Atalanta, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos & more are Champions!

These past few weeks have seen some incredible moments for Greek mythology sports teams. At the European level, Atalanta Bergamasca won the Europa League, Panathinaikos won the basketball Euroleague, Olympiacos won the Europa Conference League and the UEFA Youth League, and Barcelona won the Women’s Champions League.

• Atalanta was the favorite huntress of Artemis
• Panathinaikos is named after the ancient Panathenaic Games held in Athens in honor of Athena
• Olympiacos is named after the Olympic Games held in honor of Zeus
• Barcelona legends say the city was founded by Hercules

Domestically, teams like Olympique Lyonnais won the women’s French League, Roma won the women’s Coppa Italia, Sparta Prague won the Czech league and cup, Juventus won the Coppa Italia, Sporting Lisbon won the Portuguese league, Panathinaikos won the Greek cup, and Barcelona won the women’s Spanish league.

• Olympique Lyonnais is named after the Olympic Games held in honor of Zeus
• Roma features Romulus and Remus, sons of Ares, on their crest
• Sparta Prague is named after the Spartans
• Juventus is named after Juventas (Hebe to Greeks), daughter of Zeus
• Lisbon legends say the city was founded by Odysseus

It is really rare to have so many teams with Greek mythology links win big championships at the same time! Today we will focus most on Atalanta, because their victory is their very first European trophy, and because we have already covered other teams many times in old posts. To see old posts just do a search in our navigation bar about the team you are interested in! Below are some videos to learn more about the Greek myth of Atalanta, as well as how they managed to win the Europa League this season.

The myth of Atalanta was also linked to the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. In that link you can learn more about the story of the Argonauts and watch movies about it. If you want to learn more about the football club, visit the official site of Atalanta Bergamasca.