Apostolos "Lakis" Papaioannou (Greek: Απόστολος "Λάκης" Παπαϊωάννου; born 5 October 1956) is a retired

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 ...

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.

Career

Club career

Born in

Katerini Katerini (, ''Kateríni'', ) is a city and municipality in northern Greece, the capital city of Regional Unit of Piera in Central Macedonia, Greece. It lies on the Pierian plain, between Mount Olympus and the Thermaikos Gulf, at an altitude ...

, Papaioannou began playing football with the youth sides of A.O. Katerinis and Pierikos F.C. In 1973, he made his senior debut for Pierikos in the

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 ...

. Papaioannou helped Pierikos to gain its promotion to the

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 ...

in 1975, and played for the club until 1979 when it was relegated to the regional leagues. Alpha Ethniki side Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. signed Papaioannou in 1979, and would play for Iraklis until city rivals PAOK F.C. signed him in 1986. Papaioannou helped PAOK to consecutive second-place finishes in the league, and then joined PAS Giannina F.C. in 1988. His finished his career with Patras F.C., retiring in 1992. All told, Papaioannou made over 500 appearances in the Greek first and second divisions.

International

Papaioannou made 38 appearances and scored two goals for the

Greece national football team The Greece national football team (, ) represents Greece in men's international Association football, football matches, and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece is one of only ten ...

from 1977 to 1987. He made his debut as a second-half substitute in a 6–1 friendly defeat to Romania on 21 September 1977.

Post retirement

After he retired from playing, Papaioannou became a football scout. He led the scouting and recruiting efforts for

Arsenal F.C. The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

's new elite football academy in

Loutraki Loutraki () is a seaside resort on the Gulf of Corinth, in Corinthia, Greece. It is located west of Athens and northeast of Corinth. Loutraki is the seat of the municipality Loutraki-Perachora-Agioi Theodoroi. The town is known for its va ...

Personal life

Lakis Papaioannou is married to Konstantina Tarantzopoulou or otherwise Dina Papaioannou, a performer in northern Greece. His daughter,

Eleana Eleana is a feminine given name. People with the given name * Eleana Colby, American politician * Eleana Papaioannou, Greek pop-folk singer * Eleana Yu (born 2004), American tennis player. See also * Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine gi ...

, is a

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singer.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Papaioannou, Lakis 1956 births Living people Greek men's footballers Greece men's international footballers S.F.K. Pierikos (football) players Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players PAOK FC players Footballers from Katerini PAS Giannina F.C. players Super League Greece players Men's association football midfielders A.O. Kerkyra managers 20th-century Greek sportsmen