Andreas Mouratis

Greek footballer (1926–2000)

Andreas Mouratis
Personal information

Date of birth	(1926-11-29)29 November 1926
Place of birth	Piraeus, Greece
Date of death	10 December 2000(2000-12-10) (aged 74)
Place of death	Piraeus, Greece
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1936–1943	A.E. Chromatourgion
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1943–1945	Proodeftiki
1945–1955	Olympiacos
1955–1961	Argonaftis Piraeus
International career
1948–1953	Greece	16	(1)
1952	Greece Olympic	0	(0)
1962	Greece Military
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Andreas Mouratis (Greek: Ανδρέας Μουράτης; 29 November 1926 – 10 December 2000), nicknamed Missouri, was a Greek footballer, who played for Olympiacos. Besides his football career, he participated in the Greek Resistance during World War II, as a member of the National Liberation Front.

Biography

He was born in 1926, in Piraeus, to a poor family of refugees from Asia Minor. He was not a good student in his childhood and did several different jobs during his youth.^[1] During the axis occupation of Greece, he was active in the Resistance, stealing food from the occupation forces, and sharing it with other locals. He was also a part of United Panhellenic Organization of Youth (EPON), the youth branch of the National Liberation Front (EAM).^[1] In 1943, he joined Proodeftiki and in 1945, he was transferred to Olympiacos, asking in return, instead of money, that the state security delete his personal information from their archives.^[2] In the following years, he also played for the Greek national football team, but he was removed from the team in 1953, after demanding, along with his team mates, that they be paid by the HFF the money they had been promised for participating in the preliminaries of the 1954 FIFA World Cup.^[1]

Mouratis died at the age of 74.^[3]

Career

He was the leading power of Olympiacos in the post-war era and won numerous league and cup titles. He was considered one of the favourite players of Olympiacos. Vigorous, aggressive and passionate, he embodied the ideal player characteristics for the fans of Olympiacos.

He made 16 appearances and scored one goal for the Greece national football team.^[3] He was also member of the national side for the 1952 Olympic Games, but he did not play in any matches.^[4]

Mouratis was nicknamed "Mourat Aslan" (Mouratis the Lion) by the Turkish press, after a friendly match of the national teams of Greece and Turkey, because he was playing aggressively like a lion.^[5]

Honours

Olympiacos

Panhellenic Championship: 1946–47, 1947–48, 1951–52, 1953–54, 1954–55
Greek Cup: 1946–47, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1953–54
Piraeus FCA Championship: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955

Greek Military Team

World Military Cup: 1962

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Ανδρέας Μουράτης, ο «Μιζούρι» του Ολυμπιακού. Χτύπαγε το κεφάλι στις πόρτες για να «εξασκηθεί» στις κεφαλιές! Τον "έκοψαν" από την Εθνική επειδή ξεσήκωσε τους συμπαίκτες του να απαιτήσουν τα πριμ". mixanitouxronou.gr (in Greek). 12 December 2014.
^ "Όταν ο Μουράτης έλεγε στη Φρειδερίκη: «Άκου να σου πω κυρά μου!»". fosonline.gr (in Greek). 16 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b Αφησε την τελευταία του πνοή ο Ανδρέας Μουράτης (in Greek). insports.gr. 10 December 2000.
^ "Andreas Mouratis". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
^ "Ανδρέας Μουράτης, ο "Μιζούρι" του Ολυμπιακού. Χτύπαγε το κεφάλι στις πόρτες για να "εξασκηθεί" στις κεφαλιές! Τον "έκοψαν" από την Εθνική επειδή ξεσήκωσε τους συμπαίκτες του να απαιτήσουν τα πριμ". 12 December 2014.