The “patriarch” of sports journalism in Greece and the voice of a whole generation, Giannis Diakogiannis has passed away at the age of 91.

He started covering the World Cup in 1954, in Switzerland, and was the first host of “Sports Sunday”, which he established in the consciousness of fans.

Diakogiannis was one of the leaders in the field of sports journalism, with a wide range of knowledge in track and field sports and football, and he stood out for his live commentary.

Giannis Diakogiannis was born in Athens where he got involved in sports in his teenage years, with a great love of athletics. He studied music in France, but journalism eventually won him over.

He covered many top events in his illustrious career, including football World Cups (starting in 1954 in Switzerland and ending in 1998 in France), international matches and world championships in athletics, final matches of inter-club European football events (such as the European Cup Champions in 1971 between Ajax and Panathinaikos). In 2004 he was a commentator in the matches of the National men’s football team in the Euro Football championship when Greece also won the trophy.

He was the first to be honoured for his overall contribution with the “Eleni Vlachou” award in 2003, as a journalist of “Ta Nea”. He is probably the only Greek sports journalist whose surname was included in the lyrics of a song, specifically in “The match begins” composed and performed by Loukianos Kilaidonis in 1979.

In December 2015, the then President of the Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, awarded Diakogiannis the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix in a special ceremony at the Presidential Palace, for his contribution to sports journalism.