Nikos Dabizas ( el, Νίκος Νταμπίζας, born 3 August 1973) is a Greek former 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
defender for
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
,
Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
,
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 ...
and
AEL. He was also in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
's
2004 European Football Championship
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...
winning squad.
Career
Pontioi Veria
Dabizas spent his days playing football and helping in his father's company. His first contact with football came when he was sixteen, although he never dreamt of becoming a professional footballer. However, fate had other plans for him. He played for a year as an amateur at the local team of Amydeo called Hermes, which was enough to give him the ticket to a team in the
third division and a professional contract, as he joined
Pontioi Veria, as an 18-year-old, where he remained for three consecutive seasons, playing one year on the third division and two in the second. His big career break came when he was 21. He got an offer from Olympiacos, one of the biggest teams in Greece.
Olympiacos
He moved to
Piraeus
Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...
and helped his new team win the
Greek championship
The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...
twice, something they hadn't done in ten years. He also took part in his first
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
games. After three-and-a-half seasons with Olympiacos he received an offer from Newcastle United, which opened him the doors to the English football fields, in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
.
Newcastle United
In March 1998, Dabizas signed with Newcastle United for a fee of £2 million.
His initial four-year contract,
which was to expire in
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
, was renewed well ahead of time, and was to see Dabizas in the team, until June 2004. He famously scored Newcastle's winning goal in the 1–0 away victory in the
Tyne–Wear derby
The Tyne–Wear derby, also known as the North East derby, is a local derby between the association football clubs Sunderland A.F.C., Sunderland and Newcastle United F.C., Newcastle United. The derby is an inter-city rivalry in North East Englan ...
against
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
at the
Stadium of Light
The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...
on 24 February 2002. Whilst at Newcastle United, he played in both the 1998 and 1999 FA Cup Finals.
Being left out of the first squad since the spring of 2003, Dabizas had no option, but to seek a transfer. A car accident prevented him from moving during the summer transfer window. Still, the decision to move was enforced, as he did not see any action when the new season started. He accepted an offer from Leicester City in January 2004.
Leicester City and Euro 2004
Dabizas played regularly for Leicester as they battled to stay in the Premier League, their efforts were inadequate and the team was relegated to the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
. It seemed like it was going to turn out to be a very disappointing season, but it was far from over. Dabizas was selected for the 2004 European Football Championship Greek squad but never saw any action as an injury kept him on the sidelines. To everyone's surprise, Greece went on to win the tournament, ending a season that had many turning points.
After Euro 2004, Dabizas chose to stay at Leicester despite being entitled to a relegation release clause in his contract.
Dabizas scored twice during his spell at Leicester, one in the league against Sheffield United,
and another in the FA Cup against Charlton Athletic.
AEL
Dabizas was released by Leicester at the end of his contract in May 2005.
In August 2005, he signed a three-year deal with AEL. In 2007, he won Larissa's second Greek cup, after a great personal performance in the final, being the captain. Dabizas, playing in
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 ...
, reaching the group stage by eliminating
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...
. In 2008–09 season, the team finished 5th in SuperLeague and won an UEFA Europa League place, but were eliminated in the second qualifying round by
KR Reykjavík
KR is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and WMO country code for South Korea.
KR or Kr may also refer to:
Sports
* KR (basketball club), associated with Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur
* Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, an Icelandic football club
* Kickoff r ...
(1–1,0–2). Here, Dabizas found
Stelios Venetidis and
Stelios Giannakopoulos
Stylianos "Stelios" Giannakopoulos ( el, Στυλιανός "Στέλιος" Γιαννακόπουλος; born 12 July 1974), popularly known as Stelios, is a Greek football manager and former player. During his playing career, Giannakopoulos p ...
two teammates in the Greece national team for
UEFA Euro 2004
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...
, as well as former Newcastle United teammate
Laurent Robert
Pierre Laurent Robert (born 21 May 1975) is a French former professional footballer. He played as a left winger, and represented the France national team.
Robert began his professional career in his native France before making a move to English ...
. After a poor start to the 2009–10 season, Larissa finally finished in mid-table, and Dabizas signed a one-year contract extension, meaning that his spell with Larissa would be the longest with any club in his career and also where he played most. He announced his retirement in 2011.
Managerial career
Panathinaikos
Dabizas joined
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 ...
on 17 May 2013 as the club's football director until 11 November 2014, and he returned in this position on 17 May 2018 until 18 October 2019.
AC Omonia
Dabizas joined Cypriot club
AC Omonia
Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia ("Harmony"; also trans ...
on 30 March 2016 as football director.
Honours
AEL
*
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 ...
: 2007
*
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 ...
: runner-up 2007
Greece
*
UEFA Euro
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
:
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabizas, Nikos
1973 births
Living people
People from Amyntaio
Greek footballers
Greek Macedonians
Association football defenders
Olympiacos F.C. players
Newcastle United F.C. players
Leicester City F.C. players
Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
UEFA European Championship-winning players
Premier League players
English Football League players
Greece international footballers
Super League Greece players
Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff
Greek expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in England
Greek expatriate sportspeople in England
FA Cup Final players
Footballers from Western Macedonia