Giorgos Delikaris

Georgios Delikaris (Greek: Γεώργιος Δεληκάρης, born 22 July 1951) is a former Greek football player, who spent the greatest part of his career at Olympiacos He is widely accepted amongst fans as one of the greatest Greek footballers of all time, coming in fourth in the Greek vote for the UEFA Jubilee Awards and first amongst former Olympiacos players. Nicknamed the "Gianni Rivera of Greece", he is also often compared to George Best, due to similarity in appearance and playing style. Though still revered as an Olympiacos legend, he is also well remembered for his switch to arch-rivals Panathinaikos, for the last three years of his playing career, which ended prematurely, when he decided to retire at the age of 29.

Club career

Early career Delikaris was born in 1951 and began his career with local club Argonaytis Piraeus. His chance to shine came in July 1968, when he was picked to represent Piraeus at an exhibition match against players from Athenian teams. A year later (July 1969) he joined Piraeus giants Olympiacos, the team he supported as a child, for a fee of just over 1 million drachmas along with the exchange of four Olympiacos players.

1972–75 During the 1972–73 pre-season, Delikaris was given the team's captaincy. Again though his appearances were inconsistent and his injuries frequent. He was later stripped of the captaincy, only to return after apologising to the chairman Nikolaos Goulandris (who was said to adore him), to a series of impressive performances which ended the year in success and a double for Olympiacos. The 1973-74 season was remembered for his catalytic performance in the side's largest ever win against Fostiras with 11-0, and the recapturing of the Championship with a record number of points and goals. While the following season he regained the captaincy and played an important part over the two legs, in the historic aggregate win over Celtic F.C. in the European Champions' Cup. In light of this The Times reported on his technical gifts, commenting that he was well aware of the secrets of football. He also impressed at the international level excelling against West Germany, while enthusiastic reporters hailed him as the only man to dribble Beckenbauer, who later acknowledged his talent. However the season was followed by unrest as Delikaris protested against the poor pay for the club's Greek players, while Goulandris resigned in protest for reasons unknown. On 26/3/75 Delikaris featured in a World's Best XI alongside other legends such as Johan Cruyff, Pele, Jairzinho and his teammate in Olympiacos Milton Viera against R.S.C. Anderlecht, in honor of the Belgian legend Paul Van Himst in an 8-3 loss. The team won the championship which was to be the last for a number of years, followed by news of Delikaris' departure, while he was rumoured to be in talks with Celtic.

Retirement On October 19, 1981 Delikaris retired from professional football for reasons unknown to this day. During his career Delikaris was capped 32 times by the National Football Team of Greece scoring 7 goals.

Reemergence Delikaris reemerged in the spotlight after a number of years giving an informal interview to Greek newspaper Ta Nea (August 25, 1997). Amongst other things Delikaris admitted that it was a mistake to join Panathinaikos and that he was driven by certain enemies within Olympiacos to leave his favorite club, but refused to elaborate. At that time he was a partner in a restaurant.

Car accident Delikaris was hospitalised in June 2009, having been injured in a car accident.

Honours Olympiacos Alpha Ethniki: 1972-73, 1973–74, 1974-75. Greek Cup: 1971, 1973, 1975, 1982