Argirios Giannikis (born 9 July 1980) is a Greek-German professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

who was most recently the manager of

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...

. He has also previously managed Greek clubs

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club (), or with its full name Panipirotikós Athlitikós Síllogos Giánnina (, ''Panepirotic Athletic Club Giannina'') is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ioannina, the capita ...

and

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

, and German clubs

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

and

VfR Aalen Verein für Rasenspiele 1921 Aalen e.V., known simply as VfR Aalen, is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. The football team is part of a larger sports club which also offers its members gymnastics, tab ...

Early life

Giannikis was born in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

and grew up in Germany.

Managerial career

Giannikis worked as a coach for

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

from 2007 and as assistant manager at the club to

Markus Kauczinski Markus Kauczinski (born 20 February 1970) is a German Association football, football coach, who last managed SV Wehen Wiesbaden, Wehen Wiesbaden. Coaching career Kauczinski started to coach Karlsruher SC II in May 2009 and continued in this role ...

from 2012, until leaving the club in 2016 to follow Kauczinski to

FC Ingolstadt 04 Fußballclub Ingolstadt 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Ingolstadt 04 or FC Ingolstadt, is a German football club based in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The club was founded in 2004 out of the merger of the football sides of two other clubs: ESV Ingolsta ...

, where he was once again Kauczinski's assistant manager. On 14 October 2017, Giannikis was appointed as manager of

on a contract until the end of the season. He led Essen to pick up 13 points from the six games between his appointment and the winter break. On 20 January 2018, Giannikis announced that he would not renew his contract at Essen beyond the end of the season, before it was later announced that he was to become

manager for the following season. Having suffered hostility from Essen supporters for this decision, he left the club on 7 April 2018 and was immediately succeeded by Karsten Neitzel. Giannikis was sacked from his role at VfL Aalen on 10 February 2019 after three wins in 22

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

games. In 2019, Giannikis was appointed as the coach of

. In his first season with the club, he managed to win the

2019–20 Super League Greece 2 The 2019–20 Super League 2 was the first season of the Super League 2, the second-tier Greek professional league for association football clubs, since restructuring of the Greek football league system. The exact system of conduct and how many ...

title and so the club was promoted to Super League 1, the top division of Greek football. In 2020–21, he led the team to an 9th-place finish. He also managed to get the team into the semi-finals of the

2020–21 Greek Football Cup The 2020–21 Greek Football Cup was the 79th edition of the Greek Football Cup. It took place with the participation of the 14 clubs from the Super League 1, as there was no competitive action in the lower divisions ( Super League 2, Football Le ...

for the third time in the club's history after beating Atromitos and Panathinaikos. In the semifinals, the club lost to

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

2–4 on aggregate. He left the club at the end of the 2020–21 season. Giannikis was appointed as

manager on 10 October 2021, and in December 2021 his contract with the club was extended until 2024. However, he was sacked on 1 March 2022. After leaving AEK, Giannikis returned to Germany and took a break from management, instead spending time with his family. He was appointed as

manager in January 2024. On 20 January 2025, he was dismissed by 1860 Munich.

Personal life

In June 2014, Giannikis was married to his wife Rula near

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

PAS Giannina

* Super League 2: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile on Official website of PAS Giannina
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giannikis, Argirios 1980 births Living people Footballers from Nuremberg German people of Greek descent German football managers Greek football managers Rot-Weiss Essen managers VfR Aalen managers PAS Giannina F.C. managers AEK Athens F.C. managers TSV 1860 Munich managers Regionalliga managers 3. Liga managers Super League Greece managers German expatriate football managers German expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in Greece