Yiannis Gaitatzis

From Phantis

Yiannis Gaitatzis during his coaching career.

Born April 20, 1944, Yiannis Gaitatzis joined Olympiakos from Orpheas Xanthi at the age of 19. He went on to be the Piraeus team's attacking midfielder for the next 15 seasons.

Gaitatzis held the record of appearances for Football A Division games (346 games) until the year 2000 when he was surpassed by Kyriakos Karataidis. He retired from playing professional football at age 34.

Gaitatzis then went on to work as coach with an abundance of teams: Pannafpliakos, Panargiakos, Thiva, Sparta, Olympiakos Volos, Rhodes, Lamia, Panelefsiniakos, Acharnaikos and Ethnikos Piraeus.