The darkest day of Olympiacos’ history to date was the 8th of February in 1981 when Olympiacos defeated rivals A.E.K. Athens 6-0 and 21 Olympiacos supporters lost their lives in one of the sport’s worst disasters and the biggest football tragedy in Greece’s history.

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While rushing out of the stadium to celebrate Olympiacos’ win, some supporters lost their footing and fell.  Visibility was poor due to the sheer number of people trying to exit through gate 7 which, according to police reports was partially closed and fans were unaware that anything had happened. As a result, more fell and were trampled by the other fans which kept coming, also unaware of the incident.

 

The radio stations which were broadcasting the result of the match soon received the news of the tragedy and started relaying the message across the airwaves.

The jubilation of the win against A.E.K. Athens soon changed to fear and terror as families of supporters in attendance heard the news.

Panic spread across Piraeus as ambulances rushed from the hospital to the stadium to treat the crushed fans. Slowly the number of people needing hospital treatment grew to the point where the hospital did not have the capacity to treat all of the injured.

A total of 21 fans lost their lives and at least 55 were injured.

 

The 21 victims of the tragedy that occurred on 8th February 1981 were:

 

Panagiotis Toumanidis, 14 years old
Kostas Sklavounis, 16 years old
Ilias Panagoulis, 17 years old
Gerasimos Amitsis, 18 years old (AEK supporter)
Yiannis Kanellopoulos, 18 years old
Spiros Leonidakis, 18 years old
Yiannis Spiliopoulos, 19 years old
Nikos Filos, 19 years old
Yiannis Dialinas, 20 years old
Vassilis Mahas, 20 years old
Efstratios Loupos, 20 years old
Michalis Kostopoulos, 21 years old
Zografoula Hairatidou, 23 years old
Spiros Andriotis, 24 years old
Kostas Karanikolas, 26 years old
Michalis Markou, 27 years old
Kostas Bilas, 28 years old
Anastassios Pitsolis, 30 years old
Antonis Kouroupakls, 34 years old
Christos Hatzigeorgiou, 34 years old
Dimitris Adamopoulos, 40 years old

Since that dark day, every year on the 8th of February, fans and Club officials pay their respects to the supporters who lost their lives and mourn their loss at the place where the old Gate 7 entrance stood and has been preserved.

The impact caused by the tragedy was so deeply felt among fans of Olympiacos that the collection of fan clubs around Greece and their members named themselves Gate 7 to honour of their fallen brothers.

Olympiacos also put in 21 black seats in the shape of a number 7 behind the goals in the new Gate 7 bay.