Thomas Mavros (Greek: Θωμάς Μαύρος, born 31 May 1954) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Initially, a legend for Panionios, he was a relevation of the Greek championship at the age of 16. He became one of the leaders of AEK Athens and led them to huge success, during the 70's and 80's. Mavros is widely regarded as one of the best footballers in Greece having scored a record number of 260 goals in the Greek championship[1] and played for the World XI in 1984. His nickname was "the God"(Greek: Θεός), or "Theomas" (Greek: "Θεωμάς").
In 2012 he also served as the president of AEK Athens.
Early life
Mavros was born on 31 May 1954 in Kallithea, where he lived for the first 4 years of his life, until his family moved to Palaio Faliro. His father, Michalis, despite not being a footballer himself, was a huge fan of football. Ever since he was just 5 years old, his father used to take him and his brother in the yard of their house every morning, from 7 to 9 and taught them how to play the ball, as he tried to teach them everything about football, helping them to consolidate as he went them every Sunday to the Nea Smyrni Stadium to watch Panionios. His the elder brother of Sotiris, soon joined the children section of Panionios. For the 7-year-old Mavros, it all started on a winter Sunday in 1961, after his father refused to go to the stadium due to bad weather. Mavros decided to go alone to Nea Smyrni for a match of Panionios against Pierikos. He waited outside the locker rooms of the stadium and caught the attention of the then leader of the club, Takis Papoulidis, who urged Mavros to go out with rest of the team for the warm-up. At the instigation of Papoulidis, the two of them played "headers", reaching 65 without dropping the ball. Papoulidis, distinguishing the talent and abilities of the little Mavros, urged him to come to every match in the uniform of Panionios and to enter the pitch with the team as their mascot. In the first match in which Mavros went as a mascot, Panionios defeated Olympiacos by 1–0 and he earned 100 drachmas for the luck he brought to the team.[2]
Club career
Panionios
At the age of 11, Mavros joined the infrastructure departments of the club and began his intensive involvement with football. A bad circumstance related to the disappointment of his own from his brother's exclusion in the teenage section brought him to train with Olympiacos. There, Elias Yfantis immediately recognized his value and asked him to join the team. The refusal of Panionios in giving his sport's card prevented the transfer disappointed the teenage Mavros to the point of abstaining from the activities of Panionios. The gap was bridged by the curator of the team Papidas, after a visit to his house and a promise to 14-year-old Thomas for participation in the youth team. There, he worked under Dezső Bundzsák at the beginning and later Joe Mallett who distinguished and cultivated his talent, becoming the youngest player to have played in a Greek championship match, at the age of 16, as well as the youngest scorer when at 17 January 1971, he scored the only goal in the 65th minute against Pierikos on 1–0 victory. He also became an international at a very young age whilst not playing for any of the top clubs. On 16 September 1971, he made his European debut against Atlético Madrid in the first round of the UEFA Cup.[3] His appearance made him the then youngest player of a Greek football club to have ever played in a European competition. Initially Mavros played as a left winger and later as a striker, where he showed his scoring abilities, provoking the interest from the big teams of Greek football.[4]
AEK Athens
In the summer of 1975, the president of AEK Athens, Loukas Barlos was interested in signing Mavros, but the board of Panionios were negative to any offer, refusing to sell their best player. AEK were about to relive the adventures of the transfer of Kostas Nestoridis in 1955.[5] The desire of Mavros to play for the great AEK of the time, as well as his appreciation in the person of Barlos were enough to surpass the inexplicable and obsession of the president of Panionios, Tsolakakis to cancel the transfer. It was then revealed that when Mavros signed his contract with Panionios, was still underage, thus making the contract invalid. Panionios still blocked the transfer leading to a litigation between the two sides which lasted for an entire season. During this period, Mavros was unable to play for either side. After the dispute was resolved, Mavros was finally transferred to AEK Athens in June 1976.[6][7]
The happy ending of the case brought joy and satisfaction to both Barlos and Mavros who adapted a "father-son" relationship.[8] From his first season, he became an integral part of the team, helping them reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.[9] With the arrival of Dušan Bajević he formed one the club's best scoring duo in Europe. The following season, he had a starring role in AEK winning the domestic double, emerging as the top scorer of the league with 22 goals.[10] The great team of Barlos did not stop there and won a second consecutive championship in 1979, while the lost a chance to win the domestic double, losing the cup to Panionios in the final.[11] Mavros was again the league's top scorer making a career record of 31 goals, while his performances of that season won him a Silver Shoe, finishing 3 goals behind Kees Kist of AZ.[12]
The era after the departure of Barlos, was marked with administrative and financial instability, while the transfers did not live up to the expectations, as the team was getting weaker in every season. In that period of decline for the club, Mavros stayed and with his leading presence held the team from falling apart. The fans of AEK Athens loved him because he was one of the few players who stayed with the club after Barlos left and because of his tendency to score against their rivals, Olympiacos. They named him "God" (Greek: Θεός), the lexicographer, Faidon Konstantoudakis came up with the nickname "Theomas" (Greek: "Θεωμάς")[13] (paraphrase of his first name to resemble the Greek word for God) and whenever he scored the whole stadium chanted "Who, who, who? Mavros the God"(Greek: "Ποιος, ποιος, ποιος; Ο Μαύρος ο Θεός").[14]
In 1982, he led the club in the qualification at the expense Olympiacos, in the quarter-finals of the cup with 2 wins and his goal in the victory by 0–1 in the second leg at Karaiskakis Stadium. In the counterattack of AEK that led to the goal, Mavros got the ball at the center of the field and dribbled to the opposite area and many fans of the red whites started leaving the stadium confident of the upcoming goal of Mavros and the consequent elimination of their team. In the final against PAOK at Olympic Stadium, his goal and another by Vangelis Vlachos led the club to win a title after 4 years.[16] In the following season he renewed his cortact with the club receiving 45 million drachmas from the then president, Lefteris Panagidis.[17]
On 27 January 1985, Mavros also became one of the nine Greek players in history of who have scored 5 goals in a match against Egaleo in a 5–2 win.[20] At the end of the season he finished as the top scorer of the league for the third time in his career with 27 goals.[21] In 1987, the manager of the club, Nikos Alefantos asked the president, Andreas Zafiropoulos not to renew Mavros' contract as he thought the player was "too old" to play for a team of that level. All the above were confirmed on 11 April 1987, in the home match against Apollon Kalamarias, when Alefantos subbed off Mavros at the 80th minute, being booed by the fans. Zafiropoulos agreed to the coach's request and Mavros was released from the club and returned to his former club, Panionios.[22] With AEK he won 2 championships and 2 cup, including the domestic double of 1978.[23]
Return to Panionios
Mavros proved wrong the coach and administration of AEK Athens, with his return in Nea Smyrni. With Panionios, in 1990 he finished as top scorer in league with 22 goals, at the age of 36, being the oldest player in Greece to ever win this award.[24] Upon his return in Nea Filadelfeia on 28 October 1989, as an opponent of AEK, Mavros equalized the match at the 27th minute and didn't celebrate, with the crowd and chanting his name as if he had just scored for AEK, showing their love and appreciation to his face,[25][26] who responded by applauding them back and sending them kisses, wiping away a tear of joy. Before retiring in 1991, Mavros managed to score a total of 51 goals in 89 matches on his second spell at the club and surpassed his former teammate at AEK Athens, Mimis Papaioannou as the all-time top scorer in the Greek championship.[1]
Retirement
On 14 November 1993 he retired in the friendly match where Greece faced AEK, which was organized in his honor. The match ended 4–2 for AEK and Mavros scored three goals in the last game of his glorious career, playing with both teams.[27]
International career
Mavros' international career is enviable although much has been heard about its unfair end in 1982. He played for Greece's Youth team from 1972 to 1974, with which he scored 4 goals in the matches for the European Championship. Two goals against Yugoslavia and one goal on 16/1/74 against Malta. Then he played with Greece U21 and on 31/5/1972 he scored the winning goal in the semifinal of the European Championship in the 2–1 victory over Czechoslovakia. At the age of 17 he became the youngest player to ever score for the men's squad. Mavros had a total of 36 appearances with Greece scoring 11 goals in the period of 1972–1984. His most notable moment was his presence in the 1980's European Championship.
Personal life
Mavros is married to the former basketball player of Palaio Faliro, Angeliki Agorastopoulou and they have two sons, Dimitris and Sotiris and a daughter, Ioanna.[28]
After football
After retiring from football Mavros engaged in business of restaurant services. Although he was repeatedly offered the position of coach or manager of AEK, he stubbornly refused, not agreeing with the situation of the club in general. In 2007 he opened his own coffee bar in the marina of Alimos.[29] On 1 August 2012, Mavros became the president of his beloved AEK in an effort to help the club to hold up from the financial struggles,[30] forming a new team based on young players with Vangelis Vlachos as a coach and Vasilios Tsiartas as a technical director,[31] but it was without result. He resigned on 30 September 2012, when he found out attempts to bypass his decisions with the removal of Vlachos, who he had chosen, being the triggering event.[32] In 2017 he published his autobiography with the title "Who, who, who? Mavros the God".[33] His name is honoured on one of the four pillars of AEK Athens' new stadium, Agia Sophia Stadium, alongside other important figures of the club's history such as Kostas Nestoridis, Stelios Serafidis and Mimis Papaioannou.[34]
Records
Greek championship all-time top scorer with 260 goals.[1]
Most goals in a league game with 5 goals in a 5–2 win against Egaleo on 27 January 1985.[35]
Most goals scored in the derbies against Olympiacos with 16 goals.[36]
Mavros was an agile striker and an incredibly nimble footballer with the ability to always be in the right position to score. The extra personal training he followed with weights, sand runs and other original methods for the time, increased his body strength and explosiveness and gave him incredimbe jump, which made him the most difficult player to mark on the pitch, even for the best defenders. The result of his enhanced physical condition was to be able to maintain his level at the age of 36. He was a natural leader on the pitch, as his presence he boosted the morale of his teammates and cheered the crowd to create a hot atmosphere from the stands. At the same time, he was the terror of the opponent defenders and goalkeepers which made them nervous with the idea that would find a way to score against them. His leadership skills helped AEK Athens hold up during financial and admistative difficulties that led to a downfall on the competitive part.[4]
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