Giorgos Petridis
Giorgos Petridis was a Greek professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a later manager.
Club career
Petridis started his career at Pera Club in the local divisions of Athens and with his impressive performances and his talent he attracted the interest of the big teams. In 1957, the doctor and vice-president of AEK Athens, Loutsidis, who knew him, mediated his transfer to the club, which took place under the presidency of Nikos Goumas. AEK gave some sports equipment to Pera Club, as exchange for his transfer.Petridis joined a very strong AEK with great players, such as Nestoridis, Poulis, Kanakis, Emmanouilidis. He made his debut replacing Kanakis who at that time had come into conflict the coach, Vittore Martini. He impressed with his performances competing as an attacking midfielder as well as an attacker. He scored a hat-trick on 16 December 1961 a 3–6 away win against Panelefsiniakos. On 23 December 1962 he impressed with his performance in the derby against Olympiacos at Karaiskakis Stadium where AEK won by 3–1. In that season AEK, coached by Jenő Csaknády and with the attacking duo of Nestoridis-Papaioannou, impressed and finally won the title after a play-off match against Panathinaikos. During his spell at AEK Athens, he won the Championship of 1963 and 2 Cups.
In the summer of 1966 Petridis left AEK and although he had a tempting offer to continue his career in Australia, he was influenced by his mother and decided to stay in Greece and eventually move to Vyzas Megara, where he played for a year before ending his career as a footballer.