That the correct name of the stadium is Kaftanzoglio?
And not Kaftantzoglio, as many mistakenly pronounce it. When the bus stops were named after the stadium many Thessalonicians complained to the Urban Transports Organisation that the signs were not written correctly, since they actually believed that the correct name was Kaftantzoglio.
Even an internet search in May 2006 gave 13,100 results for the wrong name “Kaftantzoglio” and 16,800 for the correct name “Kaftanzoglio”.
That the first sport event of the Olympics was not held in Athens but in Thessaloniki, in Kaftanzoglio?
The football match between the Olympic Clubs of Athens and South Korea was held on the 11th of August 2004, two days before the official opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The match was held at a crowded Kaftanzoglio within the framework of the first Group of the Olympic Tournament and ended with a 2-2 tie.
That the stadium was built thanks to a donation offered by a famous family?
The funds for the financing of the stadium’s erection came from a donation of Lysimachos Kaftanzoglou, an outstanding diplomat and jurist. The Kaftanzoglou family came from Thessaloniki and for this reason Lysimachos Kaftanzoglou specified in his testimony that his will was to construct a monument in the city of Thessaloniki.
The father of Lysimachos, Lyssandros Kaftanzoglou (1811-1885), is considered one of the most important Greek architects. He designed dozens of important buildings, mostly in the city of Athens, with the most important being the National Technical University of Athens and the Arsakio.
His grandfather, Ioannis Goutas Kaftanzoglou, was a member of the Philiki Etairia (Friendly Society), the well-known secret organisation that aimed at inciting the Greeks to rebel and liberate themselves from the Turkish yoke. Lysimachos Kaftanzoglou’s pride in his grandfather urged him to leave his property for the erection of a monument to honour those who fought and died for the liberation of Greece, from the time of the capture of Constantinople and on.
