Dimitris "Takis" Karagiozopoulos ( el, Τάκης Καραγκιοζόπουλος; born 4 February 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 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 defender, mostly 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 ...

. He is famous and beloved to AEK fans for his 12-year presence and for scoring the historic "golden" goal 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 ...

on 7 May 1989, giving 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 ...

to AEK after 10 whole years.

Club career

Karagiozopoulos started playing football for Filippos Melikis and in 1978 he was transferred to

Veria Veria ( el, Βέροια or Βέρροια), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Berea or Berœa, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of ...

, where he played in the position of striker. In 1981 he signed for

, playing in the attack for the first two years, until the then coach of AEK, the late

Zlatko Čajkovski Zlatko "Čik" Čajkovski (24 November 1923 – 27 July 1998) was a Croatian and Yugoslavian football player and coach. His brother, Željko Čajkovski, was a footballer as well. Normally a defensive midfielder, Čajkovski was renowned for hi ...

converted him to the position of defender, after his serious injury

Petros Ravousis Petros Ravousis ( gr, Πέτρος Ραβούσης; born 1 October 1954) is a Greeks, Greek former professional Association football, footballer who played as Defender (association football), defender and a former manager. Club career Ravousis ...

. Together with

Stelios Manolas Stelios Manolas ( el, Στέλιος Μανωλάς, born 13 July 1961) is a Greeks, Greek former international Association football, football player who played as a centre back for AEK Athens F.C., AEK Athens and a manager. Arguably the best Gr ...

made an excellent defending duo. He played with AEK for twelve years, winning three Championships a

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, ...

, a Super Cup and a

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 ...

. He was a footballer who was distinguished for his intelligence, composure in his game, his very good technique for a defensive player, while he was also a specialist in penalty kicks. He never belonged to the "stars" of AEK, but he was a very useful "tool" for the team for twelve whole years, while he was at times one of its leaders. He had a total 231 appearances in league games with 19 goals, 47 cup games with six goals and 11 appearances in Europe. In 1993 he left AEK and transferred to

Apollon Athens Apollon Smyrnis Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Απόλλων Σμύρνης), or in its full name Gymnasticos Syllogos Apollon Smyrnis ( el, links=no, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Απόλλων Σμύρνης, ''Gymnastics Club Apollon o ...

where he ended his career.

The golden goal

It was May 7, 1989 when AEK played one of the most important games in their history, in an away match against Olympiacos 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 ...

, for the penultimate game of the 1988–89 season. AEK had the opportunity with a victory or a draw to win the championship after 10 rough years. On the other hand, Olympiacos had a huge budget and although they only wanted a victory, were considered to be the favorite, since they were in excellent condition and played at home. Olympiacos entered the game dynamically, put a lot of pressure on AEK and lost several chances. As time passed, the pressure of the "red and whites" increased, but the goalpost of Ikonomopoulos stayed in tact. At the 83rd minute, when AEK counterattacked Karagiozopoulos, who entered the game as a sub, combined 2 times with Okoński, starting from the area of AEK to the area of Olympiacos. Finally, he dribbled Alexiou, shoot with his left foot and sent the ball into the net and the fans of AEK in "heaven". This was one of the most important goals in the history of AEK as the 0-1 remained until the end and found the "yellow-blacks" Champions. Never before has an AEK player been so closely associated with achieving a specific goal. Regardless of the rest of his career in the team, Karagiozopoulos is one of the most beloved players of all time to the friends of AEK, only thanks to that "golden" goal.

International career

Karagiozopoulos played in the Greece's youth team in 1978. He played in the Greek mediterranean team in 1979, at

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

and in 1987 in Latakia. In 1983 he played with U21 team against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. He was also a member of the team that played in the 1984 pre-Olympic tournament.

Coaching career

After the end of his career, Karagiozopoulos was initially involved in coaching and was on the bench of the AEK Athens, as an assistant coach for the two years. He even had to serve as the first head coach for some matches. For the 1998-99 season, between the dismissal of

Dragoslav Stepanović Dragoslav Stepanović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгослав Степановић, ; born 30 August 1948) is a Serbian retired football player and coach. Club career Stepanović made his name with OFK Beograd where he was a right back fixture for 11 y ...

and the hiring of

Oleg Blokhin Oleg Vladimirovich Blokhin, or Oleh Volodymyrovych Blokhin ( uk, Оле́г Володи́мирович Блохі́н, rus, Оле́г Влади́мирович Блохи́н; born 5 November 1952), is a former Ukrainian and Soviet footbal ...

, he was the coach of the team for three league matches, while he was also on the bench as the first coach in the tragic exclusion from Poseidon Michanionas for the cup. For the 1999-00 season, he replaced

Ljubiša Tumbaković Ljubiša Tumbaković (, ; born 2 September 1952) is a Serbian professional football manager. He is the most successful coach in the history of Serbian powerhouse Partizan which he led to six national championship titles and three national cup w ...

for a match. Later Karagiozopoulos dealt with the science he has studied as a professor of

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

, while he deals with coaching only on an amateur level. The years after the end of his playing career until today, has a very active participation in the association of veteran football players of AEK.

Stats

Honours

AEK Athens *

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 ...

: 1988–89, 1991–92,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

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 ...

: 1982–83 *

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 association football one-match competition which w ...

: 1989 *

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karagiozopoulos, Takis 1961 births Living people Greek footballers Super League Greece players Veria F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players Association football defenders AEK Athens F.C. managers Greek football managers People from Imathia Footballers from Central Macedonia