Alekos Sofianidis ( el, Αλέκος Σοφιανίδης, tr, Aleko Sofyanidis; 3 August 1937 – 6 July 2010) was a Turkish-born

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 ...

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 ...

who played as a left back and a later manager.

Club career

Born in the Beyoğlu district of

Istanbul Province ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

, Sofianidis began his career at

Beyoğluspor Beyoğluspor Kulübü, also known as the Beyoğlu Sports Club, or by its historic Greek name of Pera Sports Club ( el, ΑΣΠ; Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Πέραν), or simply Pera Club, is an amateur sports club based in Istanbul, Turke ...

, based in the city of

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. Fast and dynamic, he played on the left wing of the football team's attack and attracted the interest of the big football teams of Istanbul. He was transferred to Beşiktaş in 1948 and in the period 1950 he won with the team the then so-called Istanbul league. A great sports fan and lover of sports, he also participated in the Besiktas basketball team, but giving priority to his football obligations. The events of the September 1955 and the difficult period that followed for the Hellenism of Istanbul, affected deeply Sofianidis who started thinking of relocating to his

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. As a result, he began to correspond with the agent of

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

, Giorgos Tranopoulos with the exclusive subject of concern, to transfer him to the club of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. On Saturday 17 January 1959, AEK submitted the sport's card of Sofianidis to the HFF and at the same time started negotiating with the TFF for the release of the player, so he can participate in the matches of the yellow-blacks. Sofianidis played only in friendly matches until the agreement with the Turks was reached and he was integrated into the team's roster in 1959 season, which coincided with the start of the first championship national division in Greek football. The arrival of

Jenő Csaknády Jenő Csaknády (20 September 1924 – 7 January 2001) was a Hungarian football manager. Csaknády studied football at the Budapest Sports Academy for 8 semesters, while for 8 years he was the coach of the Hungarian team Czepel. He wrote a bo ...

on the bench of AEK in 1962 also brought about a change of position for Sofianidis, since the Hungarian-German coach relocated him to the position of left wing-back, where Sofianidis spent the rest of his career standing out as one of the best footballers to ever play that position. In 1968, when AEK played against Fenerbahçe in the Balkans Cup

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

in 1968, Sofianidis did not accompany his club to Istanbul as he would have been liable for arrest by the Turkish authorities for not fulfill his military obligations. With the shirt of AEK he won 2 Championships, as well as the 2 Greek Cups, while he was a key member of the squad that reached the

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the European Cup in 1969. In the summer of 1969 he left AEK and played for the

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, ...

for a season, before his retirement.

International career

Sofianidis represented the Turkey B, in a friendly 1–0 win over

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

on 20 May 1957. Sofianidis was capped by

seven times. He played his first national game on 15 November 1958 against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. His last game for Greece was against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on 10 May 1967.

Managerial career

Sofianidis coached several Greek youth teams following his retirement from football in 1970. He was appointed

manager in 1988. His first game was against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

(winning 3–0) on 15 November 1988. Greece played 7 times with Sofianidis as their manager, winning 3, drawing 1, and losing 3. He was also manager during the infamous friendly match between Greece and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

on 29 March 1989, losing 1–0. This was his last game with the national team.

Personal life

Sofianidis was a gymnastics teacher by profession. He had a pool's agency in Athens on Agios Meletios Street. He died on 10 July 2010 after a long battle with cancer at age 73.

Honours

Besiktas *

Istanbul Football League The Istanbul Football League ( tr, İstanbul Futbol Ligi) was founded as a regional football league under the name Constantinople Football Association League by James La Fontaine and Henry Pears in Istanbul, the capital of the former Ottoman Emp ...

: 1949–50 AEK Athens *

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 ...

: 1962–63, 1967–68 *

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 ...

: 1963–64, 1965–66

References

External links

*
TFF Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sofianidis, Alekos 1933 births 2010 deaths Greek footballers Greece international footballers Turkish footballers Turkey B international footballers Turkish people of Greek descent Beyoğlu SK footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers AEK Athens F.C. players Panachaiki F.C. players Footballers from Istanbul Super League Greece players Süper Lig players Constantinopolitan Greeks Association football defenders Panelefsiniakos F.C. managers Turkish football managers Atromitos F.C. managers Turkish expatriate football managers People from Beyoğlu