Evangelos "Vangelis" Marinakis (, born 30 July 1967) is a Greek businessman and investor. He is the principal shareholder of a number of companies operating in the shipping, media and football sectors and is the owner of football clubs Olympiacos, Nottingham Forest and Rio Ave. Marinakis is the son of shipowner and politician Miltiadis Marinakis from Crete. He entered the Greek shipping industry in 2005 by founding "Capital Maritime & Trading Corp". In 2010, he acquired a majority stake in the Greek football team Olympiacos and became its president.
In 2014, Marinakis was elected as a municipal councillor of Piraeus with the (Piraeus Victor) party and was re-elected in 2019. In 2017, he purchased English football team Nottingham Forest. In 2016, he entered the Greek media sector with Alter Ego Media S.A., which acquired Lambrakis Press Group (DOL) in 2017.
Marinakis is notable in both the shipping and football sectors. Lloyd's List has included him in its "One Hundred Most Influential People in the Shipping Industry" since 2010, ranking him 10th in the 2025 list.
Marinakis is more widely recognized for his significant involvement in football, which has been associated with various controversial allegations, including match-fixing and referee interference. However, he has been acquitted in all related cases. In 2018, he was also implicated in the Noor 1 ship case but was cleared of all charges because of insufficient evidence. Marinakis' involvement in Greek sporting, political and business worlds had led to him being labelled a Greek oligarch.
Personal life Evangelos Marinakis was born in Piraeus, Greece, on 30 July 1967. He is the only son of Miltiadis Marinakis and Irini Marinaki (née Karakatsani). His father, Miltiadis Marinakis, was born in Crete. He was a shipowner, a Member of the Greek Parliament and, at times, a financial supporter of Piraeus football club, Olympiacos. Marinakis holds a B.A. in 'International Business Administration' and an M.Sc. in 'International Relations'.
He has been married for many years to Athanasia Marinakis, and they have four children, three girls and a boy. His son Miltiades Marinakis, a London resident, has set up his own company, "Shopflix". The family's permanent residence in Athens is in Paleo Psychiko.
Marinakis and New Democracy politician Dora Bakoyannis are personally connected, as Marinakis was best man when Bakoyanni married Isidoros Kouvelos in 1998, and Bakoyannis became the godmother of his son, Miltiadis.
Career Shipping
Marinakis is the founder and chairman of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp. The Capital Maritime Group which is controlled by the Marinakis family, managed in 2025 a mixed fleet of more than 146 vessels, including tankers, container ships, LNG, LPG/ammonia, LCO2, offshore and dry bulk segments. Capital Group entered the LNG segment in 2018, ordering up to ten LNG ships of a total value of 1.8 billion.
From March 2010 until September 2011, Marinakis also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NYSE-listed Crude Carriers Corp. Between March 2007 and December 2014 he was chairman of Capital Product Partners L.P. (NASDAQ:CPLP). In November 2018, Capital Product Partners L.P. announced the merger of its tanker fleet with DSS Holdings, whose largest shareholder is WL Ross & Co., thus creating one of the biggest listed tanker companies in the world, in a transaction valued at $1.65bn.
From 1992 to 2005, Marinakis was the commercial manager of Capital Ship Management Corp. and oversaw the businesses of the group of companies that now form Capital Maritime. For the past decades, he has also been active in several other family-controlled businesses all related to the shipping industry.
On 5 December 2023, Marinakis, through his newly established company Capital Offshore, invested $106 million to purchase a fleet of seven platform supply vessels.
On 8 February 2024, Marinakis supported the establishment of the Maritime Emissions Reduction Centre (M-ERC) in Athens, a collaborative effort with Lloyd's Register aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the global fleet.
At the 181st graduation ceremony of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy held on 22 June 2024, Vangelis Marinakis was awarded an honorary doctorate.
In March 2025, Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp., part of Marinakis’ Capital Group, became a founding member of the MIT Maritime Consortium, an international collaboration with MIT and ABS aimed at developing nuclear propulsion technologies and alternative fuels for commercial shipping.
In November 2025 Marinakis during a conference called on US and European authorities to allow sanctioned vessels to be scrapped within a three to four-month window arguing that these ships pose a threat to environment and the seas.
In February 2026, Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp., part of Marinakis’ Capital Group, successfully completed an unsecured bond offering of 250 million euro at a 3.75% coupon with a seven-year maturity, listed on the Athens Stock Exchange with proceeds used to repay existing debt, fund capital expenditures for its newbuilding program, and support working capital.
On 17 March 2026, Capital Tankers Corp., a crude oil tanker company backed by Capital Maritime & Trading Corp. of Evangelos Marinakis, was listed on Euronext Growth Oslo. The company’s initial public offering became the largest capital raising ever carried out by a shipping company on the Oslo Stock Exchange, raising approximately $500 million and valuing the company at around $2 billion.
Municipal councillor In May 2014, he opted to become involved in local government, specifically in the municipality of Piraeus, the city where he was born and raised. He participated in the independent ballot of the former Vice President of Olympiacos, Yannis Moralis, and was subsequently elected as a municipal councillor with 13,215 votes, the highest number of votes cast for any candidate from any faction.
The primary focus of his electoral campaign was his opposition to the privatization of the port, as planned by the government. He proposed that the Municipality of Piraeus assume control of the port's operations. (The operation of the port was ultimately sold to Cosco group in April 2016).
In light of the 2019 local elections, in which he was a candidate once more, the SYRIZA mayoral candidate made the following observation: "In approximately 104 meetings of the municipal council of Piraeus, during his term of office, Vangelis Marinakis was absent in approximately 80 of them, while in the remaining 24 he made an appearance as a guest."
Nevertheless, the electorate once more selected him as their preferred candidate for the city council, with a total of 15,816 votes.
Sports Since mid-2010, Marinakis has owned Piraeus' hometown team Olympiacos, and serves as its president.According to the Olympiacos website official biography Marinakis served as president of the Super League Greece and vice-president of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) from August 2010 until September 2011. During his presidency of Olympiacos, the team won the Greek League title for seven consecutive seasons from 2010–11 to 2016–17, as well as 2020 to 2022; and the National Cup for the 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15 and 2020 seasons. In May 2024, they won the UEFA Europa Conference League title against Fiorentina and became the first Greek club to win a European competition. Marinakis dedicated the success to the entire Greek people. In the same year Olympiacos won for the first time the UEFA Youth League in 2023 - 2024 after beating Milan 3–0.
In May 2017, it was announced that Marinakis had completed a transaction to become the majority shareholder in English Championship club and former double European Cup winners Nottingham Forest.
The Nottingham Post noted that Marinakis' acquisition of the club heralds "an exciting future that gives genuine reason for optimism". Meanwhile, manager Mark Warburton commented that he expected Marinakis and his team to be ambitious for Nottingham Forest. "They are aware of the club's stature and they are good football people," Warburton was quoted as saying.
Following his takeover of Forest, Marinakis aimed for the club to qualify for Europe within five years, as well as having a redeveloped stadium and training ground. Although Forest announced £50 million plans to redevelop to the City Ground and the Nigel Doughty Academy, on 29 June 2022, they won promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years, justifying the efforts and dreams of Marinakis. In November 2023, he completed the takeover of Portuguese club Rio Ave, investing over €20.5 million to reportedly settle debts and upgrade facilities, in collaboration with football agent Jorge Mendes.
On 31 January 2024, Marinakis hosted a conference at the City Ground with Harvard University and the Lilian Thuram Foundation focusing on tackling racism and gender inequality in football.
Media In September 2016, Marinakis, through his company Alter Ego Media, won one of four national television licenses auctioned in Greece after spending EUR 73.9m ($82.8m) in a highly unusual competitive bidding process. The license was however revoked on 26 October 2016 since the Greek Council of State held that the TV license law of Minister of State Nikos Pappas was unconstitutional.
In July 2017, Alter Ego was confirmed by a Greek first-instance court as the acquirer of the Lambrakis Press Group (DOL). The court approval for the transfer ownership of DOL to Alter Ego followed the latter's success as the highest bidder in an auction process held earlier in 2017. The court ratified the sale and granted a request by DOL staff that the auction procedure be accepted as valid. The completion of the transfer of ownership was also supported by trade unions representing DOL staff. DOL is one of Greece's historic major media groups, and includes the top selling Ta Nea and To Vima newspapers, two of the country's oldest dailies, as well as a popular news portal, magazines and a radio station. As of March 2018, the agreement for DOL has not yet been approved by the Competition Committee. It also holds a 22% stake in Mega Channel TV station.
In February 2021, Marinakis wrote the lyrics of the hit song "Excitement" ("Eksapsi") by Greek pop star Natassa Theodoridou. Following the song's release, it reached one million views on YouTube within the first six days.
On 27 January 2025, Alter Ego Media was officially listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, with demand for shares surpassing the offering by 11.9 times, successfully raising approximately 57 million euros.
Awards and distinctions