Giannis Kanakis

Giannis Kanakis (born August 27, 1927 in Kavala , † March 24, 2016 ) was a Greek football player .

Athletic career

Kanakis played for AEK Athens between 1949 and 1960 in the Alpha Ethniki , the highest league in Greek football. While the championship was dominated by Olympiacos Piraeus and local rivals Panathinaikos from Athens , the striker won the Greek national cup twice with his club . In 1950 Aris Thessaloniki was beaten 4-0 in the final, six years later Olympiacos were the opponents in a 2-1 victory. The same final game there had also been in 1953, but at that time Olympiakos won the title with a 3-2 victory.

In October 1951 Kanakis came to his only international appearance for the Greek national team , when they lost 1-0 to a French national team in Marseille . Eight AEK players were used, in addition to Kanakis Michalis Delavinias , Antonios Paragyos , Giorgos Mouratidis , team captain Goulielmos Arvanitis , Mihalis Papatheodorou , Kostas Poulis and Elias Papageorgiou were in the starting line-up at the Stade Vélodrome .

During his playing career, Kanakis played 172 competitive games for AEK Athens, for which he scored 69 goals. This made him one of the defining figures in the club's history after the Second World War .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} sport-fm.gr: "Έφυγε από τη ζωή ο Γιάννης Κανάκης"
2. ↑ eu-football.info: "Football MATCH: 14.10.1951 France * v Greece"