Georgios Donis (; born 22 October 1969) is a Greek former professional

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and currently the manager of

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

club Al-Khaleej. He was the first ever Greek to play in the

English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. In England, he was also known as George Donis.

Early years

Donis was born and raised in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

until he was six years old and the family moved back to their native

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 ...

. His parents had lived in Frankfurt for "many years" and he has still family ties there.

Club career

Donis started his senior career with

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 ...

in 1990, and after one successful year he moved to Panathinaikos. The fans of Panathinaikos, known for their love for nicknames, named him ''the Train'' for his remarkable acceleration. On 5 June 1996, after helping the Greek club reach the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

semi-finals against

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, Donis moved to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

on a free transfer, making use of the then recent

Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of associati ...

signing for 1.1 billion drachmas, a record amount for Greek players at the time. He had an erratic season with Blackburn, scoring against Everton and Coventry City. He returned home to play 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 ...

, before returning to England, playing for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

where he ended his career.

International career

Donis made his debut for

on 22 December 1991, in a 1–1 draw against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

for the

UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 1992 was a series of parallel association football competitions to be held over 1990 and 1991 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 1992, to be held in Sweden. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

round. He appeared in 24 matches and scored five goals during his international career with Greece.

Managerial career

AEL

After the end of his playing career, he turned to coaching. Starting in 2002, he led

Zografou Zografou () is a suburban town of approximately 70,000 inhabitants in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It was named after the Greek politician Ioannis Zografos. To the east of Zografou lies mount Hymettus. The area, being ...

-based

Ilisiakos Ilisiakos Football Club () is an Athens-based Association football, football club that was founded in 1927 by Michalis Xydis, Lambropoulos, Evgenopoulos, Nikolaos Plessas, ''et al.''. They played in Delta Ethiniki until 2003. Ilisiakos spent the ma ...

in two consecutive promotions from the fourth to the second Greek football level. He then made the move to AEL where, after one season, he managed to bring the team to the

Greek Superleague 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 repla ...

from the second division, and reached eighth place the following year. In 2007, Larissa finished only tenth in the league, but he managed to win the

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 ...

after defeating Panathinaikos 2–1 in the final. In his first taste of European football management, his team AEL defeated his former team

to reach the

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup, UEFA's former second-tier club association football, football tournament. The 2008 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, E ...

group stages. He finished a great year in sixth place in the league, missing out on the season play-offs on goal difference.

AEK Athens

On 25 April 2008, Donis stepped down as manager of AEL and on 14 May he was appointed as head coach of

. On 17 November 2008, due to a string of poor performances and early knock out from the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, AEK parted company with him just six months after his appointment.

Atromitos

In 2009, Donis was appointed by

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou Atromitos Yeroskipou () was a Cy ...

and in the 2010–11 season he again reached the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

only to lose 0–3 to his former team

. In the next year, Atromitos enjoyed another successful spell under his guidance, reaching the

for a second consecutive time (losing 1–2 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, ...

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

), as well as participating at the Greek Superleague play-offs.

PAOK

On 31 May 2012,

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

appointed Donis as the new manager of the club, on a two-year contract, with immediate effect. On 28 April 2013, after a crucial defeat 0–2 and the elimination in the semi-final of

Asteras Tripolis Asteras Tripolis Football Club (), currently known as Asteras AKTOR for sponsorship reasons, commonly referred to as Asteras, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Asteras Tripolis ...

, he was sacked by chairman Ivan Savvidis.

APOEL

On 11 October 2013, Donis signed a contract until the end of the 2013–14 season with the reigning Cypriot champions APOEL, replacing Paulo Sérgio who had been fired on 4 October 2013. In his first season at APOEL, Donis achieved to win the

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

. He won his first title with APOEL on 21 May 2014, when he led his team to a 2–0 victory over

Ermis Aradippou Ermis Aradippou () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Aradippou, a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1958, and currently plays in the Cypriot Third Division. Ermis' greatest success ca ...

in the

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

final. Ten days later, Donis won also the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

after APOEL's 1–0 away victory against

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

in the title deciding match and won his first league title in his managerial career. Following a successful first season in the club, Giorgos Donis signed a one-year contract extension with APOEL on 26 June 2014. In August 2014, Donis led APOEL into the group stages of the

2014–15 UEFA Champions League The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions Lea ...

, after eliminating

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

(4–2 on aggregate) in the third qualifying round and trashing

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curr ...

5–1 on aggregate in the play-off round of the competition. APOEL were drawn in Group F alongside

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

and

. Donis led his team to some great performances in the group stage, but APOEL managed to collect only one point after drawing 1–1 with Ajax at home. In their other five Group F matches, APOEL lost twice to Barcelona (0–4 at home, 0–1 away), lost twice to Paris Saint-Germain (0–1 at home, 0–1 away) and also lost to Ajax 0–4 away. On 6 January 2015, APOEL and Giorgos Donis parted company by mutual agreement after a poor run of performances and results, culminating in a 1–1 home draw against the last-placed

Ayia Napa Ayia Napa ( , ), officially Romanization, romanised Agia Napa, is a Tourism in Cyprus, tourist resort at the far eastern end of the southern coast of Cyprus. Etymology The name Ayia Napa is derived from a Venetian Cyprus, Venetian-era monaster ...

Al-Hilal

On 25 February 2015, he was appointed as the new manager of Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, signing a contract until the end of the season. He helped Al-Hilal to qualify in the semi-final of the

2015 AFC Champions League The 2015 AFC Champions League was the 34th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 13th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande won the tourna ...

. On 6 June, Donis won the first title with Al-Hilal after defeating

Al-Nassr Al-Nassr Football Club () is a professional football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The club competes in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of the Saudi football league system. Al-Nassr is one of only three clubs to have participated ...

in the final of the 2015 King Cup of Champions.

Sharjah

On 28 July 2016, he was appointed as the new manager of UAE club

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

, signing a contract until the summer of 2018.

Second spell in APOEL

On 28 July 2017, Donis signed a contract until the end of the 2017–18 season with the reigning Cypriot champions APOEL, replacing

Mario Been Marinus Antonius Been (born 11 December 1963) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player. As a footballer, Been played for Feyenoord, Pisa, Roda JC, Heerenveen, Tirol Innsbruck and Excelsior. He played in an attacking midf ...

, who had been sacked by APOEL following a 1–0 away European defeat to Viitorul Constanta. On 23 March 2018, APOEL sacked Donis, and replaced him with 40-year-old Portuguese manager Bruno Baltazar. The last straw was APOEL's recent 4–2 away defeat against

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

, which saw APOEL fall out of first place in the Cypriot First Division. Expectations had become quite high at APOEL in recent years. The Nicosia giants have won the

the last five seasons, and seven of the last nine campaigns. With that domestic run now in jeopardy, APOEL made the move to replace Donis with the Portuguese coach.

Panathinaikos

Donis was appointed on 3 July 2018 as the new manager of his former club as a player, Panathinaikos, signing a three-year contract. On 19 July 2020, after the end of the

Superleague Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

playoffs, he left the club by mutual consent, mainly as a result of his strenuous relationship with the Panathinaikos board and chairman

Giannis Alafouzos Giannis Alafouzos (, born 2 July 1957) is a Greek businessman, shipowner, owner and president of Panathinaikos F.C. and member of the Alafouzos family from Santorini. Early life Giannis Alafouzos was born in 1957 and is the son of businessman ...

Μaccabi Tel Aviv

Donis signed a contract with

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

. He led the team to the Play Offs of the

, where he was eliminated by Red Bull Salzburg; in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, he managed to lead the team to the round of 32. He was dismissed on 22 December 2020, with the team in fifth place in the league.

Al-Wehda

In March 2021, he became the manager of Saudi club Al-Wehda.

Al Fateh

On 16 January 2022, Donis was appointed as the manager of Saudi club Al Fateh.

Al-Wehda (return)

On 11 July 2023, Donis returned to manage Al-Wehda for the second time.

Al-Khaleej

On 11 July 2024, Donis was appointed as manager of Al-Khaleej.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Panathinaikos *

Alpha Ethniki 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 repla ...

: 1994–95, 1995–96 *

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 *

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup (), formerly known as the Friendship and Solidarity Cup () is a Greek association football one-match competition, which is contested annually either between the champions of the previous Super League Greece season and the hold ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Manager

;Ilisiakos *

Gamma Ethniki The Gamma Ethniki (, C National Division) is the Greek football league system, third highest football league in Greece. History The Gamma Ethniki began in 1965 as an amateur championship, while in 1983 it was changed to professional. Although no ...

: 2003–04 *

Delta Ethniki Delta Ethniki () was the fourth level of Greek football championship. During the period of its existence, it was the lowest national division of the Greek championship. It was founded in the 1982–83 season and abolished in the 2012–13 season, ...

: 2002–03 ;AEL *

: 2006–07 * Greek Second Division: 2004–05 ;Atromitos *

: Runner-up

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12 ;APOEL *

Cypriot League The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

: 2013–14 *

: 2013–14 ;Al-Hilal * King Cup of Champions:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Saudi Super Cup The Saudi Super Cup () is the annual super cup tournament in Saudi Arabian football. Founded in 2013 as a two-team competition, the Super Cup has been contested by four teams since 2022: the winners and runners-up of the King's Cup and the Sa ...

Saudi Crown Prince Cup The Saudi Crown Prince's Cup () was the oldest Saudi Arabian annual cup competition. History The cup was the oldest and first domestic football competition in Saudi Arabia; the first edition was held in 1956–57; five editions were played betwe ...

: 2015–16 ;Maccabi Tel Aviv *

Toto Cup Al The Israel Toto Cup (, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League Ligat Ha'Al; and the Israeli 2nd division Liga Leumit. Both of these leagues a ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Individual

*Top Scorer of

: 1994–95 (11 goals) * Best Manager in Greece: 2011–12 (with

Ernesto Valverde Ernesto Valverde Tejedor (born 9 February 1964) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of La Liga club Athletic Bilbao. Over ten seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 264 games and 68 ...

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donis, Georgios 1969 births Living people German men's footballers Greek men's footballers PAS Giannina F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Super League Greece players Premier League players English Football League players Footballers from Frankfurt Greece men's international footballers Greek football managers Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. managers AEK Athens F.C. managers Atromitos F.C. managers PAOK FC managers APOEL FC managers Panathinaikos F.C. managers Greek expatriate men's footballers Super League Greece managers Al-Hilal Saudi FC managers Sharjah FC managers UAE Pro League managers Expatriate men's footballers in England Greek expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Expatriate football managers in Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. managers Al Wehda FC managers Al Fateh SC managers Al-Khaleej FC managers Men's association football midfielders Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Saudi Pro League managers German people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent Greek expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Greek expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Greek expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Greek expatriate sportspeople in Israel Greek expatriate football managers 20th-century Greek sportsmen 20th-century German sportsmen