Marinos Ouzounidis (, born 10 October 1968) is a Greek professional football manager and former player.

Club career Ouzounidis started his professional career playing for the Greek club Skoda Xanthi as a defender from 1987 until 1992.

He then transferred to Panathinaikos where he developed his skills as a libero defender, becoming an essential member of the team that conquered 1995 and 1996 Greek league championships. During this last period, the "Green Shamrocks" reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Good performances eventually resulted in a two-year term transfer to Le Havre AC in France. Ouzounidis returned to the Greek league in 1999, where he played with Paniliakos until 2001.

Ouzounidis finally left for APOEL in Cyprus and after winning the championship and the Super Cup in 2002, he retired there after the 2002–03 season.

International career Ouzounidis made 49 appearances with Greece. He was their captain under Vassilis Daniil management, playing alongside Nikos Dabizas, before the appearance of Traianos Dellas.

International statistics

+ Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsGreece19921019930019940019954019967119977019983119991602000102200120Total504

Scores and results list Greece's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ouzounidis goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Marinos OuzounidisNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1Kalamata Metropolitan Stadium, Kalamata, Greece1–03–01998 FIFA World Cup qualification2Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Athens, Greece3–03–0UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying3Kalamata Metropolitan Stadium, Kalamata, Greece3–14–1Friendly4Espenmoos, St. Gallen, Switzerland1–12–2Friendly

Managerial career When he finished his career as a football player, Ouzounidis managed the team of Kappadokes Alexandoupolis (Greek Fourth Division) as head coach. Later, in the 2005–06 season, he served as an assistant manager in Skoda Xanthi. In May 2006, he became the manager at APOEL. His first season was a very good one finishing first and winning the championship three games before the end of the season. His team also reached the semi-finals of the Cypriot Cup. He resigned from APOEL during the second season, after four draws and three defeats in the first 15 games.

He accepted an offer from AEL on 9 May 2008. In his first season at AEL, he was very successful driving the team into the playoffs and securing a spot in the next season's UEFA Europa League. His record in the first year seemed to confirm AEL chairman Piladakis' idea of using young Greek coaches to lead the team to success. His second year at AEL began badly as the team was knocked out in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, and on 22 February 2010, the young coach was sacked after the club had found themselves just above the relegation zone. On 9 August, Ouzounidis signed a contract with Iraklis. On 31 January 2011, with the club being only three points above relegation, he resigned from his position as manager. In May 2011, Ouzounidis returned to Skoda Xanthi, where he stayed until September 2012, resigning his post after suffering a 3−0 home loss against PAOK.

In the summer of 2013, Ouzounidis took over management of Super League side, Platanias, but left the club toward the end of 2013. In January 2014, he was appointed manager of fellow Cretan top tier club, Ergotelis, replacing Giannis Petrakis in mid-season.Ανέλαβε τον Εργοτέλη ο Ουζουνίδης He led the club to a 7th-place finish, the best in club history, accumulating a record 44 points (tied with 6th place local rival OFI). He left the club after the end of the 2013−14 season.

In December 2014, Ouzounidis was appointed as manager of Panionios, with which he had a high rate of success over two domestic campaigns, having recorded 28 wins and 20 draws in 70 games. On 10 August 2016, his contract with the club was terminated unilaterally, mainly because of disloyalty issues raised by the board, due to Ouzounidis simultaneously being in talks with Olympiacos over a potential career move.

On 1 December 2016, Ouzounidis agreed upon a one-and-a-half-year contract with Panathinaikos to take over the vacant managerial role at the club, right after the departure of former manager Andrea Stramaccioni. His first game in charge was a 1–0 victory over PAOK at Leoforos Alexandras Stadium three days later. He was credited with being eager to manage the team despite the chairman Giannis Alafouzos halting the club's funding and imposing radical budget cuts as a means of reducing Panathinaikos' debt. On 7 May 2018, Ouzounidis announced that he would leave the club after the expiration of his contract, expressing his openness to returning to Panathinaikos in the future under different financial and administrative circumstances.

On 25 May 2018, Ouzounidis was appointed as manager of then champions, AEK Athens, on a biennial contract, only hours after the departure of Manolo Jiménez from the club. After the first half of the 2018–19 Super League Greece season, AEK were performing very poorly in the league and expectations were very high after they won the league the season before. They also were the team with the worst performance stats in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage, being eliminated after losing all six group matches, scoring only two goals, conceding 13 goals, for and against the record of -11 and winning 0 points in their group. Ouzounidis was sacked after a 1–1 home derby draw with title favorites PAOK in February 2019.

After over a year break from the game, in February 2020, he returned for a second stint in the Cypriot First Division as manager of APOEL. Just like his first stint, he failed to help the team enter the group stages either of the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League and combined with poor form in the domestic league, he was subsequently dismissed as manager on 28 October 2020.

On 23 July 2021, Ouzounidis was fired as Universitatea Craiova head coach following a 0–1 loss against Albanian underdogs Laçi in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round.

On 27 February 2022, Ouzounidis was appointed as manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Faisaly.

On 21 January 2023, Ouzounidis was once again appointed as the manager of Al-Faisaly. He was sacked on 16 March 2023.

On 14 June 2023, Ouzounidis signed a contract to manage Iranian club Gol Gohar Sirjan.

Managerial statistics

Team From To Record APOEL Nicosia1 July 20067 January 2008 AEL1 July 200822 February 2010 Iraklis 9 August 2010 31 January 2011 Skoda Xanthi 1 July 2011 22 September 2012 Skoda Xanthi 3 December 2012 21 April 2013 Platanias 28 May 2013 4 November 2013 Ergotelis 20 January 2014 14 May 2014 Panionios Athens 9 December 2014 8 August 2016 Panathinaikos 1 December 2016 7 May 2018 AEK Athens 25 May 2018 5 February 2019 APOEL Nicosia 12 February 2020 28 October 2020 Universitatea Craiova 7 February 2021 23 July 2021 Al-Faisaly 26 February 2022 30 June 2022 Al-Faisaly 21 January 2023 16 March 2023 Gol Gohar Sirjan 14 June 2023 30 June 2024 Aris 12 December 2024 9 September 2025 Career totals

Honours As a player

Skoda Xanthi Beta Ethniki: 1988–89

Panathinaikos Alpha Ethniki: 1994–95, 1995–96 Greek Cup: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 Greek Super Cup: 1993, 1994

APOEL Nicosia Cypriot First Division: 2001–02 Cypriot Super Cup: 2002

As a manager APOEL Nicosia Cypriot First Division: 2006–07

Universitatea Craiova Cupa României: 2020–21 Supercupa României: 2021

Individual Super League Greece Manager of the Season: 2015–16

References

External links