Dimitris "Jimmy" Patikas (; born 18 October 1963) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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. Renowned for his exceptional speed and for being the first established Australian player to be signed by a professional European football club, he was capped 27 times for the Socceroos and played as a forward and midfielder for Sydney City,

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

Sydney Croatia Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

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 ...

Athinaikos Athinaikos A.C. (, full name Athinaikos Athletic Club) is a Greek multisport-club, founded in 1917. It is based in Vyronas, a suburb east of Athens. Athinaikos has football, basketball, and handball teams. Its achievements comprise Panhellenic ch ...

and

Kastoria Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...

. Since retiring as a player, Jim has coached at all levels across outdoor & futsal in both male & female football.

Career

Patikas represented the

Young Socceroos The Australia national under-20 soccer team, known colloquially as the Young Socceroos, represents Australia in international under-20 Association football, soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football ...

in both the 1981 FIFA

World Youth Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and 1983

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Despite being one of the youngest players in the 1981 World Youth Cup, Patikas had already played over two seasons for NSL Champions Sydney City debuting as a 15-year-old in the 1979 season. He was therefore a key part of the Australian squad that reached the Quarter Finals in 1981, losing 1-0 only to eventual winners,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. His performances for the Young Socceroos and Sydney City earned Patikas his first full international cap aged only 17 against Indonesia in 1981 World Cup Qualifying and a contract with a

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

coached

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. In 1983, after five seasons and three NSL Championships with Sydney City, Patikas was signed by

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times bet ...

. In his first season at Olympic, he won the NSL Cup and held the record for most Young Socceroos international appearances after playing in his second FIFA

in Mexico. Against European Youth Champions

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, Patikas scored a goal with 3 minutes remaining to give the Young Socceroos a 2-1 victory elevating them to the top of Group A. In the final round, a 2-1 defeat to Korea Republic saw the Young Socceroos exit the tournament with only one defeat. However, the performances of Patikas attracted the attention of many international scouts. One including newly appointed Barcelona F.C. coach Cesar Luis Menotti. According to media reports, Patikas was offered a contract by Menotti, but injury forced him to return to Australia. In 1985, Patikas joined Olympics' rivals

and scored two goals against his former club on his way to the Player of the Year and top goal scorer titles. He played 13 of his 27 caps during this season, and was a key member of the Socceroos' 1986 World Cup Qualifying matches against a Scotland national side featuring

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player who is currently Technical Director of Dundee. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Sc ...

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps f ...

and

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...

. Patikas who had experience in Scotland during his time at

was one of the Socceroos' stand-out performers in a 2-0 aggregate loss. Following these games, he was signed by Greek club

. In March 1988, Patikas returned to Australia to represent the Socceroos in the Olympic qualifiers becoming the first player to turn out for the Socceroos while based at a non-Australian club. In his first game back he scored the winner for the Socceroos against Chinese Taipei. The next match against New Zealand saw Patikas become the first

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

goal scorer at the

Sydney Football Stadium Sydney Football Stadium may refer to: * Sydney Football Stadium (1988), the original stadium which was demolished in 2019. * Sydney Football Stadium (2022) Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, i ...

when opening the scoring in a 3-1 win. In his fourth season at AEK, Patikas won the league title ending the club's ten year championship drought. He went on to make over 200 appearances for AEK in all competitions (including European Cup / UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup) scoring 58 goals. He won 3 Greek Championships, 1

Greek League Cup The Greek League Cup (), officially known as the EPAE Cup () was a Greek association football competition, took place only once, in the 1989–90 season. On 2 June 1990 AEK Athens became the only winner of the institution after winning Olympiaco ...

, 1

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 ...

and 1 Pre-

1991 Mediterranean Games The XI Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1991 Mediterranean Games, were the 11th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Athens, Greece, from 28 June to 12 July 1991, where 2,762 athletes (2,176 men and 586 women) from 18 countries p ...

Cup. After nearly a decade with AEK Athens, Patikas signed for

in January 1993. In his first game back at

Nikos Goumas Stadium Nikos Goumas Stadium () was a multi-purpose stadium in Nea Filadelfeia, a northwestern suburb of the Athens urban area, Greece. It was used mostly for football matches and was the home stadium of AEK. It is now replaced by Agia Sophia Stadium ...

, he scored against his old club, AEK. Despite being man-of-the-match, he ended up on the losing side as the Greek champions won by 3–2. In 1995, Patikas signed for Northern Greek outfit

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 ...

. The club was promoted into

Beta Ethniki The Football League () was the second highest professional football league in Greece since its inception in 1962 as ''Beta Ethniki'' and until 2019. It then served as a third tier after the creation of the Super League 2 as the new second tier ...

, and Patikas helped the club gain promotion into the Greek First Division for the first time since 1983. Following a successful period at Kastoria, Patikas returned home to play for Sydney United and Sydney Olympic in the NSL.

Honours

Player

Sydney City * NSL Championship: 1980, 1981, 1982 Sydney Olympic *

NSL Cup The National Soccer League Cup (known most commonly as the NSL Cup) was an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Australian soccer organised by the Australian Soccer Federation between 1977 and 1997. History The NSL Cup was or ...

: 1983 AEK Athens *

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 ...

: 1988–89, 1991–92, 1992–93 *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

: 1990 *

Pre-Mediterranean Cup The Pre-Mediterranean Cup () was an association football tournament hosted by the Hellenic Football Federation in Athens. The competition was conducted once, in 1991, and the winner was AEK Athens. In June 1991, the only Pre-Mediterranean cup wa ...

: 1991

Individual

*Australian Player of the Year: 1985 with

*Top goal scorer: 1985 with

*NSW Player of the Year: 1985 with

*Greek League MVP Team: 1986/87 & 1989/90 with

*1st Socceroo to play in 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 ...

(

) *1st player to represent Socceroos while based at a non-Australian club *1st

goal scorer at the

*5th Youngest Socceroos debutant ( Sydney City) *4th Youngest NSL debutant ( Sydney City)

References

External links

Jim Patikas InterviewPatikas: 'I played table tennis with Fergie'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patikas, Jim 1963 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian emigrants to Greece Australia men's international soccer players Australia men's B international soccer players Men's association football midfielders Super League Greece players Hakoah Sydney City East FC players AEK Athens F.C. players Kastoria 1980 F.C. players Athinaikos F.C. players Australian people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent Naturalized citizens of Greece Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Australian sportsmen