Club career Stelios Giannakopoulos

1 club career

1.1 career
1.2 olympiacos
1.3 bolton wanderers
1.4 hull city
1.5 ael
1.6 greek professional footballers association

club career
early career

born in athens, stelios second son of alekos giannakopoulos, retired football player had enjoyed division football in 1960s. joined ethnikos asteras (the semi-professional club of neighbourhood kaisariani) when 7 years old, later moved 1 year doxa vyronas, , made first-team debut ethnikos asteras in autumn of 1991, in season ended club gaining promotion professional third division. next year, in opening season professional, young striker found himself scoring 6 goals , impressing scouters of clubs participated in higher divisions. in summer of 1993 moved paniliakos; stayed there 3 years, scoring 26 goals in 84 games , establishing himself member of national u21 team.

olympiacos

having attracted attention of top clubs, in summer of 1996 stelios signed olympiacos f.c. @ age of 21. 1 of stelios career highlights came in second season club when prestigiously scored olympiacos first ever champions league goal against porto. stunning 40-meter lob voted goal of competition fans , led olympiacos first ever win in competition. olympiacos won greek championship in every single season while stelios them , reached quarter finals of champions league during 1998–99 season. reputation player cemented in last , successful season club when scored 15 goals, including 2 goals in title deciding 3–0 win on arch rivals panathinaikos in may 2003. stelios spent total of 7 successful seasons there regular player, making total of 189 appearances , scoring 63 goals in competitions. day giannakopoulos regularly attends special events @ former club , considered legend fans, notably determination put every match including derbies against arch-rivals panathinaikos , aek athens scored many of finest goals.

bolton wanderers

however, on 28 may 2003, after ten years of professional football in greece snapped english premier league side bolton wanderers. manager @ time sam allardyce described stelios ...an attacking midfielder knows how score goals. main attribute remains ability make late runs penalty area , flair shoot accurately range. @ point popular name stelios came player unconventionally chose first name printed on shirt instead of long (and difficult english journalists) surname. made bolton début against manchester united , helped bolton reach 2004 football league cup final , highest ever premier league finish in first season. stelios first 2 seasons club successful, demonstrated fact both manchester city , liverpool openly attempted sign him before signed new contract bolton in august 2005.

his fine form continued 2005–06 season stelios successful top scorer bolton 12 goals, impressive tally midfielder. 1 of highlights of season winning goal scored against arsenal in fa cup fourth round match played @ reebok stadium on 28 january 2006. form dipped in 2006–07 season missed several games through injury , failed score goals although still regular player club 28 games.

on 17 march 2006 chosen play in 50th anniversary game pact of rome , participation of manchester united in uefa competitions, in match took place in old trafford. giannakopouos played in second half alongside players such steven gerrard, robbie fowler, andrea pirlo, zlatan ibrahimovic, henrik larsson, gennaro gattuso , others against manchester united in 4-3 loss.

with sam allardyce leaving club @ start of 2007–08 season , year left on contract, there rumours of stelios moving premier league club or returning greece. stelios stayed @ bolton , although not regular player previous seasons (due injury , managerial changes) able bolton string of late goals. first 1 during injury time in league cup 3rd round tie against fulham @ craven cottage, second 1 in uefa cup, when stelios scored in 3rd minute of injury time salvage 1–1 draw against aris salonica , third 1 in premier league game versus derby when stelios again scored in injury time earn bolton needed 3 points in poor season team. last ever goal bolton crucial 1 , came on 26 april 2008 when scored in 1–1 draw against tottenham hotspur helping bolton avoid relegation.

at end of season stelios not offered new contract , released club fuelling speculation returning native greece , finishing off career @ olympiacos. player confirmed prefer stay in premier league, , subsequently linked move newly promoted premier league club hull city, after interest new manager phil brown worked stelios @ bolton.

hull city

on 22 september 2008 confirmed hull had signed stelios on one-year deal. made debut hull against portsmouth 2 months after joining them on 22 november 2008, coming on sub in 82nd minute. stelios make 1 more substitute appearance in league full game in fa cup before decided make further move having been frustrated lack of games @ hull.

ael

on 22 january 2009, 6 years after first move uk, stelios returned greece signing greek side ael on one-and-a-half-year deal. stelios impact instant greek press labeled him important transfer of winter period scored 3 crucial goals in first 4 games propel larissa top 5 position in greek super league. larissa able maintain position until end of season qualified them european competition, stelios admitted great achievement , totally unexpected smaller team larissa , compared time bolton. following season not successful stelios struggled injuries , courted controversy comments made greek press seen being disloyal team. parted company amicably larissa on 12 december 2009, 6 months before contract have officially ended.

greek professional footballers association

on 25 may 2010 stelios voted president of greek professional footballers association, taking on former team mate antonios nikopolidis.