Spyros Pomonis

Spyros Pomonis
Spyros Pomonis with AEK Athens
Personal information
Full name Spyridon Pomonis
Date of birth (1944-02-14)14 February 1944
Place of birth Nea Filadelfeia, Athens, Greece
Date of death 28 July 2020(2020-07-28) (aged 76)
Place of death Nea Filadelfeia, Athens, Greece
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position Forward
Youth career
1959–1963 AEK Athens
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1960–1973 AEK Athens 202 (50)
1973–1974 Ethnikos Piraeus 9 (1)
1974 Saronikos
Total 211 (51)
International career
1962 Greece U19
1964 Greece Olympic 1 (0)
1964–1972 Greece 4 (1)
Managerial career
1986–1987 Pera Club
1987–1988 APS Zakynthos
1997–1998 Attalos
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Spyros Pomonis (Greek: Σπύρος Πομώνης; 14 February 1944 – 28 July 2020) was a Greek professional footballer who played as a forward and a manager.

Club career

Early years

Pomonis since he was young played football with the children of his neighborhood, at the sandlot behind Rizoupoli Stadium. In 1959 the former footballer of AEK Athens, Kleanthis Maropoulos who saw him there suggested him to join their academies. Thus, the young Pomonis began his football career by joining the club's academies at the age of 15. He became a member of the youth teams of AEK that won many Championships in the early 1960s, under the director Dimitris Tragos, while playing alongside footballers such as Giorgos Karafeskos, Nikos Sevastopoulos, Stelios Konstantinidis, Giorgos Lavaridis, Stefanos Theodoridis, Lefteris Istorios, Kostas Triantafyllou, Dimitis Liakouris and Michalis Simigdalas.[2]

AEK Athens

Pomonis was promoted to the men's team earlier than his teammates, as he impressed with his abilities. On 12 March 1961 he made his debut in a 0–0 away draw against Aris, being the youngest player to compete with the club. He was a player with great technical skills and competing in the position of the left winger, he caused the admiration of the fans by running up and down the opposing defenses. On 3 December 1967 in the 1–4 away victory over Olympiacos, he continuously dribbled and ridiculed his personal opponent, Orestis Pavlidis and despite the attempts by his captain, Andreas Stamatiadis to "admonish" him during the match in order to simplify his way of playing for AEK to reach an even wider dominance instead proved ultimately fruitless. The young Pomonis eventually insisted on humiliating his opponent at all costs, scoring once, with AEK missing the opportunity for a wider victory against the red and whites and Pavlidis taking the decision that the role of referee suited him better, by retiring as a footballer.[3]

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.[4] He was also a regular in the squad that reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup in 1969.[5] On 15 February 1970 he shined at the derby against Panathinaikos at Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, scoring the winner at the end of the first half.[6] He achieved a hat-trick on 13 September 1970 in a Cup match against the lower-tier club Kipoupoli, where they triumphed by winning 20–0.[7] On 15 September 1971 he scored once in a European match and opened the score at the 14th minute against Internazionale at San Siro in the 4–1 defeat for the first round of the European Cup.[8] He had a decisive contribution to AEK winning 2 Championships and 2 Cups. On 4 February 1973, he scored for the last time in the yellow-black shirt in a league match in Kavala at home when he equalized to 1–1 five minutes before the end. He played his last game for AEK at Peristeri Stadium on 20 May 1973 in the away win against Atromitos.[2]

Later career

In the summer of 1973, he left AEK and played for a season at Ethnikos Piraeus,[9] where he ended his career as a professional footballer.[10] In the summer of 1974 he was transferred to Saronikos as a veteran and competed in the amateur local championship of Piraeus.[11]

International career

Pomonis played with Greece U19 in the 1962 UEFA European Under-18 Championship.[12] He also played with the Olympic team on 8 April 1964, in an impressive 4–1 home win over Great Britain for the pre-Olympic tournament ahead of the 1964 Summer Olympics.[13]

Pomonis also had 4 caps with Greece, scoring once. On 4 March 1972 he scored his only goal at the 55th minute of a friendly match against Italy at Karaiskakis Stadium in a 2–1 win, when after a corner execution by Domazos, Antoniadis with a header laid the ball to him who scored.[14][15]

Managerial career

After finishing his career as a footballer, Pomonis was involved with coaching and in particular with infrastructure departments, starting at AO Pera Club. In 1987 he took over the bench of APS Zakynthos for a season.[16] The chronic pathogenicity of Greek football and the situations that prevailed even in the youth sections of its clubs, disappointed him to an extent that he gave up any involvement in football.[2]

Personal life

Pomonis was a member of the Veterans Association of AEK Athens and was consistently present at their events.[2] He died on 28 July 2020 after long-term health problems.[17]

Honours

AEK Athens

References

  1. ^ "Σπύρος Πομώνης". football.aek.com.
  2. ^ a b c d "Spyros Pomonis". aekpedia.com.
  3. ^ "Τέσσερα στον Ολυμπιακό και λίγα ήταν!". aek365.org.
  4. ^ "Balkans Cup 1966–67 season". RSSSF.
  5. ^ Καζαντζόγλου, Σταύρος (15 June 2019). "1968/69: Η πρώτη ελληνική ομάδα σε ευρωπαϊκή οκτάδα, η απογοήτευση εντός συνόρων". enwsi.gr.
  6. ^ Καζαντζόγλου, Σταύρος (15 February 2021). "Η ΑΕΚ σάρωσε τον Παναθηναϊκό με υπογραφή Πομώνη". enwsi.gr.
  7. ^ "Greek Cup - Highest Scores (complete)". RSSSF.
  8. ^ "Inter-AEK UEFA Champions League 1971/72". UEFA.
  9. ^ newsp. Athletic Echo, 28 August 1973, σελ. 3
  10. ^ Mastrogiannopoulos, Alexander. "Greece 1973/74". RSSSF.
  11. ^ "Ο Σαρωνικός έχει μια θέση στην Β΄ Εθνική", ef. Athletic Echo, 1 December 1974, page 6
  12. ^ "UEFA Youth Tournament Under 18, 1962". RSSSF.
  13. ^ "Greece matches 1961–1965" (PDF). epo.gr.
  14. ^ "Greece appearances". epo.gr.
  15. ^ "Greece matches 1971–1975" (PDF). epo.gr.
  16. ^ "Απεβίωσε ο "θρυλικός" και Ζακυνθινός στην καταγωγή Σπύρος Πομώνης - Ήταν μεγάλη δόξα της ΑΕΚ". Εφημερίδα Ημέρα, Ζάκυνθος. 29 July 2020.
  17. ^ "Εφυγε από τη ζωή ο θρύλος της ΑΕΚ Σπύρος Πομώνης". ethnos.gr. 28 July 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.