Takis Economopoulos

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A young Takis Econopoulos.

Takis (Dimitrios) Economopoulos, born October 19, 1943.

In 1964, A month after the arrival of coach Stefan Bobek, Takis Economopoulos was transferred to Panathinaikos from Proodeftiki. He was nicknamed the bird after his impressive flings and had a glorious career wearing the color of Panathinaikos FC.

While playing for Panathinaikos, he managed to keep the opponents from scoring for 1,088 minutes (in a span of 13 consecutive games - a record!). He kept a clean slate from January 17, 1965 until May 9, 1965 - when he was finally beaten.

Economopoulos had set up a gym at home and used to put extra hours of training there. One of the boys who used to hang out and watch the bird train was Yiannis Kyrastas.

After retiring as a football player, he went on to work with Panathinaikos as a goalkeeping coach.

In 2002, Takis Economopoulos became responsible for coaching Panathinaikos' first team during the four last matches of the season -- after coach Sergio Markarian had been barred from entering any stadium for 40 days following an incident with with Olympiakos Piraeus FC.