At a café in Astoria, Queens on an early December evening, I sat down with a new friend, who seems much more like an old friend, considering a series of tragic events that have brought us together during the past few months. Sitting across from me is 33 year-old Peter Philipakos, retired professional soccer player. Peter is a Greek-American, who was born and raised on Long Island, New York, and rose to fame and found success playing professional soccer in Europe. He began playing soccer at the early age of 8, and fell in love with the game. “I’m passionate about it, I love the game, I love the sport” Philipakos said when I asked him how he first got into soccer.
He said that it had all started when he was 12 years old. There was a scout who came to watch a game of 16 year olds, and although Peter was only 12 at the time, one of the teams needed an extra player, and they called Peter to play because he was just that good, despite being four years younger. The scout coming to that game that day “changed everything” said Peter. This same scout would stay with Peter for years to come. Philipakos attended college at American University, and after only a short stay he soon realized that college wasn’t for him, that he would not finish, and that his true passion in life was to play professional soccer, so he didn’t feel the need to waste any more time in school. He called his scout who had him on a plane to Europe the very next day. Peter went to Greece for a trail, where they threw him into the fire. He was put in a scrimmage game with professional players, and he scored more than once. “They put me up against the biggest players in the league” said Peter when talking about that first trial game. The next day Peter was offered a 3 year contract with AEK in Greece, he moved to Greece that day.
While playing so well for AEK, 19 year-old Peter finished out the season six months later with the team. Once the season ended, the “number 1” team in the league at that time was called Olympikos, and the President of the team called Peter, explaining that they had to have time and were going to buy him out of his existing contract with AEK. Peter was reluctant because he was comfortable with them, he loved his teammates and had a good thing going, but in the end Olympikos offered him more money and a better deal, so he had no other choice but to take it.
After a successful two years with Olympikos, the team changed coaches. Peter and his new coach quickly butted heads, and tensions began to run high. Peter decided to break his own contract with Olympikos, and when I asked why he quickly replied with “no one was going to tell me what to do at that point in my life”. Peter felt that his coach was too involved in the personal lives of the players and that didn’t sit right with him. He felt that life had more to offer. This was a big scandal in the soccer world in Europe, Peter was looked down on for leaving the biggest team in Greece, and he was also gaining a reputation for partying too much. His career seemed to be suffering because of his personal life, but Peter wasn’t going to let the politics of the league get in the way of him “living his life” as he said. After taking some time to himself, returning home to New York to get his life in order, Peters agent, Ted, found him a spot on a team in the Czech Republic, where he stayed for two years. When I asked Peter about his experience there he responded by saying that “ it was one of
the toughest times in my life” for more reasons than one. Aside from being constantly injured and in and out of surgery, Peter was in a foreign country, where he didn’t speak the language, and didn’t have any friends or family around him, he was lonely. He went on to explain that it was an overall good experience being there and being alone. “ I grew up, I saw a lot of different stuff” said Peter, when asked about Czech Republic
Peter Philipakos had a controversial professional career, being that he was so young, became reckless at a point, and had little to no guidance when it came down to choose teams and sticking with them. He jumped around from team to team, country to country, and when I asked him how he felt about it all Peter replied “ if I could go back I wouldn’t change anything, I did everything my way and I really enjoyed my time in Europe. Now retired and working in Manhattan as a Jeweler, Peter is engaged to long-time girlfriend Natasha, and he is living a simpler life in Astoria.
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