The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, when Panachaikos Gymnastikos Syllogos (Pan-Achaean Gymnastic Club) was founded. In 1894, a rival sports club, Gymnastiki Eteria Patron (Gymnastic Company of Patras), was founded in Patras by former Panachaikos' members.[1]
It was only in 1923 that the two clubs agreed to merge, forming Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi.
Throughout a history of over 120 years, Panachaiki's athletes have won several Olympic medals. Emblematic figures in Panachaiki's history are weightlifter Dimitrios Tofalos and Kostas Davourlis, leader of the great football team that impressed Greece in the 1970s and took part in the 1974 UEFA Cup,[2] being the first Greek countryside football club (outside Athens and Thessaloniki) to achieve that distinction.