adidas broke decades of plain green and dressed Pana in 1930s style: green and white hoops, the embossed trefoil, the Hellenic heraldry of ΕΛΛΑΣ on the chest and OPAP, the Greek state lottery, with its figure of coloured balls at the centre. On the back, uninterrupted green and ΠΑΝΑΘΗΝΑΪΚΟΣ at the collar, like someone who needs nothing more.
It served the season of the Panathinaikos of the kids: with the club rising from financial collapse, Yannis Anastasiou fielded the academy generation, finished fourth in the league and gave Gate 13 the club's 18th Greek Cup, with a 4-1 over PAOK in the final. In the year with less money than ever, there was a trophy, and the shirt was the most beautiful in a long time.
Here at Hoopster the trefoil joins the clovers of Celtic and Omonia: three green leaves, three countries, the same family of luck.