Stelios Giannakopoulos
Encyclopedia
Stylianos "Stelios" Giannakopoulos ' onMouseout='HidePop("10749")' href="/topics/Athens">Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

), popularly known as Stelios, is a retired Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 footballer who is currently president of the Greek Professional Footballers Association. Stelios is one of the best known Greek footballers internationally, due to his successful spells with Olympiacos and Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

 as well as his appearances with the 2004 European championship winning Greek national team
Greece national football team
The Greece national football team represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece's home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus and their head coach is Fernando Santos...

.

Early career

Stelios is the second son of Alekos Giannakopoulos, a retired football player who had enjoyed Division A
Super League Greece
The Superleague Greece is the highest professional football league in Greece. It was formed on July 16, 2006 and replaced Alpha Ethniki at the top of the Greek football league system. The league consists of 16 teams and runs from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each...

 football in the 60's. He joined Ethnikos Asteras (the semi-professional club of his neighbourhood Kaisariani
Kaisariani
Kaisariani , also Kessariani, is a suburb in the eastern part of Athens, Greece. Kaisariani is located about 7 km from downtown Athens, about 4 km SW of Katechaki Avenue 4 km from the Hymettus Ring , which forms part of the Attiki Odos private superhighway network, and 6 km S...

) when he was seven years old, later moved for one year to Doxa Vyronas
Doxa Vyronas
Doxa Vyronas is a football club based in Vyronas, an eastern suburb of Athens. The club, established in 1945, and currently competes in Delta Ethniki Regional Championship. Doxa currently use Municipal Stadium of Vyronas as the venue for their home matches.-History:Doxa Vyronas was founded in 1945...

, and finally made his first-team debut for Ethnikos Asteras in the autumn of 1991, in a season which ended with the club gaining promotion to the professional Third Division
Gamma Ethniki
Football League 2, formerly known as Gamma Ethniki, is the third highest professional football league in Greece.-History:It began in 1965 as an amateur championship, while in 1983 it was changed to professional...

. Next year, in his opening season as a professional, the young winger found himself scoring six goals and impressing the scouters of clubs that participated in higher divisions. In the summer of 1993 he moved to Paniliakos
Paniliakos
Paniliakos was founded in 1958 from the union of four teams from the city of Pyrgos...

; he stayed there for three years, scoring 26 goals in 84 games and establishing himself as a member of the national U21 team.

Olympiacos

Having attracted the attention of the top clubs, in the summer of 1996 Stelios signed for Olympiacos F.C. at the age of 21. One of Stelios' career highlights came in only his second season with the club when he prestigiously scored Olympiacos' first ever Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 goal against Porto. The stunning 40-meter lob was voted as the goal of the competition by fans and also led to Olympiacos' first ever win in the competition. Olympiacos won the Greek championship in every single season while Stelios was with them and reached the quarter finals of the Champions League during the 1998–99 season. His reputation as a player was cemented in his last and most successful season with the club when he scored 15 goals, including 2 goals in the title deciding 3–0 win over arch rivals Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos FC
Panathinaikos Football Club is a Greek professional football club based in Athens. Founded in 1908, they play in the Super League Greece and are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Greek football history. They have won 20 Greek Championships and 17 Greek Cups.Panathinaikos is the most...

 in May 2003. Stelios spent a total of seven successful seasons there as a regular player, making a total of 189 appearances and scoring 63 goals in all competitions. To this day Giannakopoulos regularly attends special events at his former club and is considered a legend by the fans, notably for the determination he put into every match including the derbies against arch-rivals Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos FC
Panathinaikos Football Club is a Greek professional football club based in Athens. Founded in 1908, they play in the Super League Greece and are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Greek football history. They have won 20 Greek Championships and 17 Greek Cups.Panathinaikos is the most...

 and AEK Athens
AEK Athens FC
AEK Athens F.C. , the Athletic Union of Constantinople, is a Greek association football club based in the city of Athens, Greece. Outside Greece, the club is also known as AEK Athens, however, the word Athens is not part of the club's official title.Established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees...

 where he scored many of his finest goals.

Bolton Wanderers

However on 28 May 2003, after ten years of professional football in Greece he was snapped up by English Premier League
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...

 side Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

. The manager at the time Sam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce
Samuel "Sam" Allardyce , nicknamed "Big Sam", is an English football manager and former professional player. In June 2011 he was appointed as manager of West Ham United....

 described Stelios as "...an attacking midfielder who knows how to score goals. His main attribute remains his ability to make late runs into the penalty area and his flair to shoot accurately from range." It was at this point that the popular name 'Stelios' came about as the player unconventionally chose for his first name to be printed on his shirt instead of his very long (and difficult for the English journalists) surname. He made his Bolton début against Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 and helped Bolton reach the 2004 Carling Cup final
2004 Football League Cup Final
The 2004 Football League Cup Final was played between Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough at the Millennium Stadium on 29 February 2004. Middlesbrough won the game 2-1 to clinch their first major trophy...

 and their highest ever Premier League finish in his first season. Stelios' first two seasons with the club were successful, demonstrated by the fact that both Manchester City and Liverpool openly attempted to sign him before he signed a new contract with Bolton in August 2005.

His fine form continued into the 2005–06 season which was Stelios' most successful as he was top scorer for Bolton with 12 goals, an impressive tally for a midfielder. One of the highlights of that season was the winning goal he scored against Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 in an FA Cup Fourth round match played at the Reebok Stadium
Reebok Stadium
The Reebok Stadium is the home stadium of English Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers, and is located on the Middlebrook Retail Park in Horwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. It is commonly known as 'The Reebok'...

 on 28 January 2006. His form dipped slightly in the 2006–07 season where he missed several games through injury and failed to score any goals although he was still a regular player for the club with 28 games.

With Sam Allardyce leaving the club at the start of the 2007–08 season and only a year left on his contract, there were rumours of Stelios moving to another Premier League club or returning to Greece. However Stelios stayed at Bolton and although he was not as regular a player as previous seasons (due to injury and managerial changes) he was able to help Bolton with a string of late goals. The first one during injury time in the Carling Cup 3rd round tie against Fulham FC at Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage is the name of a football stadium in the Hammersmith and Fulham area that has been the home ground of the association football team Fulham F.C. since 1896....

, the second one in the UEFA Cup, when Stelios scored in the 3rd minute of injury time to salvage a 1–1 draw against Aris Salonica
Aris Thessaloniki F.C.
Aris Football Club , also known as God of war and the Yellows, is a Greek football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia. Formed in 1914, the club was a founding member of Macedonian Football Clubs Association as well as the Hellenic Football Federation, they currently compete in...

 and the third one in a Premier League game versus Derby when Stelios again scored in injury time to earn Bolton a much needed 3 points in what was a poor season for the team. His last ever goal for Bolton was a crucial one and came on 26 April 2008 when he scored in the 1–1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

 helping Bolton avoid relegation.

At the end of the season Stelios was not offered a new contract and was released by the club fuelling speculation that he would be returning to his native Greece and finishing off his career at Olympiacos. However the player confirmed that he would prefer to stay in the Premier League, and was subsequently linked with a move to newly promoted Premier League club Hull City
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...

, after interest from their new manager Phil Brown who worked with Stelios at Bolton.

Hull City

On 22 September 2008 it was confirmed by Hull that they had signed Stelios on a one year deal. He made his debut for Hull against Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

 exactly 2 months after joining them on 22 November 2008, coming on as a sub in the 82nd minute. Stelios would make one more substitute appearance in the league as well as a full game in the FA cup before he decided to make a further move having been frustrated by his lack of games at Hull.

Larissa

On 22 January 2009, six years after his first move to the UK, Stelios returned to Greece by signing for Greek side Larissa on a one-and-a-half-year deal. Stelios' impact was instant as the Greek press labeled him the 'most important transfer of the winter period' as he scored 3 crucial goals in his first 4 games to propel Larissa to a top 5 position in the Greek Super League. Larissa were able to maintain this position until the end of the season which qualified them for European competition, something which Stelios admitted was a great achievement and totally unexpected for a smaller team like Larissa and compared it to his time with Bolton. The following season however was not as successful as Stelios struggled with injuries and even courted controversy with some comments he made to the Greek press that were seen as being disloyal his team. He parted company amicably with Larissa on 12 December 2009, six months before his contract would have officially ended.

Greek Professional Footballers Association

On 25 May 2010 Stelios was voted as president of the Greek Professional Footballers Association, taking over from his former team mate Antonios Nikopolidis.

International career

Stelios made his international debut on 12 March 1997 in a friendly game against Cyprus
Cyprus national football team
The Cyprus national football team represents Cyprus in association football and is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association, the governing body for football in Cyprus. Cyprus' home ground is the GSP Stadium in Nicosia and the current coach is Nikos Nioplias...

. His first international goal came almost two years later on 5 February 1999 in a friendly game against Belgium. He fell out of favour slightly in 2000 and 2001 featuring in only 3 games in 2 years however cemented his place in the team from 2002 onwards, featuring in every single game of the EURO 2004 qualifiers. One of his most important and memorable goals with the Greek national team
Greece national football team
The Greece national football team represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece's home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus and their head coach is Fernando Santos...

 was during those qualifiers; Stelios scoring the only goal in a 1–0 away victory against Spain
Spain national football team
The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque...

 in Zaragoza
La Romareda
Estadio de La Romareda is the home stadium of Real Zaragoza, in Zaragoza. It was inaugurated on September 8, 1957, with a game between Real Zaragoza and CA Osasuna . The official capacity is 34,596, with an average attendance of around 30,000 for Real Zaragoza matches.The stadium has gone through...

, in a game which ensured automatic qualification for Greece. He was also one of the key players in the victorious team at the 2004 European Football Championship playing in 4 out of 6 games including the final. Following this success, Giannakopoulos would remain a key part of the national team, becoming Greece's top scorer in their failed 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
A total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament. Germany, as the host, qualified automatically, leaving 31 spots open for competition...

 campaign. He was also amongst the squad
UEFA Euro 2008 squads
The following is a list of squads for each nation competing at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. The tournament started on 7 June and the final took place in Vienna on 29 June 2008....

 that unsuccessfully defended their title at the Euro 2008 competition. His last game for the national team came during that competition, in the 2–1 defeat against Spain on 18 June 2008. Stelios had scored a total of 12 goals for the national team; an interesting statistic being that Greece had won all but one of the games in which Stelios had scored in.

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 5 February 1999 GSZ Stadium, Larnaca
Larnaca
Larnaca, is the third largest city on the southern coast of Cyprus after Nicosia and Limassol. It has a population of 72,000 and is the island's second largest commercial port and an important tourist resort...

, Cyprus
1–0 Win Friendly
2 10 March 1999 Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
The Olympic Stadium "Spiros Louis" , is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. It is named after the first modern Olympic marathon race winner in 1896, Spiros Louis.-History:...

, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece
3–2 Win Friendly
3 10 March 1999 Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
The Olympic Stadium "Spiros Louis" , is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. It is named after the first modern Olympic marathon race winner in 1896, Spiros Louis.-History:...

, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece
3–2 Win Friendly
4 12 May 2002 Fotis Kosmas Stadium, Alexandroupolis, Greece 3–2 Win Unofficial Friendly
5 21 August 2002 Farul Stadium, Constanța
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....

, Romania
0–1 Win Friendly
6 7 June 2003 La Romareda
La Romareda
Estadio de La Romareda is the home stadium of Real Zaragoza, in Zaragoza. It was inaugurated on September 8, 1957, with a game between Real Zaragoza and CA Osasuna . The official capacity is 34,596, with an average attendance of around 30,000 for Real Zaragoza matches.The stadium has gone through...

, Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...

, Spain
0–1 Win UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
7 20 August 2003 Idrottsparken
Idrottsparken
Idrottsparken is a multi-purpose stadium in Norrköping, Sweden constructed in 1903. It is currently used mostly for football matches. It is the home arena for IFK Norrköping, IK Sleipner and for IF Sylvia. The stadium had a capacity of 19,414 people until 2008/2009 when the arena was re-built....

, Norrköping
Norrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...

, Sweden
1–2 Win Friendly
8 4 September 2004 Qemal Stafa Stadium
Qemal Stafa (stadium)
The Qemal Stafa Stadium , named after Qemal Stafa a World War II hero, is a national stadium and the largest football stadium in Tirana, Albania. Construction started in 1939 and the stadium was inaugurated in 1946 for the Balkan Cup, which was won by the Albania national football team...

, Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...

, Albania
2–1 Loss World Cup 2006 qualifying
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

9 26 March 2005 Lokomotivi Stadium
Mikheil Meskhi Stadium
The Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, also known as the Lokomotivi Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia named after the famous Georgian international footballer. It is used mostly for football matches, and occasionally for rugby union matches. The stadium was renovated in 2001 and has a...

, Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

, Georgia
1–3 Win World Cup 2006 qualifying
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

10 7 September 2005 Tsentralny Stadium
Almaty Central Stadium
The Almaty Central Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium is shared by FC Kairat Almaty. It also serves the home stadium for the Kazakhstan national football team....

, Almaty
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

, Kazakhstan
1–2 Win World Cup 2006 qualifying
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

11 16 November 2005 Karaiskaki Stadium, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece
2–1 Win Friendly
12 1 March 2006 GSP Stadium, Lefkosia, Cyprus 2–0 Win Friendly

Career statistics

Club League Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other* Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Ethnikos Asteras
Ethnikos Asteras F.C.
Ethnikos Asteras F.C. , the National Star, is a professional football club based in Kaisariani, Athens, Greece, currently competing in Beta Ethniki, the Greek second division....

Football League 2 Greece 1992–93 32 6 32 6
Paniliakos F.C. Football League Greece 1993–94 26 9 26 9
1994–95 31 10 31 10
Super League Greece
Super League Greece
The Superleague Greece is the highest professional football league in Greece. It was formed on July 16, 2006 and replaced Alpha Ethniki at the top of the Greek football league system. The league consists of 16 teams and runs from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each...

1995–96 27 7 27 7
Total 8426 8426
Olympiacos F.C. 1996–97 31 7
1997–98 7 1 31 3
1998–99 10 3 23 7
1999-00 6 2 29 10
2000–01 6 0 26 11
2001–02 5 2 21 11
2002–03 6 1 29 15
Total 16149 409 19064
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

Premier League 2003–04 31 2 2 0 6 2 39 4
2004–05 34 7 2 1 2 0 38 8
2005–06 34 9 4 2 2 0 6 1 46 12
2006–07 23 0 3 0 2 0 28 0
2007–08 15 2 1 0 2 1 8 1 26 4
Total 13720123143142 17728
Hull City
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...

2008–09 2 0 1 0 3 0
Larisa F.C. Super League Greece
Super League Greece
The Superleague Greece is the highest professional football league in Greece. It was formed on July 16, 2006 and replaced Alpha Ethniki at the top of the Greek football league system. The league consists of 16 teams and runs from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each...

2008–09
Super League Greece 2008-09
-League table :||rowspan=8 style="background-color:white;"|-Results:...

9 3 6 0 15 3
2009–10 9 0 9 0
Total 183 60243
Career total 40098133143541160475121


*Other includes European qualifying rounds and league play-offs

Statistics accurate as of 12 December 2009

Honours

Paniliakos
  • Greek Second Division
    Beta Ethniki
    Football League, former Beta Ethniki, is the second highest professional football league in Greece.-History:In its first years, the system of conduct was very intriguing. It began in 1954 as regional championship, separated in two groups, North and South. Then, the participating teams were the...

    : 1995


Olympiacos F.C.
  • Greek Championship
    Super League Greece
    The Superleague Greece is the highest professional football league in Greece. It was formed on July 16, 2006 and replaced Alpha Ethniki at the top of the Greek football league system. The league consists of 16 teams and runs from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each...

    : 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
  • Greek Cup
    Greek football Cup
    The Greek Football Cup , commonly known as the Greek Cup or for sponsorship reasons the Football Cup OPAP, is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation....

    : 1999


Bolton
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

  • Premier League Asia Trophy
    Premier League Asia Trophy
    The Premier League Asia Trophy is a friendly four-team pre-season football tournament held in Asia every two years. The competition is contested by three Premier League football clubs and the home team...

    : 2005


Greece
  • Euro 2004: Champions


Individual
  • Greek Footballer of the Year: 2003
  • Greek Second Division best player: 1995

External links

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