Stylianos (or Stelios) Giannakopoulos (; born 12 July 1974), known mononymously as Stelios due to his long surname, is a Greek

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 ...

manager and former player. During his playing career, Stelios was a winger or

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and a well-known figure in Greek football, especially during his tenure at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

and at

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

, where

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 ...

won.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Stelios is the second son of Alekos, a former football player who played during the 1960's. He joined Ethnikos Asteras (the semi-professional club of his neighbourhood

Kaisariani Kaisariani () is a suburban town and a municipality in the eastern part of the Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration in Greece. Geography Kaisariani is located about southeast of Athens city centre, and of the Acropolis of Athens. T ...

) when he was seven years old, later moved for one year to Doxa Vyronas, and finally made his first-team debut for Ethnikos Asteras in the autumn of 1991, in a season which ended with the club gaining promotion to the professional Third Division. Next year, in his opening season as a professional, the young striker found himself scoring six goals and impressing the scouters of clubs that participated in higher divisions. In the summer of 1993 he moved to Paniliakos; he stayed there for three years, scoring 26 goals in 84 games and establishing himself as a member of the national U21 team.

Olympiacos

Having attracted the attention of the top clubs, in the summer of 1996 Stelios signed for

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Football Club ( ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Piraeus. Part of the major Sports club, multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP (''Olympiakós Sýnde ...

at the age of 21. One of Stelios' career highlights came in only his second season with the club when he prestigiously scored Olympiacos' first ever Champions League goal against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. The stunning 40-meter lob was voted as the goal of the competition by fans and also led to Olympiacos' first ever win in the competition. Olympiacos won the Greek championship in every single season while Stelios was with them and reached the quarter finals of the Champions League during the 1998–99 season. His reputation as a player was cemented in his last and most successful season with the club when he scored 15 goals, including 2 goals in the title deciding 3–0 win over arch rivals Panathinaikos in May 2003. Stelios spent a total of seven successful seasons there as a regular player, making a total of 189 appearances and scoring 63 goals in all competitions. To this day Giannakopoulos regularly attends special events at his former club and is considered a legend by the fans, notably for the determination he put into every match including the derbies against arch-rivals Panathinaikos and

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 ...

where he scored many of his finest goals.

Bolton Wanderers

However, on 28 May 2003, after ten years of professional football in Greece he was snapped up by English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

. The manager at the time

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North ...

described Stelios as "...an attacking midfielder who knows how to score goals. His main attribute remains his ability to make late runs into the penalty area and his flair to shoot accurately from range." It was at this point that the popular name 'Stelios' came about as the player unconventionally chose for his first name to be printed on his shirt instead of his very long (and difficult for the English journalists) surname. He made his Bolton début against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and helped Bolton reach the

2004 Football League Cup Final The 2004 Football League Cup Final (known as the Carling Cup final for sponsorship reasons) was a football match that took place on 29 February 2004 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2003–04 Football League Cup, ...

and their highest ever Premier League finish in his first season. Stelios' first two seasons with the club were successful, demonstrated by the fact that both Manchester City and Liverpool openly attempted to sign him before he signed a new contract with Bolton in August 2005. His fine form continued into the 2005–06 season which was Stelios' most successful as he was top scorer for Bolton with 12 goals, an impressive tally for a midfielder. One of the highlights of that season was the winning goal he scored against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in an FA Cup fourth round match played at the

Reebok Stadium The Toughsheet Community Stadium is a Association football, football stadium in Horwich near Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers Football Club, with an all-seated capacity of 28, ...

on 28 January 2006. His form dipped slightly in the 2006–07 season where he missed several games through injury and failed to score any goals although he was still a regular player for the club with 28 games. On 17 March 2006, he was chosen to play in a 50th anniversary game for the pact of Rome and for the participation of

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

competitions, in a match that took place in

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. Giannakopoulos played in the second half alongside players such as

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,Robbie Fowler,

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian association football, football manager (association football), manager and former professional player. Considered one of the greatest Midfielder (association football)#Deep-lying playmaker, mi ...

, Zlatan Ibrahimovic,

Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (; born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional association football, football coach and former player who played many times for the Sweden men's national football team, Swedish national team. A Striker (association f ...

Gennaro Gattuso Gennaro Ivan Gattuso (; born 9 January 1978) is an Italians, Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is currently the Manager (association football), head coach of the Italy na ...

and others against Manchester United in a 4–3 loss. With Sam Allardyce leaving the club at the start of the 2007–08 season and only a year left on his contract, there were rumours of Stelios moving to another Premier League club or returning to Greece. However Stelios stayed at Bolton and although he was not as regular a player as previous seasons (due to injury and managerial changes) he was able to help Bolton with a string of late goals. The first one during injury time in the League Cup third round tie against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

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, the second one in the UEFA Cup, when Stelios scored in the third minute of injury time to salvage a 1–1 draw against Aris Salonica and the third one in a Premier League game versus Derby when Stelios again scored in injury time to earn Bolton a much needed three points in what was a poor season for the team. His last ever goal for Bolton was a crucial one and came on 26 April 2008 when he scored in the 1–1 draw against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

helping Bolton avoid relegation. At the end of the season Stelios was not offered a new contract and was released by the club fuelling speculation that he would be returning to his native Greece and finishing off his career 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, ...

. However the player confirmed that he would prefer to stay in the Premier League, and was subsequently linked with a move to newly promoted Premier League club Hull City, after interest from their new manager Phil Brown who worked with Stelios at Bolton.

Hull City

On 22 September 2008 it was confirmed by Hull that they had signed Stelios on a one-year deal. Stelios is another player who arrived at Hull City with an impressive track record, having spent 5 years in the

with Bolton and winning Euro 2004 with Greece. He joined the Tigers in 2008, for the club's first ever season in the top flight under Phil Brown. He made his debut for Hull against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

exactly 2 months after joining them on 22 November 2008, coming on as a sub in the 82nd minute. Stelios would make one more substitute appearance in the league as well as a full game in the FA cup before he decided to make a further move having been frustrated by his lack of games at Hull.

AEL

On 22 January 2009, six years after his first move to the UK, Stelios returned to Greece by signing for Greek side AEL on a one-and-a-half-year deal. Stelios' impact was instant as the Greek press labeled him the 'most important transfer of the winter period' as he scored three crucial goals in his first four games to propel Larissa to a top 5 position in the

Greek Super League 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 ...

. Larissa were able to maintain this position until the end of the season which qualified them for European competition, something which Stelios admitted was a great achievement and totally unexpected for a smaller team like Larissa and compared it to his time with Bolton. The following season however was not as successful as Stelios struggled with injuries and even courted controversy with some comments he made to the Greek press that were seen as being disloyal to his team. He parted company amicably with Larissa on 12 December 2009, six months before his contract would have officially ended.

International career

Stelios made his international debut on 12 March 1997 in a friendly game against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. His first international goal came almost two years later on 5 February 1999 in a friendly game against Belgium. He fell out of favour slightly in 2000 and 2001 featuring in only three games in two years however cemented his place in the team from 2002 onwards, featuring in every single game of the EURO 2004 qualifiers. One of his most important and memorable goals with 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 ...

was during those qualifiers; Stelios scoring the only goal in a 1–0 away victory against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

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, in a game which ensured automatic qualification for Greece. He was also one of the key players in the victorious team at the

2004 European Football Championship The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

playing in four out of six games including the final. Following this success, Giannakopoulos would remain a key part of the national team, becoming Greece's top scorer in their failed 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. He was also amongst the

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

that unsuccessfully defended their title at the

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

competition. His last game for the national team came during that competition, in the 2–1 defeat against Spain on 18 June 2008. Stelios had scored a total of 12 goals for the national team; an interesting statistic being that Greece had won all but one of the games in which Stelios had scored in.

Managerial career and life after football

On 25 May 2010, Stelios was voted as president of the Greek Professional Footballers Association, taking over from his former teammate

Antonios Nikopolidis Antonis Nikopolidis (; born 14 January 1971) is a Greek professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. He is regarded among the best Greek Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeepers of ...

. He started his managerial career on 13 August 2012 after taking charge of his old team Paniliakos F.C. in

Football League 2 (Greece) The Gamma Ethniki (, C National Division) is the 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 not literally national (it is d ...

. Paniliakos fired Stelios on 20 January 2013. Other managerial stints followed including a short spell with A.E._Kifisia_F.C. in 2016 and assisting the national team manager

Angelos Anastasiadis Angelos Anastasiadis (; born 8 March 1953) is a Greek football manager and former international footballer. He previously coached numerous clubs in Greece including PAOK, Panathinaikos, Platanias and PAS Giannina as well as the Greece and Cypr ...

during his position as the Greece national team coach in 2018–19. There were some widespread but short-lived talk in 2015 that Stelios was heading a consortium to take over the financially troubled Bolton Wanderers but this did not materialise. Stelios has been a vocal critic of how football is run in Greece, in March 2015 he said in an interview with

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

that he feared continued violence at games threatened the future of the sport in his country. The Greek government had suspended professional football play three times that season because of violence at matches. ''"Football people like myself, we are little bit concerned about football in Greece in the future,"'' said Stelios. He also added: ''"We need support from

, from orld players' unionFIFPro and of course we need support from the Greek government, which is completely new. All these houldsit down together at the same table and take some decisions."''

Personal life

Stelios' second born son, Dimitris, is also a footballer and as of 2022 plays for the Bolton Wanderers Academy.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Greece's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Giannakopoulos goal''.

Honours

Paniliakos *

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 ...

: 1994–95 Olympiacos *

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 ...

: 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 1998–99; runner-up: 2000–01, 2001–02 Bolton Wanderers *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up: 2003–04 Greece *

UEFA Euro The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Individual * Greek Footballer of the Year: 2003 * Greek Second Division best player: 1995

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giannakopoulos, Stelios 1974 births Living people Footballers from Athens Greek men's footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Greece men's international footballers Ethnikos Asteras F.C. players Paniliakos F.C. players Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Premier League players UEFA Euro 2004 players European champions for Greece UEFA European Championship–winning players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players Greek expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Greek expatriate sportspeople in England A.E. Kifisia F.C. Doxa Vyronas F.C. players