Thomas Mavros

Thomas Mavros (Greek: Θωμάς Μαύρος, born 31 May 1954) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Initially, a legend for Panionios, he was a relevation of the Greek championship at the age of 16. He became one of the star players of AEK Athens and led them to huge success during the 70's and 80's. Mavros is widely regarded as one of the best footballers in Greece having scored a record number of 260 goals in the Greek championship and played for the World XI in 1984. His nickname was "the God" (Greek: Θεός), or "Theomas" (Greek: "Θεωμάς").

In 2012 he also served as the president of AEK Athens.

Mavros was born on 31 May 1954 in Kallithea, where he lived for the first 4 years of his life, until his family moved to Palaio Faliro. His father, Michalis, despite not being a footballer himself, was a huge fan of football. 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. His the elder brother of Sotiris, soon joined the children section of Panionios. For the 7-year-old Mavros, it all started on a winter Sunday in 1961, after his father refused to go to the stadium due to bad weather. Mavros decided to go alone to Nea Smyrni for a match of Panionios against Pierikos. 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. At the instigation of Papoulidis, the two of them played "headers", reaching 65 without dropping the ball. 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. In the first match in which Mavros went as a mascot, Panionios defeated Olympiacos by 1–0 and he earned 100 drachmas for the luck he brought to the team.

At the age of 11, Mavros joined the infrastructure departments of the club and began his intensive involvement with football. A bad circumstance related to the disappointment of his own from his brother's exclusion in the teenage section brought him to train with Olympiacos. There, Elias Yfantis immediately recognized his value and asked him to join the team. The refusal of Panionios in giving his sport's card prevented the transfer disappointed the teenage Mavros to the point of abstaining from the activities of Panionios. The gap was bridged by the curator of the team Papidas, after a visit to his house and a promise to 14-year-old Thomas for participation in the youth team. There, he worked under Dezső Bundzsák at the beginning and later Joe Mallett who distinguished and cultivated his talent, becoming the youngest player to have played in a Greek championship match, at the age of 16, as well as the youngest scorer when at 17 January 1971, he scored the only goal in the 65th minute against Pierikos on 1–0 victory. He also became an international at a very young age whilst not playing for any of the top clubs. On 16 September 1971, he made his European debut against Atlético Madrid in the first round of the UEFA Cup. His appearance made him the then youngest player of a Greek football club to have ever played in a European competition. 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.

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. AEK were about to relive the adventures of the transfer of Kostas Nestoridis in 1955. 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. It was then revealed that when Mavros signed his contract with Panionios, was still underage, thus making the contract invalid. Panionios still blocked the transfer leading to a litigation between the two sides which lasted for an entire season. During this period, Mavros was unable to compete in an official match for either side and thus he was limited in playing in friendly games with AEK. On 2 July 1976 the dispute was eventually settled out-of-court and Mavros was transferred to AEK Athens for the amount of 10,000,000 drachmas.

The happy ending of the case brought joy and satisfaction to both Barlos and Mavros who adapted a "father-son" relationship. From his first season, he became an integral part of the team, helping them reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. With the arrival of Dušan Bajević he formed one the club's best scoring duo in Europe. The following season, he had a starring role in AEK winning the domestic double, emerging as the top scorer of the league with 22 goals. 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. Mavros was again the league's top scorer making a career record of 31 goals, while his performances of that season won him a Silver Shoe, finishing 3 goals behind Kees Kist of AZ.

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. In that period of decline for the club, Mavros stayed and with his leading presence held the team from falling apart. The fans of AEK Athens loved him because he was one of the few players who stayed with the club after Barlos left and because of his tendency to score against their rivals, Olympiacos. They named him "God" (Greek: Θεός), the lexicographer, Faidon Konstantoudakis came up with the nickname "Theomas" (Greek: "Θεωμάς") (paraphrase of his first name to resemble the Greek word for God) and whenever he scored the whole stadium chanted "Who, who, who? Mavros the God" (Greek: "Ποιος, ποιος, ποιος; Ο Μαύρος ο Θεός").