Traianos Dellas (Greek: Τραϊανός Δέλλας; born 31 January 1976) is a Greek professional footballmanager and former player. He last managed Super League club OFI.
In the summer of 1994, Dellas was loaned to Panserraikos for two seasons, where he quickly became a regular.
Dellas came back to Aris before leaving for England to join Sheffield United. He was best remembered by fans at Bramall Lane for a game against Tranmere Rovers in March 1999. With the Blades 2–0 down, Dellas came on as a substitute and scored twice as they won 3–2.[1] His other goal came from an impressive 30-yard strike in a home game against Portsmouth, another late winner.[2]
In 1999, Dellas returned to his native Greece to play for AEK Athens through a recommendation by Vasilis Dimitriadis. He won the Greek Cup in 2000,[3] playing alongside the likes of Demis Nikolaidis and Vasilios Tsiartas. Dellas had a fairly good presence for two years in the team, but a fall-out in 2001 with then-club president Makis Psomiadis and head coach Fernando Santos led to his release.[4]
After the departure from AEK, Dellas signed for the Italian club, Perugia. However, Dellas was dropped from Perugia's first team after a disagreement over his contract and he did not make a single appearance in the last six months of the season, playing only eight matches overall.
After leaving the club Dellas caught the attention of Serie A club Roma and he joined the team on a free transfer in 2002.[5]
After finally establishing himself as a starter following the move of coach Fabio Capello to Juventus, Dellas's performances were outstanding. He earned the peculiar honour of being one of three players alongside Francesco Totti and Vincenzo Montella who were not consistently booed by the fans during training and games during Roma's disastrous 2004–05 season. After failing to renew his contract with the club, Dellas became a free agent. He would eventually miss nearly 8 months of football due to back and hernia injuries and thus, expected offers from the big clubs of Europe failed to materialize.
In the summer of 2005 Dellas decided to return to AEK, where his former teammate and good friend Demis Nikolaidis was the president.[6] He renewed his contract in June 2007 for a further two years and became team captain. Here Dellas played alongside players like Rivaldo, Pantelis Kafes and the talented Sokratis Papastathopoulos. In AEK came very close of winning the league, but the opportunity was lost due to the "Valner affair" and the title went to Olympiacos. On 23 July 2008, Dellas and AEK agreed to terminate his contract by mutual consent after failing to agree on a new contract.[7]
On 5 June 2010, Dellas agreed to sign with AEK Athens again, this time for one year, possibly intending to end his career at the team he supports. Nikos Liberopoulos also returned at the club and alongside Dellas formed their leading duo. On 12 December 2010, Dellas scored his first goal in the Greek championship after two years' absence, against AEL.[9] On 16 March 2011 he scored in the semi-final of the cup against PAOK and sent AEK to the final of the tournament.[10] On 30 April 2011, Dellas won with AEK his second Cup.[11] He played at AEK for one more season when on 26 May 2012, Dellas announced his retirement from professional football.[12]
International career
Dellas with the Greece national team.
Dellas earned his first cap for Greece in April 2001 in a 2–2 draw with Croatia. Dellas had an exceptional tournament at Euro 2004, partnering again with his former teammate at AEK, Michalis Kapsis in the centre of what became an almost impenetrable Greek defence, leading to him being voted onto the tournament all-star squad. During the semi-finals, he scored the only silver goal ever in the last minute of first half of extra time against the Czech Republic, allowing Greece to progress to the final.[13] This was his only goal for the Greek squad. The coach of Greece called him 'the Colossus of Rhodes' in respect of his performances in the tournament and the moniker is now widely used in the press.[14]
After Euro 2004, Dellas continued to be the heart of the Greek defense, but missed nearly eight months in 2005 due to injury. His absence was seen as a major factor in Greece's failed 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. Two years later, Dellas helped Greece qualify for Euro 2008 but could not find his form of 2004 as Greece exited the group stage without any points and having scored just one goal. He was also part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign but was not called up after the victory over Israel on 1 April 2009. Subsequently, he was not included in the provisional squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Managerial career
On 4 April 2013, Dellas was appointed as AEK Athens's new coach, replacing Ewald Lienen, with Akis Zikos being appointed as assistant manager.[15] Following AEK's relegation from the Super League, Dellas remained at the club's wheel in Greece's third division, instead of the second tier in order to clear the team's debts. He successfully led the team back in the Super League in 2015.[16] On 20 October 2015, Dellas resigned, after a 4–0 loss to Olympiacos.[17]
On 7 November 2015, he signed a contract with club Atromitos. On 12 January 2018, he signed a contract with Panetolikos.[18] He resigned on 19 April 2019. On 10 November 2020, Panetolikos announced his return as the manager of the club in a need of gaining points for avoiding relegation.[19] His second tenure ended officially on 5 June 2021, after the club thanking him for having successfully avoided relegation for the club, which was achieved thanks to an away goal in a (2–1) defeat, and a late goal victory at home (1–0) in the 2nd leg of the relegation play-offs.[20]
Personal life
Dellas married Greek model Gogo Mastrokosta on 11 September 2008.[21] They have one daughter.
Career statistics
International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[22]
