Georgios Anatolakis ( el, Γεώργιος Ανατολάκης; born 16 March 1974) is 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 ...

former 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 le ...

who played as a defender. He is well known in

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 ...

for his strength, passion and persistence. A strong aerial challenger, he also advances on set pieces to find himself scoring on several occasions. He most notably scored the winning goal for Olympiacos' first match in the renovated

Georgios Karaiskakis Georgios Karaiskakis ( el, Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), born Georgios Karaiskos ( el, Γεώργιος Καραΐσκος; 1782 – 1827), was a famous Greek military commander and a leader of the Greek War of Independence. Early ...

Playing career

Clubs

Alongside

Predrag Đorđević Predrag Đorđević ( sr-cyr, Предраг Ђорђевић; also transliterated Predrag Djordjević; born 4 August 1972) is a Serbian former professional footballer. Known for his set pieces, Đorđević played as a left midfielder for Greek ...

, Anatolakis is one of two Olympiacos players to have been part of all nine of their

Greek 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 ...

victories since 1996. Produced by Ethnikos Pylaias, Anatolakis first appeared in the Greek top flight as an 18-year-old for

Iraklis FC Gymnastic Club Iraklis Thessaloniki Football Club ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής Θεσσαλονίκης) is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. As of 2022, t ...

in the 1992/93 season, going on to make a further 133 outings for the

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

-based team prior to a move to Olympiacos during 1996/97. A fearsome competitor, he was a key squad member as Olympiacos won every title from then until 2003/04, and the following season Anatolakis had his finest hour as the league championship was regained. His contribution to their double-winning campaign was rewarded with a two-year contract extension, and the following season the league and

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 ...

were captured again. In July 2007, Anatolakis joined Greek side

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou, a football team curr ...

after being released by longtime club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

, after 1 year left

Atromitos F.C. Atromitos Football Club (, ''PAE APS Atromitos Athinon''), also simply known as Atromitos (literally meaning "Fearless"), is a Greek professional football club based in Peristeri, Athens, that plays in the Super League. It was founded in 1923 ...

Anatolakis reached 67 appearances (1 goal) in all

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

competitions with

and Olympiakos.

National team

Anatolakis made his international debut for

on 27 March 1996 in a friendly against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. Many thought that would be the start of a lengthy career but he was subsequently more out of the side than in and did not appear from 1999 until October 2005, when he was a substitute in a 1-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying win against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He has since featured regularly.

Political career

Anatolakis was elected in B' Piraeus, in the 4 October 2009 elections, as a member of the

Popular Orthodox Rally The Popular Orthodox Rally or People's Orthodox Alarm (Greek language, Greek: Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός, ''Laikós Orthódoxos Synagermós''), often abbreviated to LAOS (ΛΑ.Ο.Σ.) as a pun on the Greek word for ''peo ...

Party and was a member of the

Greek parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule of the Hellenes, label=none), also known as the Parliament of the Hel ...

Honours

Championships

* 1996-1997 * 1997-1998 * 1998-1999 * 1999-2000 * 2000-2001 * 2001-2002 * 2002-2003 * 2004-2005 * 2005-2006 * 2006-2007

Greek Cups

*1998–1999 *2004–2005 *2005–2006

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anatolakis, Georgios 1974 births Living people Footballers from Thessaloniki Greek footballers Greece international footballers Olympiacos F.C. players Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players Atromitos F.C. players Association football central defenders Greek sportsperson-politicians Popular Orthodox Rally politicians 21st-century Greek politicians Greek MPs 2009–2012