Theologis Papadopoulos ( el, Θεολόγης Παπαδόπουλος; born 12 January 1960) 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 a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Papadopoulos started football in 1974 from the amateur team Eleftheriakos Eleftherion, while he became more widely known competing in the AEL from 1979. In 1984, he moved to

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 ...

, where after a few seasons became the main goalkeeper of the club. During his tenure at AEK, he also became an international. In 1988, even though he was a key player in the team for years, his career at AEK suddenly came to an end. On the eve of the cup rematch 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 ...

, former AEK footballer

Dinos Ballis Dinos Ballis ( el, Ντίνος Μπαλλής; born 25 May 1957) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Ballis started his football career at a very young age, as in 1967 he took out a sport's card for ...

visited the AEK team's hotel, offered a bouquet to Papadopoulos and was eventually suspected of attempted bribery. The match took place, Olympiacos won 1–3 and Papadopoulos had a very bad performance. The continuation was given to the courts, even after Papadopoulos finally reported that there was indeed an attempted bribery. The owners of Olympiacos, the Koskotas brothers and Dinos Balis, as an intermediary, were accused of attempting to bribe the AEK players, Papadopoulos and Vasilakos. Finally, in an incredible court decision, everyone was acquitted, except Ballis. After all this, Papadopoulos left in a bad way from AEK and went to

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

. He played for the club of

Nea Smyrni Nea Smyrni ( el, Νέα Σμύρνη, ''Néa Smýrni'', "New Smyrna") is a municipality in South Athens, Greece. At the 2011 census, it had 73,076 inhabitants. It was named after İzmir in Turkey, which Greek's called it as Smyrna, whence many ...

until 1992 and eventually ended his career in 1993 at Ionikos.

International career

Papadopoulos appeared in 24 matches for the

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 ...

from 1986 to 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papadopoulos, Theologis 1960 births Living people Footballers from Larissa Greek men's footballers Greece men's international footballers AEK Athens F.C. players Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Panionios F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers