Alexandros Tziolis

Alexandros Tziolis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Τζιόλης; born 13 February 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Alexandros Tziolis
Personal information
Full name Alexandros Tziolis
Date of birth (1985-02-13) 13 February 1985
Place of birth Katerini, Greece
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1995–2002 Apollon Litochorou
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2005 Panionios 63 (3)
2005–2009 Panathinaikos 84 (5)
2009 → Werder Bremen (loan) 15 (1)
2009–2011 Siena 13 (0)
2010–2011 → Racing Santander (loan) 10 (0)
2011–2012 Racing Santander 12 (0)
2012–2013 Monaco 3 (0)
2012–2013 → APOEL (loan) 30 (0)
2013–2017 PAOK 66 (3)
2014 → Kayserispor (loan) 15 (0)
2017 Heart of Midlothian 16 (1)
2017–2019 Al-Fayha 54 (3)
Total 381 (16)
National team
2001–2005 Greece U21 13 (3)
2005–2018 Greece 75 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:43, 16 May 2019 (UTC).

He has been a Greek international since 2005 until his international retirement in 2018. In this process, he won 75 caps, scoring twice. He appeared in two World Cups (2010, 2014) and Euro 2008.

Club career

Panionios

Tziolis began his playing career as a teenager in a local team called Apollon Litochorou. He played there for about seven years and in 1995, a Panionios scouter spotted his talent and brought him to Athens. He was an integral part of Panionios team for three seasons, playing 61 matches and scoring three goals. As a result, Panathinaikos offered Panionios €650,000 and signed him.

Panathinaikos

Tziolis initially established himself as a first-team player for Panathinaikos ahead of Igor Biscan during the 2006–07 season. In April 2007, he scored a goal helping his club break Skoda Xanthi's unbeaten home run in the Superleague Greece and secure a place in the Greek Cup final against Larissa.

By the end of 2007–08 season Tziolis was close to his exit from Panathinaikos but new manager Henk Ten Cate chose to keep him. After being mostly left out of the starting lineup at the beginning of 2008–09 season, he was included in the team in November and was voted "Man of the Match" in a 3–0 win in Germany against Werder Bremen in the UEFA Champions League, where he also scored the third goal for Panathinaikos. He went on to again established himself, linking well with teammates Gilberto Silva and Simao Mate Junior. In his time at Panathinaikos, he made 113 appearances (six goals, eight assists) with the club in all competitions.

Loan to Werder Bremen

On 7 January 2009, joined Bundesliga side Werder Bremen on a half-season loan, for a fee of €300,000. Werder Bremen secured the right to sign him permanently for a fee of €1.6 million.[2][3]

Tziolis played a regular role in Bremen's midfield and helped the club to make the UEFA Cup final against Shaktar Donetsk, on 20 May 2009. In the final, he came on as a substitute for Peter Niemeyer in the 103rd minute. After having nearly scored the equalizing goal when Bremen were a goal behind, the team lost the final of the last UEFA Cup edition to Shaktar with a final score of 2–1. Tziolis also featured in Bremen's 1–0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup final the same season, where Tziolis won his first ever trophy in professional football.

AC Siena

On 29 January 2010, Serie A club AC Siena, coached by former Panathinaikos coach Alberto Malesani, signed Tziolis for a fee of €1.4 million.[4][5] He made his debut in the Serie A on 7 February 2010 against Sampdoria. Tziolis was a regular for Siena, while the team was relegated to the Serie B.

Loan to Racing Santander

In August 2010, Tziolis moved to La Liga side Racing Santander on a one-year loan deal. In October 2010, he suffered a leg break in his nation's 1–0 win over Latvia and Racing Santander announced that the period of recuperation would be between four and six months.[6]

After a successful league campaign in the second half of the season Racing Santander signed him permanently from Siena for an undisclosed fee.[7]

AS Monaco

In January 2012, Tziolis joined Monaco for a reported transfer fee of €200,000.[8]

Loan to APOEL

On 31 August 2012, Tziolis joined Cypriot side APOEL on a season-long loan deal from AS Monaco.[9][10]

During his loan spell at APOEL, he became a league champion for the first time in his career, appearing in all but two of the league matches and helping his team to win the Cypriot First Division.

PAOK

On 25 June 2013, Tziolis signed a three-year contract with Greek Superleague side PAOK.[11] On 17 August, he made his league debut in a 3–0 home win against Xanthi. On 22 December 2013, he scored his first goal with the club in a home victory against Levadiakos. He was among the key players of PAOK in the first half of the 2013–14 season. In the winter transfer window he signed with Süper Lig team Kayserispor with the stated intention of securing his selection for the Greek national team at the 2014 World Cup.[12]

At the beginning of 2014–15 season, Tziolis returned to PAOK, playing 34 games in all competitions scoring only one goal in the Greek Cup. On 27 November 2015, in the UEFA Europa League match against Gabala FK, Tziolis reached 400 appearances with all his clubs for all competitions.[13]

Tziolis' contract with PAOK was scheduled to expire at the end of 2015–16 season, but would have been automatically renewed if he had played at least 70% of team's matches. In December 2015 the club stated it wanted to keep the international midfielder for many years and that Tziolis had had a first meeting with technical director Frank Arnesen, to speak about the terms of a contract extension.[14] On 19 August 2016, PAOK officially announced that the international midfielder was not in club's plans for the 2016–17 season.[15]

On 28 January 2017, it was announced that his contract with PAOK had been terminated.[16] [17] He left the club having made 111 appearances (four goals, five assists) in all competitions.

Loan to Kayserispor

On 31 January 2014, Tziolis signed a six-month loan contract with Kayserispor with Kayserispor being given the option to sign him permanently for a fee of €1.5 million,[18] Nine days later, he made his debut in the Süper Lig in an away loss against Elazigspor.

Heart of Midlothian

On 30 January 2017, Tziollis joined Scottish Premiership club, Heart of Midlothian on a six-month deal running to the end of the 2016–17 season.[19] and made his Hearts debut in the 4–1 win against Rangers. On 4 February 2017, Tziolis scored his first goal as Ian Cathro's side beat 10-man Motherwell 3–0 at Fir Park. At the end of the season, he was released by the club.

Al-Fayha

On 4 August 2017, Tziolis signed a two-year contract with newly promoted Saudi Professional League club Al-Fayha FC.[20][21] On 23 November 2017, he scored his first goal with the club in a 3–1 home win game against Al-Shabab FC. On 2 July 2019, Tziolis departs Al-Fayha after a two-year stay with the Saudi club. Al-Fayha FC did not offer Tziolis a new contract. The 34-year-old joined the Al-Fayha in 2017 and made 58 appearances across all competitions with three registered goals and assists.[22] On 30 August 2019, he terminated his contract with the club.

International career
Tziolis with National Team

After representing his country 13 times for the under-21 side, Tziolis made his international debut for Greece on 21 January 2006 in a friendly match against South Korea. He was a part of the defending European champions at UEFA Euro 2008, where he played once, when he came on as a substitute in a 1–2 loss to Spain in the group-stage. He also made four appearances in qualifying, including as a substitute in the play-off win away to Ukraine.[23]

He was also part of the squad that participated to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He played every minute of the tournament for his country, including their first ever World Cup win over Nigeria on 17 June 2010.

But, after the participation in two major events, Greece coach Fernando Santos dropped Alexandros Tziolis from his final 23-player squad for the UEFA Euro 2012. Tziolis had a poor season and could not even get a regular spot in the Monaco team, in Ligue 2, while his performance in the last friendlies did little to change Santos's mind.[24] Two years later, Tziolis exceptional season year with both PAOK and Kayserispor was his passport not only to be called by Santos to the 30-man provisional World Cup squad, but also to the final 23-man squad for 2014 FIFA World Cup.[25]

Style of play

Tziolis is a tall defensive midfielder, good in air, with powerful long shots. He plays a "silent" role in the game, and he tends to occupy the role of a deep-lying playmaker more than a defensive stopper.

Career statistics

Club
As of 30 May 2019
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup International Other Total
DivisionAppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Panionios 2002–03 Superleague Greece 140000000140
2003–04 213001000223
2004–05 280004000320
Total 633005000683
Panathinaikos 2005–06 Superleague Greece 211004000251
2006–07 Superleague Greece 242607000372
2007–08 272108040402
2008–09 100005000150
2009–10 2010000030
Total 84580240401205
Werder Bremen 2008–09 Bundesliga 151408000271
Total 151408000271
Siena 2009–10 Serie A 130000000130
Total 130000000130
Racing Santander 2010–11 La Liga 100000000100
2011–12 120410000161
Total 220410000261
Monaco 2011–12 Ligue 2 3000000030
Total 3000000030
APOEL 2012–13 Cypriot First Division 300000000300
Total 300000000300
PAOK 2013–14 Superleague Greece 1911010000301
2014–15 200217050341
2015–16 2723011050462
2016–17 0000100010
Total 663612901001114
Kayserispor 2013–14 Süper Lig 150000000150
Total 150000000150
Heart of Midlothian 2016–17 Scottish Premiership 161200000181
Total 161200000181
Al-Fayha 2017–18 Saudi Professional League 252200010282
2018–19 291100000301
Total 543300010583
Career total 3811627266015048918

International
Scores and results list Greece's goal tally first.[26]
International goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.7 June 2011Citi Field, New York City, United States Ecuador1–11–1Friendly
2.7 October 2017GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus Cyprus2–12–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Club
Werder Bremen
Panathinaikos
APOEL

Individual

References
  1. "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil: List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 11 June 2014. p. 18. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  2. Tziolis jolts to Bremen on loan deal Archived 4 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, greece.theoffside.com, 7 January 2009. Retrieved on 9 January 2009.
  3. Werder sign Tziolis on six-month loan Archived 3 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, sportingreece.com, 7 January 2009. Retrieved on 9 January 2009.
  4. Tziolis to Siena Archived 4 September 2012 at Archive.today, kathimerini.gr, 29 January 2010.
  5. Με μεταγραφή στη Σιένα ο Τζιόλης Archived 25 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine, sentragoal.gr, 29 January 2010.
  6. "Racing Santander Midfielder Alexandros Tziolis Faces Six Months Out After Suffering Broken Leg". goal.com. 11 October 2010.
  7. "Racing Santander sign Siena defender Alexandros Tziolis". nz.sports.yahoo.com. 31 August 2011.
  8. "Mercado: El Racing traspasa a Tziolis al Monaco". Goal. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  9. Υπέγραψε ο Τζιόλης (in Greek). APOEL FC. 31 August 2012. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  10. "Monaco : Tziolis à l'APOEL Nicosie" (in Greek). francebleu.fr. 31 August 2012. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  11. http://www.sport24.gr/football/omades/Paok/anakoinwse-tziolh-gia-3-xronia-o-paok.2307640.html, sport24.gr, 25 June 2013. Ανακοίνωσε Τζιόλη για 3 χρόνια ο ΠΑΟΚ.
  12. http://www.sport24.gr/football/EllinesExoterikou/tziolhs_eprepe_na_paizw.2653219.html, sport24.gr, 20 February 2014. Retrieved on 20 February 2014.
  13. 400αρίζει ο Τζιόλης, το... γιορτάζει ο ΠΑΟΚ (in Greek). sport-fm.gr. 26 November 2015.
  14. "PAOK and Tziolis in contract extension talks" (in Greek). sdna.gr. 7 December 2015.
  15. Φευγάτος ο Τζιόλης από τον ΠΑΟΚ! (in Greek). gazzetta.gr. 19 August 2016.
  16. Λύση συμβολαίου Αλέξανδρου Τζιόλη (in Greek). paokfc.gr. 28 January 2017.
  17. "PAOK terminate Alexandros Tziolis' contract". sdna.gr. 28 January 2017.
  18. "Τούρκος" ο Τζιόλης! (in Greek). APOEL FC. 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  19. "Hearts sign Greek duo Alexandros Tziolis and Anastasios Avlonitis". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  20. ""Σαουδάραβας" ο Τζιόλης!". sport24.gr. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  21. "Υπέγραψε στην Al-Fayha ο Τζιόλης". sport24.gr. 4 August 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  22. "TZIOLIS DEPARTS AL-FAYHA". agonasport.com. 2 July 2019.
  23. "Alexis Tziolis". BBC.
  24. "Greece drop Tziolis, Kone from Euro 2012 squad". samachar.com. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014.
  25. "Greece World Cup 2014 squad". The Daily Telegraph. 19 May 2014.
  26. "Tziolis, Alexandros". National Football Teams. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
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