Daniil Papadopoulos
Encyclopedia
Daniil Papadopoulos is a former Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 footballer that played in several positions throughout his career. He was born in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

 and played youth football with Olympos Dendropotamou before starting his professional career with Iraklis. Papadopoulos spent his entire professional career with Iraklis and he is the all-time leader for Iraklis with 419 appearances. Papadopoulos is also the second all-time goalscorer of Iraklis with 64 goals. He managed to gain 5 caps for Greece
Greece national football team
The Greece national football team represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece's home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus and their head coach is Fernando Santos...

. Papadopoulos also had a brief career in management, as an assistant and caretaker manager of Iraklis and as a manager in second and third tier teams.

Early life and career

Papadopoulos was born in Thessaloniki and started playing football for amateur side Olympos Dendropotamou. When he was a child he watched Iraklis' matches in Kaftanzoglio
Kaftanzoglio Stadium
Kaftanzoglio stadium is a sports stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece. The stadium was built with money donated by the Kaftanzoglou Foundation, hence its name. At the time of its opening on 27 October 1960, the stadium was one of the highest quality stadiums in the Balkans...

 with his uncle. Following interest from PAOK he signed for Iraklis for a 600,000 drachmas
Greek drachma
Drachma, pl. drachmas or drachmae was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:...

 fee.

Iraklis

Papadopoulos joined the reserve squad of Iraklis, but he was soon promoted to the first team under Apostol Chachevski. In December 1981 he made his debut for Iraklis against Kastoria
Kastoria F.C.
Kastoria FC, or AGS Kastoria , the Athletic and Gymnastic Association of Kastoria, is a Greek association football club based in the city of Kastoria, Macedonia, Greece.-History:...

. He managed to score his first goal for the club in his debut, but this was not enough to prevent Iraklis from suffering a bitter 2-1 away defeat. He was mostly used as a striker in his first season for Iraklis and he scored a total of 9 goals out of 23 appearances. In the next season he established himself in the starting lineup of Iraklis an he proved even more prolific, by scoring 11 goals in 30 matches. Later on in his career in the 1985-86 season, under manager Telis Batakis, he had to addapt in a more defensive role as he started playing as a left wingback. Even from the midfield Papadopoulos scored 5 goals in 28 appearances for Iraklis. In the later stages of his career he was placed in the cenre of the defence of Iraklis, by then manager Dušan Mitošević. His last match wearing the shirt of Iraklis was for the last round of the 1997-98 season, as Iraklis recorded a 4-2 home win against Apollon Athinas. At the end of the season he retired, having spent his entire professional career playing for Iraklis in a time span of 17 years. During these years he managed to become the all-time leader in appearances for the club with 419 appearances and the second all-time goalscorer with 64 goals.

International career

Papadopoulos gained 5 caps for the Greek national team
Greece national football team
The Greece national football team represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece's home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus and their head coach is Fernando Santos...

. He made his debut on 11 October 1989 during an away 4-0 defeat from Bulgaria
Bulgaria national football team
The FIFA Bulgaria national football team is an association football team fielded by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. The team's home ground is Vasil Levski in Sofia and Luboslav Penev is in charge manager after replacement of Lothar Matthäus...

 for the 1990 World Cup qualifiers
1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
The European zone of qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup saw 32 teams competing for 13 places at the finals. UEFA members Italy qualified automatically as hosts of the finals. The qualification process started on 21 May 1988 and ended on 18 November 1989.-Format:Teams were drawn into seven...

.

Managerial career

He was assistant manager in Iraklis durin the Aggelos Anastasiadis era. Also together with former teammate Savvas Kofidis
Savvas Kofidis
Savvas Kofidis is a Greek football coach and former midfielder player.-Career:He started his career in Iraklis, debuting in 18 January 1981 when Iraklis was participating in the Beta Ethniki. In Iraklis's team he played seven seasons before heading to Olympiacos...

 he was the assistant manager of Giannis Kyrastas in Iraklis during the 2000-01 season. After Kyrastas left the club in March Papadopoulos was appointed caretaker manager of the club. He also had managerial spells for Kassandra, Kavala and Pavlos Melas.

Personal

Daniil Papadopoulos is the father of Olympiacos midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 Giannis Papadopoulos.

Achievements

Iraklis
  • Balkans Cup
    Balkans Cup
    In 1961, a Balkans Cup for football clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia was introduced. It was played 27 times...

     (1):
    : 1985
  • Greek Football Cup Runners up
    Greek football Cup
    The Greek Football Cup , commonly known as the Greek Cup or for sponsorship reasons the Football Cup OPAP, is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation....

     (1): 1987
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