Giorgos Dedes

Giorgos Dedes

Personal information
Full name	Georgios Dedes
Date of birth	(1943-02-25) 25 February 1943
Place of birth	Nafplio, Greece
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1958-1967	Phivos Neou Kosmou
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1961–1974	Panionios	358	(149)
1974–1977	AEK Athens	64	(29)
1977–1978	Panionios	8	(3)
Total		430	(181)
International career
1962-1963	Greece U-18	8	(3)
1969	Greece U-21	1	(0)
1966-1973	Greece	20	(7)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Giorgos Dedes (Greek: Γιώργος Δέδες; born 15 December 1942) is a former Greek footballer of Asia Minor descent who played as a forward. His main characteristics were his speed, his technique and his shooting. He competed in 430 games in total on the Greek Championship for Panionios and AEK Athens, scoring 181 goals. He was the top scorer of the league in 1970–71 and 1975–1796. In 1971 he was awarded with the bronze boot after becoming the third scorer in Europe.

Career

Early years

Son of Athanasios and Nikoleta, Giorgos was their fifth of six childen of the family. Dedes was nephiew of AEK Athens' legentary goalkeeper, Christos Ribas meanwhile his elder brother, Kostas was playing in Pannafpliakos. He supported AEK Athens from a little kid and he was a great fan of Kostas Nestoridis. In 1957 his family moved to Athens and Giorgos alongside his brother played for Phivos Neou Kosmou. In 1960-61 Phivos won the B1 league of Athens Football Clubs Association and Dedes was one of the basic scorers.

Panionios

In the age of 17 he was discovered of Panagiotis Pallas of Panionios and he was suggested to the technical director of the team, Thanasis Papathanasiou. Dedes was transferred to Panionios and the transfer fee was 1000 drachmas and some other players as an exchange. Two months later, the coach of the team, Ioannis Skordillis and Nikos Zakardis gave him the chance to play for the first time against Fostiras. On March 28 of 1965 Dedes scored the fastest hat-trick in Alpha Ethniki in a period of 120 seconds after the 88th minute. In 1969–70 season, Dedes also managed to score 5 goals in a game in an 8–0 victory against Olympiakos Nicosia, which is the club's largest victory. That was a rare record which only a few Greek footballers have achieved. Dedes has also scored 4 goals in a match twice. He played 14 years for Panionios winning a Balkans Cup in 1971. He was the top scorer of the Greek Championship with 28 goals becoming the 3rd scorer in Europe behind the Croatian, Josip Skoblar of Olympique de Marseille with 39 and Keita of Saint-Étienne with 33.

AEK Athens

In 1974 did the big transfer to the Greek giands AEK Athens of Loukas Mparlos. Although he was a free agent, AEK Athens payd 500,000 drachmas to have him. In 3 years of playing for AEK Athens he achieved 50 caps scoring 35 goals. Furthermore, in season 1975-76 he once more became the top scorer of the Greek Championship scoring 16 goals.

Return to Panionios and retirement

Dedes returned to Panionios for the season 1977-78 to end his career. He has honoured with the Golden Cross, the club's greatest award. Dedes describes the award as "priceless" and he has put it in the center spot of his medal collection.

International career

In 1962 Dedes was called to the Greece U-18, for which he played in two matches against Turkey, a 1–0 defeat in Athens and 1–0 win in Smyrni where he was the scorer in the 18th minute. With the U-19 team competed in two games for the qualifying matches of UEFA European Under-19 Championship against Turkey. With a 2–1 victory in Athens and a 1–1 draw in Ancara, Greece managed to qualify for 1963 UEFA European Under-18 Championship in London. Dedes played in both 3 matches of the tournament which scored 2 goals in a 7-2 victory against Germany. Greece didn't qualify for the quarter finals as they finished third in the group. In 1969 Dedes played the only game for Greece U-21 against Israel. He managed 20 appearances and scored 7 goals for the Greek national football team from 1966 to 1973. He played his first match on 16 October 1966 in a 2–1 win against Finland for the UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying. He scored his first 2 goals for Greece on 21 November 1968 in a 4–1 home victory against Egypt. Dedes was a regular in the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification squad where he scored twice. His first goal for the tournament was in a historical 2-1 victory against Portugal on 11/12/1968 in Karaiskakis Stadium and the second was in a 2–2 draw against Romania on 16 April 1969 with Dedes taking the lead for Greece. He made his last appearance for Greece on 31/1/1973 in a match against Bulgaria as a second-half substitute in a match which ended 2–2.

Honours

Panionios

• Balkans Cup (1) : 1971
• Alpha Ethniki : 1971 (2nd place)
• Greek Cup : 1969 (Runner-up)

Individual

• Alpha Ethniki top scorer: 2

1971, 1976

• European Golden Boot 1971 (3rd Place)
• Panionios Golden Cross: 1978

External links

• Giorgos Dedes – FIFA competition record