- Dimitrios Papadopoulos
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This article is about the Greek football player. For the former Greek Basketball player, see Dimitris Papadopoulos (basketball).
Dimitrios Papadopoulos
Papadopoulos playing for Dinamo ZagrebPersonal information Full name Dimitrios Papadopoulos Date of birth 20 October 1981 Place of birth Gagarin, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Playing position Striker Club information Current club Celta Vigo Number 11 Youth career 1989–1999 Akratitos Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1999–2001 Akratitos 57 (20) 2001–2003 Burnley 39 (3) 2003–2008 Panathinaikos 126 (50) 2008–2009 Lecce 14 (1) 2009–2010 Dinamo Zagreb 13 (2) 2010– Celta Vigo 25 (0) National team 2001–2004 Greece U21 7 (7) 2002– Greece 24 (3) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 September 2011.
† Appearances (Goals).Dimitrios Papadopoulos (Greek: Δημήτρης Παπαδόπουλος; born 20 October 1981 in Gagarin, about 100 km from Tashkent, Uzbekistan – then part of Soviet Union) is a Greek footballer, currently playing for Celta Vigo.
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Playing career
Akratitos FC
He started his career from the youth academies of Greek minnows Akratitos, and made his debut in 1999, contributing to the team's promotion to Alfa Ethniki in 2001 for its first time in history.
Burnley
Shorthly after he was transferred to Burnley in England, where he stayed for 2 seasons, playing a total of 43 games and scoring 8 goals. On 20 August 2002 he won his first cap for Greece.
Panathinaikos FC
In July 2003 he moved to Panathinaikos. He starred in his very first season with the team, becoming its top scorer with 17 goals in 26 games in the 2003/4 double winning season for Panathinaikos which marked the team's first championship honor in almost 10 years of Olympiakos domination in Greek championship.
He was subsequently voted best footballer of that year in the league and was awarded a place in the Euro 2004 Greek squad that went on to win the tournament. He played in the game against Russia and had a contribution in Greece goal that determined its qualification to the next round. He also took part in the Greek Olympic Football team during the Olympic Games of Athens 2004 in the very same summer.
He has been since an integral part of Panathinaikos offense signing a 3 year extension with the team in the summer of 2006 and his stellar performances were one of the reasons that the team's board let fellow start Michalis Konstantinou leave the team. Thus far he has earned 24 caps scoring 3 times for the national team.
U.S. Lecce
On 13 November 2008 Serie A club Lecce announced to have signed Papadopoulos in a free transfer.[1] He made his Italian Serie A debut for Lecce on 18 January 2009 in a home match at the Stadio Via del Mare against Genoa C.F.C. coming on as a substitute for Gianni Munari late in the match. He scored his first goal in the Serie A on 19 April against A.S. Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.
Dinamo Zagreb
On 26 June 2009 he signed a three year contract worth 650 000€ per year with the Croatian champion Dinamo Zagreb. Dimitrios Papadopoulos starts to play more regularly and even though in March 2010 goes to Celta Vigo for his contribution to the Dinamo Zagreb, scoring goals to go forward in the Croatian cup and the Croatian League to win the Croatian title.
Celta Vigo
On 22 January 2010, Papadopoulos signed a contract with Celta Vigo until the end of the season. Things looked good for him, but in late April, he got injured and was unable to play quite regularly. During the next summer, Celta Vigo signed striker David Rodríguez and winger De Lucas in order to strengthen the squad. This fact relegated Papadopoulos to the position of third striker of the team and therefore he was not included in many of the team's lineups during that season. At the beginning of the 2010/2011 season, Celta Vigo's manager Paco Herrera claimed that he would not count with Papadopoulos any more,[2] putting pressure on him to force him to leave the club, due to his high salary and his poor performances. Although he has played more than 20 matches so far, he failed to score a single goal. His contract will expire in 2013.
National team
Dimitrios Papadopoulos made his debut in the Greek National Team the 20 November 2002 against Republic of Ireland and he was included in the squad of Euro 2004 that went on to win the tournament. His pass for the goal of Zisis Vryzas allowed Greece to pass the turn and qualify against France and then become Champion of Euro 2004. As Euro 2004 winners, Dimitrios Papadopoulos was included in the Greek squad for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany. Otto Rehhagel included him also for qualification to the UEFA Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.
Honours
- Panathinaikos
- Greek Championship: 2003–04
- Greek Cup: 2003–04
- Dinamo Zagreb
- Croatian First League: 2009–10
- Greece
- Individual
- Greek Footballer of the Year: 2004
References
- ^ "Trovato l'accordo con il calciatore Papadopoulos" (in Italian). US Lecce. 2008-11-13. http://www.uslecce.it/PaginaEvento.aspx?ID_TIPO_EVENTO=1&ID_EVENTO=291. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ http://www.farodevigo.es/deportes/2011/07/12/habra-tercer-descarte/562510.html
External links
- BDFutbol profile
- Dimitrios Papadopoulos at National-Football-Teams.com
- Dimitrios Papadopoulos – FIFA competition record
- Transfermarkt profile
Super League Greece Greek footballer of the year 1995: Georgiadis | 1996: Tsiartas | 1997: Nikolaidis | 1998: Nikolaidis | 1999: Georgatos | 2000: Liberopoulos | 2001: Alexandris | 2002: Nikolaidis | 2003: Giannakopoulos | 2004: Papadopoulos | 2005: Katsouranis | 2006: Liberopoulos | 2007: Liberopoulos | 2008: Salpigidis | 2009: Salpigidis | 2010: TorosidisCelta de Vigo – current squad Categories:- 1981 births
- Living people
- People from Jizzakh Province
- Greek footballers
- Association football forwards
- Superleague Greece players
- Akratitos FC players
- Panathinaikos footballers
- The Football League players
- Burnley F.C. players
- Serie A footballers
- U.S. Lecce players
- Prva HNL players
- GNK Dinamo Zagreb players
- Celta de Vigo footballers
- Greece international footballers
- UEFA Euro 2004 players
- 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- UEFA European Football Championship-winning players
- Olympic footballers of Greece
- Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Greek expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Expatriate footballers in Italy
- Expatriate footballers in Croatia
- Expatriate footballers in Spain
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