Giannis Petrakis (Greek: Γιάννης Πετράκης; born 20 May 1959) is a Greek professional footballmanager and former player who is the current manager of Super League club Panetolikos.
In 2004, Petrakis left Crete for the first time in his career, taking over management of Arcadian club Asteras Tripoli, whom he also promoted to the Gamma Ethniki. He then returned to Rethymno and led local club Asteras Rethymno to the Gamma Ethniki as well.[1][4] Petrakis went on to coach Nea Ionia (2009–2010), Ionikos (2010–2011) and Chania (2011–2012), before returning, and being appointed head coach of OFI on 7 January 2013, where he made his debut as a Superleague manager.[4] Petrakis coached the club in 15 matches, managing to avoid relegation, and terminated his contract with the club at the end of the season on mutual consent.
In the summer of 2013, Petrakis was hired as head coach of the other local Superleague side Ergotelis. The season took off with an impressive start, in which the club remained undefeated for 8 consecutive matches (the best undefeated record in the club's history in the league). At the end of October however, Ergotelis began struggling, and as a result, the club's board of directors decided to replace Petrakis on 14 January 2014.
PAS Giannina
Fourteen days later, on 28 January 2014, Petrakis was hired by Epirus-based Superleague club PAS Giannina.[4] Petrakis managed avoid relegation at the end of the season, and subsequently went on to secure a 6th-place finish in the 2014–15 and 2015–16, thus leading PAS Giannina to their first ever UEFA Europa League campaign. For this feat, Petrakis was named "Best Manager in Greece" for the 2014–2015 season.[5] Further contributing to the club's history, Petrakis managed to advance PAS Giannina to the Third qualifying round of the competition, after eliminating Norwegian club Odd 4–3 on aggregate.[6] He was a candidate for "Best Manager in Greece" for the 2015–2016 season but he didn't voted again.[7] His contract was not renewed because PAS Giannina were relegated from Super League.[8]