Stratos Apostolakis ( el, Στράτος Αποστολάκης; born 17 May 1964), nicknamed The Turbo, 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 ...

who played as a defender or a

defensive 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 ...

Career

Apostolakis was no stranger to controversy as a player, his switch from

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 ...

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 ...

in 1990 led to the cancellation of the

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 ...

as the authorities feared riots. As a footballer he played his best years for Panathinaikos being one of the key players behind club's European runs in 1991–92 and 1995–96. He played with Panathinaikos through 1998. During his playing career, Apostolakis was capped 96 times by the Greece national team scoring five goals. and was a member of the

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

squad. His 96 caps stood as a Greek record until it was broken by

Theodoros Zagorakis Theodoros Zagorakis ( el, Θεόδωρος Ζαγοράκης ; born 27 October 1971) is a Greek politician and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was the captain of Greece that won UEFA Euro 2004, and was also presid ...

. He also spent six months as a coach with Panathinaikos in 2001, before resigning from his position at the end of the year and eventually taking up the task of coaching the Olympic team for

Athens 2004 The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Personal life

Apostolakis is the father of Kostas, who plays as a professional footballer at

References

1964 births Living people Footballers from Agrinio Greek footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Greece international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players Super League Greece players Panetolikos F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players Greek football managers Panathinaikos F.C. managers Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff {{Greece-footy-bio-stub