Ioannis "John" Limniatis (

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 ...

: Ιωάννης "Τζον" Λημνιάτης; born 24 June 1967) is a retired professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player 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 ...

. He captained and later became the head coach of the Montreal Impact. Born in Greece, he made 44 appearances scoring one goal for the Canada national team.

Club career

Before migrating to Canada with his family, Limniatis in 1977, used to train with the players of Greek Third Division side

Ilisiakos Ilisiakos Football Club ( el, Ηλυσιακός A.O.) is an Athens-based Association football, football club that was founded in 1927 by Michalis Xydis, Lambropoulos, Evgenopoulos, Nikolaos Plessas, ''et al.''. They played in Delta Ethiniki until ...

in the 1970s, taking shots at legendary Greek goalkeeper

Nikos Sarganis Nikos Sarganis (Greek language, Greek: Νίκος Σαργκάνης; born 13 January 1954) is a Greek former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Career Born in Rafina, Att ...

. After beginning his pro career in 1987 with the Ottawa Pioneers of the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

, he became the first ever Canadian to be sold to a European first division team. He was transferred for a fee of $50.000. Limniatis played professionally in Greece with First Division side

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

from 1988 to 1992 and

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναιτωλικός), or with its full name Panetolikós Yimnastikós Filekpedeftikós Síllogos ( el, Παναιτωλικός Γυμναστικός Φιλεκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος'' ...

in the Second Division from 1992 to 1993. He then joined the Montreal Impact in the summer of 1993 and remained with the club until 1998. After a brief spell in the United States on loan with

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...

, Limniatis returned to the Impact playing 24 more games in the 2000–01 season. Liminatis played both outdoors in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

and indoors in the National Professional Soccer League both with the Impact and the

Kansas City Attack The Kansas City Attack, previously the Atlanta Attack and later known as the Kansas City Comets, were an indoor soccer team based for most of its existence in Kansas City, Missouri. In its various incarnations the franchise played in the National ...

in 1995–96. Limniatis was named 1994 A-League Rookie of the Year and 1996 and '97 Defender of the Year. He's a member of both the Canadian & the Quebec Soccer Hall of Fame, inducted in 2009. He is also the 1st and only soccer person so far to be inducted in the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame (Pantheon des sports du Quebec), inducted in 2012.

International career

Limniatis made his debut for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in a September 1987 friendly match against

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

, He earned a total of 44 caps, scoring 1 goal. He has represented Canada in 8

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches in three unsuccessful

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifying campaigns. His final international game was a March 1997 World Cup qualification match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Managerial career

Limniatis spent his last years with the Impact as their assistant coach, indoor head coach, and later director of operations. He was coach for the Montreal Impact until

Marc Dos Santos Marc Dos Santos (born May 26, 1977) is a Canadian soccer coach who is an assistant coach for Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer. He was previously the head coach of Montreal Impact (1992–2011), Montreal Impact in D2 Pro League and the Vanc ...

was named as interim head coach following Limniatis' termination by the Impact board.Impact fire Limniatis, name Marc Dos Santos interim head coach
He was the seventh head coach in Impact history.

Personal life

Limniatis's hometown is

Laval, Quebec Laval (; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in C ...

, Limniatis has two daughters, Alexia and Nikki. His cousin, Giorgos Limniatis, is a former professional basketball player who played in Greece.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* / Canada Soccer Hall of Fame * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Limniatis, John 1967 births Living people Footballers from Athens Greek footballers Sportspeople from Laval, Quebec Greek emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Soccer people from Quebec Association football defenders Association football midfielders Association football utility players Canadian soccer coaches Canadian soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Greek expatriate footballers Greek expatriate sportspeople in the United States Ottawa Intrepid players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Panetolikos F.C. players Montreal Impact (1992–2011) coaches Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players Charleston Battery players Kansas City Attack (NPSL) players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players American Professional Soccer League players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players USISL players A-League (1995–2004) players Expatriate soccer players in the United States 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players