rugby was played in thessaloniki since the early 2000s, before the establishment of the hellenic rugby federation in 2004. spartakos rugby club was the predecessor of thessaloniki lions rugby club. spartakos participated at the first national championship that took place during the 2004-2005 season. spartakos rugby club managed to participate several times in the semi-finals of the greek championship, usually divided in two groups (north and south), while later a round-robin format was introduced. the players practicing rugby before the 2004-2005 season were making long trips to athens or across the border in bulgaria in order to play matches.