Stelios Manolas ( el, Στέλιος Μανωλάς, born 13 July 1961) is a

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 ...

former international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

and a manager. Arguably the best Greek defender of his era, being one of the few Greek footballers to have played his entire professional career for a single club. In 2021,

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

chose him in the best XI of all time of Greek football.

Club career

Manolas started football from a young age, playing on the streets and vacant lots in and around the

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 ...

suburb of

Galatsi Galatsi ( el, Γαλάτσι, ''Galátsi'' ), called in Katharevousa Galatsion ( el, Γαλάτσιον, ''Galátsion''), is a northern suburb of Athens, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica (region), Attica region. The municipality has an a ...

, where he lived during his childhood. In his early teens he, alongside his friend Kostas Antoniou, played for the small amateur club, Aetos Galatsi, where he was discovered by scouts and brought to the attention of AEK Athens. At the age of 15, he was playing for the AEK Youth teams. Over time, he was noticed for his technical skill, intelligence and tactical mind. In January 1980, he signed his first professional contract with the club. As a young player, his solid technical training, dynamism and perception and a fighting spirit, were shown in his efforts on the pitch for team defense and attack. He was a mastermind of the defense, influenced his teammates and boosted their confidence. He was a center back, although he was started his career as a right back, a position assigned to him by Miltos Papapostolou. He made his debut appearance in a 1–1 draw against

Kastoria Kastoria ( el, Καστοριά, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Gree ...

in 3 February 1980 and became a regular in AEK Athens' defense until his retirement. Almost throughout his career he was one of the best players and one of the natural leaders of AEK. He gave his best in winning many titles, while alongside

Toni Savevski Toni Savevski ( mk, Тони Савевски; born 14 June 1963) is a Macedonian football player who played as a midfielder. Savevski is widely regarded as one of the best foreign players to have played in the Greek football league. After ret ...

, the main players that were based in the 90's. A top moment in his career, among others, was when he head blocked a shot by

Lajos Détári Lajos László Détári (born 24 April 1963) is a Hungarian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. At the height of his career (1984–1994), he was a well-respected player throughout Europe, winning "Player of the Year" ...

in front of AEK's goal line in the crucial game against

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 ...

at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

, that brought to AEK the 1989 league title. Manolas had been targeted by

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, but as he stated, he would never leave AEK Athens, as he wanted to retire there. He played at AEK for 19 straight years, where he became their captain. In the summer of 1997 stopped for several months dissatisfied with the president, Michalis Trochanas, bur he later returned, with

ENIC Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche (ENIC) was an Italian film production and distribution entity that operated between 1935 and 1956. It was formed in 1935, taking over the former organisation of Stefano Pittaluga and his Cines company. ...

as the major shareholder, to end his career at the end of the season. His last match was against

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xa ...

which earned him his 700th appearance. Stelios Manolas ended his career having 447 appearances in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

, second only to

Mimis Papaioannou Dimitrios "Mimis" Papaioannou ( el, Δημήτριος "Μίμης" Παπαϊωάννου; born 23 August 1942) is a Greek former professional football player, who played as a forward, mostly for AEK Athens and a former manager. His nickname w ...

and 12th in the history of the respective division, achieving a total of 34 goals. With AEK, he won the league 4 times, the

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

3 times, the Super Cup 2 times and the only

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

title ever played in 1990.

International career

Manolas played for

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 ...

in 71 matches from 1982 to 1994 and scored 6 goals. He was a member of the squad that played in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

, in the

USA 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 territori ...

Managerial career

After his retirement, Manolas became a certified coach in 2002 and worked for Greece U21 until 2004. In 2008 he held the post of technical director in AEK, where he resigned in 2009. In November 2012 he became the manager of

Niki Volos Niki Volou Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Νίκη Βόλου) is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Volos, in the region of Magnesia, Greece. The club currently competes in the Super League 2, the second tier of Greek football ...

where he stayed for three months. In the summer of 2014 he returned to AEK, as the coach of AEK Athens U20. In 2015, he was called from AEK as an interim coach to replace

Traianos Dellas Traianos Dellas ( el, Τραϊανός Δέλλας; born 31 January 1976) is a Greek football manager and former professional footballer, who played as a centre back. He was an integral part of Greece's Euro 2004 winning squad, during which ...

in the men's team, and was then called again at the same position to replace

Gus Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer. He is currently the head coach of the Greece national football team. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his car ...

. During his second managerial period, he won the Cup in 2016.

Personal life

Manolas is the uncle of former AEK Athens and

international defender, Kostas. His son,

Konstantinos Konstantinos or Constantinos (Κωνσταντίνος, ''Konstantínos'') is a Greek male given name. * Konstantinos (born 1972), occultist * Konstantinos "Kosta" Barbarouses (born 1990), New Zealand footballer * Konstantinos Chalkias (born 1 ...

, was also a footballer who played for AEK.

Career statistics

Club

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - !colspan=3, Club performance !colspan=2, League !colspan=2,

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 ...

!colspan=2,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

!colspan=2, Total , - !Season!!Club!!League !Apps!!Goals !Apps!!Goals !Apps!!Goals !Apps!!Goals , - , 1979–80 , rowspan=19,

, rowspan=19,

Alpha Ethniki 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 ...

, 3, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 3, , 0 , - , 1980–81 , 23, , 1, , 5, , 0, , 4, , 0, , 32, , 1 , - , 1981–82 , 32, , 0, , 2, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 34, , 0 , - , 1982–83 , 29, , 1, , 8, , 0, , 1, , 0, , 38, , 1 , - , 1983–84 , 27, , 1, , 5, , 0, , 2, , 0, , 34, , 1 , - , 1984–85 , 25, , 0, , 1, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 26, , 0 , - , 1985–86 , 20, , 3, , 7, , 1, , 2, , 0, , 29, , 4 , - , 1986–87 , 20, , 1, , 1, , 0, , 2, , 0, , 23, , 1 , - , 1987–88 , 21, , 4, , 4, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 25, , 4 , - , 1988–89 , 24, , 4, , 4, , 1, , 2, , 0, , 30, , 5 , - , 1989–90 , 33, , 3, , 4, , 0, , 4, , 1, , 41, , 4 , - , 1990–91 , 24, , 4, , 3, , 1, , 0, , 0, , 27, , 5 , - , 1991–92 , 31, , 4, , 12, , 3, , 4, , 0, , 47, , 7 , - , 1992–93 , 30, , 1, , 7, , 0, , 3, , 0, , 40, , 1 , - , 1993–94 , 24, , 2, , 8, , 1, , 1, , 0, , 33, , 3 , - , 1994–95 , 23, , 1, , 10, , 2, , 6, , 0, , 39, , 3 , - , 1995–96 , 22, , 3, , 9, , 0, , 3, , 0, , 34, , 3 , - , 1996–97 , 23, , 2, , 6, , 2, , 6, , 0, , 35, , 4 , - , 1997–98 , 13, , 0, , 2, , 0, , 0, , 0, , 15, , 0 , - ! colspan=3, Career total !447, , 35, , 98, , 11, , 40, , 1, , 585, , 47

International

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - ! National team!!Season!!Apps!!Goals , - , rowspan=13 valign="center", , 1982, , 1, , 0 , - , 1983, , 1, , 0 , - , 1984, , 7, , 1 , - , 1985, , 5, , 0 , - , 1986, , 8, , 0 , - , 1987, , 7, , 0 , - , 1988, , 6, , 2 , - , 1989, , 7, , 0 , - , 1990, , 8, , 2 , - , 1991, , 4, , 1 , - , 1992, , 5, , 0 , - , 1993, , 6, , 0 , - , 1994, , 6, , 0 , - ! colspan=2, Total!!71!!6

Honours

As a player

;AEK Athens *

: 1988–89, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94 *

: 1982–83, 1995–96, 1996–97 *

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 ...

: 1989, 1996 *

Greek League Cup The EPAE Cup, known as the Greek League Cup, a now defunct football competition, took place only once, in the year 1989–90 season. AEK Athens is the only winner of the League Cup, beating Panionios (3–3 and 3–1 on penalties), Aris (5–2), ...

: 1990

As a manager

;AEK Athens *Greek Cup: 2015–16

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Manolas, Stelios 1961 births Living people Greek footballers Greece international footballers AEK Athens F.C. players Super League Greece players Greek football managers 1994 FIFA World Cup players People from Naxos Niki Volos F.C. managers AEK F.C. non-playing staff Association football central defenders Greek beach soccer players Sportspeople from the South Aegean