Leon Gardikiotis ( el, Λέων Γαρδικιώτης, born 27 February 1964) is a Greek-Australian soccer coach and retired player. He was

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the Tahiti national team at the

2000 OFC Nations Cup The 2000 OFC Nations Cup was held in Papeete, Tahiti. The six participating teams were Australia and New Zealand who qualified as of right, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu who qualified from the Melanesia Cup, the Cook Islands and Tahiti who qua ...

. He was head coach of

Springvale White Eagles Springvale White Eagles Football Club is a semi-professional Australian association football, soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria currently playing in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 3, NPL Victoria 3. Founded by Serbian Australians, t ...

for a brief period in 2007.

Playing career

Gardikiotis was born in Germany by Greek parents, who used to live in Egaleo, and moved to Australia. He signed his first professional contract with Greek club Larissa in 1985"LARISSA: Leonidas Gardikotis. Striker. He was born in 1964 and he was brought this year from Sydney Olympic." and also played for

Doxa Drama Doxa Drama Football Club ( el, Δόξα Δράμας) is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Drama, Greece, Drama, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Macedonia, Greece. The club currently competes in the Super ...

. He also went to play in Australia for St. George, Sydney Olympic, Canberra, Marrickville Olympic, Heidelberg and

Wollongong Wolves Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wat ...

Coaching career

Leon Gardikiotis, started his coaching career as Head Coach at the age of 31 for a second tier club in Australia called West Wanderers in 1995. Following his introduction to senior team football management, that same season 1995/96 he was offered and worked as the assistant 1st team coach to Berti Mariani at Wollongong Wolves in the Australian National League. The experience and knowledge he picked up coaching in the highest league in Australia, assisted in his ability to handle his next assignment as an associate staff coach at the Brazilian Football Academy (BFA) in Rio de Janeiro, where he also received his senior coaching Diploma. Following the knowledge he acquired from Brazil he then became the Technical Director of the Football Academy of Excellence in Sydney (FAE) and was the official representatives of the BFA in the Oceania region. The FAE was recognised by FIFA and Football Australia. In 1998/99 he coached the Fijian National U17's and U20s teams. With the U17's he participated in the Oceania World Cup qualifiers and finished 2nd to Australia who finished 2nd in the World Cup. The success he achieved with the National Youth teams sparked the interest of the French and in November 1999 became the National Coach of the Senior Team of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

. As National coach he participated in the

Oceania Nations Cup The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name ...

. Under Gardikiotis Tahiti reached 117th in the FIFA World Rankings. In the 2000/01 Australian National Soccer League season, Gardikiotis became Head Coach of Canberra Cosmos and then it was followed by coaching Whittlesea Stallions in season 2003/04. On 7 September 2005, it was announced that Gardikiotis would become the assistant coach of Greek Beta Ethniki side

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, ...

, under head coach Ken Warden. When Warden was released six days later, Gardikiotis became the head coach. In 2007, Gardikiotis was head coach of

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

side

, however he resigned after less than a month in charge, with the club at the bottom of the league. In 2008, he was the head coach of Niki Volou in Greece, but resigned and joined

Lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...

on 10 February 2009. In the last couple of years Gardikiotis has worked once again for the Brazilian Football Academy in various projects.

References

External links

*
Leon Gardikiotis Football Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardikiotis, Leon 1964 births Australian people of Greek descent Australian soccer managers Australian expatriate soccer managers Greek men's footballers Greek expatriate football managers Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Niki Volos F.C. players Doxa Drama F.C. players Panachaiki F.C. managers Sydney Olympic FC players Expatriate football managers in French Polynesia Tahiti national football team managers Living people Men's association football forwards Australian men's soccer players Greek expatriate sportspeople in France Australian expatriate sportspeople in France Australian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Greek expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Greek football managers Australian expatriate sportspeople in Fiji