Christos Ribas (; 1914 – 18 October 1981) was a Greek

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

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 a manager. His nickname was ''"the Bird"'' ''()''.

Club career

Ribas started football in 1927, at the age of 14, playing as a striker for Atromitos Nea Ionia. The following year the Hungarian coach Sveg watched him play as a goalkeeper for the Athens College Branch team at the stadium of

Panellinios Panellinios G.S. (Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γ.Σ.), full name, Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos (Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος), is a Greek multi-sport club that is located in Athens and was founded i ...

and invited him to enroll in the infrastructure sections of

. In 1929 he was promoted to the first team and in 5 May of that year, he made his debut against Ferencvárosi, for the Easter Cup. On 27 December 1931, he impressed with his performance against Wacker, for the Christmas Cup. On 28 May 1939, Ribas played in the

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

final against

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

, at

Leoforos Alexandras Stadium Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium (), commonly known as Leoforos Alexandras Stadium or Leoforos Stadium, is a football stadium and multi-sport center in Athens, Greece. It was inaugurated in 1922 and is the oldest currently active football stadium in ...

, where AEK won their second Cup in their history winning by 2–1. He was the main goalkeeper of AEK Athens until the end of his career as a footballer in 1947, winning two consecutive Panhellenic Championships, two Cups and three Athens FCA Championships, including the first domestic double in by a Greek club in 1939.

International career

Ribas played nine times for

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

including his last one as captain. In 1933, he was invited to the Balkan mixed team for a match against the World mixed team, which was eventually postponed.

After football

After the end of his career as a footballer, Ribas was involved with AEK, becoming a member of their staff, while also managing teams such as

Egaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( ) is a town and a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens urban area, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo, whose name comes from the words αίγα/a ...

, Loutraki, Elefsina and Marko.

Personal life

Ribas was married to Eleni and had five children named Apostolos, Panagiota, Michalis, Nikos and Anastasia. He died on 18 October 1981 from an incurable illness.

Honours

AEK Athens *

Panhellenic Championship The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

: 1938–39, 1939–40 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 1931–32, 1938–39 * Athens FCA League: 1940, 1946, 1947

References

External links

*
Official website of Amateur AEKWhen Christos Ribas left, Stavros Kazantzoglou
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ribas, Christos 1914 births 1981 deaths Footballers from Manisa Greek men's footballers Footballers from Athens Men's association football goalkeepers Greece men's international footballers AEK Athens F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century Greek sportsmen