Thomas Mavros

Mavros is widely regarded as one of the best footballers in Greece having scored a record number of 260 goals in the Greek championship[1] and played for the World XI in 1984.

Ever since he was just 5 years old, his father used to take him and his brother in the yard of their house every morning, from 7 to 9 and taught them how to play the ball, as he tried to teach them everything about football, helping them to consolidate as he went them every Sunday to the Nea Smyrni Stadium to watch Panionios.

He waited outside the locker rooms of the stadium and caught the attention of the then leader of the club, Takis Papoulidis, who urged Mavros to go out with rest of the team for the warm-up.

Papoulidis, distinguishing the talent and abilities of the little Mavros, urged him to come to every match in the uniform of Panionios and to enter the pitch with the team as their mascot.

Initially Mavros played as a left winger and later as a striker, where he showed his scoring abilities, provoking the interest from the big teams of Greek football.

[4] In the summer of 1975, the president of AEK Athens, Loukas Barlos was interested in signing Mavros, but the board of Panionios were negative to any offer, refusing to sell their best player.

[5] The desire of Mavros to play for the great AEK of the time, as well as his appreciation in the person of Barlos were enough to surpass the inexplicable and obsession of the president of Panionios, Tsolakakis to cancel the transfer.

[10] The great team of Barlos did not stop there and won a second consecutive championship in 1979, while the lost a chance to win the domestic double, losing the cup to Panionios in the final.

[12] The era after the departure of Barlos, was marked with administrative and financial instability, while the transfers did not live up to the expectations, as the team was getting weaker in every season.

[15] In 1982, he led the club in the qualification at the expense Olympiacos, in the quarter-finals of the cup with 2 wins and his goal in the victory by 0–1 in the second leg at Karaiskakis Stadium.

[17] On 22 June 1984, Mavros was called to the World XI alongside his countryman Vasilis Hatzipanagis and other legends like Franz Beckenbauer, Ruud Krol, Johan Neeskens, Peter Shilton, Kevin Keegan, Mario Kempes, Hugo Sánchez and Felix Magath.

[21] In 1987, the manager of the club, Nikos Alefantos asked the president, Andreas Zafiropoulos not to renew Mavros' contract as he thought the player was "too old" to play for a team of that level.

Before retiring in 1991, Mavros managed to score a total of 51 goals in 89 matches on his second spell at the club and surpassed his former teammate at AEK Athens, Mimis Papaioannou as the all-time top scorer in the Greek championship.

Mavros is married to the former basketball player of Palaio Faliro, Angeliki Agorastopoulou and they have two sons, Dimitris and Sotiris and a daughter, Ioanna.

[29] On 1 August 2012, Mavros became the president of AEK Athens in an effort to help the club to hold up from the financial struggles,[30] forming a new team based on young players and hiring Vangelis Vlachos as the coach and Vasilios Tsiartas as the technical director,[31] but it was without result.

The extra personal training he followed with weights, sand runs and other original methods for the time, increased his body strength and explosiveness and gave him incredimbe jump, which made him the most difficult player to mark on the pitch, even for the best defenders.

He was a natural leader on the pitch, as his presence he boosted the morale of his teammates and cheered the crowd to create a hot atmosphere from the stands.