Giannis Pathiakakis ( el, Γιάννης Παθιακάκης; 15 June 1953 – 8 February 2002) was a Greek 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

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 ...

and a later

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. After his death the stadium of

Akratitos A.P.O. Akratitos Ano Liosia ( el, Α.Π.Ο. Ακράτητος Άνω Λιοσίων) is a Greek football professional club from Ano Liosia, Athens, Greece. They currently play in the Alpha Division of the Football League championship, which is t ...

was named

Yiannis Pathiakakis Stadium Yiannis Pathiakakis Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Ano Liosia, Greece. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home stadium of Akratitos. The stadium holds 5,000 and was built in 1965. It is named afte ...

in his honour.

Club career

Pathiakakis started his football career in

Apollon Athens Apollon Smyrnis Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Απόλλων Σμύρνης), or in its full name Gymnasticos Syllogos Apollon Smyrnis ( el, links=no, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Απόλλων Σμύρνης, ''Gymnastics Club Apollon o ...

, where he played from 1971 to 1977. He then played for one year in PAOK and in 1978 he was transferred to

Nea Smyrni Nea Smyrni ( el, Νέα Σμύρνη, ''Néa Smýrni'', "New Smyrna") is a municipality in South Athens, Greece. At the 2011 census, it had 73,076 inhabitants. It was named after İzmir in Turkey, which Greek's called it as Smyrna, whence many ...

, in

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

. In the three years he played in Panionios he was particularly productive. He was a key contributor to the progress of the Nea Smyrni club to winning the

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 ...

in 1979. He scored in both matches against

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jamai ...

in the quarter-finals, as well as against

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 ...

in the semi-finals. In the final he scored the second of his team's three goals in a 3–1 win over

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 ...

. He also scored a goal the following season in a historic 4–0 win over

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germ ...

in the first round of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

. He left Panionios in 1980 his career playing for Apollon Athens,

Ethnikos Piraeus Ethnikos Piraeus (Greek: Εθνικός Πειραιώς) is a Greek multisport club based in Piraeus. It was founded in 1923. The full name of the club is Ethnikos Omilos Filathlon Pireos/Phalirou or Ethnikos OFPF (Greek: Εθνικός Όμιλ ...

and the

Korinthos Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of ...

Managerial career

Pathiakakis started as a coach at AO Melissia, where he was also a football player and then worked at A.E. Messolongi, Pannafpliakos and

. In 1994 he sat on the bench

and associated his name with the most successful period in the club's history. Under his guidance, Apollon created a young team with excellent footballers who, with the help of some experienced players, play quality football.

Demis Nikolaidis Themistoklis "Demis" Nikolaidis ( el, Ντέμης Νικολαΐδης; born 17 September 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the forty second president of AEK Athens, and is considered one of the fi ...

Theofilos Karasavvidis Theofilos Karasavvidis ( el, Θεόφιλος Καρασαββίδης; born 27 April 1971) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Theofilos Karasavvidis started his career in 1989 until 1995 in Apollo ...

Bledar Kola Bledar Kola (born 1 August 1972) is an Albanian retired football player and later manager. Early life Kola comes from Mirditë, but grew up in the city of Lezhë. He was an exemplary student. He started his career at Besëlidhja Lezhë, and ...

and the older ones

Antonis Minou Antonis Minou ( el, Αντώνης Μήνου, born 4 May 1958) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Minou took his first football steps in Almopos Aridea and to Kastoria in 1980 and two years later ...

Frank Klopas Fotios "Frank" Klopas ( el, Φώτιος «Φρανκ» Κλόπας; born September 1, 1966) is an American former Association football, football player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Following his retirement, he ser ...

Tasos Mitropoulos Tasos Mitropoulos ( el, Τάσος Μητρόπουλος, born 23 August 1957) is a Greek politician and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Playing career Mitropoulos was born in Volos, and started his football career a ...

give personality to the team. In his first season, he led them to 4th place and earned a place to the

UEFA 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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

of the following year, while in 1996 he reached the Cup final of the , where he was defeated 7–1 by

. A short stint at

Athinaikos Athinaikos A.C. ( el, Αθηναϊκός Α.Σ., full name Athinaikos Athletic Club) is a Greek multisport-club, founded in 1917. It is based in Vyronas, a suburb east of Athens. Athinaikos has football, basketball, and handball teams. Its achiev ...

followed and he then took charge of

, which he promoted from the fourth to the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. In January 2000 he took charge of AEK Athens replacing

Ljubiša Tumbaković Ljubiša Tumbaković (, ; born 2 September 1952) is a Serbian professional football manager. He is the most successful coach in the history of Serbian powerhouse Partizan which he led to six national championship titles and three national cup wi ...

. In the end of the season he won the Cup beating Ionikos by 3–0. and the following season, he led the club to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup excluding

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

. However, the elimination in the Cup by

with the embarrassing 6–1 led to his dismissal. He was sidelined for a year until February 2002 when he was re-hired by Akratitos. But before he could really take over, he died during training of a heart attack.

Death

Pathiakakis died of a heart attack five days after his return to Akratitos. He cooled down at the Ano Liosion stadium during training on February 8, 2002 at the age of 49. Four years earlier he had suffered another heart attack at the same stadium and had undergone a double bypass, but despite doctors' advice to avoid excitement, he chose to continue "living dangerously" as a coach. At the same time, he did not stop smoking. Everything happened so fast that no one had time to react. The training session was almost over and Pathiakakis was playing a bet with goalkeeper

Gintaras Staučė Gintaras Staučė (born 24 December 1969) is a Lithuanian football coach and a former player. Club career Among the other teams he played for were Spartak Moscow, Galatasaray in Turkey, and the Bundesliga's MSV Duisburg. International caree ...

, shooting him from outside the area. He had won the first game and when the

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

goalkeeper asked for a rematch, the coach suddenly fell down. They rushed to him for first aid but the fatality soon occurred before the ambulance arrived. At the hospital, he was pronounced dead from an acute

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

. The management of Akratitos decided to name the stadium "Yiannis Pathiakakis Stadium" as a sign of memory to the coach who sealed the association with his death, which from the local categories of Athens and raised it to the second division. The football club A.O. Yiannis Pathiakakis from

Dionysos In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

bears his name.

Honours

As a player

;Panionios *

: 1978–79

As a manager

;Akratitos *

Delta Ethniki Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also r ...

: 1998–99 (1st Group) *

Greek Football Amateur Cup Greek Amateur Cup (Greek: Κύπελλο Ερασιτεχνικών Ομάδων Ελλάδος) is one of the most known competitions for amateur teams in Greece. Amateur Cup Finals See also *Amateurs' Super Cup Greece *Football records and st ...

: 1997–98 * Athens Cup: 1996–97 ;AEK Athens *Greek Cup: 1999–2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pathiakakis, Giannis 1953 births 2002 deaths Super League Greece players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players PAOK FC players Panionios F.C. players Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. players Association football forwards Greek football managers Apollon Smyrnis F.C. managers AEK Athens F.C. managers A.P.O. Akratitos Ano Liosia managers Footballers from Athens Greek footballers