Dimitrios "Mimis" Papaioannou (; 17 November 1942 – 15 March 2023) was a Greek professional footballer, who played as a forward, mostly for AEK Athens and a manager. Widely regarded as the greatest Greek footballer of his generation and one of the best players of all time in Greece, as he was named the best Greek footballer of the 20th century by the IFFHS.
A skillful striker who was later converted into an attacking midfielder, due to technical abilities, Papaioannou was characterized by his technique, dribbling abilities, physical strength, versatility in his finishing and his jumping skills that allowed him to stay in the air longer than his opponents. Throughout his playing career, Papaioannou was never shown a single red card, while he was booked with a yellow card only three times. Papaioannou played for AEK for 17 seasons and won five league titles and three Greek Cups, including a domestic double in 1978. He is the club's all-time top scorer and by the time he left AEK he was also the all-time top scorer of the Greek championship, but today he is in the third place. He is the player of AEK with the second most appearances in all competitions and the first in league appearances. His nickname was "the Vlach" (), due to his family origins.
In his international career, Papaioannou was part of the Greek military team that won the World Military Cup in 1962 and 1963. With Greece he earned 61 caps and scored 21 goals, becoming their top scorer until 1986 and now he is the 5th on the all-time scorers list. In 2021, the IFFHS also selected him in Greece's best XI of all time.
In 1982 Papaioannou, became the manager for New York Pancyprian-Freedoms, where he won both the league and the Cup, claiming the domestic double. From 1986 to 1991 he managed Kerkyra, Edessaikos, Olympiacos Chalkida, AE Kos and Pannafpliakos. In 1991 he coached the local club Evgeros at Kefalonia for a season. He also served as an assistant of Alketas Panagoulias at the bench of Greece for 2 years.
Early life Papaioannou was born on 17 November 1942 at Nea Nikomideia of Imathia. His father, Kostas was the curator of the local football club, Nea Genea, thus the young Papaioannou came in touch with football from an early age. His football talent began to shine from early on, while his love for the sport was unquestionable. His love of football and the financial difficulties of his family forced him to leave school early and split his time between the pitch and the barber shop of the village, where he worked as an assistant.
Club career
Early career At the age of 15 he joined Nea Genea Nikomideia and competed in their offense. Word of his talent quickly spread across the capital of the prefecture and the officials of Veria. As a result, in 1959, the 17-year-old Papaioannou was eventually transferred to them. That period the manager of PAOK, Žarko Mihajlović selected him, alongside other youngsters from Northern Greece who weren't under contract with the club, to represent PAOK's academy at the Viareggio youth tournament. His appearances for the "Queen of North" attracted the interest of the major clubs of Thessaloniki, but also of the then manager of AEK Athens, Tryfon Tzanetis. The offers of the clubs of Thessaloniki failed to meet the demands of Veria with his transfer to PAOK collapsing over a difference of 20,000 drachmas. In 1962, Tzanetis suggested and persuaded the president of AEK, Nikos Goumas to offer 175,000 drachmas to the team and 25,000 drachmas to the 19-year-old player for his transfer to their club. The young striker of refugee origin was hesitant. On one hand there was his sporting sympathy for the Northern Greece, PAOK and the neighboring move to Thessaloniki, while on the other AEK Athens offered greater prestige and significantly more money, which was important for his family, despite requiring a move to the distant Athens. Eventually, after the advice of the president of Veria, Kostas Vorgiatzidis, Papaioannou chose the club of Athens.
AEK Athens
1962–1963 In the summer of 1962, the 20-year-old Papaioannou was transferred to AEK Athens. He was the player that AEK had been seeking to pair up with Kostas Nestoridis and lead the club in claiming leagues. Alongside Nestoridis they formed one of the strongest offensive duos in Greek football. On 27 September 1962 he scored his first goal on his debut in a 7–2 triumph against Egaleo. He scored in the derby against Olympiacos at Karaiskakis Stadium, in the 3–1 victory on 23 December 1962, while he also scored in the same match of the second round. At the end of the season, AEK were tied at the 1st place with Panathinaikos and the title was decided in a play-off match on 23 June 1963. Papaioannou scored twice, Nestoridis also scored from a direct corner kick and after a 3–3 draw according to the regulations of the time, the title was awarded to the team with the best goal ratio in the regular season. The 3 goals scored by the two clubs and the total goal difference of 66–21, led AEK to win the league after 23 years. As Papaioannou later recalled, seeing his teammates crying in the dressing room after winning the title made him deeply identify with the club's values, and from that moment he became a supporter of AEK.
1963–1965 The upcoming years for AEK and Papaioannou were highly successful, as he gradually emerged as the team's leader following Nestoridis in the team, pushing them as high as he could to lead them to success. His appearances and achievements quickly established him as a fan favourite. The supporters adored him for his passion for the team. On 29 September 1963 he scored a brace in the away defeat with 5–4 against Panathinaikos. He scored his first hat-trick on 16 October 1963, in a 3–0 victory over Aris at home. It did not take him long to score another, as he did two months later against Ethnikos Piraeus in a 4–0 win. Papaioannou scored a goal in the imposing 6–1 against Olympiacos on 6 January 1964. He also scored four of the total of seven goals of his team against Anagennisi Arta for the Cup, on 26 April 1964. At the end of the season, he won his first Cup with AEK, even though the final was cancelled due to the suspension of the semi-finalists, Panathinaikos and Olympiacos from the competition. In 1964 he ended the season as the league's top scorer with 29 goals, ending the 5-year winning streak of Nestoridis.
On 31 January 1965, Papaioannou scored a hat-trick against Panachaiki in a 6–0 home win for the league. He also scored the winner in an episodic derby against Olympiacos away from home, that ended 2–1 for AEK. He scored again with the same opponent, opening the score in a 3–3 draw at home, on the final matchday.
Career break and singing On 12 May 1965, AEK played a friendly against Real Madrid at Nea Filadelfeia that ended 3–3, with Papaioannou scoring a brace. Watching his performance, the star player of the Merengues, Ferenc Puskás suggested to the management of Real the acquisition of the Greek forward. Thus, in October, Real Madrid, through Raimundo Saporta offered 4,000,000 drachmas to AEK and 750,000 drachmas to Papaioannou for his transfer to Madrid. The proposal of the Blancos was unrealistic for the Greek standards of the time. The huge salary and the prospect of a football career far from Greece's standards in Spain greatly appealed to Papaioannou, but was never fulfilled, since the management of AEK declined due to their fear of the reaction of the fans to a possible departure of their star player. Nevertheless, Papaioannou was willing to leave AEK under the given punishment of a one-year ban and then sign as free agent at Real, but the Spaniards refused, as they didn't want to disrupt their relations with the Greek club.
Embittered by the management's stance, Papaioannou withdrew from the club's activities and was about to abandon football. Afterwards, he was approached by a folk composer and bouzouki player Christos Nikolopoulos, who brought him in contact with Stelios Kazantzidis. Papaioannou and Kazantzidis had mutual respect and admiration for each other's virtues with the latter discovering that Papaioannou, apart from his footballing skills, had also a very good singing voice and suggested him to join his tour in Germany with Marinella. Papaioannou accepted and traveled to Germany, singing to the Greek immigrants of the country. After two months and despite the competent singing ability of Papaioannou, Kazantzidis, believing his retirement from football would be a major loss, persuaded him to return to AEK and mediated himself with the administration in order for the player to sign a very satisfactory contract of 500,000 drachmas per season at the start of December 1965. His singing career was limited to the recording of seven songs by Kazantzidis and Nikolopoulos between 1971 and 1972. Among them was the recording on 19 June 1971 of the famous "Hymn of AEK" to music by Stelios Kazantzidis and lyrics by Christos Kolokotronis.
1965–1966 Upon returning to AEK and football, Papaioannou became the leader of the team, following the departure of Nestoridis a few months later. In his first match after his return, on 19 December 1965, he scored in the 3–2 of the yellow-blacks over Panathinaikos at Leoforos Alexandras Stadium. Papaioannou scored five hat-tricks in this season: one in a 6–0 victory against Niki Volos on 6 March 1966, the other against PAOK in a 5–1 win, against Panionios with the same score against Egaleo with the score reaching 4–1 and against Edessaikos for the Cup. He also scored in the derby against Panathinaikos on 3 April 1966, but his goal didn't count as the game was suspended and eventually awarded to the greens. At the end of the season, he emerged again as the league's top scorer with 23 goals.Το έπος της Α΄ Εθνικής, issue 17 (May 1995), page 35 and issue 13 (January 1995), pages 42-47
1966–1967 The next season Papaioannou led the double-headed eagle in the final of the Balkans Cup scoring two goals against Lokomotiv Sofia, two goals against Farul Constanța and one goal against Vardar. In the first leg of the final in October 1967 against Fenerbahçe, his goal in their 2–1 victory, was not enough in claiming the title, as the Turkish equalized on aggregate in the second leg and sent the tie to a decider match in 1968 which they also won by 3–1, where Papaioannou was the scorer for his team. Papaioannou also scored once in the away defeat against Braga, for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, on 5 October 1966. On 29 January 1967 he scored the decider against Olympiacos in the dying minutes, while in the same match of the second round, he opened the score in the final 1–1 away draw.
1967–1968 On 22 October 1967 scored the equalizer in a 1–1 draw against Panathinaikos. On 12 November he scored a hat-trick against Panserraikos in a 4–0 win at home. Papaioannou scored a brace at the away 4–1 victory against Olympiacos. He scored his second hat-trick of the season, on 21 January 1968, against Vyzas Megara in a 6–1 home win. He also scored the winner in a 2–1 win over Panathinaikos. For the 1967–68 Balkans Cup, he scored in a 3–3 draw against Olimpija Ljubljana. Papaioannou celebrated his second Championship with AEK at the end of the season, while also getting them to the European Cup, for the first time in their history.
1968–1969