Elias Yfantis (; born 29 July 1936) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

former 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 ...

player who played as a striker and a later manager of

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, ...

. He was a key member of Olympiacos during the 1950s and 1960s.

Biography

Born in ''Aghia Sophia'' in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

, Yfantis joined the senior side of Olympiacos F.C. at the age of 17. He played for the first time in an official match in 1953. He played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

and scored 225 career goals in all competitions. In A'Ethniki, he not only played in 58 games in three seasons and scored 30 goals, but he had also scored first for the historic struggle of Olympiacos in European competition against

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

(final score 2–2). Serious injuries forced him to quit football in 1964 at the age of 28. He made seven appearances and scored two goals for the

Greece national football team The Greece national football team (, ) represents Greece in men's international Association football, football matches, and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece is one of only ten ...

, playing from 1957 to 1960. In 1970, he became the head coach of Olympiacos as caretaker manager, and later for many years in parts of the infrastructure of the club.

Honours

Olympiacos *

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 ...

: 1953–54, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59 *

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 ...

: 1953–54, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1962–63 * Piraeus FCA League: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yfantis, Elias 1936 births Living people Greek men's footballers Greece men's international footballers Greek football managers Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. managers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Piraeus Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. players 20th-century Greek sportsmen