The new sports park at The Ellinikon has officially opened, moving from planning into everyday use. Spanning 287,000 sq m, it brings together facilities for professional and amateur sport, while the presence of the Hellenic Paralympic Committee and the new partnerships announced at the opening broaden its role for Athens and the wider Attica region.
One of the largest individual projects within The Ellinikon is now operational. The Ellinikon Sports Park officially opened in the presence of representatives from the worlds of politics, sport and business, marking one of the first major components of The Ellinikon development to enter everyday use.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the opening and said: “The Ellinikon Sports Park adds another piece to the largest urban regeneration project currently under way in Europe. It is a landmark intervention, not only because of its scale but also, I would say, because of what it represents, signalling the triumph of tomorrow over yesterday.”
Odysseas Athanasiou, CEO of LAMDA Development, said in his speech: “If there is one word that defines this park, it is coexistence. Elite sport alongside everyday exercise. Sports clubs alongside families. Children alongside older generations. Effort alongside enjoyment. What many people believed for years would never happen is now beginning to become part of everyday life. And from the moment a space fills with people, it no longer truly belongs to those who designed or built it. It belongs to those who experience it. The Ellinikon was a promise for all of us. Today, hearing the voices of children on these courts and pitches, we can finally say that this promise is beginning to become real life, and that life belongs to everyone.”
Governor of the Attica Region Nikos Hardalias highlighted the project’s importance for quality of life in southern Attica and across the wider Athens metropolitan area, stating: “The delivery of The Ellinikon Sports Park marks a new era for sport and represents a substantial improvement in quality of life in southern Attica and across the wider metropolitan area.” He also announced: “The Region of Attica will immediately proceed with leasing part of the new Sports Park so that, in collaboration with SEGAS, we can relocate athletics activities here, while also developing mass-participation sports programmes and major sporting events.”
Giorgos Kapellakis, President of the Hellenic Paralympic Committee, thanked LAMDA Development for its support, noting: “It is particularly important to us that our new offices are located at The Ellinikon, within a modern, well-organised environment of the highest standards, creating an exceptional setting for this new chapter.”
One of the evening’s standout moments was a performance featuring children from sports clubs in neighbouring municipalities, led by Olympic champion Lefteris Petrounias. Through an impressive choreographed presentation, they conveyed the spirit of participation, physical activity and shared experience that The Ellinikon Sports Park seeks to represent.
Spanning 287,000 sq m, the Park includes four football pitches, two basketball courts, two tennis courts, an outdoor athletics track, exercise areas and accommodation for athletes, while aquatic sports facilities are also due to be added. As the project continues to develop, the range of opportunities it offers for exercise, participation, sporting events and high-quality leisure time is gradually expanding.
For a metropolis such as Athens, the addition of a sports facility on this scale is particularly significant because it is not designed for a single category of user. The Region of Attica’s intention to lease part of the park for athletics training, mass-participation sports programmes and events also points towards a broader model of use. Similarly, the provision of office space to the Hellenic Paralympic Committee strengthens the role of inclusion in the way the space will operate in practice. The opening also saw the announcement of a partnership with Mouratoglou Racket Club, which will be developed at the Sports Park during its second phase.
The Ellinikon Sports Park’s contribution to Athens cannot be measured solely by its size or by the number of facilities it provides. Its importance lies above all in the fact that one of the first major projects at The Ellinikon is now becoming part of the city’s everyday infrastructure. The regeneration therefore begins to move beyond the question of how Athens will look in the years ahead and starts to influence the way the city is used today. In this sense, the Sports Park is one of the first points at which the scale of The Ellinikon meets the everyday life of Athens.
