointing Euro 2008 performance, the attendance of national team matches dropped drastically, leading the Ministry of Sport to change the venue to HeraklionHeraklion, Crete. In June 2005, Karaiskaki became a movie theatre (Cine Karaiskakis) with a cinema screen that is 20 m long and 10 m wide, operating daily between 9 and 11 p.m. (6 and 8 p.m. UTC) and later, every weekend. The movie screen featured movies including Batman Begins and others. The stadium operated as a movie theatre for the last time on Saturday August 13, 2005. 21 supporters of Olympiacos F.C.Olympiacos lost their lives in "Gate 7" (Θύρα 7) of the stadium, after a game between Olympiacos F.C.Olympiacos and AEK Athens FC (6-0), on February 8, 1981; an incident widely known as the Karaiskaki Stadium disaster. In memory of this event, at the tribune part where now is the Gate 7, some seats are black colored instead of red, shaping the number "7", whereas there is also a monument on the eastern side of the stadium, bearing the names of all 21 supporters killed on that day in the stadium. |
