Giannis Andrianopoulos (

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 ...

: Γιάννης Ανδριανόπουλος; 1900 – 6 November 1952) was a 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 ...

and one of the founding members of Greece's most successful football club,

Olympiacos CFP 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

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 ...

, Andrianopoulos began his career at the age of 18, playing for home town club Peiraikos Syndesmos FC. Here Yiannis earned his first taste of success, winning an unofficial Greek Championship in 1923. Peiraikos Syndesmos FC merged with Peiraiki Enosis FC in January 1924 and the Athletic and Football Club of Piraeus was formed. Yiannis was part of the new team and helped them win the 1924 Athens-Piraeus championship.

Olympiacos FC

The same year around autumn, the new club split in two different squads: One team, led by the Andrianopoulos brothers and goalkeeper Kostas Klidouchakis, formed Olympiakos Omilos, which evolved into Olympiakos FC; the other, led by Kostas Ferlemis, Christos Peppas and Giorgos Hadjiandreou merged, with an independent club named "Young Boys" to form Peiraikos Omilos, which in turn evolved into Ethnikos Peiraios FC. Following a series of mergers between other

and

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 ...

based clubs, as well as an Athens football Championship, Andrianopoulos and his brothers went on to create

Olympiacos FC Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π. ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club based in Piraeus, Attica. Part of the major multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP (' ...

in March 1925. Giannis, Georgios, Konstantinos and Vasilios, Leonidas went on to make the newly formed Piraeus Club famous throughout Greece. Two other brothers, Aristides and Stelios Andrianopoulos, were playing in other Piraeus football clubs. Giannis Andrianopoulos was the oldest of seven brothers who, like him, would go on to become famous footballers in the Olympiacos' ranks. As a result, Yiannis and his brothers earned Olympiacos the name ''Thrylos'' meaning "Legend" in Greek, a nickname which the club carries to this day. Yiannis was certainly the brother who made the biggest impact towards the club, even becoming a player-coach; Olympiacos' first coach, from 1925 until 1927. In 1929, Yiannis retired from football, and became Olympiacos' president for 3 years.

International

Andrianopoulos played for the national side for the

1920 Olympic Games The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

. His brother Giorgos was a member of the team too. His brothers at Olympiakos also played for Greece in 1929 and 1930.

Honours

*Olympiacos First Manager *Olympic Football Tournament FinalFIFA.com
/ref> *President of Olympiacos (1929–1932) *President of E.P.S.P & Hellenic Football Federation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrianopoulos, Giannis 1900 births 1952 deaths Olympiacos F.C. presidents Olympiacos F.C. managers Olympiacos F.C. players Footballers from Piraeus Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Greece Association football midfielders Association football forwards Greek football managers Greek footballers