Giannis Vardinogiannis

"See also: Panathinaikos FC"

Giannis Vardinogiannis ( _el. Γιάννης Βαρδινογιάννης) (born March 27, 1955 in London, UK) is a Greek of Cretan descent, the first-born son of oil tycoon Vardis Vardinogiannis. He went to study at Vassar College in the United States where he majored in economics. He is a former car rally champion with many participations in the international Acropolis Rally, and has won many times the Greek Rally Champion title. Since his retirement from the sport, in the early 90s, he works in the family business, which has interests in oil, television broadcasting, publishing, shipping, etc. The Vardinoyannis family own the independent oil refinery Motor Oil (Hellas) S.A., in whose Board of Directors Yannis Vardinoyannis also serves.

In 2000, he assumed full ownership of Panathinaikos FC after buying out his uncle Giorgos Vardinogiannis' share. He maintains various business interests of his own, such as the Ferrari dealership in Greece. On June 152007 Giannis Vardinogiannis was elected president of the Greek Super League.

On April 13, 2008, more than 35,000 Panathinaikos supporters were gathered in the centre of Athens to a peaceful march, to protest against Giannis Vardinogiannis. The grand majority of Panathinaikos fans, believe that Giannis Vardinogiannis' leadership is inadequate as Panathinaikos has won only one Greek Championship in the last 12 years. Some of the team's football legends such as Frangiskos Sourpis, took part in the protest.