Takis Ikonomopoulos

Takis Ikonomopoulos wearing Iribar's shirt with an eagle on it

Panagiotis "Takis" Ikonomopoulos (Greek: Παναγιώτης (Τάκης) Οικονομόπουλος; born 19 October 1943) is a former football (soccer) goalkeeper from Greece.

In 1963, a month after coach Stjepan Bobek arrived at Panathinaikos, Takis Ikonomopoulos was transferred to Panathinaikos from Proodeftiki. He was nicknamed "The Bird" after his impressive flings and had a glorious career wearing the colours of PAO.

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 for Greece which he still holds!). He kept a clean slate from 17 January 1965 until 9 May 1965 - when he was finally beaten. Takis Ikonomopoulos' record places him in spot number 19 in the World's Top Division Goalkeepers of all time with the longest time without conceding a goal (the second highest for Greece, ranking at world spot 38 is Vasilis Konstantinou of Panathinaikos who went 988 minutes without giving up a goal, from 30 December 1979 until 16 March 1980).

He played for Panathinaikos at the 1971 European Cup Final. He played the whole european competiton using the shirt of his idol Jose Angel Iribar, legenday keeper nicknamed "El Txopo" from Athletic Club of Bilbao and the Spanish national team, which he got from a Spain - Greece game in 1970.

Ikonomopoulos 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 Giannis Kyrastas.

Besides Proodeftiki and Panathinaikos, Ikonomopoulos also played for Apollon Athens and Panachaiki. After retiring as a football player, he went on to work with Panathinaikos as a goalkeeping coach.

In 2002, Takis Ikonomopoulos 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 Olympiakos Piraeus FC.

External links

• Profile at weltfussball.de
• World's Top Division Goalkeepers of all time with the longest Time without conceding a Goal