Giannis Pathiakakis (; 15 June 1953 – 8 February 2002) was a Greek 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 a later

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 ...

. After his death the stadium of Akratitos was named

Yiannis Pathiakakis Stadium Yiannis Pathiakakis Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Ano Liosia, Greece. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball t ...

in his honour.

Club career

Pathiakakis started his football career in

Apollon Athens Apollon Smyrnis Football Club () is a professional football club based in Athens, Greece, which competes in the Athens FCA first division. It is part of GS Apollon Smyrnis (Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Απόλλων Σμύρνης), ...

, where he played from 1971 to 1977. He then played for one year in

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

and in 1978 he was transferred to

Nea Smyrni Nea Smyrni (, ''Néa Smýrni'', "New Smyrna") is a municipality and a town in South Athens, Greece. At the 2021 Greek census, 2021 census, it had 72,853 inhabitants. It was named after the former Greek city Smyrna (today's İzmir in Turkey), whe ...

, in

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

. In the three years he played in Panionios he was particularly productive. He was a key contributor to the progress of the Nea Smyrni club to winning 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 ...

in 1979. He scored in both matches against

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

in the quarter-finals, as well as against

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, ...

in the semi-finals. In the final he scored the second of his team's three goals in a 3–1 win over

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 ...

. He also scored a goal the following season in a historic 4–0 win over

Twente Twente ( , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germanic people ...

in the first round of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

. He left Panionios in 1980 his career playing for Apollon Athens, Ethnikos Piraeus and the Korinthos.

Managerial career

Pathiakakis started as a coach at AO Melissia, where he was also a football player and then worked at A.E. Messolongi, Pannafpliakos and Ethnikos Piraeus. In 1994 he sat on the bench

and associated his name with the most successful period in the club's history. Under his guidance, Apollon created a young team with excellent footballers who, with the help of some experienced players, play quality football.

Demis Nikolaidis Themistoklis "Demis" Nikolaidis (; born 17 September 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the forty second president of AEK Athens, and is considered one of the greatest forwards Greece has produced. I ...

, Theofilos Karasavvidis, Bledar Kola and the older ones Antonis Minou,

Frank Klopas Fotios "Frank" Klopas (; born September 1, 1966) is an American former soccer player who played as a forward. Following his retirement, he served as a color commentator for the Chicago Fire before later working as a front office executive and ...

, Tasos Mitropoulos give personality to the team. In his first season, he led them to 4th place and earned a place to 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 ...

of the following year, while in 1996 he reached the Cup final of the , where he was defeated 7–1 by

. A short stint at Athinaikos followed and he then took charge of Akratitos, which he promoted from the fourth to the second division. In January 2000 he took charge of AEK Athens replacing

Ljubiša Tumbaković Ljubiša Tumbaković (, ; born 2 September 1952) is a Serbian professional football manager. He is the most successful coach in the history of Serbian powerhouse Partizan which he led to six national championship titles and three national cup w ...

. In the end of the season he won the Cup beating Ionikos by 3–0. and the following season, he led the club to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup excluding

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. However, the elimination in the Cup by

with a heavy 6–1 defeat led to his dismissal. He was sidelined for a year until February 2002 when he was re-hired by Akratitos. But before he could really take over, he died during training of a heart attack.

Death

Pathiakakis died of a heart attack five days after his return to Akratitos. He cooled down at the Ano Liosion stadium during training on February 8, 2002 at the age of 49. Four years earlier he had suffered another heart attack at the same stadium and had undergone a double bypass, but despite doctors' advice to avoid excitement, he chose to continue "living dangerously" as a coach. At the same time, he did not stop smoking. Everything happened so fast that no one had time to react. The training session was almost over and Pathiakakis was playing a bet with goalkeeper

Gintaras Staučė Gintaras Staučė (born 24 December 1969) is a Lithuanian football coach and former player who is currently the goalkeeping coach of the Kazakhstan national team. Club career Among the other teams he played for were Spartak Moscow, Galatas ...

, shooting him from outside the area. He had won the first game and when the

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n goalkeeper asked for a rematch, the coach suddenly fell down. They rushed to him for first aid but the fatality soon occurred before the ambulance arrived. At the hospital, he was pronounced dead from an acute

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. The management of Akratitos decided to name the stadium "Yiannis Pathiakakis Stadium" as a sign of memory to the coach who sealed the association with his death, which from the local categories of Athens and raised it to the second division. The football club A.O. Yiannis Pathiakakis from

Dionysos In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greek ...

bears his name.

Honours

As a player

;Panionios *

: 1978–79

As a manager

;Akratitos *

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, ...

: 1998–99 (1st Group) *

Greek Football Amateur Cup Greek Amateur Cup (Greek: Κύπελλο Ερασιτεχνικών Ομάδων Ελλάδος) was the most known competitions for amateur AND semi-professional teams in Greece, organised by the Hellenic Football Federation . It was founded in ...

: 1997–98 * Athens Cup: 1996–97 ;AEK Athens *Greek Cup: 1999–2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pathiakakis, Giannis 1953 births 2002 deaths Super League Greece players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players PAOK FC players Panionios F.C. players Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. players Men's association football forwards Greek football managers Apollon Smyrnis F.C. managers AEK Athens F.C. managers A.P.O. Akratitos Ano Liosia managers Footballers from Athens Greek men's footballers 20th-century Greek sportsmen