Traianos Dellas

Aris

Dellas started playing football professionally in 1993 at Aris for two years, where he helped the Thessaloniki side qualify for the 1994–95 UEFA Cup. He played alongside Fanis Katergiannakis, who was also part of the Greek squad at Euro 2004. In the summer of 1994, Dellas was loaned to Panserraikos for two seasons, where he quickly became a regular.

Sheffield United

Dellas came back to Aris before leaving for England to join Sheffield United. He was best remembered by fans at Bramall Lane for a game against Tranmere Rovers in March 1999. With the Blades 2–0 down, Dellas came on as a substitute and scored twice as they won 3–2. His other goal came from an impressive 30-yard strike in a home game against Portsmouth, another late winner.

AEK Athens

In the summer of 1999, Dellas returned to Greece and signed for AEK Athens through a recommendation by Vasilis Dimitriadis. He won the Greek Cup in 2000, playing alongside the likes of Demis Nikolaidis and Vasilios Tsiartas. Dellas had a fairly good presence for two season, but a fall-out with club president Chrarilaos Psomiadis, as well as the manager Fernando Santos led to his release on 5 August 2001.

Perugia

On 4 September 2001 Dellas signed for the Italian club, Perugia. However, Dellas was dropped from Perugia's first team after a disagreement over his contract and he did not make a single appearance in the last six months of the season, playing only eight matches overall.

Roma…

Dellas earned his first cap for Greece in April 2001 in a 2–2 draw with Croatia. Dellas had an exceptional tournament at Euro 2004, partnering again with his former teammate at AEK, Michalis Kapsis in the centre of what became an almost impenetrable Greek defence, operating as a sweeper, and keeping a clean-sheet in a 1–0 victory over hosts Portugal in the final; his performance led to him being voted into the tournament all-star squad. During the semi-finals, he scored the only silver goal ever in the last minute of first half of extra time against the Czech Republic, allowing Greece to progress to the final. This was his only goal for the Greek squad. The coach of Greece called him 'the Colossus of Rhodes' in respect of his performances in the tournament and the moniker is now widely used in the press. After Euro 2004, Dellas continued to be the heart of the Greek defense, but missed nearly eight months in 2005 due to injury. His absence was seen as a major factor in Greece's failed 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. Two years later, Dellas helped Greece qualify for Euro 2008 but could not find his form of 2004 as Greece exited the group stage without any points and having scored just one goal. He was also part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign but was not called up after the victory over Israel on 1 April 2009. Subsequently, he was not included in the provisional squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

On 4 April 2013, Dellas was appointed as AEK Athens's new coach, replacing Ewald Lienen, with Akis Zikos being appointed as assistant manager. Following AEK's relegation from the Super League, Dellas remained at the club's wheel in Greece's third division, instead of the second tier in order to clear the team's debts. He successfully led the team back in the Super League in 2015. On 20 October 2015, Dellas resigned, after a 4–0 loss to Olympiacos. On 7 November 2015, he signed a contract with club Atromitos. On 12 January 2018, he signed a contract with Panetolikos. He resigned on 19 April 2019. On 10 November 2020, Panetolikos announced his return as the manager of the club in a need of gaining points for avoiding relegation. His second tenure ended officially on 5 June 2021, after the club thanking him for having successfully avoided relegation for the club, which was achieved thanks to an away goal in a (2–1) defeat, and a late goal victory at home (1–0) in the 2nd leg of the relegation play-offs.

Delas’s first marriage lasted for 8 years. Dellas was married to Greek gymnast and model Gogo Mastrokosta. Τhe civil wedding took place on, 11 September 2008 and the religious wedding was on, 28 May 2010. They were married up to her death on 25 May 2026.They have one daughter.