Christos Ribas ( el, Χρήστος Ρίμπας; 1913 – 19 October 1981) was a

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 ...

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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

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 Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

and a manager. His nickname was ''"The Bird"'' ''( el, "Το Πουλί")''.

Club career

Ribas started football in 1927, at the age of 14, playing as a striker for Atromitos Nea Ionia. The following year the Hungarian coach Sveg watched him play as a goalkeeper for the Athens College Branch team at the stadium of

Panellinios Panellinios G.S. (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γ.Σ.), full name, Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος), is a Greece, Greek sports club, mult ...

and invited him to enroll in the infrastructure sections of

. In 1929 he was promoted to the first team and in 5 May of that year, he made his debut against Ferencvárosi, for the Easter Cup. On 27 December 1931, he impressed with his performance against Wacker, for the Christmas Cup. On 28 May 1939, Ribas played in the

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

final against PAOK, at

Leoforos Alexandras Stadium Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium ( el, Γήπεδο Απόστολος Νικολαΐδης), commonly known as Leoforos Alexandras Stadium or Leoforos Stadium, is a football stadium and multi-sport center in Athens, Greece. It was inaugurated in 19 ...

, where AEK won their second Cup in their history winning by 2–1. He was the main goalkeeper of AEK Athens until the end of his career as a footballer in 1947, winning 2 consecutive Panhellenic Championships, 2 Cups and 3 Athens FCA Championships, including the first domestic double in by a Greek club in 1939.

International career

Ribas played 9 times for

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 with ...

including his last one as captain. In 1933, he was invited to the Balkan mixed team for a match against the World mixed team, which was eventually postponed.

After football

After the end of his career as a footballer, Ribas was involved with AEK, becoming a member of their staff, while also managing teams such as

Egaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. Ge ...

, Loutraki, Elefsina and Markopoulo.

Personal life

Ribas was married and had a son named Alexander. He died on 19 October 1981.

Honours

AEK Athens *

Panhellenic Championship 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 ...

: 1938–39, 1939–40 *

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 ...

: 1931–32, 1938–39 * Athens FCA League: 1940, 1946, 1947

References

External links

Official website of Amateur AEKWhen Christos Ribas left, Stavros Kazantzoglou
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ribas, Christos 1913 births 1981 deaths Greece international footballers Association football goalkeepers Footballers from Athens Greek footballers AEK Athens F.C. players People from Manisa