Established on 20 April 1926 by Greek refugees who fled to Thessaloniki from Constantinople in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), they play their home games at Toumba Stadium, a 29,000 seating capacity football ground.

Their name, along with the club's emblem, the Byzantine-style double-headed eagle with retracted wings, honours the memory of the people and places (mostly from the city of Constantinople) that once belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire.

PAOK also got possession of AEK facilities located around Syntrivani (i.e. Fountain Square), next to the Children's Heritage Foundation, where today stands the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The 1937 team included: Sotiriadis, Vatikis, Goulios, Kontopoulos, Bostantzoglou, Panidis, Glaros, Kritas, Ioannidis, Kalogiannis, Koukoulas, Kosmidis, Apostolou, Vafiadis, Vasiliadis, Anastasiadis, Moschidis, Tzakatzoglou, Zakapidas.

Scouting some of the best youth players in Northern Greece at the time and signing many of them to PAOK, president Giorgos Pantelakis built a strong team (including Stavros Sarafis,[45] Christos Terzanidis,[46] Kostas Iosifidis,[47] Giannis Gounaris, Dimitris Paridis,[48] Achilleas Aslanidis,[49] Koulis Apostolidis,[50] Filotas Pellios, Aristarchos Fountoukidis,[51] Panagiotis Kermanidis,[52] Angelos Anastasiadis,[53] Neto Guerino[54] and captained by Giorgos Koudas).

On 22 April 1973 (matchday 28), PAOK suffered a 3–5[62][63][64] shock defeat against Panachaiki at Toumba Stadium and Olympiacos who drew 1–1 away to Kavala, took the lead in the standings and with six wins in their remaining matches won the championship.

PAOK prevailed 3–1 over Olympiacos and 1–0 over AEK with Neto Guerino scoring the winner in the 89th minute,[75] giving the Double-Headed Eagle of the North a four-point lead (point system 2–1–0).

[77] On 1 May 1977 (matchday 28), PAOK were leading the league table and lost 1–0[78] to AEK at Nikos Goumas Stadium with a controversial first-half goal that was scored from a direct free kick while goalkeeper Milinis was still setting up the wall.

In April, Piecharczek was sacked after a series of poor results and was replaced by Gyula Lóránt, who returned after his successful title charge four years earlier, but couldn't pull the team above an ultimately disappointing 5th place in the league table.

On 31 May 1981, PAOK manager Gyula Lóránt had a heart attack in the 16th minute of the match against Olympiacos at Toumba Stadium when Koudas headed the ball wide from close range.

In front of a crowd of 35,000 (unofficial estimates range much higher), the team had a dominant display and managed to equal the 2–0 deficit, but failed to score the third goal prior to the penalty shootout.

PAOK also made a memorable appearance against German giants Bayern Munich in the second round of the 1983–84 UEFA Cup, where they were knocked out on penalties (9–8) after two goalless draws.

[102] On 22 June, 10-man (Vasilakos was sent-off early in the first half) PAOK lost 4–1[103] to Larissa in the Greek Cup final held at the Olympic Stadium of Athens and wasted the opportunity to win a first domestic Double.

In the 1989–90 season, with Magdy Tolba[110] shining and youngster Giorgos Toursounidis[111] rising, the team managed to reach the half-way stage of the competition topping the table (winter champions),[112] but good form deteriorated and PAOK finished third.

The two teams met again in the Greek Cup semi-finals and in the 57th minute of the second leg at Toumba Stadium, Voulinos once again entered the pitch angry at decisions by referee Vasilakis.

Numerous transfers of quality players such as Zisis Vryzas,[127] Spyros Marangos, free kick specialist Kostas Frantzeskos,[128] Percy Olivares[129] and Joe Nagbe[130] took place under the new administration.

Remembering the first leg encounter, captain Tony Adams and goalkeeper David Seaman spoke very highly of the atmosphere created by PAOK fans at Toumba Stadium.

[134][135] On 9 February 1998, PAOK player Panagiotis Katsouris, aged 21, was returning from an amateur 5x5 match, when his car skidded off the road due to excessive speed, hitting the barriers at the Thermi interchange outside Thessaloniki.

[136][137][138] Early on 4 October 1999, in a bus accident in the Vale of Tempe, Thessaly, six PAOK fans were killed (Kyriakos Lazaridis, Christina Tziova, Anastasios Themelis, Charalampos Zapounidis, Georgios Ganatsios, Dimitris Andreadakis).

[145] On 17 May 2003, PAOK defeated local rivals Aris 1–0[146][147][148] in the final held at Toumba Stadium with an excellent goal scored by Georgiadis and earned their fourth Greek Cup title.

[153] Rolf Fringer succeeded Angelos Anastasiadis in September 2004,[154] but after a few games, he was replaced by Nikos Karageorgiou, who led the club to a fifth-place finish in May 2005 and a subsequent 2005–06 UEFA Cup qualification.

The organized supporters' groups launched an all-out war against president Giannis Goumenos during the summer of 2006,[156] even occupying the club's offices in Toumba stadium for a handful of days.

[157] The situation was worsening for Goumenos after various negotiations with possible investors failed,[158] constant allegations of embezzlement emerged,[159] and especially after his decision to sell star player Dimitris Salpingidis to Panathinaikos.

[198] His assistant, Makis Chavos, replaced him as caretaker manager[199] and PAOK reached the knockout phase of the Europa League, losing 2–1 on aggregate to CSKA Moscow.

After a Greek Cup semi-final loss to Asteras Tripoli, Donis was replaced by technical director and former player Georgios Georgiadis, who was appointed as caretaker manager.

In March 2015, Law N° 4321/2015 on regulations for kickstarting the economy was adopted by the Greek government and stated that a total repayment of a company's primary debt obligations would lead to the deletion of all additional taxes, fines and surcharges.

[222][223] Playing a 3–5–2 formation, the team progressed through three qualifying rounds to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage and on 10 December, PAOK made a surprising 1–0[224] away win over Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park.

[235] On 25 February 2018 (and while PAOK were leading the league table being 2pts ahead of AEK), PAOK–Olympiacos derby was suspended before kick-off when Olympiacos manager Óscar García Junyent was hit by an object thrown from the crowd (reportedly by an unfolding cash register paper roll).

He also claimed that the object that fell onto García was a sealed cash register paper roll, which can be as heavy as a stone and when thrown from a certain height and distance with a certain force can be a very powerful blow.

was dissolved and absorbed by PAOK and a mournful version of the double-headed eagle with the wings closed instead of stretched, indicating the grief for the lost homelands, was adopted as the club's new emblem.