Giannis Ioannidis

Giannis Ioannidis (Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; born 26 February 1945 in Thessaloniki, Greece) is a Greek basketball coach and New Democracy (ND) politician.

Biography

Ioannidis was born in Thessaloniki, and studied Agriculture in the Faculty of Geotechnical Sciences at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is married and has one daughter.

Basketball career

Giannis Ioannidis as coach of Olympiacos B.C.

During his youth, he became a member of the Aris basketball team at the age of 15 and he later went on to coach and manage the club to conquer a total of 8 Greek Championships and 5 Greek Cups, and also to participate at 3 consecutive FIBA Champions' Cup Final Fours. Later, he worked in Olympiacos, where he won 4 consecutive Greek Championships, 1 Greek Cup, and participated at 2 consecutive FIBA Euroleague finals.

He was the architect of the most glorious victory of Olympiacos against Panathinaikos in the final game of the 1995-96 Greek Playoffs with score 73-38, which was his last game with Olympiacos. The next year he joined AEK where he stayed for 2 seasons and managed to reach one more final of FIBA Euroleague. After a short come-back at Olympiacos, he finished his career in the Greek national basketball team, which he managed in the Eurobasket 2003. He is considered to be the best Greek basketball coach, since he is the one with the most titles won (18 in total, 13 with Aris and 5 with Olympiacos). He is a member of the Greek Basketball Hall of Fame, inducted as both a player and a coach.

Teams worked as a coach

• Aris: 1978-1979
• G.S. Larissa and Greek national team: 1979-1981
• Aris: 1982-1990
• Olympiacos: 1991-1996
• AEK: 1996-1998
• Olympiacos: 1999-2000
• Greece: 2002-2003

Honors

• 12x Greek League Champion: 1979, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (with Aris), 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 (with Olympiacos)
• 6x Greek Cup Champion: 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (with Aris), 1994 (with Olympiacos)

Also:

• 3x Greek League Runner Up: 1984 (with Aris), 1992 (with Olympiacos), 1997 (with AEK)
• 2x Greek Cup Runner Up: 1984 (with Aris), 1998 (with AEK)
• 3x Euroleague Final Four Runner Up: 1994, 1995 (with Olympiacos), 1998 (with AEK)

Political career

He 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.

External links

• Giannis Ioannidis website
• Terms of office of Giannis Ioannidis at the Hellenic Parliament (English)

References

This page incorporates information from the Hellenic Parliament website