 Giannis Pathiakakis with AEK Athens | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ioannis Pathiakakis | ||
| Date of birth | (1953-06-15)15 June 1953 | ||
| Place of birth | Athens, Greece | ||
| Date of death | 8 February 2002(2002-02-08) (aged 48) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1971–1977 | Apollon Athens | ||
| 1977–1978 | PAOK | 18 | (2) |
| 1978–1980 | Panionios | 59 | (22) |
| 1980–1983 | Apollon Athens | 48 | (5) |
| 1983–1985 | Ethnikos Piraeus | 10 | (1) |
| 1985–1986 | Korinthos | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1986–1987 | AO Melissia (player-coach) | ||
| A.E. Messolonghi | |||
| Pannafpliakos | |||
| Ethnikos Piraeus | |||
| 1994–1996 | Apollon Athens | ||
| 1996–1997 | Athinaikos | ||
| 1997 | Ethnikos Piraeus | ||
| 1999–2000 | Akratitos | ||
| 2000–2001 | AEK Athens | ||
| 2002 | Akratitos | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Giannis Pathiakakis (Greek:Γιάννης Παθιακάκης; 15 June 1953 – 8 February 2002) was a Greek professionalfootballer who played as amidfielder and a latermanager.[1] After his death the stadium ofAkratitos was namedYiannis Pathiakakis Stadium in his honour.[2]
Pathiakakis started his football career inApollon Athens, where he played from 1971 to 1977. He then played for one year inPAOK and in 1978 he was transferred toNea Smyrni, inPanionios. In the three years he played in Panionios he was particularly productive. He was a key contributor to the progress of the Nea Smyrni club to winning theGreek Cup in 1979. He scored in both matches againstAris in the quarter-finals, as well as againstOlympiacos in the semi-finals. In the final he scored the second of his team's three goals in a 3–1 win overAEK Athens.[3] He also scored a goal the following season in a historic 4–0 win overTwente in the first round of theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
He left Panionios in 1980 his career playing for Apollon Athens,Ethnikos Piraeus and theKorinthos.
Pathiakakis started as a coach at AO Melissia, where he was also a football player and then worked atA.E. Messolongi,Pannafpliakos andEthnikos Piraeus.[4]
In 1994 he sat on the benchApollon Athens and associated his name with the most successful period in the club's history. Under his guidance, Apollon created a young team with excellent footballers who, with the help of some experienced players, play quality football.Demis Nikolaidis,Theofilos Karasavvidis,Bledar Kola and the older onesAntonis Minou,Frank Klopas,Tasos Mitropoulos give personality to the team. In his first season, he led them to 4th place and earned a place to theUEFA Cup of the following year, while in 1996 he reached the Cup final of the , where he was defeated 7–1 byAEK Athens.[5]
A short stint atAthinaikos followed and he then took charge ofAkratitos, which he promoted from thefourth to thesecond division.
In January 2000 he took charge of AEK Athens replacingLjubiša Tumbaković. In the end of the season he won the Cup beatingIonikos by 3–0.[6] and the following season, he led the club to the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup excludingBayer Leverkusen. However, the elimination in the Cup byOlympiacos with a heavy 6–1 defeat led to his dismissal.[7]
He was sidelined for a year until February 2002 when he was re-hired by Akratitos. But before he could really take over, he died during training of a heart attack.
Pathiakakis died of a heart attack five days after his return to Akratitos. He cooled down at the Ano Liosion stadium during training on February 8, 2002 at the age of 49. Four years earlier he had suffered another heart attack at the same stadium and had undergone a double bypass, but despite doctors' advice to avoid excitement, he chose to continue "living dangerously" as a coach. At the same time, he did not stop smoking.[8]
Everything happened so fast that no one had time to react. The training session was almost over and Pathiakakis was playing a bet with goalkeeperGintaras Staučė, shooting him from outside the area. He had won the first game and when theLithuanian goalkeeper asked for a rematch, the coach suddenly fell down. They rushed to him for first aid but the fatality soon occurred before the ambulance arrived. At the hospital, he was pronounced dead from an acutemyocardial infarction.
The management of Akratitos decided to name the stadium "Yiannis Pathiakakis Stadium" as a sign of memory to the coach who sealed the association with his death, which from the local categories of Athens and raised it to the second division.
The football club A.O. Yiannis Pathiakakis fromDionysos bears his name.