Alexis Kougias


Alexios "Alexis" Kougias is a Greek penologist, lawyer, ex-football player and football administrator. He is currently the Major Shareholder of AE Larissa FC.

Career

He studied law at the University of Thessaloniki and at the University of Athens, from where he graduated. Ηe first generated publicity in 1978, as an advocate of notorious criminal Vangelis Rochamis. He also practiced criminal law in known cases, including "the trial of Satanists", the trial of Argyris Saliarelis, the trial Express Samina disaster, the trial of the terrorist organizations Revolutionary People's Struggle
ELA and 17 November Group and many others. In December 2008 he took over the defense of the policeman who fatally shot 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos. According to his statements, he has taken 11,500 trials, including 5,000 felonies. In 2005, he assaulted in a public place the activist Gregoris Vallianatos because of an earlier personal conflict.

Football

He started playing football for Aris Petroupolis at the age of 18 in the second Division. He also played for Olympiakos Loutraki. In 1973, he was transferred to Iraklis Thessaloniki and was called in the Greek National team, but that same year injury from a car accident forced him to take 18 months leave. In 1978, he returned to Olympiakos Loutraki and later at Pelops Kiato.
Along with his career as a lawyer, he participated in sport. In 1997 and 2004 he served as president of AEK Athens, for short periods of time. On other occasions, he was president of Korinthos, Aris Petroupolis, Veria, PAS Giannina, Lamia and Panahaiki. Also he has represented Iraklis at the EPAE committee. In late 2008 he took over the presidency of Panachaiki 2005 and in May 2009 he took over ss major stakeholder, previously held by Kostas Makris. As a sports agent, he was involved in some controversial incidents where he participated in physical altercations with the match referee and the opponents' coach.
On January 19, 2011 Kougias' arrival outside the stadium of Panahaiki in Patras, created tension as fans of the team were hostile towards him. At the press conference, Kougias insulted the local journalist Christos Verganelakis and on January 20, the Union of Journalists Peloponnese-Epirus-Islands requested the intervention of the Chief Prosecutor of the First Instance Court of Patras on the matter.

Personal life

He lives in Athens. He has two children from his previous marriage to former Miss Greece, model Evi Vatidou.