The name "Panathinaikos" (which can literally be translated as "Panathenaic", which means "of all Athens") was inspired by the ancient work of Isocrates Panathenaicus, where the orator praise the Athenians for their democratic education and their military superiority, which use it for benefit of all Greeks.

Panathinaikos' teams and individual athletes have won numerous titles and have made notable participations in domestic and international competitions.

In the individual sports, Panathinaikos has a remarkable tradition in the athletics, cycling, shooting, fencing and boxing departments.

Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, the great Greek athlete of the early 20th century, played as goalkeeper for the new team.

[3] The team of Kalafatis was renamed to Panellinios Podosferikos Omilos (PPO) – i.e. "Panhellenic Football Club" – in 1911.

In 1918, it was decided that the official crest of the club would be the trifolium, symbol of unity, harmony, nature, and good luck, an idea of player Michalis Papazoglou.

The officials of the club were looking for a universal, non-nationalistic or localistic symbol, aiming to represent the whole Athens at the country and further at the world.

In 1919, Kalafatis was a member of the Greece national football team that participated in the Inter-Allied Games in Paris.

There, he collected informations also about basketball and volleyball (sports unknown then in Greece) and after his return to Athens, started his efforts on creating new teams for the club.

During the next decades, with main contributor Apostolos Nikolaidis (considered Patriarch of the club), Panathinaikos not only will create teams almost in every sport, but they will be consecutive champions for many years in most of them.

The first dynamic presence of the team is dated back in the years 1927–1929 with many popular players of the time such as the historical member of the board Apostolos Nikolaidis as well as Athanasios Aravositas, Goumas, Arg.

Panathinaikos won the football championship in 1930 under the guidance of József Künsztler with Angelos Messaris as the team's star player.

During World War II and the dark years of the Axis occupation of Greece, the athletes of Panathinaikos played a significant role.

The football player Mimis Pierrakos was killed during the Greco-Italian war, while Michalis Papazoglou with Dimitris Giannatos (founding member of the basketball team) later participated in the resistance group of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, an athlete of Polish origin of Iraklis Thessaloniki and secret agent of the British, and succeeded in destroying three German airplanes and sinking three small warships.

Furthermore, in the 1966 European Athletics Championships, the pole vaulter of the club and 13 times Greek champion, Christos Papanikolaou, won the silver medal.

Another successful period for the volleyball team was the seasons 1994–95 and 1995–96 when Panathinaikos won two Greek Championships in a row with Stelios Prosalikas as head coach and Andreopoulos, Triantafyllidis, Filippov, Spanos, Chatziantoniou, Ouzounov, A. Kovatsev, S. Kovatsev, Karamaroudis and Tonev as players.

The men's basketball department became professional in 1992 and since then is owned by two pharmaceutical magnates, the brothers Pavlos and Thanassis Giannakopoulos.

In 1996 in Paris final-four (F4), Panathinaikos was the first Greek team to win a European Champions' Cup (now called Euroleague), beating Barcelona in a unique final, by 67–66.

In September of the same year the team also won the Intercontinental Cup, prevailing by 2–1 wins over Olimpia of Argentina (83–89, 83–78, 101–76).

In 2007 in Athens F4, Panathinaikos BC were crowned European Champions for the fourth time, beating CSKA Moscow 93–91.

[6] In 1918, Michalis Papazoglou proposed the trifolium as emblem of Panathinaikos, symbol of harmony, unity, nature, and good luck.

[8] With the beginning of professionalism in the Greek football, the crest of the FC was created, accompanied by the club initials and the year of founding (1908).