Giorgos Donis

Giorgos Donis (Greek: Γιώργος Δώνης, born 22 October 1969) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and currently a manager. He was the first ever Greek to play in the English Premier League. In England, he was also known as George Donis.

Giorgos Donis
Personal information
Full name Georgios Donis
Date of birth (1969-10-22) 22 October 1969
Place of birth Frankfurt, West Germany
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1986–1987 AO Pavlos Melas
1987–1988 Panathinaikos
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1996 Panathinaikos 107 (31)
1988–1989 → Athinaikos (loan)
1989–1990 → Panargiakos (loan)
1990–1991 → PAS Giannina (loan) 22 (3)
1996–1997 Blackburn Rovers 22 (2)
1997–1998 AEK Athens 30 (2)
1999 Sheffield United 7 (1)
1999–2000 Huddersfield Town 21 (0)
Total 239 (43)
National team
1991–1997 Greece 24 (5)
Teams managed
2002–2004 Ilisiakos
2004–2008 AEL
2008 AEK Athens
2009–2012 Atromitos
2012–2013 PAOK
2013–2015 APOEL
2015–2016 Al-Hilal
2016–2017 Al-Sharjah
2017–2018 APOEL
2018–2020 Panathinaikos
2020 Maccabi Tel Aviv
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early years

Donis was born and raised in Frankfurt, West Germany until he was six years old and the family moved back to their native Greece. His parents had lived in Frankfurt for "many years" and he has still family ties there.[1]

Club career

Giorgos Donis started his senior career with PAS Giannina in 1990, and after one successful year he moved to Panathinaikos. The fans of Panathinaikos, known for their love for nicknames, named him the Train for his remarkable acceleration.

On 5 June 1996, after helping the Greek club reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals against Ajax FC, Donis moved to Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer, making use of the then recent Bosman ruling signing for 1.1 billion drachmas, a record amount for Greek players at the time. He had an erratic season with Blackburn, scoring against Everton and Coventry City.[2][3] He then headed back home to play for AEK Athens, before moving back to England again, playing for Sheffield United and Huddersfield Town where he ended his career. [4]

International career

He made his debut for the Greek national football team on 22 December 1991, in a 1–1 draw against Malta for the UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying round.[5] He appeared in 24 matches and scored five goals during his international career with Grecce.

Managerial career

AEL

After the end of his playing career, he turned to coaching. Starting in 2002, he led Zografou-based Ilisiakos in two consecutive promotions from 4th to 2nd Greek football level. He then made the move to AEL, where after one season he managed to bring the team to the Greek Superleague from the second division and finished them in 8th place the following year. In 2007, Larissa finished only 10th in the league but he managed to bring them the Greek Cup after defeating Panathinaikos 2–1 in the final.[6] In his first taste of European football management, his team AE Larissa defeated his former team Blackburn Rovers to reach the 2007–08 UEFA Cup group stages.[7] He finished a great year in 6th place in the league, missing out on the season play-off's on goal difference.

AEK Athens

On 25 April 2008, Donis stepped down as manager of AEL and on 14 May he was appointed as head coach of AEK Athens.[8] On 17 November 2008, due to a string of poor performances and early knock out from the UEFA Cup, AEK parted company with him just six months after his appointment.[9]

Atromitos

In 2009, Donis was appointed by Atromitos and in the 2010–11 season he again reached the Greek Cup Final only to lose 0–3 to his former team AEK Athens. In the next year, Atromitos enjoyed another successful spell under his guidance, reaching the Greek Cup Final for a second consecutive time (losing 1–2 to Olympiacos at extra time), as well as participating at the Greek Superleague play-offs.

PAOK

On 31 May 2012, PAOK appointed Donis as the new manager of the club, on a two-year contract, with immediate effect.[10] On 28 April 2013, after a crucial defeat 0–2 and the elimination in the semi-final of Greek Cup by Asteras Tripolis, he was sacked by chairman Ivan Savvidis.[11]

APOEL

On 11 October 2013, Donis signed a contract until the end of the 2013–14 season with the reigning Cypriot champions APOEL, replacing Paulo Sérgio who had been fired on 4 October 2013.[12] In his first season at APOEL, Donis achieved to win the double. He won his first title with APOEL on 21 May 2014, when he led his team to a 2–0 victory over Ermis Aradippou in the Cypriot Cup final.[13][14] Ten days later, Donis won also the Cypriot First Division after APOEL's 1–0 away victory against AEL Limassol in the title deciding match and won his first league title in his managerial career.[15][16]

Following a successful first season in the club, Giorgos Donis signed a one-year contract extension with APOEL on 26 June 2014.[17] In August 2014, Donis led APOEL into the group stages of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, after eliminating HJK Helsinki (4–2 on aggregate) in the third qualifying round and trashing Aalborg BK 5–1 on aggregate in the play-off round of the competition.[18] APOEL were drawn in Group F alongside Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Ajax.[19] Donis led his team to some great performances in the group stage, but APOEL managed to collect only one point after drawing 1–1 with Ajax at home.[20] In their other five Group F matches, APOEL lost twice to Barcelona (0–4 at home, 0–1 away), lost twice to Paris Saint-Germain (0–1 at home, 0–1 away) and also lost to Ajax 0–4 away.

On 6 January 2015, APOEL and Giorgos Donis parted company by mutual agreement after a poor run of performances and results, culminating in a 1–1 home draw against the last-placed Ayia Napa.[21]

Al-Hilal

On 25 February 2015, he was appointed as the new manager of Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, signing a contract until the end of the season. He helped Al-Hilal to qualify in the semi-final of the 2015 AFC Champions League. On 6 June, Donis won the first title with Al-Hilal after defeating Al-Nassr in the final of the 2015 King Cup of Champions.

Al-Sharjah

On 28 July 2016, he was appointed as the new manager of Al-Sharjah in UAE, signing a contract until the summer of 2018.

Second spell in APOEL

On 28 July 2017, Donis signed a contract until the end of the 2017–18 season with the reigning Cypriot champions APOEL, replacing Mario Been who had been sacked by APOEL following a 1–0 away European defeat to Viitorul Constanta.[22][23] On 23 March 2018, APOEL have sacked Donis, and have replaced him with 40-year-old Portuguese manager Bruno Baltazar. The last straw seemed to be APOEL's recent 4–2 away defeat against Apollon Limassol, which saw APOEL fall out of first place in the Cypriot First Division. Expectations have become quite high at APOEL in recent years. The Nicosia giants have won the Cypriot First Division the last 5 seasons, and 7 of the last 9 campaigns. With that domestic run now in jeopardy, APOEL have made the move to replace Donis with the Portuguese coach.[24][25]

Panathinaikos

Donis was appointed on 3 July 2018 as the new manager of his former club as a player, Panathinaikos, signing a three-year contract.[26] On 19 July 2020, after the end of the Superleague playoffs, he left the club by mutual consent, mainly as a result of his strenuous relationship with the Panathinaikos board and chairman Giannis Alafouzos.[27]

Μaccabi Tel Aviv

Donis signed a contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv. He led the team to the Play Offs of the UEFA Champions League where he was eliminated by Red Bull Salzburg while in the UEFA Europa League he managed to lead the team to the round of 32. He was fired on December 22, 2020 as the team was in 5th place in the league.

Managerial statistics
As of match played 19 July 2020
Team Nation From To Record
G W D L Win %
Ilisiakos 1 July 2002 30 June 2004 47 29 11 7 061.7
AEL 1 July 2004 24 April 2008 110 39 32 39 035.5
AEK Athens 14 May 2008 15 November 2008 10 3 6 1 030.0
Atromitos 1 July 2009 30 May 2012 111 41 37 33 036.9
PAOK 1 June 2012 29 April 2013 42 26 9 7 061.9
APOEL 11 October 2013 6 January 2015 61 35 14 12 057.4
Al-Hilal 4 March 2015 18 May 2016 66 45 11 10 068.2
Al-Sharjah 28 July 2016 1 January 2017 13 4 2 7 030.8
APOEL 28 July 2017 23 March 2018 41 25 8 8 061.0
Panathinaikos 3 July 2018 19 July 2020 77 33 22 22 042.9
Maccabi Tel Aviv 20 July 2020 21 December 2020 25 14 7 4 056.0
Total 603 294 159 150 048.8

Honours

Player
Panathinaikos

Manager
AEL
Atromitos
Ilisiakos
APOEL
Al-Hilal
Maccabi Tel Aviv

References
  1. "Donis back where it all began with APOEL". uefa.org. 9 December 2013. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016.
  2. Edwards, Steve (21 September 1996). "Donis fills the void in attack". The Independent. London. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  3. "Blackburn 4 – 0 Coventry". 4TheGame. 11 January 1997. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  4. Daley, Kieran (9 May 1999). "Dejected Ipswich head for play-off lottery". The Independent. London. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  5. UEFA EURO 1992 - History - Malta-Greece
  6. Unlikely Larissa take Greek Cup
  7. Larissa explain it all
  8. Donis handed AEK post
  9. Donis's brief tenure at AEK is over Archived 17 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Νέος προπονητής της ομάδας ο Γιώργος Δώνης (in Greek). paokfc.gr. 31 May 2012. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  11. Λύνεται το συμβόλαιο με Δώνη, παίζει και του Ιβάν Archived 1 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Υπέγραψε ο Δώνης (in Greek). APOEL FC. 11 October 2013. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  13. ΕΡΜΗΣ ΑΡΑΔΙΠΠΟΥ 0-2 ΑΠΟΕΛ (in Greek). APOEL FC. 21 May 2014. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  14. "APOEL vs. Ermis 2-0". Soccerway. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  15. "Sheridan strike hands APOEL Cypriot title". UEFA. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  16. "AEL vs. APOEL 0-1". Soccerway. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  17. "Έβαλε υπογραφή ο Γιώργος Δώνης". sport-fm.com.cy. 26 June 2014. Archived from the original on 29 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  18. "APOEL ease past AaB and into group stage". UEFA. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  19. "Holders Real Madrid draw Liverpool in group stage". UEFA. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  20. "Ajax thrash APOEL to finish third in Group F". UEFA. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  21. "Κοινή συναινέσει λύση της συνεργασίας με Γιώργο Δώνη". APOEL FC. 6 January 2015. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  22. Bliksemontslag Been bij APOEL Nicosia - Voetbal International (in Dutch)
  23. Ο Δώνης τη στιγμή των υπογραφών στον ΑΠΟΕΛ
  24. Τελειώνει από τον ΑΠΟΕΛ ο Δώνης
  25. Παρελθόν και επίσημα ο Δώνης από τον ΑΠΟΕΛ
  26. Δώνης τριετίας στον Παναθηναικό
  27. https://www.alphanews.live/sports/apohorei-apo-ton-panathinaiko-o-donis-sto-telos-ti-sezon
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