Daniil Papadopoulos ( el, Δανιήλ Παπαδόπουλος) is a former Greek

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 ...

that played in several positions throughout his career. He was born in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

and played youth football with Olympos Dendropotamou before starting his professional career with

Iraklis Gymnasticos Syllogos Iraklis ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής, en, Gymnastics Club Heracles), commonly referred to as Iraklis, is a Greek multi-sports club based in Thessaloniki. The club was founded in 1908 as "Mace ...

. Papadopoulos spent his entire professional career with Iraklis and he is the all-time leader for Iraklis with 419 appearances. Papadopoulos is also the second all-time goalscorer of Iraklis with 64 goals. He managed to gain 5 caps 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 ...

. Papadopoulos also had a brief career in management, as an assistant and caretaker manager of Iraklis and as a manager in second and third tier teams.

Club career

Early life and career

Papadopoulos was born in Thessaloniki and started playing football for amateur side ''Olympos Dendropotamou''. When he was a child he watched Iraklis' matches in Kaftanzoglio with his uncle. Following interest from PAOK he signed for Iraklis for a 600,000

drachmas The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history: # An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fro ...

fee.

Iraklis

Papadopoulos joined the reserve squad of

, but he was soon promoted to the first team under Apostol Chachevski. In December 1981 he made his debut for Iraklis against

Kastoria Kastoria ( el, Καστοριά, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Gree ...

. He managed to score his first goal for the club in his debut, but this was not enough to prevent Iraklis from suffering a bitter 2-1 away defeat. He was mostly used as a striker in his first season for Iraklis and he scored a total of 9 goals out of 23 appearances. In the next season he established himself in the starting lineup of Iraklis and he proved even more prolific, by scoring 11 goals in 30 matches. Later on in his career in the 1985-86 season, under manager Telis Batakis, he had to adapt in a more defensive role as he started playing as a

left wingback In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Even from the midfield Papadopoulos scored 5 goals in 28 appearances for Iraklis. In the later stages of his career he was placed in the centre of the defence of Iraklis, by then manager

Dušan Mitošević Dušan Mitošević (17 December 1949 – 1 January 2018) was a Serbian football player and manager. Playing career Mitošević was a reputable striker during his playing career. He played for FK Radnički Niš in the Yugoslav First League duri ...

. His last match wearing the shirt of Iraklis was for the last round of the 1997-98 season, as Iraklis recorded a 4-2 home win against Apollon Athinas. At the end of the season he retired, having spent his entire professional career playing for Iraklis in a time span of 17 years. During these years he managed to become the all-time leader in appearances for the club with 419 appearances and the second all-time goalscorer with 64 goals.

International career

Papadopoulos gained 5 caps for the Greece national team. He made his debut on 11 October 1989 during an away 4-0 defeat from

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

for the 1990 World Cup qualifiers.

Managerial career

He was the assistant manager in Iraklis during the Aggelos Anastasiadis era. Also together with former teammate

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 ...

he was the assistant manager of

Giannis Kyrastas Giannis Kyrastas ( el, Γιάννης Κυράστας; 25 October 1952 – 1 April 2004) was a Greece, Greek soccer, footballer and Coach (sport), football manager. Club career Born in Piraeus, Kyrastas started his football career in Olympi ...

in Iraklis during the 2000-01 season. After Kyrastas left the club in March Papadopoulos was appointed caretaker manager of the club. He also had managerial spells for Kassandra,

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the Egnat ...

and

Pavlos Melas Pavlos Melas ( el, Παύλος Μελάς, ''Pávlos Melás''; March 29, 1870 – October 13, 1904) was a Greek revolutionary and artillery officer of the Hellenic Army. He participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and was amongst the first ...

Personal life

Daniil Papadopoulos is the father of

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Giannis Papadopoulos.

Honours

Iraklis *

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

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 ...

Runner up:

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papadopoulos, Daniil 1963 births Living people Greece men's under-21 international footballers Greece men's international footballers Greek men's footballers Super League Greece players Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players Greek football managers Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) managers Kavala F.C. managers Super League Greece managers Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Thessaloniki