Lakis Nikolaou

Lakis Nikolaou (Greek: Λάκης Νικολάου; born 17 July 1949) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He is the current medical director of AEK Athens.

Lakis Nikolaou
Drawing of Lakis Nikolaou
40th president of AEK Athens
In office 8 October 1997 – 5 December 1998
Preceded by	Alexis Kougias
Succeeded by	Dimitris Melissanidis
Personal details
Born	(1949-07-17) 17 July 1949 Ios, Greece
Spouse	Eleni Nikolaou
Children	3
Occupation	Orthopedics surgeon
Association football career Full name Pantelis Nikolaou Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Positions Defender striker Team information Current team AEK Athens (Head of Medical) Youth career 1966–1967 Atromitos Senior career* Years Team Apps (Gls) 1967–1971 Atromitos 1971–1982 AEK Athens 225 (26) International career 1968–1973 Greece U19 15 (0) 1973 Greece U21 1973–1980 Greece 15 (0) 1975–1977 Greece military 5 (1) * Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Nikolaou was born on July 18 of 1949 in Ios of Cyclades. He spent his school years in Peristeri and finished high school in 1966 at the Anargyrio and Korgialenio School, in Spetses where he was enrolled as a boarder together with his brother. He started playing football at an early age, when with friends and neighbors they formed the Irodotos Peristeri team, playing friendly matches with other teams in the area. In these matches he was watched by the people of Atromitos, who signed in 1967. In Atromitos he started playing as a defender and then as a striker, due to the team's lack of attackers. Finishing high school, he succeeded in entering the Mathematics Department but his burning desire to study medicine made him drop out of school and enroll in the Medical School of Bari, with the purpose of transferring to the University of Athens, which he did. During his stay in Bari, he played with the amateur team Barletta as a sweeper.

Club career

In 1971, after 4 years of presence in the offensive line of Atromitos, Nikolaou aroused the interest of the big clubs. In one of Atromitos' matches, the manager of AEK Athens, Branko Stanković and the administrator of the club, Stamatis Papastamatiou, who watched the match, were impressed by the playing style of Nikolaou. As a result, on 31 July AEK signed Nikοlaou for a fee of 600,000 drachmas and 2 players as an exchange, while he was promised 300,000 drachmas as a signature premium, which eventually was not given to him. For 3 seasons he competed as a striker, while at the same time he continued his studies at the Medical School. This juxtaposition proved particularly difficult as required attendance at faculty workshops and mandated attendance at team practiced often come at the expense of one another.

This double occupation brought Nikolaou very close from being released from AEK in 1974, but under the possibility of signing to any of their big rivals, the president of AEK, Loukas Barlos called him to stay in the club. Nikolaou accepted with the term that the 1971 signature premium of 300,000 drachmas to be given to him and rejoined the team but the pay remained to be seen until today. Under the new manager, František Fadrhonc he was relocated as a centre-back, where he was established for the rest of his career. The team under Barlos and Fadrhonc, where Nikolaou was a starter, was distinguished both domestically and internationally as they reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1977, won 2 Championships and 1 Greek Cup, including a domestic double in 1978. He created a defensive duo with Petros Ravousis, where they were complementing each other and were considered as one of the most prominent of the era. He was declared "Athlete of the year" for the years 1974 and 1979 by the Panhellenic Sports Press Association.

After the departure of Mimis Papaioannou, Nikolaou became the team's captain for many years. In the summer of 1980, Nikolaou decided to stop his football career remaining in the club only as the team's doctor. As AEK faced problems midseason, Nikolaou was urgently called by the then coach, Miltos Papapostolou to put on his football shoes again and help the team. He accepted and competed for another one and a half season in the yellow-black jersey. His final match was on 30 May 1982 against Kastoria.

International career

Nikolaou played with Greece U19 15 times, where he competed in the European Championship in 1971.

Nikolaou made his debut for Greece on 8 September 1973 and played a total of 15 games. He was a participant at the UEFA Euro 1980.

Other activities

In his medicine career, Nikolaou received the title of the specialty of orthopedics and was declared a doctor of the University of Athens in 1975. He obtained the specialty title of Orthopedics in February 1981 and in 1985 he received the title of Doctor of the University of Athens. From 1983 to 1986 Nikolaou did further training at Duke in the USA in the field of sports injuries and has been awarded by the American Orthopedic Association for his pioneering work in cruciate ligament transplants of the knee and his long-term studies in the field of the physiology of muscle injuries. At AEK, he was hired as the team's doctor in 1977 and from 1987 he has been the head of their medical department. Since 1987, his professional relationship with the Orthopedic Clinic of the Medical Center led a medical coverage agreement between the Center and Olympiacos, which brought him as head of the medical department of the club from 2003 to 2009. He was the doctor of the national teams of Greece from 1982 to 1994, while he served as President of its Health Committee and consequently a member of the Board of Directors in 1994-95.

On 8 October 1997, after pressure and with AEK Athens having financial issues, he accepted the assumption of the presidency of club under the owner company ENIC for a period of about a year.

Personal life

He has been married to his beloved Eleni since 1974 and has 3 children and 5 grandchildren.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Greek Cup		Europe		Balkans Cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
AEK Athens	1971–72	Alpha Ethniki	31	11	2	0	2	0	0	0	35	11
	1972–73		31	5	1	0	4	2	0	0	36	7
	1973–74		28	7	3	4	0	0	0	0	31	11
	1974–75		32	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	35	2
	1975–76		29	3	4	0	4	0	0	0	37	3
	1976–77		27	0	3	0	10	0	0	0	40	0
	1977–98		31	2	5	0	4	0	0	0	40	2
	1978–79		28	1	6	0	4	1	0	0	38	2
	1979–80		22	3	2	0	2	0	0	0	26	3
	1980–81		12	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	16	0
	1981–82		24	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	27	4
Career total			295	6	36	6	30	3	0	0	361	45

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Greece	1973	1	0
	1974	2	0
	1975	5	0
	1976	2	0
	1977	3	0
	1978	1	0
	1979	0	0
	1980	1	0
Total		15	0

Honours

AEK Athens

• Alpha Ethniki: 1977–78, 1978–79
• Greek Cup: 1977–78

External links

• Lakis Nikolaou at Soccerway.com
• Lakis Nikolaou at WorldFootball.net
• Lakis Nikolaou at National-Football-Teams.com
• Lakis Nikolaou at kicker (in German)
• Lakis Nikolaou at EU-Football.info