Sports is now more intensely mobilizing domestic real estate with big business names that have entered the game of large, state-of-the-art sports facilities, with an eye also on attracting international events.
In fact, 2026 will mark two new major arrivals in sports real estate in the south and north of Athens – in addition, of course, to individual infrastructures inside and outside Athens that are generally associated with entities linked to the wider public sector or the developments around the football and basketball stadiums of the major Greek clubs.
The first arrival comes first in the south of the capital, within the 6,200-acre area of the former Elliniko airport, where LAMDA Development has a major redevelopment project underway for the new city within the city, which includes a large piece of sports facilities. Similarly, in the north of Athens, the investment trio of TEMES – led by Achilleas Konstantakopoulos, Ioannis Stasinopoulos, and Sami Fais – has already implemented a large part of the major €25 million investment for the new tennis facilities at OAKA, which will be delivered in its entirety by the summer of 2026.
The sports part is now an area that is attracting more business for the creation of modern facilities, which will appeal to both commoners and professional athletes, looking forward to the organization of large and more “glamorous” sporting events or even hosting training activities or teams for preparation. And if the Greek capital during the last two decades or more after the “miracle” of the 2004 Olympic Games failed to make use of the post-Olympic advantage it was given, now, at this juncture, there are growing voices that sport can indeed bring additional revenues, while the advantage for the city’s own residents is a given. Among the most notable examples is that of the Athens Marathon last month, but also the return after three decades – also last November – of the ATP Tour’s major tennis event with Novak Djokovic as the winner, at the same time that the Greek capital is awaiting the big event, in the spring of 2026, the final phase of the Euroleague Final Four in basketball.
In this context, there have been increasing voices about the benefits of sports tourism as a whole, which contributes, no less than 10% of the global tourism turnover based on the World Tourism Organization’s figures, with a forecast for an increase in Europe alone to 697 billion. euros ($812.4 billion) in turnover in 2030 from €222 billion ($259.3 billion) in 2023.
In the Greek reality, the numbers are – and will continue to be – far apart. However, no one disputes that sports initiatives of all kinds can boost visitation outside the high peak summer season, expanding the range of destinations that not only profit during the period of a sporting event, but also overall due to expanded visibility.
The Ellinikon Sports Park
On the investment front, then, tennis courts, a wet track center, a rehabilitation center, track and field facilities, a basketball academy with indoor and outdoor courts, soccer fields, and hostels for athletes are, among other things, the facilities planned for The Ellinikon Sports Park, for which work is in full swing at the moment, with an eye on the first half of 2026, when the first part of the project will be delivered to athletes, teams, clubs, associations and the public. The sports park, which spans 287,000 sq m, will appeal to sports-loving residents, visitors, and professional athletes alike, while the facilities that will replace the National Sports Youth Centre of St. Kosmas (NSCY) have been designed, as LAMDA’s executives say, to “top specifications.”
Work began in July 2023 and now a key section is nearing completion as the sports facilities are among the first projects scheduled for delivery. Thus, based on the current schedule, in its first phase of operation in the first half of 2026, the Elliniko sports park will include an open-air Olympic-size swimming pool (50 m), also an open-air track with 1.070 spectator seats, a throwing track, as well as two 11×11 synthetic football pitches, two 11×11 hybrid football pitches, two 5×5 synthetic football pitches, two outdoor basketball pitches, two outdoor tennis courts and the sports hostel building with 124 rooms.
Already, according to the information, the two 11×11 football fields with synthetic turf, one open track, and one throwing field are ready to be delivered, and the first athletes will be able to train in a few weeks from now.
Overall, based on the approved masterplan of the investment for the “Sports Area” of the Metropolitan Green and Recreation Park of the Integrated Development Plan for the Metropolitan City of Elliniko – Agios Kosmas, the project includes the following infrastructure: 274-bed capacity athletes’ hostels, a new aquatic sports-recreation centre with an open swimming pool and a training-recreation centre, athletics facilities (open track and field, open throwing field and athletics grandstand building), professional football facilities with a changing room and football administration building, as well as three football pitches, a football academy with pitches and a central administration and support functions building. Furthermore, a Basketball Academy, which includes an indoor arena and six additional indoor training facilities, a Tennis Academy, which will initially include twenty tennis courts to be served by a central administration and support functions building (it is planned to add eight more courts and an additional building at a later stage), four outdoor beach volleyball courts and an administration/auxiliary building, two basketball courts and two tennis courts in the Canoe Kayak area, three parking lots and infrastructure works.
Also of interest are the contacts that LAMDA is making regarding individual investments within the sports park, including management. Indicatively, for the tennis part and the investment of the Tennis & Racket Sports Club, with a budget of more than 20 million euros, two big names in the field with a presence already in Greece, Patrick Muratoglou and Novak Djokovic, were intensely heard in the past period, with Djokovic’s name now emerging as the most prevalent. LAMDA Development is reportedly currently in talks with the Serbian tennis player for the new complex in Elliniko, which is expected to feature over 20 tennis courts, 10 padel courts, 4 pickleball courts, as well as accompanying facilities with restaurants, a gym, swimming pool, and entertainment areas.
The Stadion Sports Center
Tennis has its place of honor in the north, at the Stadion Sports Center, the 25 million euro investment in Maroussi, by the company that has taken over the operation of the tennis facilities at the Olympic Stadium, Stadion 2020, with partners the TEMES Group (“Costa Navarino” in Messinia, “The Ilisian” at the former “Hilton” in Athens) through its subsidiary, Mr. Ioannis Stasinopoulos of Viohalco and more recently Mr. The project, with the creation of state-of-the-art facilities, will be delivered in phases until the summer of 2026, while following the first events already hosted (Davis Cup match between Greece and Brazil, ATP Challenger in Athens after almost 15 years), several international junior tournaments have been secured for 2026. The aim, according to reports, is to host a major international tournament within the next year.
The Stadion Sports Center will have a total of 19 tennis courts (clay and hard surface), 9 padel courts (open and indoor), and 3 pickleball courts – an ideal sport for players of all ages and levels, which has become very popular worldwide. A modern clubhouse with a restaurant and outdoor swimming pool, as well as spaces for private events and business meetings are also developed on site. The Stadion Sports Center will additionally feature a specially designed area for children’s entertainment and sports, state-of-the-art golf simulators and a fully equipped 800 sqm gym.
The main and auxiliary main stadiums, with a capacity of eight and three thousand spectators respectively, are already in operation, specially designed to host international events. There are also 12 outdoor stadiums in operation. The remaining ones (open, hard and earth surface and covered, which are ideal for use regardless of weather conditions) will be ready at the beginning of the new year, while the other facilities will be operational in the summer of 2026. Meanwhile, the Piatti Tennis Academy Athens has already started its operation.
This is the first and only branch of the well-known academy outside Italy, providing specialized training programs for high-performance athletes, aiming to develop talent and achieve excellence, as well as programs for all levels.
Olympic properties
At the same time, major sports facilities in Athens continue to face a myriad of issues with outstanding issues (bureaucratic, ownership, legal, or institutional) and conflicts of competence, a never-ending reality that makes it difficult to upgrade and maintain them. The picture was painted last week by Isidoros Kouvelos, President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, who explained that, despite the fact that sponsorship agreements have been secured for a number of projects, their implementation stumbles on the obstacles that constantly appear and the lack of institutional speed. “The HOC is not asking for funding but for the cooperation of the state to save the property of the Greek state,” he said.
The examples are many: The planned interventions at the shooting range in Kaisariani cannot proceed due to ownership issues, since a part belongs to the Church, reportedly raising claims of exchange with the state. Similarly, at the Olympic Stadium, the land and the sponsor have been found, and the technical study for the construction of 60 new rooms to accommodate athletes has been completed, but the project stumbles on ownership, since the official concession of the site by the State is pending. But even in the case of the new sports facilities within the Elliniko site, the framework for operation and concession of use by athletes has not been clarified, and this, even though there is a lack of training facilities, especially in the centre and south of Athens.
It will also feature a modern clubhouse with a restaurant and outdoor pool, as well as spaces for private events and business meetings.
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