Giannis Kanakis

Giannis Kanakis

Giannis Kanakis with AEK Athens
Personal information
Full name	Ioannis Kanakis
Date of birth	(1927-08-27)27 August 1927
Place of birth	Kavala, Greece
Date of death	24 March 2016(2016-03-24) (aged 88)
Place of death	Athens, Greece
Position(s)	Wide midfielder, full back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Elpida Kavalas
–1949	AE Kavalas
1949–1960	AEK Athens	51	(16)
Total		51	(16)
International career‡
1951	Greece	1	(0)
1952	Greece military		(10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 8 April 2018 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20 November 2002

Giannis Kanakis (Greek: Γιάννης Κανάκης; 27 August 1927 — 24 March 2016) was a Greek former professional footballer who played as a wide midfielder.

Club career

Early years

Kanakis started football at Elpida Kavalas and continued at AE Kavalas, competing in the defensive line.^[1] In 1949 he was transferred to AEK Athens following the suggestion of Kostas Negrepontis.

AEK Athens

At AEK, he was relocated in the position of the wide midfielder. A strong, spirited, passionate, but also skilled football player, with a great shot, he wrote his own history at the club and in Greek football and became loved by the fans of the yellow-blacks. In 1952, after Kleanthis Maropoulos retired, he became the team's captain. He was one of the team's leading players in the first half of the 1950s and with the arrival of the legendary striker, Kostas Nestoridis in 1955, they formed an amazing competitive partnership. On 24 June 1956, he won the Cup with AEK, scoring the winner with a power shot in the final 2–1 against Olympiacos.^[2] On 25 October 1959, he scored in the 3rd minute in the away match against Ethnikos Piraeus and became the first player in the history of Greek football who scored in the newly formed first national division.^[3][4][5] He managed to compete in 6 times in that season's championship scoring 2 goals.^[6] In the second round match against Ethnikos Piraeus at the Nea Filadelfeia Stadium, he was honored for his presence,^[7] before retiring as a footballer, passing on the captainancy of the team to Andreas Stamatiadis. With AEK he won 2 Cups and a Athens FCA League in 1950.^[8][9]

International career

Kanakis played for Greece once, in the away friendly 1–0 defeat against France B in Marseille on 14 October 1951.^[10]

He was also anointed an international with the Military team, scoring 10 goals, winning the World Military Cup in 1952 and scoring the winner against Belgium.^[11][12][13]

Personal life

Kanakis he worked at the PPC alongside his football career.^[9] After his retirement as a footballer he remained close to his beloved AEK and even served for a number of years as director of their football department.^[14] He died on 24 March 2016 at the age of 88.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Honours

AEK Athens

• Greek Cup: 1949–50, 1955–56
• Athens FCA League: 1950

Greece military

• World Military Cup: 1952

References

External links

• "History of AEK", collective work, Publications G.Ch. Alexandris, Athens 1996
• "Greece, March Through Time", V. Melecoglou-Agg. Mendrinos-Th. Davelos, "Papazisis Publications", Athens 2001
• Giannis Kanakis at aekfc.gr
• Giannis Kanakis at WorldFootball.net