Manolis Papadopoulos (; 22 April 1968 – 16 May 2025) was a Greek professional

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 and manager who played as a defender.

Club career

Papadopoulos started his career in 1986 at

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 summer of 1989 he was loaned to Ionikos, where he was established as a regular. His performances earned him a transfer to the Greek champions,

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 ...

, in the summer of 1992. He was used in AEK most of the time as a substitute also having a few appearances as a starter, especially when

Dušan Bajević Dušan "Duško" Bajević ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Бајевић, ; , ''Doúsan Báyevits''; born 10 December 1948) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football manager ...

used formation with three stoppers. In the matches against Rangers for 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 ...

qualifiers in the summer of 1994, he was assigned to mark

Mark Hateley Mark Wayne Hateley (born 7 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. He started his career with Coventry City F.C., Coventry City in the Football L ...

, managing to contain him. During his spell with the "double-headed eagle" Papadopoulos won two consecutive championships. In the summer of 1995 he moved to Apollon Athens for two seasons and then to Ethnikos Piraeus for another two. In 1999 he signed for

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club (), or with its full name Panipirotikós Athlitikós Síllogos Giánnina (, ''Panepirotic Athletic Club Giannina'') is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ioannina, the capita ...

for a while and then moved to

Kozani Kozani (, ) is a town in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas, Aliakmonas riv ...

where he played until 2001. The following season he moved to Chaidari, where he played for one season before ending his career as a footballer.

International career

Papadopoulos played once for

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

on 29 January 1992 in an away friendly match against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, coming in as a sub at the half time. He won the gold medal at the

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 ...

Managerial career

Papadopoulos started his coaching career in 2002, during which he sat on the benches of various teams, such as Kerkyra, Pamisos Messini, AE Giannena and Lamia. In the summer of 2011, he was hired as the coach of the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

of AEK Athens, while at the beginning of the following season he assumed the role of assistant to the coach of the first team, Vangelis Vlachos. The club were going through the worst season in their history after Vlachos was sacked he was the first coach for a match at home against Kerkyra, which ended 1–1. Afterwards,

Ewald Lienen Ewald Lienen (born 28 November 1953) is a German association football, football manager and former player. His last job was technical director of FC St. Pauli. Playing career Lienen began his professional career at Arminia Bielefeld of the 2. Fu ...

was hired and Papadopoulos continued his duties as an assistant coach with the German technician until the end of the season. After AEK, he sat on the bench of Proodeftiki for a few days and then at

Egaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( ) is a town and a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens urban area, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo, whose name comes from the words αίγα/a ...

, while in 2015 he was at APO Kanaris Nenita for a season.

Personal life and death

Papadopoulos had a strong participation in the association of veteran football players of AEK. He died on 16 May 2025, at the age of 57.

Honours

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 ...

: 1992–93, 1993–94

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papadopoulos, Manolis 1968 births 2025 deaths Greek men's footballers Footballers from Livadeia Men's association football defenders Greece men's international footballers Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Ionikos F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. players PAS Giannina F.C. players Kozani F.C. players Haidari F.C. players Greek football managers A.O. Kerkyra managers PAS Lamia 1964 managers AEK Athens F.C. non-playing staff Proodeftiki F.C. managers Egaleo F.C. managers 20th-century Greek sportsmen