Mimis Papaioannou

Dimitrios "Mimis" Papaioannou (; 23 August 1942 – 15 March 2023) was a Greek professional footballer, who played as a forward, mostly for AEK Athens and a manager. Widely regarded as the greatest Greek footballer of his generation and one of the best players of all time in Greece, as he was named the best Greek footballer of the 20th Century by the IFFHS.

A skillful striker who was later converted into an attacking midfielder, due to technical abilities, Papaioannou was characterized by his technique, dribbling abilities, physical strength, versatility in his finishing and his jumping skills that allowed him to stay in the air longer than his opponents. Throughout his playing career, Papaioannou was never shown a single red card, while he was booked with a yellow card only three times. Papaioannou played for AEK for 17 seasons and won five league titles and three Greek cups, including a domestic double in 1978. He is the club's all-time top scorer and by the time he left AEK he was also the all-time top scorer of the Greek championship, but today he is the third place. He is the player of AEK with the second most appearances in all competitions and the first in league appearances. His nickname was "the Vlach" ''()'', due to his family origins.

In his international career, Papaioannou was part of the Greek military team that won the World Military Cup in 1962 and 1963. With Greece he earned 61 caps and scored 21 goals, becoming their top scorer until 1986 and now he is the 5th place of the top scorer list. In 2021, the IFFHS also selected him in Greece's best XI of all time.

In 1982 Papaioannou, became the coach for New York Pancyprian-Freedoms, where he won both the league and the cup claiming the domestic double. From 1986 to 1991 he managed Kerkyra, Edessaikos, Olympiacos Chalkida, AE Kos and Pannafpliakos. In 1991 he coached the local club Evgeros at Kefalonia for a season. He also served as an assistant of Alketas Panagoulias in bench of Greece for 2 years. Provided by Wikipedia