Vasilios Lakis ( el, Βασίλειος Λάκης; born 10 September 1976) 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 le ...

. He was nicknamed "Turbo" for his speed when attacking along the

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authori ...

and ability to provide accurate

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

for the strikers in the area.

Club career

Naoussa

Lakis started his career in for Naoussa and he began his career as a defender but his earliest coaches, recognizing his natural ability, moved him to the attacking wing, where he has since shone. In Naoussa Lakis played with players like the then future star,

Vasilios Tsiartas Vasilios Tsiartas ( el, Βασίλειος Τσιάρτας; born 12 November 1972) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Although he was famed for his lackadaisical playing style, his ability was neve ...

Paniliakos

In the summer 1995, Lakis signed for the professional club

Panileiakos Paniliakos Football Club ( el, Πανηλειακός Α.Ο. Πύργου) is a Greek association football club based in Pyrgos, Elis, Greece. The club plays in Gamma Ethniki, the third tier of Greek football. It plays its home matches at the Pyr ...

and in the next season he helped the team to finish in the 7th place in the Greek League by scoring 7 goals.

AEK Athens

On 12 June 1998 Lakis was transferred 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 Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

for a fee of 600,000,000

drachmas The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history: # An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fro ...

. There he played alongside players of the likes of

Demis Nikolaidis Themistoklis "Demis" Nikolaidis ( el, Ντέμης Νικολαΐδης; born 17 September 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the forty second president of AEK Athens, and is considered one of the fi ...

, Vasilios Tsiartas and

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 ...

. With the yellow-blacks, he won two Greek Cups, one in 2000 against Ionikos and the other in 2002 against their rival, Olympiakos. He was in the squad that reached the Fourth round of the

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

in 2002 and were eliminated by the

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

Héctor Raul Cúper Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish given name. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek Achilles. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek ''ékhein'', m ...

. The following season, with the aquiring of

Grigorios Georgatos Grigoris Georgatos ( el, Γρηγόρης Γεωργάτος; born 31 October 1972) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a left-back. His nickname was ''"the Crazy bald"'' ''( el, "ο Τρελός φαλακρός")'' due to hi ...

from Inter Milan AEK reached the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, where they were drawn with

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. The club nearly beat Real Madrid after leading 3–1 and then 3–3 at home in the old stadium

Nikos Goumas Stadium Nikos Goumas Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Νίκος Γκούμας) was a multi-purpose stadium in Nea Filadelfeia, a northwestern suburb of Athens, Greece. It was used mostly for football matches and was the home stadium of AEK Athens F.C. It is ...

, but AEK Athens took their revenge in Madrid at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...

drawing 2–2.

Crystal Palace

After Greece won

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, Lakis signed as a free agent for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in the Premiership. He made 18 league appearances for Palace. He notably missed the goal from 6 yards in the game against Arsenal at Selhurst Park while the score was 1-1. It is likely that Palace would have won the match had he scored. He was also sent off a in a 0–0 draw with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Unfortunately the club was relegated the same year and Lakis decided to return to

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 ...

and his previous club AEK Athens.

Return to AEK Athens

He returned to long-time club AEK Athens and here he found players like,

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 ...

that came from Roma and as president Demis Nikolaidis. AEK Athens gained again the

2006–07 UEFA Champions League The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan ...

in the same group of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

that they beat at home 1–0 with the goal of Júlio César. In the summer 2007 AEK Athens signed the Brazilian

Rivaldo Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo (), is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as a w ...

from the Olympiacos and the club rich the top of

Greek Championship 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 ...

with the Piraeus rival. He is a pacy right winger who can also play up front, known for his fast-paced end-to-end style of play. He is renowned in his home country for his habit of missing easy chances but his speed, cutting passes, and incisive runs into the box more than makeup for this failing.

PAOK

On 2 July 2007, Lakis was released by AEK, on 3 July he signed a three-year contract with PAOK, which here he founds Zagorakis as the president of the club and

Zisis Vryzas Zisis Vryzas ( el, Ζήσης Βρύζας; born 9 November 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a forward for various teams in Greece and abroad, as well as for the Greece national football team, when they won the Euro ...

as a player, that they won Euro 2004. Lakis helped his new team to gain the second place in the

behind Olympiacos and qualifying PAOK for the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

Kavala

On 1 July 2009, Lakis signed a two-year contract with the football club

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the Egnat ...

. Here lakis found the goalkeeper

Fanis Katergiannakis Fanis Katergiannakis ( el, Φάνης Κατεργιαννάκης, born 16 February 1974) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Ethnikos Pylaias Katergiannakis started his career in the young team f ...

that he helped to promote the team in the

Greek Super League 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 ...

after ten years. His new club Kavala was the revelation of the Greek Super League fighting for the first six positions and Lakis become one more time one of the most important players with experience. Lakis with Kavala] reached the semifinal of the Greek Cup against Panionios F.C., Panionios. In the semifinal Kavala faced

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

International career

Lakis made 35 appearances for the

Greece national football team The Greece national football team ( el, Εθνική Ελλάδας, ) represents Greece in men's international football matches and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play most ...

and scored his first goal in a friendly match, in April 2000 in Dublin against the Republic of Ireland, in Lansdown Road. The coach

Otto Rehhagel Otto Rehhagel (; born 9 August 1938) is a German former football coach and player. Rehhagel is one of only two people who, as player and manager combined, has participated in over 1,000 Bundesliga matches (the other being Jupp Heynckes). In t ...

called him for the qualification for

and he was included in the Greek

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

that won

and made two appearances as a substitute against Portugal in the group-stage and France in the quarterfinal.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Greece's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lakis goal''.

Honours

AEK Athens *

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 im ...

: 2000, 2002; runner-up 2006 Greece * European Championship:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

UEFA Euro U21 The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

: runner-up

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

References

External links

Guardian Football
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lakis, Vasilios 1976 births Living people Footballers from Thessaloniki Greek Macedonians Greek footballers Association football wingers Greece international footballers Greece under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA European Championship-winning players Paniliakos F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players PAOK FC players Naoussa F.C. players Kavala F.C. players Super League Greece players Premier League players Greek expatriate footballers Greek expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England