Georgios Darivas

Georgios Darivas’ father died at a young age, forcing Georgios to work from his youth in order to support his family. Nonetheless, he found time to practice football and, after World War II, was recruited to Olympiacos F.C. in 1946. He would remain with that team for his entire career, save for a final season ending in 1959 with Doxa Piraeus. During that time, he won the top Greek league seven times (1948, 1951, 1954-1956, and 1957-1958) and the Greek Cup six times (1951-1954 and 1957-1958). He was also the league’s top scorer in 1951 and runner-up in 1949 and 1953.

From 1951-1955, Darivas was also a member of the Greek national squad, earning nine caps. Among these were helping his nation win gold at the inaugural Mediterranean Games football tournament in 1951. He also played in Greece’s lone match at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where it was eliminated by Denmark in the qualifying round. In retirement, he took up coaching and helped Olympiacos win the Greek Cup in 1971. After two seasons with Fostiras F.C., he returned to Olympiacos in 1975, leading them to both a top league title and a Greek Cup that year, and then spent one more season coaching them.