Kleisto Mikras 3

Kleisto Mikras 3 sits inside the older skeleton of the Mikras complex. This specific hall arrived later, opening in 2008. It is often referred to locally as the ‘House of Handball’.

The distinction here is not in size, but in function. It shares a postcode with the larger PAOK Sports Arena, which opened in 2000 and serves basketball and football. It is the home for PAOK Handball and Aris Thessaloniki Handball. The atmosphere is different from the open-air football grounds; it is enclosed, with the noise bouncing off the walls rather than dissipating into the sky. The capacity is subject to interpretation, with sources citing figures around 1,380 or 1,800, but the number matters less than the fact that it is a dedicated space for ball sports played on wood.

It served as an Olympic training centre for the Athens 2004 Games, a period when the city’s sporting infrastructure was being refreshed. That history is not a badge of honour so much as a record of utility. The construction was handled by T&T ATE, with design work by globiled, but the architects do not define the space as much as the teams that occupy it. The surface is standard parquet, worn smooth by the friction of players running back and forth. There is no need to compare it to the bigger arenas in the city; it does not try to be one. It is a working hall, built for training and matches, where the history between the teams adds an edge to the routine fixtures. It is not a destination for tourists, but for those who follow the weekly grind of the league.