Manolis Roubakis

Early career

Roubakis was born in Heraklion, Crete and started his career at the youth academy of Atsalenios in 1994. In 1998, he made his debut with the first team in a Delta Ethniki match against AO Chalkida and since then he was considered an indispensable member of the local Heraklion club. He scored 4 goals for Atsalenios in the 2000–01 Delta Ethniki.

First tenure at OFI Crete

In December 2001, Roubakis signed a 4-year contract with OFI Crete in the Alpha Ethniki; however, he joined his new club in January 2002, as Atsalenios needed him to play in 4 additional Delta Ethniki matches. He made his league debut on 3 February 2002, in an away match against Ethnikos Asteras which OFI won 3–2, coming as a substitute for Manolis Dermitzakis in the 75th minute. By the time Roubakis left OFI three years later, he made a total of 58 league appearances for the club and scored the winning goal in a 2–1 away victory against Aris on 28 September 2003.

Move to Panathinaikos

In January 2005, Roubakis was transferred to Panathinaikos FC for a reported fee of about 200K Euros and he signed a contract until summer 2009. This move was welcomed as a "dream come true" by the player, himself reporting that Panathinaikos was the club he supported as a child – however, the fans of OFI had a different opinion, accusing OFI's board of dishonesty, as (according to the fans) the board members promised they wouldn't sell Roubakis to Panathinaikos during the winter transfer period.

Roubakis never met Panathinaikos's expectations during his time there and only made 4 league appearances until the end of the 2004–05 season. After his fourth (and last) appearance for Panathinaikos on 27 February 2005 in a home match against Kerkyra, Roubakis was booed from the crowd due to his poor performance – he was substituted in the 51st minute by Panathinaikos manager Zdenek Scasny and never used again.

Return to OFI Crete

Roubakis was eventually released from Panathinaikos and returned to OFI in July 2005, signing a two-year contract. He made 25 appearances in the 2005–06 Alpha Ethniki, a season which ended with mixed feelings for the team, as the top-half favorites only escaped relegation during the league's final matchdays.

After OFI's disappointing previous season, Roubakis vowed to never repeat the team's poor performance and he set the goal towards continental qualification for the following 2006–07 season. Roubakis scored a goal 46 seconds after kick-off in an away game against Iraklis and contributed to another goal in the same match, which ended in a 3–2 victory for OFI. He scored another goal on 17 March 2007 in an away game against Egaleo, after an assist by Joseph Nwafor. Roubakis finished the season with 26 appearances, with OFI qualifying for the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup after PAOK's refusal to take part in it.

Before the start of the 2007–08 season, Roubakis was linked to newly promoted Beta Ethniki champions Asteras Tripoli, but a move did not materialize – instead, he voted by his OFI teammates as third captain behind Goran Drulic and Pierre Issa. However, there was no smooth sailing both for OFI manager Reiner Maurer and Roubakis after a bad start in the league, with OFI fans demanding the resignation of the former and contempting the latter for poor performance and for joining rival Panathinaikos three years before. Despite this, Roubakis managed to make 25 appearances for the club during that season.

In 2008, Roubakis, after seven years at OFI and continuous appearances in the first team, was considered a key player for yet another season. Until the end of the 2008–09 Superleague he earned 22 appearances to his name as well as OFI's only red cards for the season during 2 home matches against AEK Athens and Panathinaikos; however, OFI was relegated from the first division for the first time in 33 years.

Ergotelis

Roubakis signed a two-year contract with Ergotelis in July 2009. During his first season with Ergotelis, the club's manager Nikos Karageorgiou switched Roubakis' natural left back position to a defensive midfielder one, as he was trying to support fellow defensive midfielder Manoel Junior – both coped well, leading the championship's steal charts. Roubakis finished the 2009–10 season with 24 appearances to his name, 23 of which as a starter, with Ergotelis itself narrowly avoiding relegation.

Roubakis was a regular starter at the club during the 2010–11 season as well, however a bad performance during a 1–4 home defeat against Panathinaikos briefly put teammate Tomasz Wisio in contention of the left back position. Despite that, Roubakis appeared in 26 league matches for Ergotelis for a grand total of 2226 minutes, and played his 200th first division match against Olympiakos Volou. Roubakis didn't fit the plans of his manager, Nikos Karageorgiou, for the following season and as his contract was expiring in June 2011, he was released from the club.

Rouvas

After his Ergotelis contract was terminated, Roubakis struggled to find a suitable Greek or Cypriot club that would employ him – a return to Atsalenios in the Delta Ethniki or an early retirement were on the table. Finally in late January 2012, after months of inactivity, he signed a six-month contract for Gergeri-based Rouvas FC, a capture which was considered magnificent for a Football League 2 club. He made 12 league appearances for the club in the 2011–12 Football League 2 and scored two goals – one with an inswinging cross in a match against Kalamata and another against PAO Rouf.

Episkopi

In July 2012, Roubakis joined another Cretan football club, Episkopi, which became Delta Ethniki Group 10 champions in 2012 and was promoted to the Football League 2 for the first time in history.

Outside football

On 7 November 2010, still a player of Ergotelis at the time, Roubakis was a candidate for the municipal council of Heraklion at the 2010 Greek local elections – he gathered 1054 votes in the 4th administrative division of the city but did not win a seat.