Panathinaikos has officially confirmed the signing of French international guard Sylvain Francisco on a three-year contract, completing a transfer that brought him to Athens in the early hours of Thursday, July 30.
Both parties had reached agreement on all terms, the club announced. The 29-year-old was acquired from Villeurbanne.
The announcement from Panathinaikos AKTOR described Francisco as a player born on October 10, 1997, in Créteil, France. He stands 1.85 metres tall and plays as a guard.
Career-best season at Zalgiris
Francisco arrives at Panathinaikos off the strongest European campaign of his career. Playing for Zalgiris Kaunas in the EuroLeague in 2025-26, he appeared in 42 games and averaged 16.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game across 27 minutes and 47 seconds of court time. Those numbers earned him selection to the competition's top five for the season.
He also helped Zalgiris win the Lithuanian championship and was voted MVP of the championship finals for the second consecutive year, a distinction he had first claimed during the 2024-25 season.
In that previous EuroLeague campaign Francisco appeared in 34 games and averaged 14.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 25 minutes and 29 seconds per contest. The club won both the Lithuanian championship and the Lithuanian Cup in 2025, and he was named MVP of the championship finals that season as well.
Before moving to Lithuania, Francisco signed with Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023. His first EuroLeague campaign in Germany brought averages of 10.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists across 33 games in 19 minutes and 17 seconds per match. He won the German Cup with Bayern in 2024 and was named MVP of the tournament's Final Four.
A career built across Europe and the United States
Francisco began his basketball education at the academies of Paris Basket Racing, Villemomble Sports and AL Roche-la-Moliere. In 2014 he moved to Florida in the United States, attending the Elev8 Sports Institute, Liberty Christian Preparatory School and West Oaks Academy in turn before returning to France to begin his professional career.
He signed his first professional contract with Levallois Metropolitans in 2017, then moved to Paris Basketball in 2018 for two seasons before joining Chorale Roanne in the French top division in 2020.
In the summer of 2021 Francisco signed with BAXI Manresa of Spain. A year later he joined Peristeri in Greece, producing strong numbers in both domestic and European competition. He averaged 12.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game in the Greek league, and 16.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists per contest in the Basketball Champions League.
Active with the French national team
Francisco has continued to feature regularly for the French national squad alongside his club duties. In the qualifiers for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 he has so far averaged 13.7 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals per game, shooting 53.8 percent from two-point range, 50 percent from three-point range and 83.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Panathinaikos have Francisco under contract for the next three seasons.
