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Giannis Ioannidis

Greek basketball player (1945–2023)

Summary

Greek basketball player (1945–2023)

Field	Value
name	Giannis Ioannidis
caption	Ioannidis, while coaching the Greek club Olympiacos
nationality	Greek
birth_date
birth_place	Thessaloniki, Greece
death_date
death_place	Athens, Greece
career_start	1960
career_end	1978
career_position	Point guard
career_number	5
coach_start	1978
coach_end	2003
years1	1960–1978
team1	Aris
cyears1	1977	cteam1 = Ergotelis
cyears2	1978–1979	cteam2 = Aris
cyears3	1979–1981	cteam3 = G.S. Larissas
cyears4	1980–1981	cteam4 = Greece
cyears5	1982–1990	cteam5 = Aris
cyears6	1991–1996	cteam6 = Olympiacos
cyears7	1996–1998	cteam7 = AEK
cyears8	1999–2000	cteam8 = Olympiacos
cyears9	2002–2003	cteam9 = Greece

As head coach:

50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors
Greek League Hall of Fame (2022)
12× Greek League champion (1979, 1983, 1985–1990, 1993–1996)
6× Greek Cup winner (1985, 1987–1990, 1994)
Greek Super Cup winner (1986)
Greek 2nd Division champion (1980)

Giannis Ioannidis (alternate spellings: Ioannis, Yiannis, Yannis) (Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; 26 February 1945 – 4 October 2023) was a Greek basketball player, professional basketball coach, and Greece New Democracy (ND) politician. Ioannidis was generally considered to be the best Greek professional basketball club head coach of all-time, since he was the one with the most top-tier level major Greek national club titles won (19 in total, 14 with Aris, and 5 with Olympiacos). In all competition levels overall, he won a total of 20 club league titles as a head coach. He also holds the all-time record for the most wins as a head coach, in the history of the Greek Championship.

Biography

Giannis Ioannidis was born in Thessaloniki on 26 February 1945. He studied Agriculture in the Faculty of Geotechnical Sciences at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Ioannidis was married and had one daughter. He died on 4 October 2023, at the age of 78.

Basketball career

Playing career

During his youth, Ioannidis became a member of the youth clubs of Aris, in 1959. He joined the senior men's team of Aris, of the Greek Basket League, in 1960. He played with Aris in the Greek League, until 1978, when he retired. With 4,970 points scored as a member of Aris, he is the second highest scorer of all-time in the history of the club, after Nikos Galis.

Coaching career

Still in his playing years, Ioannidis agreed to assume the head coach position at Cretan club Ergotelis in 1977, after being offered the job by longtime friend and fellow Aristotle University of Thessaloniki student Manolis Nikiforakis. Travelling back and forth between Thessaloniki and Crete, Ioannidis managed to promote the club to the Greek B Basket League.

After retiring from playing basketball, Ioannidis became a full-time basketball coach. He eventually became the head coach of Aris, and with the club, he won a total of eight Greek League championships, five Greek Cups, and one Greek Super Cup. With Aris, he also participated at three consecutive FIBA European Champions' Cup (EuroLeague) Final Fours. Later, he coached Olympiacos, where he won four consecutive Greek League championships, a Greek Cup, and also participated at two consecutive editions of the FIBA EuroLeague's Finals.

Ioannidis was the architect of the most glorious victory of Olympiacos, which came against Panathinaikos, in the last game of the 1995–96 Greek League Finals, with a winning score of 73–38. That was his last game coaching with Olympiacos at that time. The next year, he joined AEK, where he stayed for two seasons, and with them he managed to reach one more Final of the FIBA EuroLeague. After a short come-back to Olympiacos, he finished his coaching career with the senior men's Greek national team, which he coached at the 2003 EuroBasket.

Teams coached

Ergotelis: 1977
Aris: 1978–79
G.S. Larissas: 1979–81
Greece: 1980–81
Aris: 1982–90
Olympiacos: 1991–96
AEK: 1996–98
Olympiacos: 1999–00
Greece: 2002–03

Political career

Ioannidis announced his retirement from professional basketball in the year 2004, before he was elected a New Democracy MP for the Thessaloniki A constituency in the 2004 general election, and re-elected in 2007. Since September 2007, he has been Deputy Minister Of Culture Responsible for Sports.

In the 2014 regional election, he challenged incumbent Apostolos Tzitzikostas as Regional Governor of Central Macedonia, after Tzitzikostas had lost his party's support. He was however clearly defeated in the second round. At the January 2015 legislative election, he also lost his parliamentary seat.

Awards and accomplishments

As a player

2nd highest career scorer of all-time in the history of the club Aris, with 4,970 total points scored.

As a head coach

Titles won

12× Greek League Champion: 1979, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (with Aris), 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 (with Olympiacos)
6× Greek Cup Winner: 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (with Aris), 1994 (with Olympiacos)
Greek Super Cup Winner: 1986 (with Aris)
Greek 2nd Division Champion: 1980 (with Gymnastikos)

Other honors

3× EuroLeague Finals Finalist: 1994, 1995 (with Olympiacos), 1998 (with AEK)
6× EuroLeague Final Four Participation: 1988, 1989, 1990, (with Aris) 1994, 1995 (with Olympiacos), 1998 (with AEK)
3× Greek League Finalist: 1984 (with Aris), 1992 (with Olympiacos), 1997 (with AEK)
2× Greek Cup Finalist: 1984 (with Aris), 1998 (with AEK)
Most wins in the history of the Greek League as a head coach, with a total of 418 wins.

References

"Greek coaching legend Giannis Ioannidis died at 78".
"Greek Basketball Coach Giannis Ioannidis Dies at 78 - GreekReporter.com".
(4 October 2023). "Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης – Ντούσαν Ιβκοβιτς". Tovima.
[http://basketballaris.gr/100-χρόνια-ιστορίας-οι-καλύτεροι-μας-παί-2/ 100 χρόνια ιστορίας: Οι καλύτεροι μας παίκτες ( top10 ) {{in lang. el.]
[http://www.athleticradio.gr/basket/374427-otan-o-giannis-ioannidis-anebaze-katigoria-ton-ergoteli/ Όταν ο Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης ανέβαζε κατηγορία τον Εργοτέλη! 8 February 2016]
(26 May 2014). "Local elections: Dourou wins Attica, Kaminis reelected in Athens". [[To Vima]].

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1945-births 2023-deaths aek-b.c.-coaches aris-b.c.-coaches aris-b.c.-players basketball-players-from-thessaloniki ergotelis-b.c.-coaches greece-national-basketball-team-coaches greek-basketball-coaches greek-macedonians greek-men's-basketball-players greek-mps-2004–2007 greek-mps-2007–2009 greek-mps-2009–2012 greek-mps-2012-(may) greek-mps-2012–2014 greek-sportsperson-politicians gymnastikos-s.-larissas-b.c.-coaches mps-of-thessaloniki new-democracy-(greece)-politicians olympiacos-b.c.-coaches point-guards sport-in-thessaloniki 20th-century-greek-sportsmen

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