1. Faidon Matthaiou, was a Greek professional basketball player and coach.
22 Facts About Faidon Matthaiou
1. 2.
Faidon Matthaiou was a center at the start of his career, and at the end of his career, he played as a point guard.
3.
Faidon Matthaiou wore the number 1 jersey throughout his career.
4.
Faidon Matthaiou represented Greece twice at the Summer Olympic Games.
5.
Faidon Matthaiou is widely considered to be the Patriarch of Greek basketball.
6.
Faidon Matthaiou was a multi-sport athlete that competed in the sports of volleyball, water polo, track and field, rowing, shooting, cycling, fencing, tennis, table tennis, and basketball, which was the sport that he was the most well-known for competing in.
7.
Faidon Matthaiou represented Greece in the Summer Olympic Games in two different sports.
8.
Faidon Matthaiou competed at the 1948 London Summer Olympic Games as a rower, and in the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympic Games, as a basketball player.
9.
Faidon Matthaiou began playing professional basketball, as well as many other sports, with the Greek club Aris Thessaloniki in 1945.
10.
Faidon Matthaiou's father was Manthos Matthaiou, who was the President of the Aris Thessaloniki Sports Club, who was killed in 1941, during the Italian air bombings of Thessaloniki, during the Greco-Italian War.
11.
In 1949, Faidon Matthaiou transferred to the Greek club Panathinaikos Athens.
12.
Faidon Matthaiou played with the Greek club Panionios Athens, the Italian League club Varese, and the Greek club Sporting Athens.
13.
Faidon Matthaiou played at the International Club Cup Tournament in 1955, at the Viareggio Tournament, where he was the leading scorer and MVP.
14.
Faidon Matthaiou played for the senior men's Greek national team, as one of its leading members in 44 games, and he scored a total of 539 points in those games, for a scoring average of 12.3 points per game.
15.
Faidon Matthaiou played in the very first official game of the Greek national team, which was played at the 1949 FIBA EuroBasket.
16.
Faidon Matthaiou was the team's leading scorer at that tournament, with 66 total points scored, while Greece won the tournament's bronze medal.
17.
Faidon Matthaiou participated as a player in two FIBA EuroBasket tournaments, the 1949 FIBA EuroBasket, and the 1951 FIBA EuroBasket, and in the 1952 FIBA Summer Olympics.
18.
Faidon Matthaiou coached professional sport clubs of the Greek League, such as Olympiacos Piareus, AEK Athens, PAOK Thessaloniki, and Peristeri Athens.
19.
Faidon Matthaiou coached the Italian League clubs Storm Varese and Virtus Roma.
20.
Faidon Matthaiou was named as a coach of the FIBA European Selection team in the years 1970 and 1973.
21.
Faidon Matthaiou won both the Greek Cup title and the Greek League championship with Olympiacos, in 1976.
22.
Faidon Matthaiou won the Greek Cup title with PAOK, in 1984.