# Andreas Stamatiadis

Andreas Stamatiadis (Greek: Ανδρέας Σταματιάδης; 16 August 1935 – 23 January 2025) was a Greek professional footballer who played as a forward for AEK Athens and a later manager. He was the longest serving captain of the club from 1960 to 1969.

## Early life

Stamatiadis was born on 16 August 1935 in the refugee slum of Petralona. Child of a poor family, with an Asia Minor refugee father and mother from Mani, he met and experienced the German Occupation and its aftermath at a tender age. Like many children of his generation, he too found a way out of the problems of everyday life by playing football in the abundant playgrounds of the neighborhood.

## Club career

Stamatiadis started playing football in 1947 at AE Melandias. In 1950, at the age of 15, he signed a sport's card for Sparta Petralona, but a mistake in the signing of the card by the secretary of the team, essentially canceled his card. Then his father, Dimitris with the then coach of Sparta Petralona, Mimis Seltsikas, took him for a test to the infrastructure departments of AEK Athens in Nea Filadelfeia. Stamatiadis, encouraged by his father, was already a fan of the yellow-blacks, joined the team's academies. The experienced eye of the then coach of the men's team, Jack Beby, immediately recognized the talent, ability and scoring fluency of the diminutive striker and with appropriate advice and guidance helped his development and establishment as a left winger where he flourished during the rich of his career acquiring the nickname "the Arrow" (Greek: "Το Βέλος"). Beby's successor, Mario Magnozzi, gave him the opportunity to play for the first time in 1952 in a derby against Olympiacos. Thus, Stamatiadis managed to compete in two matches as a teammate of his childhood idol, Kleanthis Maropoulos, before the "Blonde Eagle", as was the nickname of the latter, retired as a footballer.
For the following 15 years, he became one of the pillars of the yellow-blacks, taking over the captaincy of the team from Giannis Kanakis and until the moment he passed it to Mimis Papaioannou, becaming the longest serving captain of AEK. Proof of his leadership skills was the absolute respect he enjoyed from his teammates from time to time, as well as the trust shown in his person by the respective administrations and coaches for his composure, equanimity and rationality. As captain of the team, he won 2 championships, as well as the Greek Cup in 1966, while the Cup in 1956 was also to his achievements. He was a regular of the Athens Mixed Team selections during the 1950s. On 3 December 1967 in a 4–1 away victory over Olympiacos, his ultimately fruitless attempt to "admonish" in the middle of the match the then young and hyperbole Spyros Pomonis, in order to simplify his way of playing for AEK to reach an even wider dominance, instead of his insistence on ridiculing the personal opponent, Orestis Pavlidis. Pomonis finally insisted on humiliating his opponent at all costs, AEK missed the opportunity for a mammoth score against the red and whites and Pavlidis took the decision that the role of referee suited him better, by retiring as a footballer. He was one of the main players of the team that won second place in the Balkans Cup in 1967, losing only in the final by Fenerbahçe. In his last season with the club, they reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup. In 1969, in the context of the general reorganization of the team's roster of the then coach Branko Stanković, he retired at the age of 34, never intending to play in any other jersey than the yellow-black. On 18 May 1969, he played for the last time in the 2–1 victory over Veria, even missing a penalty that was awarded to him by his teammates, obviously charged by the emotions of the moment.

## International career

Stamatiadis had a total of eight appearances with Greece. He made his debut at the age of 19, on 8 March 1954 in a 2–0 away victory over Israel in the 1954 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. His last appearance was on 27 November 1963 against Cyprus in an away friendly match.

## Managerial career

Stamatiadis' former coach at AEK, Jenő Csaknády, with whom he shared mutual respect and family friendship, had recognized his abilities and high level of perception and encouraged him to get involved in coaching by helping him attend coaching schools and obtain a coaching diploma. The first team undertaken by Stamatiadis was Rodos, in 1969. He left the club after the end of the season and in the summer of 1974 he was hired as an assistant coach at AEK, where he worked next to František Fadrhonc, Zlatko Čajkovski and Ferenc Puskás, while he stepped in as the club's coach twice. Initially he took up the wheel of the team in 1977 for two games and afterwards before the end of the 1978–79 season, for 11 games, when he replaced Puskás in the technical leadership of the club, with the task of keeping the team at the top of the standings, something that he eventually achieved, while at the same time he reached the cup final.
In the summer of 1979, after his tenure at AEK was over, Stamatiadis took over as coach of Atromitos, where he secured the league title in second division, while in 1980 he sat for the first time on the bench of Egaleo in the second division, keeping them in the category. The following season, he claimed the promotion to the first division, which he did not secure in the end, as he was defeated by Rodos of Michalis Bellis in a draw, at the stadium of Heraklion, with 1–0 loss in at the extra time. In 1981 Stamatiadis was the coach of Diagoras, but in the summer of 1982 he returned to Egaleo. The team from the western suburbs won the last championship of the South and were promoted to the first division. Stamatiadis also coached Rodos, Trikala, Lamia, Anagennisi Karditsa, Chalkida and Acharnaikos.
In 1986, he also coached Greece U21 for six years, where in 1988 he led them to the final of the European U21 Championship, against France. From 1992 on, he worked time to time the infrastructure departments of AEK, while for several years he was the director of these departments, a position from which he left in 2013, when he was replaced by Akis Zikos.

## After football

Stamatiadis continuously participated in the events of the Veterans Association of AEK Athens, where he was also their president, while bequeathing his adoration for the team to his two sons, Dimitris and Kostas, who are actively involved with AEK Amateur sections offering from administrative positions their services to the club. In 28 February 2024 at Agia Sophia Stadium, before the match of AEK against PAS Giannina, he was honoured with the "golden double-headed eagle" by Dimitris Melissanidis for his services to the club.

## Personal life and death

Stamatiadis was married and had two sons. He died after series of health issues in Athens, on 23 January 2025, at the age of 89.

## Style of play

Fast and with excellent technical training, competing close to the touchline, Stamatiadis had the ability to converge and sometimes threaten the opposition goal with thunderous shots. He was also the assist man of AEK Athens, as many goals that were scored by team stars such as Mimis Papaioannou, Kostas Nestoridis, Miltos Papapostolou and Giannis Marditsis, came from his feet. A rare leadership figure and an example of calmness and logic in adverse circumstances, he inspired confidence in his teammates and at the same time enjoyed the universal respect of his opponents. With a "sharp" eye, he immediately recognized the mistakes of the game and guided his teammates like a coach on the field.

## Career statistics
### Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :
| Club | Season | League | League | League | AFCA League | AFCA League | Cup | Cup | Continental | Continental | Total | Total |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| AEK Athens | 1951–52 | Panhellenic Championship | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| AEK Athens | 1952–53 | Panhellenic Championship | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| AEK Athens | 1953–54 | Panhellenic Championship | 9 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 7 |
| AEK Athens | 1954–55 | Panhellenic Championship | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 |
| AEK Athens | 1955–56 | Panhellenic Championship | 0 | 0 | 15+ | 3 | 4+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 3 |
| AEK Athens | 1956–57 | Panhellenic Championship | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 10 |
| AEK Athens | 1957–58 | Panhellenic Championship | 20 | 5 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 21 |
| AEK Athens | 1958–59 | Panhellenic Championship | 18 | 6 | 14 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 12 |
| AEK Athens | 1959–60 | Alpha Ethniki | 29 | 10 | — | — | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 14 |
| AEK Athens | 1960–61 | Alpha Ethniki | 29 | 9 | — | — | 8 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 41 | 18 |
| AEK Athens | 1961–62 | Alpha Ethniki | 24 | 11 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 11 |
| AEK Athens | 1962–63 | Alpha Ethniki | 22 | 4 | — | — | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 5 |
| AEK Athens | 1963–64 | Alpha Ethniki | 29 | 1 | — | — | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 2 |
| AEK Athens | 1964–65 | Alpha Ethniki | 28 | 4 | — | — | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 4 |
| AEK Athens | 1965–66 | Alpha Ethniki | 28 | 6 | — | — | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 6 |
| AEK Athens | 1966–67 | Alpha Ethniki | 24 | 2 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 35 | 2 |
| AEK Athens | 1967–68 | Alpha Ethniki | 33 | 13 | — | — | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 41 | 14 |
| AEK Athens | 1968–69 | Alpha Ethniki | 23 | 2 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 28 | 3 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 316 | 78 | 87 | 27 | 62 | 31 | 25 | 2 | 490 | 138 |
* ↑ Also includes play-off matches.
* ↑ Also includes play-off matches.
* ↑ Also includes Balkans Cup.

### International

Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Greece | 1954 | 2 | 0 |
| Greece | 1957 | 2 | 0 |
| Greece | 1960 | 2 | 0 |
| Greece | 1961 | 1 | 0 |
| Greece | 1963 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 8 | 0 |

## Honours
### As a player

AEK Athens
* Alpha Ethniki: 1962–63, 1967–68
* Greek Cup: 1955–56, 1963–64, 1965–66
Individual
* Greek Cup top scorer: 1956–57

### As a manager

AEK Athens
* Alpha Ethniki: 1978–79
Atromitos
* Beta Ethniki: 1979–80
Egaleo
* Beta Ethniki: 1982–83
Greece U21
* UEFA European Under-21 Championship runner-up: 1998