Background
He was born in 1942 and began his career at Nea Genea in the town of Nea Nikomedia (now a part of Veria), Imathia.
He was born in 1942 and began his career at Nea Genea in the town of Nea Nikomedia (now a part of Veria), Imathia.
He joined AEK in time for the 1963 season for the paltry sum of 140,000 drachmas. He with Kostas Nestoridis were one of the best scoring couples in " history and beloved by the fans. In 1980, Papaioannou left Greece to continue his career at New York Pancyprian-Freedoms, as a player-coach.
When his playing career was finally over, Papaioannou tried his hand at coaching (Kerkyra Football Club, etc) without much success.
He scored a record 234 goals in 481 games in the Greek A League which was to be surpassed by his teammate Thomas Mavros. He was given the award of statistically the Best Greek Football Player ever to play the game.
Papaioannou was capped 61 times by the Greek National Football Team scoring 21 goals. During his career many teams sought his services, most notably Real Madrid during the mid-1960s.