Ntinos Pontikas ( el, Ντίνος Ποντίκας; born 27 February 1982) is a Greek former
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
striker. He holds the
record for the youngest player ever to score a
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
.
Record
On 21 September 1996, Pontikas became the youngest player ever to
score a hat-trick at 14 years and 198 days. On his debut match with
Haravgi
''Haravgi'' ( el, Χαραυγή / "Dawn") is a Greek language newspaper published in Cyprus since 1956. It is one of the largest newspapers on the island and is affiliated to AKEL, the Progressive Party of Working People.{{cite book , last1=Chr ...
he scored his team's all 3 goals, in their away 4–3 defeat to
Ampelokipoi, in the fifth tier of the Greek championship. Opponents Ampelokipoi's squad in that match featured
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
Greek champion
Giorgos Kolovos
Georgios Kolovos ( gr, Γεώργιος Κολοβός; born 9 October 1965) is a Greek former professional football player who played as a forward.
Club career
Kolovos started his career from Apollon Larissa playing in Delta Ethniki. In the sum ...
,
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
Cup winner and team captain
Babis Ntosas
Charalampos Dosas ( gr, Χαράλαμπος Ντόσας; born 11 December 1962) is a Greek former professional football player who played as a defender.
Club career
Dosas started his career from the now defunct amateur side Astir Neo Perivol ...
, (both as
AEL players), and also future
Greece international The Hellas International or Greece International in badminton is an international open held in Athens, Greece since 2000 and are thereby one of the most recent international championships in Europe. In 2005, the tournament then upgraded to two star ...
defender
Vangelis Moras
Vangelis Moras ( el, Βαγγέλης Μόρας; born 26 August 1981) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a centre back and currently a manager.
Club career
Early years
Moras started his football Ampelokipoi Larissa and in ...
, as an unused substitute.
Pontikas recorded jaw-dropping scoring performances on two more occasions, but in friendly youth games. The first was in 1995 when he scored 13 goals, aged 13 and the second in 1997 with the youngster hitting the net 10 times. He also holds the national record for the youngest player to feature in a U-18 high school county league final, at 14 years and 9 months.
Biography
Pontikas started off with street football before having a brief spell at
Toxotis Larissa
Toxotis Larissa (Greek: Π.Α.Ο. Τοξότης Λάρισας) is a football club based in Larissa, Greece. The colour of the club's jerseys are red and white. One of the greatest Greek midfielders of the 90s, Vassilis Karapialis, and prolifi ...
's youth section in 1995 where
Theofanis Gekas
Theofanis "Fanis" Gekas ( el, Θεοφάνης "Φάνης" Γκέκας; born 23 May 1980) is a Greek professional football official, coach and a former player, who played as a striker. He is the manager of Turkish fourth-tier TFF Third League ...
was also playing at the time. He subsequently joined
Haravgi
''Haravgi'' ( el, Χαραυγή / "Dawn") is a Greek language newspaper published in Cyprus since 1956. It is one of the largest newspapers on the island and is affiliated to AKEL, the Progressive Party of Working People.{{cite book , last1=Chr ...
and was immediately promoted to the first team, scoring a hat-trick on his debut at the age of 14. A few years later he was forced to quit football at a young age due to a serious injury.
Pontikas who was considered one of the most promising young strikers was also one of the fastest players of his generation being able to run 100 metres in less than 11 seconds.
After his forced retirement he attempted to return to football twice by signing and training with local Greek clubs, without featuring in any official match. He eventually joined the
English Sunday League
Sunday league football in England consists of a series of leagues of amateur football clubs that play matches on Sundays. Most Sunday leagues across England consist of multiple divisions including promotion and relegation, but are not part of ...
at the age of 38, playing a full 90 minutes on his debut.
See also
*
List of world association football records
This article features a list with world association football records including professionals, semi-professionals, amateurs, juniors or women's football, in any football league, cup, or other competition around the world.
Players
Players in b ...
*
List of footballers who achieved hat-trick records
The first-ever hat-trick in an international match was recorded on 2 March 1878, when John McDougall scored three times for Scotland in a 7–2 win against England. Since then there have been numerous players who scored three or more goals in ...
References
External links
RSSSF Greece1996–97 on
RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...
1982 births
Living people
Footballers from Larissa
Greek footballers
Association football forwards
{{Greece-footy-bio-stub