Michael Bakakis was born on 18 March 1991 in Agrinio, Bakakis began his football career with local side Panetolikos. His first professional appearance was a win match against Fokikos on 21 January 2009. In the summer of 2011 he transferred to Chania. He returned to Panetolikos on 31 July 2012.
AEK Athens
On 15 April 2014 AEK Athens announced the agreement with the player for a 4-years' contract. In February 2015, shortly before the crucial match against Olympiakos for the Greek Cup, Bakakis stated that "We must be determined, passionate and concentrated. First of all we want to win the Football League title, so that AEK will return where they belong. But we are interested in the Greek Cup as well. It would be a dream come true if we manage to win both." On 20 May 2015 in a home match against Olympiakos Volos he suffered a cruciate rupture, which left him out of the pitch for 6 months. The 26-year-old right back's contract had been due to expire in the summer of 2017 but that has now been stretched to 2019 by his club. Bakakis always had the desire to remain at AEK Athens and he was more than happy to commit his future to the club for the next two years. On 12 April 2017, Bakakis agreed to a contract extension with AEK, until the summer of 2020. At the start of the 2017–18 season he switched his number from 27 to 2. On 25 July 2017 he made his debut in the Champions League in a 2–0 home loss against CSKA Moscow for the third qualifying round. On 23 February 2018, Bakakis, was included in Europa League's Team of the Week for his performance in a 0–0 away draw against Dynamo Kyiv. The 27-year-old defender has been in excellent form for experienced Spanish manager Manolo Jimenez's team during 2017–18 season, playing mainly as central or left defender even if his natural position is at the right place of the defensive line. On 29 August 2018, Bakakis agreed to a contract extension with AEK, until the summer of 2023. On 10 November 2019, the 28-year-old Greek international scored only the third goal of his AEK career, and his first strike in four-and-a-half years when he let fly from the edge of the box with a powerful shot which left Sokratis Dioudis no chance, in a devastating 3–2 away loss against Panathinaikos.
