Ioannis "John" Limniatis (

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 ...

: Ιωάννης "Τζον" Λημνιάτης; born 24 June 1967) is a retired professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player 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 ...

. He captained and later became the head coach of the Montreal Impact. Born in Greece, he made 44 appearances scoring one goal for the Canada national team.

Club career

Before migrating to Canada with his family, Limniatis in 1977, used to train with the players of Greek Third Division side Ilisiakos in the 1970s, taking shots at legendary Greek goalkeeper Nikos Sarganis. After beginning his pro career in 1987 with the Ottawa Pioneers of the Canadian Soccer League, he became the first ever Canadian to be sold to a European first division team. He was transferred for a fee of $50.000. Limniatis played professionally in Greece with First Division side

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki (), is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki. Nicknamed ''God of War'', Aris was one of the strongest Greek clubs during t ...

from 1988 to 1992 and Panetolikos from 1992 to 1993. He then joined the Montreal Impact in the summer of 1993 and remained with the club until 1998. After a brief spell in the United States on loan with

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

, Limniatis returned to the Impact playing 24 more games in the 2000–01 season. Liminatis played both outdoors in the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

and indoors in the National Professional Soccer League both with the Impact and the Kansas City Attack in 1995–96. Limniatis was named 1994 A-League Rookie of the Year and 1996 and '97 Defender of the Year. He's a member of both the Canadian & the Quebec Soccer Hall of Fame, inducted in 2009. He is also the 1st ever soccer person to be inducted in the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame (Pantheon des sports du Quebec), inducted in 2012.

International career

Limniatis made his debut for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in a September 1987 friendly match against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

, He earned a total of 44 caps, scoring 1 goal. He has represented Canada in 8

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches in three unsuccessful

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifying campaigns. His final international game was a March 1997 World Cup qualification match against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Coaching career

Limniatis spent his last years with the Impact as their assistant coach, indoor head coach, and later director of operations. He was coach for the Montreal Impact until Marc Dos Santos was named as interim head coach following Limniatis' termination by the Impact board.

Personal life

Limniatis's hometown is

Laval, Quebec Laval is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in Can ...

, Limniatis has two daughters, Alexia and Nikki. His cousin, Giorgos Limniatis, is a former professional basketball player who played in Greece.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

Honours

Canada *

North American Nations Cup The North American Nations Cup was an association football competition organized by NAFU as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from North America. The tournament was held in 1990 and 1991. Canada, United States and Mexi ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

References

External links

* / Canada Soccer Hall of Fame * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Limniatis, John 1967 births Living people Footballers from Athens Greek men's footballers Soccer players from Laval, Quebec Greek emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players Canadian soccer coaches Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Greek expatriate men's footballers Greek expatriate sportspeople in the United States Ottawa Intrepid players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Panetolikos F.C. players Montreal Impact (1992–2011) head coaches Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players Charleston Battery players Kansas City Attack (NPSL) players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players American Professional Soccer League players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players USISL players A-League (1995–2004) players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen 20th-century Greek sportsmen