The legendary Giorgos Sideris was an extraordinary figure for the port city’s team and the top scorer in Olympiacos history. Looking back at the “golden pages” of Olympiacos’ history over the past 100 years, it’s certain that the name of Giorgos Sideris will be prominently displayed.
Things really couldn’t be any different because, quite simply, many of the legendary stories on a red-and-white background bear the weighty signature of this tremendous striker, known adoringly to the fans as “Fontakas”.
Sideris built his legend with this nickname, which was celebrated in every stadium in the country. “Fontakas” came to instill fear in opposing team’s defenders with his strength and determination. One of the greatest tributes was from a veteran Olympiacos legend, Leonidas Andrianopoulos, who spoke passionately about the Club’s forward: “Mommies cried when Sideris came onto the pitch.”
These words alone are undoubtedly apt to describe Fontakas’s scoring ability and his inimitable style of play.
Sideris was born on April 5, 1938 and showed his talent for football from an early age. He showed that he was born to be a legend.
Sideris’ strength was not only built on the court, but in life. From the crates of the market to the opponents’ defenses, no one could knock him down
Toiling at the produce market
The nickname Fontakas was coined by the Olympiacos fans because Giorgos’ older brother was called Fotis. That’s where the legendary Fontakas was derived from, a name that was destined to make history for the Piraeus team.
His style of play was reminiscent of a “lion on the prowl”, but this big cat was playing in Olympiacos’ offense. He was so strong that his opponents were unable to counter him.
Sideris simply didn’t go down, even if he was held down by… the entire opposing team. He started his career at the Apollon Rentis club, and according to many in the district who knew him as a youth, he was so strong because from an early age he helped his father, who was a green grocer, move crates with fruits and vegetables around. This is the reason for his extraordinary strength, which was such a great asset on the football field.
The transfer to Olympiacos
Giorgos Sideris first alerted the world of his immense talent when playing for the Atromitos Piraeus side for five years (1953-1958). A major battle between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos followed over which team would acquire Fontakas, the goal-scoring machine.
Both the Reds and the Greens made a huge effort to acquire him, with the Piraeus team eventually prevailing. Sideris signed with Olympiacos, and insiders recall the decisive role that Savvas Theodoridis played in getting the striker to sign with the Reds.
Giorgos Sideris wore the jersey with the laurel-crowned youth as its emblem and the rest is history, a golden story that was destined to become a dream for many youngsters who watched the legendary Fontakas shine in the Piraeus strip. These same youngsters dreamed of becoming the next Sideris on the team now known as the ‘Legend’.
The power with which Sideris played football was unforgettable. He would literally run over opponents.
A top scorer
Giorgos Sideris is one of the players who made the port city’s team great, providing triumphant dimensions to Olympiacos’ huge successes of the period.
After all, we are talking about the top scorer in the Club’s history, as Fontakas scored 224 goals with Olympiacos in the league, a monumental achievement that remains elusive many decades later.
Sideris played for the Reds for 12 years (1959-1970 and 1972) and finished his career with Olympiacos.
He won the Balkan Cup with the Reds, two championships and five Cups, while he was the top scorer in the Greek first division league three times. He also played for the national team, of course, scoring 14 goals.
All in all, it’s clear that he was a legendary and unprecedented figure in Olympiacos’ 100-year history.
The incident with Pattakos
An incident involving Sideris on the field has entered Greek football lore. It occurred during a derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in 1967, and specifically on November 22, only months after a coup toppled Parliamentary democracy in Greece and instituted a military junta.
In the game, Sideris again gave 100% to help his team win.
At one point, however, a high-ranking police officer interrupted the game. Approaching Sideris, he tells him to follow him to the VIP stands. It’s there that Brigadier Stylianos Pattakos, one of the ringleaders of the April 21, 1967 military coup and now minister of the interior, tells Sideris: “…play more calmly, don’t be so rough”.
Fontakas’ response was immediate, with the legendary Olympiacos forward replying to Pattakos: “I play hard, I don’t play rough (i.e. unsportsmanlike). Football is a dynamic sport.”
It was an obvious intervention by Pattakos against the Piraeus team, but the Olympiacos captain again demonstrated that he was made of steel and never backed down.
With 224 goals, two championships, five Cups and the silver shoe of 1969, he remains an unsurpassed legend of Greek football.
The silver boot
As previously mentioned, Sideris is the top scorer in the history of Olympiacos while in 1969 he received another huge distinction by scoring 35 goals to rank as Europe’s second-best scorer, the symbolic “silver boot”.
In the same year, he came 17th in the poll for the best player of Europe–a major milestone for a Greek footballer at the time. Bayern legend Franz Beckenbauer was first.
Thus 1969 was an incredible year for Fontakas, something that attracted the attention of several major European clubs. Eventually Sideris became the first Greek player to play abroad at the top-flight level, as he transferred to Belgium’s Royal Antwerp in 1970.
He remained in Belgium for a year and a half before returning to Greece in 1972 to wear the red and white stripes of Olympiacos once more and conclude his legendary career.
Sideris was greatly loved by Olympiacos’ fans; even today, his name is synonymous with Red power and energy on the field.
A name, a legendary story. Fontakas will always be a legend for Olympiacos, he will always be the one who could take on an entire… team and remain upright: That’s the great Giorgos Sideris.
