Thanasis Dimopoulos ( el, Θανάσης Δημόπουλος; born 21 April 1963) is a retired

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

football striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to p ...

. Alongside his brothers

Christos Dimopoulos Christos Dimopoulos ( el, Χρήστος Δημόπουλος, born 6 September 1959) is a retired Greek footballer who played as a forward for PAOK and Panathinaikos F.C.. His nickname was "Fonias" (''Φονιάς'', meaning Killer) of Greek ...

and Spyros he holds the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

for the highest number of siblings scoring on the same day, on 2 February 1992 in the Greek first division.

Career

He started his career from Ifaistos Vounargou, a fifth-division club scoring 34 goals in the 1980-81 season. His performances impressed the league's champions Aias Gastouni who signed Dimopoulos for 1 million drachmas, a record for the division at the time. During his first season in the

fourth division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

scored 25 goals helping his team finish 5th in the third group.
Despite PAOK's interest where his brother Christos was playing,

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

signed him in the summer of 1982. He impressed coach

Ștefan Kovács Ștefan Kovács ( ro, Ştefan Covaci; hu, Kovács István; 2 October 1920 – 12 May 1995) was a Romanian football player and coach. By winning 15 major titles he is one of the most successful association football coaches in the history of th ...

in his first season with the ''Greens'' scoring 17 goals, most of them after coming off the bench. Panathinikos' squad had then many experienced players such as

Mike Galakos Ilias "Maik" Galakos ( el, Μάικ Γαλάκος) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker and was active during the 1970s and 1980s. Galakos was born on 23 November 1951 in Kalogreza, Greece and his family emigrated ...

Kostas Mavridis Konstantinos "Kostas" Mavridis ( el, Κώστας Μαυρίδης; born 7 July 1962) is a former Greek international footballer. Career Mavridis started his career from Athinaikos and he played with his club in amateur leagues until 1982. Mavr ...

Juan Ramón Rocha Juan Ramón Rocha (born 8 March 1954) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Greek Super League 2 club Thesprotos. Playing career Born in Santo Tomé, Corrientes, Rocha began his profess ...

Giannis Kyrastas Giannis Kyrastas ( el, Γιάννης Κυράστας; 25 October 1952 – 1 April 2004) was a Greek footballer and football manager. Club career Born in Piraeus, Kyrastas started his football career in Olympiacos, where he played his first ...

, and

Tschen La Ling Tscheu La Ling (Chinese: 林球立; pinyin: ''Lín Qiú Lì''; born 6 January 1956) is a Dutch former professional footballer of mixed Dutch and Chinese descent, who played for clubs in the Netherlands, Greece and France. His name has been spelle ...

, even reaching the European Cup's semifinals in 1984-85 losing out to champions Liverpool.
Five years later he signed mid-season for Iraklis in a sqiad with players like

Vasilis Hatzipanagis Vasilis Hatzipanagis ( el, link=no, Βασίλης Χατζηπαναγής, , born 26 October 1954) is a Greek former professional footballer. He played for Iraklis in the Greek Alpha Ethniki and Pakhtakor in the Soviet Supreme League. He a ...

and

Savvas Kofidis Savvas Kofidis ( el, Σάββας Κωφίδης; born 5 February 1961) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. Career Born in modern-day Kazakhstan to Pontic Greek parents, he started his career in Iraklis, debuting on 18 J ...

and helping his team qualify for the 1990-91 UEFA Cup. He moved to PAOK in 1992, while the 1994-95 season was his last in

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

with

Ethnikos Piraeus Ethnikos Piraeus (Greek: Εθνικός Πειραιώς) is a Greek multisport club based in Piraeus. It was founded in 1923. The full name of the club is Ethnikos Omilos Filathlon Pireos/Phalirou or Ethnikos OFPF (Greek: Εθνικός Όμιλ ...

International career

Dimopoulos was called up by coach Stefanos Petritsisto the U-21 national team when he was still a fourth-division player. In 1985 he was called to the senor national team and played 4 matches in total.

Honors

Individual

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

: Topscorer 1983-84

References

1963 births Living people Greek footballers Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players PAOK FC players Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. players AO Chania F.C. players Aiolikos F.C. players Association football forwards Greece under-21 international footballers Greece international footballers Greek football managers Anagennisi Giannitsa F.C. managers Panelefsiniakos F.C. managers People from Elis Footballers from Western Greece {{Greece-footy-forward-stub