The sudden death of George Baldock last Wednesday night plunged Greek and English football into mourning. The 31-year-old right back of Panathinaikos and twelve times international with the national team of Greece (he had Greek roots from his grandparents) was found dead of pathological causes in the swimming pool of his home in Glyfada where he lived alone as his wife and their daughter lives in England.
The shock of the loss of “Giorgos” was and remains huge for all football fans, especially since the unfortunate footballer three days earlier was a key player in the derby with Olympiakos and was replaced in the 76th minute due to injury. The tragic irony is that this injury ruled him out of England’s match against England last Thursday at Wembley.
Baldock’s untimely death was added to another macabre list in Greece, that of footballers who died off the field from other causes, the main of which remains car accidents. The Documento went back in time and recalls those who “left” suddenly outside the stadiums (because there is also the other blacklist, with those who left inside the stadiums during matches or training) and spread sadness in Greek football.
The “Curse of Larissa”
The first shock for Greek football came on the afternoon of September 6, 1979, when two great talents of Larissa, 20-year-old Dimitris Mousiaris and 19-year-old Dimitris Koukoulitsios, died in a car accident. The two internationals were traveling to Athens in order to join the Elpidon national team. With them was their teammate Giannis Valaoras (who later developed into one of the most important figures in the history of the club), who had also been called up to the national team.
The three players were late to start, so they decided, instead of traveling by bus or train, to come to Athens in Mousiaris’ car. However, the road surface was slippery from the rain that had preceded it and at the 111th kilometer of the Athens-Lamia national road, at the height of the Boiotia Castle, Mousiaris lost control of the car and collided head-on with a KTEL Lamia bus coming from the opposite direction. The collision was fierce and the car carrying the three young internationals became a shapeless mass of ironwork. Mousiaris and Koukoulitsios, who was sitting right behind him, were pulled from the wreckage dead, while Valaoras, who was sleeping in the passenger seat, escaped with minor injuries.
On March 8, 1997, the “curse of Larissa” struck again. That time another one of AEL’s favorite children, North Epirus midfielder Lefteris Milos, died unjustly at the age of 31 as he breathed his last in a car accident that happened just outside the city of Larissa.
Six months later, on September 13, 1997, shortly before 2 p.m., the former international central defender with a huge career in AEL, PAOK and Olympiakos Giorgos Mitsibonas, while he was heading (together with the journalist Nikos Michos) in his car from Tyrnavos in Kozani, where his team Tyrnavos was going to play a friendly with the local team, collided head-on with a semi-truck at the height of the village of Giannouli. Mitsibonas was seriously injured and taken to the Larissa hospital, where he breathed his last.
The lost talent
On February 9, 1998, one of the greatest talents of Greek football and PAOK, the 22-year-old left back Panagiotis Katsouris, died early in the morning in a car accident in Thermi.
According to the police, Katsouris was driving at an excessive speed and lost control of the car, hitting a protective bridge parapet. The car was destroyed and the young football player was taken to the AHEPA hospital where his death was certified. His body was exposed in a popular pilgrimage and hundreds of dozens of PAOK fans as well as ordinary people rushed to say goodbye to him.
On the Sava river bridge
On Christmas Eve 2001, on December 22, Heracles football player Jovan Gojkovic tragically died in a car accident in Belgrade on his way back from a night out, when he lost control of his car for an unknown reason and hit a light pole on the Sava River Bridge, at the point where it joins the Danube. According to the police, his death was instantaneous. The 27-year-old Serbian footballer was killed in the early hours of Saturday, returning from a night out.
He didn’t make it to the wedding
On April 18, 2011, the Nigerian football player of Xanthi, Olubayo Antefemi, died in a car accident just outside of Kavala. The 26-year-old footballer was headed to Kavala airport, as he had taken leave for the holidays and was going to his hometown to get married.
Less known
On the evening of April 19, 2014, 19-year-old Corfu K20 player Andreas Nikas was killed in a traffic accident when the car he was riding in with three of his teammates went off the road and crashed into a pillar. The 19-year-old was in the passenger seat. His three teammates escaped injury.
However, last summer there were not a few lesser-known footballers who fell victim to the asphalt. On June 23, amateur football mourned the death of Stathis Hatzilambros of Ellopiakou who breathed his last after a car accident under unknown circumstances. The 26-year-old footballer previously played for Levadeiako, Thebes, Agios Ierotheos, PAO Roof and Paneleussinako.
In the morning of the same day, Christos Stavropoulos, the 31-year-old goalkeeper of AE Kranoulas, who participates in the championship of the A΄ category in EPI, was killed in a traffic accident. The unlucky goalkeeper was driving his IX at the 89th kilometer of the Ioannina – Igoumenitsa highway when it veered off course and crashed into a concrete fence.
On August 12, the 21-year-old football player Haris Pastras died, also in a traffic accident in Fthiotida. The former Olympiakos academy player was killed with his motorcycle near Arkitsa.
And the bloody summer ended on August 21 when the 22-year-old Christos Palandescu of PAO Ruf, only 22 years old, was involved in a traffic accident, was very seriously injured and ended up in hospital for a few days.
“George” from Steeple Clayton
George Baldock’s journey from England to Greece and from the shine of the Premier League to the Greek league
The name of the deceased George Baldock was heard for the first time for the national team when Angelos Anastasiadis was sitting on the bench (2018-19), however at that time his case had not progressed. He returned to the limelight when John Fan’t Schip took over the “blue and white”. The Dutch coach and his colleagues were looking for footballers with Greek roots who played in foreign leagues and could contribute to the national team. When Baldock was first struck he was open. He knew that he would not become an international player with the England national team, so he responded positively to the relevant proposal made to him by the Greek federation and the procedures immediately began for the right-footed back to acquire the right to participate in our national team.
The English footballer had Greek roots on his father’s side. “My grandmother, who has passed away, was 100% Greek. That’s how I’m even 1/4 Greek. I think I have the right to play for this team, it will be great, it will definitely be a proud moment for my family and for me to represent the country. I wish it would happen. I’m waiting for the process to be completed, I would never reject this possibility” Baldock had stated while waiting for the bureaucratic procedures to be completed.
Time passed, Fan’t Schip handed over the baton to Gustavo Poget and during his days Baldock made his debut in the Greek national team. On June 2, 2022, he came on as a substitute for Lazaros Rota in the 92nd minute of the Ireland-Greece match (0-1). As a starter, he played in the very next match, again away from home, against Kosovo (1-0 win). In total he played in twelve games with the blue and white shirt.
His full name was George Henry Ivor Baldock and he was born in Steeple Clayton, a small village near Buckingham, England, on March 9, 1993. He was the third son of the family, with two older brothers. His football career started with Milton Keynes Dons in 2010 at the age of 17 and since then he has played for several English clubs (Northampton Town, Tamworth, Oxford United), while he played for a short time in Iceland. On July 3, 2012, with the shirt of IBV Vestmannaeija, he made his first appearance in a European competition against the Irish St. Patrick’s Athletic, for the first match of the first qualifying phase of the Europa League.
In January 2016 Milton Keynes Dons, after a series of loan spells, announced that Baldock was returning to the club and in June he was reunited with former Oxford manager Chris Wilder when he joined the Sheffield United roster. In April 2019, Baldock saw the Blades win promotion to the Premier League after a twelve-year absence. He left Sheffield in May 2024 having made 219 appearances with six goals.
Olympiacos and AEK had initially dealt with Baldock’s case, but he finally wore the shirt with the “clover”. On May 29, 2024, he was officially announced by Panathinaikos for three years. He was married with one child, with his family still in England.
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