Giannis Ioannidis

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Giannis Ioannidis (Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; born 26 February 1945 in Thessaloniki, Greece) is a Greek New Democracy (ND) politician and a famous ex basketball coach. Ioannidis was born in Thessaloniki, and studied Agriculture in the Faculty of Geotechnical Sciences at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

During his youth, he became a member of the Aris Thessaloniki basketball team at the age of 15 and he later went on to coach and manage the club to conquer a total of 8 Greek Championships and 6 Greek Cups, and also to participate at 3 consecutive FIBA Champions' Cup Final Fours. Later, he worked in AEK, Olympiacos, and in the Greek national basketball team. He is considered to be the best Greek basketball coach, since he is the one with the most titles won (with 18 all together, 14 with Aris and 4 with AEK).

He announced his retirement from professional basketball in the year 2004, before he was elected a New Democracy MP for the Thessaloniki A constituency in the 2004 general election, and re-elected in 2007. Ioannides is married and he has one daughter.From September 2007 he is Deputy Minister Of Culture Responsible for Sports.