Panajot Pano

Panajot Pano

Panajot Pano in 1964
Personal information
Date of birth	7 March 1939
Place of birth	Durrës,[1] Albania
Date of death	19 January 2010 (aged 70)[2]
Place of death	Jacksonville, Florida, United States[2]
Playing position	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1957–1960	SK Tirana	28	(8)
1960–1975	Partizani Tirana	210	(136)
National team
1963–1973	Albania	28	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Panajot Pano (7 March 1939 – 19 January 2010) was an Albanian football player. He started his career as a goalkeeper in the SK Tirana youth academy, but he became the most prolific centre-forward of their arch-rivals, Partizani Tirana. During his eighteen-year career he played 24 matches with the Albanian national football team and was awarded the Albanian UEFA Jubilee Award.

Career

Early career

Pano was born in Durrës,^[1] to ethnic Greek parents (Greek: Παναγιώτης Πάνου Panagiotis Panou) that came from Lefterhor, Delvinë.^[3][4] He began his football career with SK Tirana in 1954 as a 14-year-old, joining their youth team which was coached by the former national team manager Adem Karapici initially and then Xhavit Shyqyri Demneri until the age of 16. He was handed his under-19s debut with SK Tirana by Demneri on 18 July 1956 in a youth national championship game against Korabi Peshkopi and he scored his first goal for the side on 5 August of the same year against FK Kukësi.

SK Tirana

Myslym Alla first called up Pano to the senior side in 1957 as an 18-year-old, which was when he was handed his professional debut in a Republic Cup game against Besa Kavajë. He remained a member of the under-19 team at the time and had to wait until the following season before he would establish himself as a first team member, and he made his league debut on 4 May 1958 in a Tirana derby match against Dinamo Tirana, where he also scored his first professional goal in the 4-0 win. He played his final game for SK Tirana on 9 December 1959 against Besa Kavajë in a game which ended in a 4-2 win for Pano's side.

Partizani

"If Panajot Pano doesn’t remember me, I remember him."

—Franz Beckenbauer, 1990^[5]

He played his first game for Partizani Tirana under Rexhep Spahiu on 14 February 1960, in a game against Dinamo Tirana, which is also when he would score his first goal for his new club in the 3–0 win.

Honors

He won four Albanian championships with Partizani Tirana, five Albanian Cups, and in 1970, the Balkans Cup. On the international front, he played 25 times (3 goals) for the Albania national football team.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Albania by the Football Association of Albania as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.^[6]

On 6 March 2009, Pano received the order Honor of the Nation from the President of Albania, Bamir Topi. This was the first time in the history of Albania that a footballer was honored with the Honor of the Nation order.

Death and Personal Life

He died at 70 in Jacksonville, (Florida, United States) on 19 January 2010 after suffering a heart attack.^[2]

His son Ledio Pano, became also a well known football player and played for the football clubs of Partizani, Luftëtari, Xanthi FC and Pas Ioannina. He was also capped several times with Albania.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Goals in Albanian championships

Season	Team	Goals
1958	SK Tirana	2
1959	SK Tirana	6
1960	Partizani	7
1961	Partizani	14
1962–63	Partizani	17
1963–64	Partizani	10
1964–65	Partizani	7
1965–66	Partizani	6
1966–67	Partizani	10
1968	Partizani	17
1969–70	Partizani	11
1970–71	Partizani	17
1971–72	Partizani	9
1972–73	Partizani	4
1973–74	Partizani	7
TOTAL		144

References

1. "Hellenes Abroad / Greece". Greece of the World. 2010-01-21.
2. "Sporti Shqiptar Online". Sportishqiptar.com.al. 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
3. World Council of Hellenes Abroad Day of National Mourning in Honour of the Greek Albanian Footballer Panajot Pano
4. Barkas, P. "Θλίψη για το θάνατο του Παναγιώτη Πάνου, θρύλου του αλβανικού ποδοσφαίρου". Retrieved 30 June 2014.
5. "In Memoriam : Panajot Pano "The Greatest Soccer Player in Albania"!". Albania Soccer. 20 January 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
6. Archived 17 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
7. "Ledio Pano". Bundesliga.weltfussball.at. 1968-05-23. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
8. "Football : Ledio Pano". Footballdatabase.eu. 1968-05-23. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
9. "Ledio Pano - Steckbrief". SPOX.com. 1968-05-23. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
10. "UEFA EURO 2012". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2010-09-10.

External links

• UEFA.com article on Albania's Golden Player
• Albania Sport
• Ndahet nga jeta Panajot Pano