Greek football and Panathinaikos have been plunged into mourning again, as after the loss of “General” Mimis Domazos yesterday, Takis Oikonomopoulos also “passed away”. The veteran Panathinaikos goalkeeper, who was known by the nickname “Bird”, due to his impressive jumps, died on Monday night, at the age of 81.

Takis Oikonomopoulos had been admitted to the Red Cross ICU at the beginning of the month, with an extensive cerebral hemorrhage. He appeared in public for the last time on January 27, during the public pilgrimage of the body of his teammate in the “clover” Mimi Domazos at the Metropolis of Athens.

Domazos and Economopoulos were among the protagonists of Panathinaikos in the Wembley epic in 1971.

Panathinaikos, the National Team and the Amateur

The deceased played for 13 consecutive years for Panathinaikos, managing to keep his goal intact for 1,088 minutes in 1965. The… bird was also a member of the National Team with which he played 25 times.

With the “greens”, Economopoulos won 5 championships and 2 Cups and was a finalist in the final of the Champions Cup and the Intercontinental Cup.

Born on October 19, 1942, he is considered one of the greatest goalkeepers in Greece. In fact, the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) selected him in the best 11 of all time in Greek football in 2021.

He began his career at the Kallithea Athletic Association, where he stayed until he was 16, when he transferred to Apollon Smyrnis.

In 1962, he transferred to Proodeftiki, while a year later he wore the Panathinaikos jersey, where he stayed for 13 years, becoming a mainstay of the “greens”.

His debut with the national team jersey took place on October 3, 1965 in the home match against the Soviet Union for the 1966 World Cup qualifiers. He played a total of 25 times with the national team, from 1965 to 1974.

In 1976, Panachaiki acquired him from Panathinaikos and he stayed in Patras for a year, to return to Apollon Smyrnis and end his career there in 1979.

After his retirement from active activity, he took over as goalkeeper coach at Panathinaikos from 1979 to 2006. In 2002, he temporarily took over as Panathinaikos coach for a few matches, replacing Sergio Markarian.

In 2017, he took over as president of the Amateur Panathinaikos, as head of the administration appointed by the Athens Court of First Instance.