Kostas Eleftherakis ( el, Κώστας Ελευθεράκης, born 18 July 1950) 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 international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who played as a

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 ...

. His nickname was ''"the Deer"'' ''( el, "το Ελάφι")''.

Club career

He started his career in 1964–65, playing for

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

Fostiras Fostiras Football Club ( el, Α.Π.Ο. Φωστήρας Ταύρου) is a Greek football club based in Tavros, a suburb of Athens, Greece. They play in the Gamma Ethniki, the fourth tier of the Greek football league system. They played Alpha Et ...

. He later joined

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 1968. At age 21 he played for

at 1971 European Cup Final in

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

against Ajax Amsterdam. He scored 2 goals during that campaign to reach the final. Following that game, Real Madrid and Everton expressed interest in acquiring him. Real Madrid would offer an inconceivable (for the time) 35 million drachmas for Kostas Eleftherakis. But

Costas Aslanidis Costas Aslanidis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Ασλανίδης) was a Lieutenant Colonel and the Secretary General of Sports during the rule of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. Aslanidis was a controversial figure throughout his tenure a ...

(Secretary General of Athletics, appointed by the

Greek military junta of 1967–1974 The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels, . Also known within Greece as just the Junta ( el, η Χούντα, i Choúnta, links=no, ), the Dictatorship ( el, η Δικτατορία, i Diktatoría, links=no, ) or the Seven Years ( el, η Ε ...

) would stand in the way. The same happened when Everton made an offer through

Billy Bingham William Laurence Bingham (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager. As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, whom he played for between 1948 and 1950. Making the move ...

who coached

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 early 1970s. He was invited to play for the

World XI In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. An injury he sustained in May 1977 would force him to stay away from the game for six months. He would never regain his form completely after that. Five years later he retired from football. He ended his career playing again at Fostiras. He played a total of 331 games in the first division, 308 of which with Panathinaikos, and scored 88 goals.

International career

Eleftherakis made 34 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 ...

from 1969 to 1977.

Honours

;Panathinaikos *

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 ...

: 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1976–77 *

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 ...

: 1968–69, 1976–77 * Greater Greece Cup: 1970

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eleftherakis, Kostas Panathinaikos F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Fostiras F.C. players Super League Greece players 1950 births Greece international footballers Living people Association football midfielders Footballers from Athens Greek footballers