Olympiacos All-Time Greatest Team

This blogger Artur Yanturin of Russia copied many of my blog teams.  This blog was one of them.  It was my Russia All-Time Team here.  His team was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.   His Spartak Moscow All-Time team entry of was published in October 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2017.  His entry of the Dutch-German rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.  He also copied many many of my blog entries.

His Facebook and Instagram

The 1998-1999  team nearly reached the Champions' League's semifinal

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

The rest of Southeast Euorpe(Greece, Turkey and Albania)

Greece All-Time Team

Panathinaikos

AEK Athens

PAOK 

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for Olympiacos Piraeus (ΠΑΕ Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π.).  The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.

Founded on 10 March 1925, Olympiacos is the most successful club in Greek football history, having won 46 League titles, 28 Cups (18 Doubles) and 4 Super Cups, all records at the time of writing.  Τotalling 78 national trophies, Olympiacos is 9th in the world in total titles won by a football club. The club's dominating success can be further evidenced by the fact that all other Greek clubs have won a combined total of 39 League titles, while Olympiacos also holds the record for the most consecutive Greek League titles won, with seven in a row in two occasions (1997–2003 and 2011–2017), breaking their own previous record of six consecutive wins in the 1950s (1954–1959), when Olympiacos was unequivocally nicknamed Thrylos (Greek: Θρύλος, "The Legend").

Having won the 2014–15 League title, Olympiacos became the only football club in the world to have won a series of five or more consecutive championships for five times in their history, a record that was praised by FIFA with a congratulatory letter of its president, Sepp Blatter. They are also the only Greek club to have won five consecutive national Cups (1957–1961), as well as six League titles undefeated (1937, 1938, 1948, 1951, 1954, 1955). Olympiacos are one of only three clubs to have never been relegated from the top flight of Greek football, and by winning the 2012–13 title, their 40th in total, they added a fourth star above their crest, each one representing 10 League titles.

Olympiacos won their 45th league title in 2021

Team 

GK: Antonios Nikopolidis  (Greece)

Antonios Nikopolidis is regarded among the best Greek goalkeepers of all time having been awarded the most caps in the national team and playing an integral part in the UEFA Euro 2004 triumph.  He was the starting Greek keeper during the European Championship in 2004, where he was also voted goalkeeper of the Euro 2004 All Star team.  At the club level, he played with both Olympiakos and Panathinaikos back at home. 

GK: Nikos Sarganis (Greece)
In 1980, Nikos Sarganis shocked Greek football by leading Kastoria to victory in the Greek Cup.  He joined Olympiakos in 1980 and he left his for rival Panathinaikos in 1985.  In 1988, he helped them to win the Greek Cup by saving two penalties and scroing one himself against his old club Olymoakos during the penalty shootout. He was capped 48 times at the international level.

GK: Achilleas Grammatikopoulos (Greece)

Grammatikopoulos was born in Piraeus in 1908. He started his football career at Aris Nikaia before transferring to Olympiakos whose nets he guarded from his debut on 4 November 1928 until 1944. He was considered one of the top keepers of the pre-WWII era and was capped 5 times by the Greek National team. His nickname during that time was "Zamora" after Ricardo Zamora, the top Spaniard goalkeeper of the same era. 

RB: Ilias Rosidis (Greece)

Rosidis isa legend with Olympiacos faithful.  He captained the club during their golden era of the 1950s. From 1954 to 1959, Rosidis led the club to a then unheard of six consecutive Greek Championships and three Greek Cups.  During the 1950s, Rosidis was also a key member of the Greece national football team.  He earned 29 caps during this time period. Rossidis also played for Greece at the 1952 Olympic Games.

Ilias Rosidis 

RB: Vassilis Torosidis (Greece)

Torosidis was te Greek Football Player of the Year: 2009–10.  He made his senior debut for Skoda Xanthi in 2003 at the age of 17.  He moved to Olympiacos in 2007.  He played until 2012 when he joined AS Roma.  In 2017, he joined Bologne.  He spent another two seasons with Olympiacos.   He was capped 101 times. From his debut in the national team in 2007, Greece have never lost a rendezvous in a major competition (UEFA Euro 2008 and 2012, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup). 

CB: Olof Mellberg (Sweden)
Olof Mellberg is best known for playing 7 seasons at Aston Villa as well as spells with Italian side Juventus and Greek side Olympiacos.  He was a former captain with the Swedish national team, earning 117 caps.  He played in both 2002 and 2006 World Cup Finals as well as the Euro 2000, Euro 2004, Euro 2008 and Euro 2012. He won the Guldbollen as Sweden's Football of the Year in 2003.  He had a feud with Fredrik Ljungberg while both played for Sweden.

CB: Dimitrios Stefanakos (Greece)

Stefanakos began his football career with Iperochi Neapoleos in 1946, until he joined Olympiacos in 1965. He spent most of his career with Olympiakos winning the league championship six times and the cup eight times. Stefanakos left Olympiacos for Rangers in 1965 in South Africa, and finished his career with Corinthians in Brazil. Stefanakos was capped 7 times.

CB: Kiriakos Karataidis (Greece)

Karataidis began playing senior club football with Flatsata Oinois in 1981, and joined Kastoria F.C. one year later. In 1988, Karataidis would join Olympiacos F.C., the club he would play for until he retired in 2001. He won five consecutive Alpha Ethniki and three Greek Football Cup titles with Olympiacos. He is their all-time appearance leader. Karataidis made 34 caps for the Greece from 1990 to 1998. He competed at the 1994 World Cup finals.

Kiriakos Karataidis 

CB: Georgios Anatolakis (Greece)

Alongside Predrag Đorđević, Anatolakis is one of two Olympiacos players to have been part of all nine of their Greek championship victories since 1996. He started as an 18-year-old for Iraklis FC in the 1992/93 season.  In 1996, he moved to Olympiacos during 1996/97.

He won every title from then until 2003/04.  He also played for Atromitos.  He played 22 times for Greece between 1996 and 2007.

CB: Martin Novoselac (Yugoslavia)

Martin Novoselac began his career at Second League club Dinamo Vinkovci, but in 1972 he moved Vojvodina Novi Sad where he impressed so quickly. From 1977 to 1980,  he played for Dinamo Zagreb. With Olympiacos, he played two seasons, where he was a star.  In 1982, he returned to his boyhood club Dinamo Vinkovci.  He played 4 times for Yugoslavia.

LB: Grigoris Georgatos (Greece)

Known as the Greek "Roberto Carlos", Grigoris Georgatos spent most of his career with Olympiakos, but also played briefly in Italy for Inter Milan, but had a relatively uneventful career there,  He later played for AEK Athens for two seasons.  Georgatos also earned 35 caps and scored 3 goals for the Greek national team having debuted on 6 September 1995. He left the national team in 2001 after reported dispute with Otto Rehhagel.  He did not play in Euro 2004.

 Grigoris Georgatos

LB: Andreas Mouratis (Greece)

Mouratis was the leading power of post-war Olympiakos team  and won numerous league and cup titles between 1945 and 1955. He was and still is one of the favourite Olympiakos players. He made 16 appearances and scored one goal for  Greece national football team. He was member of the national side for the 1952 Olympic Games. He was nicknamed "Mourat Aslan" (Mouratis the Lion) by the Turkish press, after a friendly match between the national teams of Greece and Turkey.

CM/DM: Vassilis Karapialis (Greece)

In 1985, Vassilis Karapialis started his career with Athlitiki Enosi Larissas.   AEL  won their first Greek title in the 1987-1988 season.  He was their MVP.  In 1991, he joined Olympiacos becoming their team leader and star player.  From 1988 to 1994, he only played 21 times for the Greek national team.  He was reportedly left off by Greece because he played for AEL, a club not from the big city.  He was bypassed for the 1994 World Cup Finals.

DM: Christian Karembeu (France)
Born in New Caledonia, Christian Karembeu moved to France as a 17 years old.  He played for Nantes, Sampdoria, Real Madrid, Middlesbrough, Olympiakos, Servette Genève and Bastia. With Real Madrid, he won two UEFA Champions League in 1998 and 2000.  He had 53 caps for France during the Golden Generation in the 1990's. He won the World Cup with France in 1998, and the European Championship, two years later.  He was Oceania Player of the Year in 1995 and 1998.

Christian Karembeu

CM: Kostas Polychroniou (Greece)

Konstantinos Polychroniou is considered as one-club man spending his entire career playing for the Greek giants Olympiacos F.C. making 305 appearances in Alpha Ethniki and a total of 662 caps in all competitions (also including 239 friendly games) between 1954 and 1968. Kostas Polychroniou capped 27 times for the Greek national team from 1957 and 1967.

RW: Stelios Giannakopoulos (Greece)

In 1996, Stelios joined Olmpypiacos from Paniliakos.  In the Champions leaguie, he scored the goal of the season against Porto.  Between 2003 and 2008, he played for Bolton Wanderers.  Then, he played briefly for Hull City.  Between 1997 and 2008, he was capped 77 times for Greece.  He played in the Euro 2004 winning team as the team four years later.  He was Greek football of the Year in 2003.

LM:: Predrag Đorđević (Serbia & Montenegro)

Đorđević is Olympiacos' greatest foreign goalscorer, averaging a goal every three league matches, as well as becoming a symbol of Olympiacos' "Golden Age" of 12 championship trophies in 13 years. He is acknowledged as one of the greatest foreign players to have played in Greece.  He started with Red Star Belgrade in 1991 and played for Greek third division Paniliakos in 1993 before joining Olympiacos in 1996.  He played 37 times for Serbia and Montenegro.

Predrag Đorđević 

AM/FW: Rivaldo (Brazil)

Rivaldo was a part of the attacking trio known as "Three R's" with Ronaldo and Ronaldinho at the 2002 World Cup Finals.  He scored 5 goals in 5 games as Brazil took its 5th World Cup. He also went to the WC Finals in 1998. He won the 1999 Ballon d' Or. He played for many clubs in his career.  He spent five years with Spanish club Barcelona.

AM/SS: Yiannis Andrianopoulos (Greece)

Yiannis and his four brothers founded Olympiacos FC in March 1925 after mergers of different clubs in Greece.  They also played on the forward line, becoming very successful and popular in Athens.  As a result, Yiannis and his brothers earned Olympiacos the name Thrylos meaning "Legend" in Greek, a nickname which the club carries to this day.  He also played for Greece at the 1920 Olympic Games.

FW/AM: Georgios Delikaris (Greece)

Nicknamed the "Gianni Rivera of Greece", Georgios Delikaris is considered to be one of Olympiakos' greatest players.  He played for them between 1969 and 1978. He also left the club for arch rival Panathinaikos in 1978, which started a controversy in Greece.  However, he never settled down there and was never accepted by their fans. He retired at the age of 28. After retirement, he remained a mysterious figure, hiding from the spotlight. 

Georgios Delikaris 

AM/CM: Thanasis Bebis

In 1948 he transferred to Olympiacos, but he had to wait 2 years to take part in official obligations, his previous club Fostiras  had not agreed to the transfer.  In Olympiacos, he stayed until 1963 with a season where he played for Akratitos.  He won 24 titles here.  For the national team, he was capped 17 times.  He went to the 1952 Olympics.

SS: Giorgos Sideris 

Giorgos Sideris is considered one of the greatest forwards in Olympiacos and Greek football history.  He finished second as the European Golden Boot in 1969.  He was the first Greek player to play for another European team outside Greece. In 1970, he transferred to Belgium's Royal Antwerp FC, but rejoined Olympiakos in 1972. For the national team, he was only capped 28 times, but he managed to score 14 goals.

Giorgos Sideris 

ST: Alexis Alexandris (Greece)

Alexis Alexandris began his career in 1986 played for Veria. After Veroia he moved to AEK Athens in 1991 where he won 3 consecutive championships. In 1994 he moved to Olympiacos where he had a very successful career winning 7 Greek championships and 1 Greek cup. He also played APOP Kinyras.  He had 42 caps and was a participant at the 1994 World Cup finals in the United States.

ST/SS: Giovanni Silva de Oliveira (Brazil) 

Giovanni played for many clubs.  From 1996 to 1999, he had a relatively successful career with Barcelona FC.  Then, he established himself as the best player in Greece during his stint with Olympiacos between 1994 and 2003. He was named on the Golden Greek football Rosters: Decade 2000–2010.  For Brazil, he only had 20 caps. he went to the 1998 World Cup Finals and winning the 1997 Copa America.

 

ST/FW: Nikos Anastopoulos (Greece)

Nikos Anastopoulos had over 70 caps between 1977 and 1988.  With 29 goals, he is the all time highest scorer for the Greek national football team.  He started with Panionios F.C., but was most prominently played professionally for Olympiakos where he won 4 league titles and considered one of their greatest players. He won the Bronze Boot as the third highest scorer in Europe in the 1982–83 season.   He played briefly with Avellino in Italy.

Nikos Anastopoulos

Honorable Mention

Savvas Theodoridis (Greece), Panagiotis Kelesidis (Greece), Savvas Theodoridis (Greece), Roberto Jiménez (Spain), Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos (Greece), Kostas Klidouchakis (Greece), Ioannis Kyrastas (Greece), Dimitris Mavrogennidis (Greece) , Giannis Gaitatzis (Greece), Ioannis Kyrastas (Greece), Kostas Manolas (Greece), Avraam Papadopoulos (Greece), Paraskevas Antzas (Greece), Martin Novoselac (Yugoslavia/Croatia), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast), Lajos Détári (Hungary), Luciano Galletti (Argentina), Ilija Ivić (Yugoslavia), Michalis Kritikopoulos (Greece), Milton Viera (Uruguay), Giannis Vazos (Greece),  Siniša Gogić (Cyprus), Nikos Vamvakoulas (Greece), José Holebas (Greece)

Squad Explanation

-- I found plenty of information on Olympiacos, but I have to use google translate in my research.

-- Antonios Nikopolidis,  Nikos Sarganis, Nikos Anastopoulos, Giorgos Sideris, Georgios Delikaris  and Grigoris Georgatos are on my Greece All-Time team.

-- In 1963, Olympiacos won the Balkan Cup, which was then an important tournament in the region.  It remains the club's only success outside of Greece.  Dimitris Stefanakos, Thanasis Bebis, Kostas Polychroniou and Giorgos Sideris played in the Final against Levski Sofia (Bulgaria).

-- Nikos Godas was captain of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) during the war and fought against the Germans in many fronts.  He was executed wearing Olympiacos shirt and shorts, as was his last wish: "Shoot me and kill me with my Olympiacos shirt on, and do not blindfold me, I want to see the colours of my team before the final shot." He made honorable mention for his loyalties.

-- In 1998-1999 season, Olympiacos reached the quarterfinal of the Champions' League.  They only surrendered a 85th goal against Juventus that stopped them from reaching the semi-final.  The team won their third straight Greek league title that season.  They would go on to win 7 straight titles (1996-2003).  From that team, I selected Stelios Giannakopoulos, Vassilis Karapialis, Predrag Đorđević and Georgios Anatolakis.  Giovanni, Christian Karembeu, Grigoris Georgatos and Alexis Alexandris also played in that period.

-- GK:Antonis Nikopolidis is probably Greece's greatest ever goalkeeper.  Most of the information also pointed him as the greatest ever for Olympiakos. He came from Panathinaikos F.C. to Olympiakos, which was then a controversy due the intensive rivalry in Greek football.  Then, I selected Achilleas Grammatikopoulos who was an early pioneer of the Greek football.  I came across a few fan polls that voted Nikos Sarganis or Panagiotis Kelesidis as their greatest goalkeeper.  Sarganis is better known outside of Greece. He is on my Greece All-Time team. Again, he later moved to Panathinaikos FC would be controversial.  I also looked into Savvas Theodoridis (Greece), Roberto Jiménez (Spain) and Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos (Greece).  Kostas Klidouchakis was the club's first ever goalkeeper.

-- Many articles mentioned Vassilis Torosidis  as the undisputed choice for th rightback position. Then, I took an old-timer Ilias Rosidis.  Dimitris Mavrogennidis of the 1990's was probably the third option.  Giannis Gaitatzis of the 1960's was listed as their best rightback in one of the blogs, but I chose Torsidis and Rosidis over him. The leftback position for this team has two obvious choices, Grigoris Georgatos and Andreas Mouratis.  I also came across Nikos Vamvakoulas and José Holebas.

-- Martin Novoselac alongside with Olof Mellberg were constantly mentioned as the greatest in Olympiacos' history, but both did not spend a long time with the club.  Nevertheless, I took both.  Olof Mellberg played three seasons with the club.  His determination and dedication won over the fans. In one poll, he won comfortably with 69% of the vote as Olympiacos' greatest centerback.  The result might have to do to the fact that he played in the modern era.  

-- Then, I looked into Dimitrios Stefanakos, Kostas Manolas, Kiriakos Karataidis and Georgios Anatolakis for the other choices.

-- Kostas Manolas only spent two seasons.  I took him off the list.

-- In 1960, Dimitrios Stefanakos married Martha Karagianni, one of the most popular Greek actresses of the 1960s.  It was headlines news.  Stefanakos was a popular at the time.  I do not know enough about this team and Stefanakos.  So I put him on hold (see below he was selected in the end). 

Dimitrios Stefanakos

-- Instead, I selected Kiriakos Karataidis and Georgios Anatolakis,  Alongside Predrag Đorđević,  Anatolakis is one of two Olympiacos players to have been part of all nine of their Greek championship victories since 1996.  Karataidis holds the record of the most appearances for Olympiacos(transmarkt said he is number 2).

-- I don't know why CB Nikos Dabizas's name was not mentioned much anywhere as one of Olympiacos greatest players.  He is one of the greatest Greek defenders ever.  I decided not to select him.

-- Christian Karembeu is mentioned frequently as their greatest central/defensive midfielders.  Vassilis Karapialis was voted by a fan poll as their greatest midfielder along side Karembeu. Then, I took Kostas Polychroniou who played his entire career here.

Vassilis Karapialis

-- Predrag Đorđević spent 13 seasons here while Olympiacos enjoyed its greatest heights. He won a record 12 Greek League titles with Olympiacos and is the club's record foreign goalscorer (2nd overall)with 158 goals in 493 official matches. He might be their greatest player.

-- Georgios Delikaris is one of the greatest Greek footballers of all time, coming in fourth in the Greek vote for the UEFA Jubilee Awards, first amongst former Olympiacos players.

-- Rivaldo's move from here to AEK Athens in 2007 was controversial.  His selection to this team certainly upset many fans of the club.  Nevertheless, Rivaldo is the most famous footbaler who ever wore their jersey.

-- The legendary Andrianopoulos brothers were known as the founding members of the club.  The five brothers (Yiannis, Dinos, Giorgos, Vassilis and Leonidas Andrianopoulos) formed an offensive line that  earned Olympiacos the name Thrylos meaning "Legend" in Greek, a nickname which the club carries to this day.  Eldest brother Yiannis was the most famous of all.  He later became a player-coach of the club.  He earned a spot based on his contributions.

-- On right wing, Luciano Galletti might be a better player than Stelios Giannakopoulos, but Olympiacos won the Greek league every season Stelios Giannakopoulos was on the team.  I took Stelios while keeping Galletti on hold.

-- One Greek blogger put Giannis Vazos as of their greatest ever footballer, but I am not sure.  So I put him on honorable mention.

-- Nikos Anastopoulos is probably Greece's greatest striker of all-time. In Giovanni Silva de Oliveira's six years with the team, he scored 96 times in 130 games, winning 5 championships.  Alexis Alexandris is their all-time leading scorer.

-- The last remaining spot was between Dimitrios Stefanakos (Greece), Oleg Protasov (Yugoslavia),  Lajos Détári (Hungary) and Luciano Galletti (Argentina).  I also considered Milton Viera and Panagiotis Tsalouchidis.  

-- I have too many strikers.  So I took Protasov off. Olympiacos paid a huge transfer fees for  Lajos Détári.  Although his name was mentioned frequently as one of their best midfielders, he was largely considered not to live up the reputation.  I am not sure about Luciano Galletti (Argentina).  So I took Stefanakos to the team.  He was an idol in his heydays.  He added glamour to this team.

Formation