Giannis Ioannidis (alternate spellings: Ioannis, Yiannis, Yannis) ( Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; born 26 February 1945 in Thessaloniki, Greece) is a former Greek basketball player, professional

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

, and Greece New Democracy (ND) politician. Ioannidis is generally considered to be the best Greek professional basketball club head coach of all-time, since he is the one with the most top-tier level major Greek national club titles won (19 in total, 14 with Aris, and 5 with

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 ...

Biography

Ioannidis was born in Thessaloniki, and studied Agriculture in the Faculty of Geotechnical

Sciences Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is married and has one daughter.

Basketball career

Playing career

During his youth, Ioannidis became a member of the youth clubs of Aris, in 1959. He joined the senior men's team of Aris, of the Greek Basket League, in 1960. He played with Aris in the Greek League, until 1978, when he retired. With 4,970 points scored as a member of Aris, he is the second highest scorer of all-time in the history of the club, after Nikos Galis.

Coaching career

Still in his playing years, Ioannidis agreed to assume the head coach position at Cretan club

Ergotelis The Gymnastics Club «Ergotelis» Heraklion Crete ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος «O Εργοτέλης» Ηρακλείου Κρήτης, Γ.Σ. Εργοτέλης), commonly known simply as Ergotelis ( el, Εργοτέλης), ...

in 1977, after being offered the job by longtime friend and fellow Aristotle University of Thessaloniki student Manolis Nikiforakis.Όταν ο Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης ανέβαζε κατηγορία τον Εργοτέλη! 8 February 2016
/ref> Travelling back and forth between Thessaloniki and Crete, Ioannidis managed to promote the club to the Greek B Basket League. After retiring from playing basketball, Ioannidis became a full-time

. He eventually became the head coach of Aris, and with the club, he won a total of eight Greek League championships, five Greek Cups, and one

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek Football (soccer), association football one-match ...

. With Aris, he also participated at three consecutive FIBA European Champions' Cup ( EuroLeague) Final Fours. Later, he coached

, where he won four consecutive Greek League championships, a Greek Cup, and also participated at two consecutive editions of the FIBA EuroLeague's Finals. He was the architect of the most glorious victory of

, which came against

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, in the last game of the 1995–96 Greek League Finals, with a winning score of 73–38. That was his last game coaching with

at that time. The next year, he joined

AEK 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 Filadelf ...

, where he stayed for two seasons, and with them he managed to reach one more Final of the FIBA EuroLeague. After a short come-back to

, he finished his coaching career with the senior men's Greek national team, which he coached at the

2003 EuroBasket The 2003 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2003, was the 33rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as the Europe qualifier for the 2004 Summer Olympics, giving a berth ...

Teams coached

: 1977 * Aris: 1978–79 * G.S. Larissas: 1979–81 * Greece: 1980–81 * Aris: 1982–90 *

: 1991–96 *

: 1996–98 *

: 1999–00 * Greece: 2002–03

Awards and accomplishments

As a head coach

Titles won

*12× Greek League Champion: 1979, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (with Aris), 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 (with

) *6× Greek Cup Winner: 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (with Aris), 1994 (with

) *

Winner:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, (with Aris) * Greek 2nd Division Champion: 1980 (with Gymnastikos)

Other honors

*3× Greek League Runner-Up: 1984 (with Aris), 1992 (with

), 1997 (with

) *2× Greek Cup Runner-Up: 1984 (with Aris), 1998 (with

) *3× EuroLeague Finals Runner-Up:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

(with

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

(with

) *6× EuroLeague Final Four Appearance:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, (with Aris)

(with

)

Political career

Ioannidis announced his retirement from professional basketball in the year 2004, before he was elected a New Democracy MP for the Thessaloniki A constituency in the 2004 general election, and re-elected in 2007. Since September 2007, he has been Deputy Minister Of Culture Responsible for Sports. In the 2014 regional election, he challenged incumbent Apostolos Tzitzikostas as Regional Governor of Central Macedonia, after Tzitzikostas had lost his party's support. He was however clearly defeated in the second round. At the January 2015 legislative election, he also lost his parliamentary seat.

References

External links

Giannis Ioannidis website
*
The top of the Greek bench: Giannis Ioannidis

Hellenic Federation Profile
1945 births Living people AEK B.C. coaches Aris B.C. coaches Aris B.C. players Basketball players from Thessaloniki Ergotelis B.C. coaches Greece national basketball team coaches Greek basketball coaches Greek Macedonians Greek men's basketball players Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Greek sportsperson-politicians Gymnastikos S. Larissas B.C. coaches MPs of Thessaloniki New Democracy (Greece) politicians Olympiacos B.C. coaches Point guards Sport in Thessaloniki {{Greek Basket League Hall of Fame