Spyros Ikonomopoulos (Greek:Σπύρος Οικονομόπουλος; born 26 October 1959) is aGreek former professional Goalkeeperfootballer who played as agoalkeeper forAEK Athens.^[2] He was voted Best Greek Player of the Season in 1989.

Ikonomopoulos started his football career from the amateur club of his hometown, AO Akratas.^[3] On 29 July 1977, the 18-year-old, goalkeaper was signed by the youth team ofAEK Athens.^[4] He made his debut with the men's team on 26 December 1977, againstEthnikos Piraeus at home, in a match where the professional footballers went on a strike which resulted in the clubs competing with amateur footballers.^[5]

Ikonomopoulos was eventually promoted to the men's team, where he played until the end of his career. During his first seasons at the club, he had the "misfortune" to coexist with great goalkeepers, such asNikos Christidis,Lakis Stergioudas,Christos Arvanitis andTheologis Papadopoulos, so the competition for the spot was particularly tough. Thus, he spent his first years mainly as a back up choice. However, in 1988, underDušan Bajević, Ikonomopoulos became the main goalkeeper and played in all of the matches of the season. During that season, he saved three penalties and effectively gave AEK their first league title in 10 years. At that time the fans gave him the nickname "Mr. Championship 1989".^[6] On 30 August 1989 he played at the1989 Greek Super Cup, where AEK won againstPanathinaikos by 6–5 on penalty shoot-out.^[7] However, in the start of the following season, he made some unfortunate performances that led to his gradual decommissioning, which resulted in him losing his position under the posts byAntonis Minou. In the summer of 1992, with the arrival ofIlias Atmatsidis, his career at AEK was essentially over. He made his last appeareance with the yellow-blacks on 29 December 1993 in a Cup game against Asteras Ambelokipoi.^[8] He remained part as a part of the squad without making a single appearance, winning three consecutive championhsips and aCup in 1996. In the summer of 1996 he officially retired, at the age of 37.^[9]

Ikonomopoulos played a total of 12 times withGreece, between 1984 and 1989. His debut took place on 12 September 1984 in an away friendly againstEast Germany, when underMiltos Papapostolou, the manager who had also established him at AEK, replacedGeorgios Plitsis at half-time.^[10]

After the end of his football career, he returned to Akrata, where he developed a business activity. At some point, the AEK administration announced its decision to hold a friendly match in his honor, but it never materialized.^[11]

AEK Athens

• Alpha Ethniki:1977–78,1978–79,1988–89,1991–92,1992–93,1993–94
• Greek Cup:1982–83,1995–96
• Greek Super Cup:1989
• Greek League Cup: 1990

Individual

• Best Greek Player of the Season: 1988–89^[13]

• List of one-club men in association football

• Spyros Ikonomopoulos at National-Football-Teams.com
• Spyros Ikonomopoulos at EU-Football.info

• Greek men's footballers
• Living people
• Men's association football goalkeepers
• 1959 births
• Greece men's international footballers
• Super League Greece players
• AEK Athens F.C. players
• People from Akrata
• Footballers from Western Greece
• 20th-century Greek sportsmen

• CS1 Greek-language sources (el)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2024
• Articles containing Greek-language text
• Articles using sports links with data from Wikidata