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The announcement came Tuesday
by Team owner Joey Saputo: “John
Limniatis is now the head coach of
the Montreal Impact.”
“It’s an honour for me to be here
today and to become head coach
of the Impact,” said Limniatis. “I’m
very excited by this new challenge
and also to be joining this great
organization.
Our mission is to do our best and to put
everything in place to make sure the team
will be successful. We have a solid technical
team who is very familiar with the soccer
culture in Montreal and in the league.”
“I’m very happy to name John Limniatis
as head coach,” said the new Impact technical
director Nick De Santis. “John has all
the experience, the character, the leadership
and the qualities needed to coach this
team.”
Limniatis will count on three assistants
for the season: Andrea Di Pietrantonio,
who was named last Thursday, Marc Dos
Santos, who is also the head coach of the
Trois-Rivières Attak, and Youssef Dahha,
who remains the goalkeeper coach.
As a player, John Limniatis was a member
of the Impact’s inaugural edition, in
1993. Was part of the team’s starting
eleven when the Impact beat the Colorado
Foxes 1-0 in the playoff final and won the
1994 league championship... Also helped
Montreal win the regular-season titles in
1995 (17-7 record), 1996 (21-6) and 1997
(21-7)... Proclaimed the league’s Defender
of the Year in 1996... Picked on the first
all-star teams in 1996 and 1997... Had his
busiest seasons with the team in 1996 and
1997, spending more than 2,200 minutes
on the field each of those years and helping
the Impact post the best defence in the
league both times... Was team captain...
Played a total of 150 games with Montreal
outdoors... Effective defensively but also
as a ball distributor, played mostly as a
central defender, but also as a midfielder...
Also played for the Impact indoors in the
NPSL.
He was also head coach of the Impact
indoor team, in 1999-2000 and was assistant
coach in mid-season in 2000. He was
honoured by the Impact as Team Builder
on May 10, 2006. He has been technical
director of the AAA teams of the Lac St.
Louis Soccer Club since 2003.
ELSEWHERE
Limniatis was only 20 years old when
he won his first cap with Canada’s senior
team on September, 30th 1987 in San Salvador.
Moved on to play five seasons in
Greece, with Aris Salonika (1st div.) and
Panetolikos Agrinio (2nd div.)... Has 44
caps with the Canadian World Cup team...
Only 25 players in the history of Canadian
soccer have 40 caps or more with the
national team... Notably played in World
Cup qualifiers for the 1990, 1994 and 1998
World Cups.
Limniatis becomes the seventh head
coach in Impact history.
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