Kilkis

PAOK and AEK Athens turn up more often than anyone else on Kilkis's schedule at the top of the Handball Premier, and matches against PAOK in particular carry the weight a derby carries elsewhere in Greek sport, even without a name attached to it. GAS Kilkis has no local rival to speak of — it is the only handball club of note in the city — so its edge comes from meeting the bigger Thessaloniki and Athens sides on their own ground, and coming close often enough to matter.

Close is the word for most of the club's history. Founded in 1980, GAS Kilkis reached the final of the A1 Ethniki three times, in 1993–94, 1999–2000 and 2007–08, and lost all three; a league title has never come. The one trophy that did land was the Greek Cup in 2004, beaten 29–27 in the final against A.S.E. Doukas. Outside the indoor game, the club also picked up the Men's European Beach Tour Finals in 2016.

The team plays out of the New Indoor Gymnasium of Kilkis, a hall that holds 1,500, in the club's blue and red.

Kostas Kotanidis kept goal there between 2007 and 2013 before PAOK signed him, then Olympiacos, then AEK — a path that ran the other way from most of Kilkis's rivalries, taking one of its own into the ranks of the clubs it spent those years chasing.