Themis Rigas ( el, Θέμης Ρήγας; born 1945 - died 13 January 1984), popularly nicknamed The Train, was 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 ...

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 ...

born in

Patras ) , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 = , demographics1_info2 = , timezone1 = EET , utc_offset1 = +2 , ...

. One of the fastest and most talented wingers of his generation, he was a member of the great

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, ...

football team that impressed

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 the seventies and qualified to the 1974 UEFA Cup. In 1974, he played abroad in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

with Toronto Homer. He died in a domestic accident in 1984, at the age of 39, leaving behind him the

family without one of its most eminent members.

Statistics

Themis Rigas had 165 First Division appearances for

and scored 23 goals.

References

Notes

Rsssf, website about football statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigas, Themis 1945 births 1984 deaths Panachaiki F.C. players Greek footballers Greek expatriate footballers Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Expatriate soccer players in Canada Greek expatriate sportspeople in Canada Accidental deaths in Greece Association football midfielders Canadian National Soccer League players Footballers from Patras