Giannis Kiliaras (; born 9 June 1988) is 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 plays as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Irodotos FC Irodotos Football Club, short for ''Podosferikós Athlitikós Sýllogos Alikarnassoú Iródotos'' (, meaning ''Irodotos Football Sports Club of Halicarnassus'') and also simply known as Irodotos, is a Greek football club based in Nea Alikarnassos ...

Club career

Born in

Nea Alikarnassos Nea Alikarnassos (, meaning New Halicarnassus) is a town and a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Heraklion, of which it is a municipal unit. The ...

, Kiliaras began playing football for local

Cretan Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

side Irodotos, with whom he made his senior debut in the

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, ...

, before making a leap in his career and signing with

Super League 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 ...

side

Ergotelis Ergotelis Football Club () is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, Crete, which competes in the Heraklion Football Clubs Association, FCA Heraklion A1, the fourth tier of the Greek football league system, ...

. Following a one-year loan to fellow

side PANOM, Kiliaras signed his first professional contract with the club in the summer of 2007. After a brief loan spell to

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 ...

side

Trikala Trikala () is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala (regional unit), Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios. According to the Greek Natio ...

in the winter of 2010, Kiliaras left

in the summer of 2010 having made a total of 11 appearances and having scored 1 goal. In August, he signed a contract with

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

-based club

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, ...

. with whom he played in both the

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He returned to

and the

in 2013, but left in September 2014, after a falling out with the club's board of directors following a loan deal refusal. After releasing himself from his contract, Kiliaras rejoined his childhood club Irodotos in the

. After one season with Irodotos, Kiliaras signed with

former renowned club OFI, who had been relegated to the

following its withdrawal from professional competitions. In the years following, Kiliaras was named among the team's captains, won promotion to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and eventually helped reclaim the team's spot in the

, winning the Second Division title in 2018. Being one of the last players in OFI's

roster still remaining from the club's years in the third Division, Kiliaras received substantially less playing time in top-flight, and was eventually released from his contract in the winter of 2019. Having been in talks with

' new administration, Kiliaras rejoined the club on the same day after his release from OFI, thus starting his third tenure with the

club. In July 2020, Kiliaras returned to his former club, Irodotos. In January 2022, he moved to Almyros Gaziou. Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Kiliaras once again returned to Irodotos.Ηρόδοτος: Aνακοινώθηκε η επιστροφή του Γιάννη Κοιλιάρ
primesport.gr, 1 July 2024

Personal life

Born in

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

, Kiliaras began playing football at a young age, when his father, a retired Irodotos footballer, signed him up at the infrastructure segments of his former club. His older brother

Dimitris Dimitris (Δημήτρης) is the Modern Greek form of the older forms Demetrios, Dimitrios (Δημήτριος, usually Latinized as Demetrius) and may refer to: * Dimitris Arvanitis (born 1980), Greek professional football defender who plays for ...

is also a

professional footballer Association football is the world's most popular sport and is worth US$600 billion worldwide. By the end of the 20th century it was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries. Around the world, the sport is played at a profes ...

. They played together for

in 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 ...

during the 2007–08 season.

Honours

Panachaiki

Football League 2 The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL) ...

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 ...

OFI

: 2015–16 *

: 2017–18

References

External links

*
Myplayer.gr Profile
*
Guardian FootballProfile
at Onsports.gr {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiliaras, Giannis 1988 births Living people Greek men's footballers Football League (Greece) players Ergotelis F.C. players Trikala F.C. players Panachaiki F.C. players OFI Crete F.C. players Irodotos FC players People from Heraklion (regional unit) Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from Crete 21st-century Greek sportsmen