Ioannis Athinaiou (alternate spellings: Giannis, Yiannis, Yannis, Athineou, Athinaioy) ( el, Ιωάννης Αθηναίου; born May 27, 1988) is a Greek professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and the

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

for

Karditsa Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly. Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the ...

of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

. He is 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) tall. and 96 kg (212 lbs). He can play at both the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

and

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

positions.

Youth career

At a young age, Athinaiou began playing

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

basketball in Greece. He started playing with the youth teams of Poseidonas, a

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

that is located in

Psychiko Psychiko ( el, Ψυχικό ) is a suburb of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Filothei-Psychiko, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipality has an area of . Overview Psychik ...

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 ...

Professional career

Athinaiou first played professionally with the Greek clubs Ilysiakos Athens,

Panionios Athens Panionios G.S.S. (Greek: Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'', is a Greek multi-sport club founded in 1890. Originally ...

, and KAOD. In the summer of 2009, he signed a 4-year contract with Panionios. He joined the Greek League club

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

, in 2013. Athinaiou joined the

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

club

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

, in 2014. In May, he parted ways with the team. He signed with the Greek EuroLeague team

Olympiacos Piraeus 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 2015. With Olympiacos, he won the Greek League championship in 2016. He returned to

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

, for the 2017–18 season. On July 29, 2018, Athinaiou signed a two-year contract with Aris' arch-rivals,

PAOK Thessaloniki PAOK ( el, ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans' ...

. In January 2019, he joined the

French League The French League (: "French League for purging, mutual aid and European collaboration") was a collaborationist French movement founded by Pierre Costantini in September 1940. Its journal was entitled '' L'Appel''. Bibliography * Pierre Phi ...

club Fos Provence. On August 12, 2019, Athinaiou moved to the Greek EuroLeague club

Panathinaikos Athens 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 b ...

. After joining Panathinaikos, Athinaiou became the first player in history to be a member of all five of the largest Greek basketball teams, having been a member of Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, AEK, PAOK and Aris. However, just a few days later, Athinaiou unfortunately suffered a

torn ACL An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

knee injury, in one of the Greek national team's preparation games against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, just two weeks prior to the start of

2019 FIBA World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first since 1967 that did no ...

. As a result of the injury, Athinaiou missed the entirety of the following

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

shortened 2019–20 season. On July 16, 2020, Athinaiou signed with the Greek club

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek language, Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 139,981 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the seventh-largest municipali ...

. On December 17, however, he was released from Peristeri after the acquisition of

Vangelis Mantzaris Evangelos "Vangelis" Mantzaris (Greek: Ευάγγελος "Βαγγέλης" Μάντζαρης, born April 16, 1990) is a Greek professional basketball player for Ionikos Nikaias of the Greek Basket League. He is a 1.96 m (6'5") tall point guard ...

. The following day, Athinaiou signed with Promitheas Patras, in an unofficial "swap" between the two teams. On April 17, 2021, Athinaiou agreed to move to Spanish club RETAbet Bilbao Basket for the rest of the season, replacing the injured

Jonathan Rousselle Jonathan Rousselle (born February 7, 1990) is a French basketball player for JDA Dijon Basket of France's LNB Pro A. Rousselle plays as a point guard. Professional career He signed with Cholet in May 2014. Rousselle averaged 7.6 points and 3. ...

. On August 6, 2021, Athinaiou signed with Ionikos. In 18 games, he averaged 9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists, playing around 25 minutes per contest.

National team career

Athinaiou was a member of the Greek university national team. He played at the 2007 World University Games. He has also been a member of the senior

Greek national basketball team The Greece men's national basketball team ( el, Eθνική Oμάδα Καλαθοσφαίρισης Ελλάδος) represents Greece in international basketball. They are controlled by the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the governing body for ...

. He played with Greece at the 2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He also played at the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualification, where he had a game-winning buzzer-beating 3 pointer against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

.Qualifiers heroes Bourousis, Athinaiou lead Greece in third window.
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Awards and accomplishments

* Greek League All-Star: (2014) * 2x Greek League Champion: (2016, 2020)

Youth career

Professional career

National team career

Awards and accomplishments

References

External links