Every Greek Player in Premier League History - Ranked
By Tom Gott
Greek football has found a new Premier League star in Kostas Tsimikas, who completed an £11.75m move to champions Liverpool this week. Once he steps out on the pitch, he'll join an... interesting list of countrymen who came before him.
Since the dawn of the Premier League, no fewer than 25 Greeks have spent time in England's top tier, several of whom made their name in Greece's miraculous Euro 2004 triumph.
Let's rank them all!
25. Theofanis Gekas
One of the biggest names in the history of Greek football, Gekas' loan to Portsmouth in 2008/09 was about as underwhelming as you could imagine.
He turned up, played one minute in a 2-2 draw with West Brom and was then never seen again.
24. Kostas Konstantinidis
Three appearances on loan with Bolton in 2002. One first-half red card.
That is Konstantinidis' legacy.
23. Vangelis Moras
Vangelis Moras - Greek centre back who played four minutes of football for Swansea in 2011. Currently at FC Bari. pic.twitter.com/icnMGf0nBp
— ForgottenFootballers (@ForgotAboutThem) July 25, 2016
Swansea put in such a shift to get a deal to sign Moras over the line in 2011, but the centre-back managed just three months and five minutes of action before being axed.
22. Kostas Chalkias
By the time Chalkias left Portsmouth in 2006, he had forged a reputation as a reckless goalkeeper who loved a howler or two. He conceded 11 goals in five games, and that was that.
21. Stathis Tavlaridis
Known as 'The Bull' for his love of an aggressive tackle, Tavlaridis struggled to make the breakthrough as a young centre-back at Arsenal before leaving England in 2004.
20. Charalampos Mavrias
Mavrias arrived at Sunderland in 2013 for over £2m but was immediately dropped over a lack of match fitness.
He managed just four games over three years before being shipped off to Germany.
After stints in Scotland and Croatia, he currently plays in Cyprus.
19. Kostas Stafylidis
A solid spell in the Championship with Fulham was followed by a switch to Stoke City in 2018, but a broken rib restricted Stafylidis to just five games.
18. Kostas Mitroglou
Mitroglou was supposed to be the answer to Fulham's goalscoring woes in 2014 when he sealed a £12m move to Craven Cottage. He'd been outstanding for Olympiacos beforehand.
He started just one of his three appearances, battling fitness issues and drifting off into the night soon after.
Infuriatingly for Fulham, he scored 52 goals in the next two seasons for Benfica.
17. Vassilis Lakis
Lakis is best known at Crystal Palace for an awful miss in a 1-1 draw with Arsenal and a red card against Manchester United in the 2004/05 season, in which the Eagles were relegated.
Big year.
16. Giannis Skopelitis
A £1m signing for Portsmouth in 2005, Skopelitis struggled to impress in England. He did manage 18 appearances, but Pompey weren't too sad to see him go.
15. Vassilios Borbokis
Following a successful spell at Sheffield Utd, Greek full-back Vassilios Borbokis made 16 apps for Derby ('99-'00). pic.twitter.com/XA3SCm7yjH
— ForgottenFootballers (@ForgotAboutThem) April 11, 2016
16 appearances for Derby County in 1999 was by no means a bad return for Borbokis, but a jaw injury saw him lose his place and he then spent a year on the sidelines.
14. Georgios Georgiadis
Former winger Georgios Georgiadis spent the 1998/99 season with Newcastle, making ten (uninspiring) appearances before returning to Greece.
13. Giorgos Donis
Donis became the first Greek player to play in the Premier League when he joined Blackburn in 1996, and he did a thoroughly average job of flying the flag, netting two goals in 21 games.
12. Orestis Karnezis
One of those signings who should have been good but were average at best, Karnezis did a solid job between the sticks on loan with Watford in the 2017/18 campaign.
He played his part in the Hornets' survival with a stunning save to deny Xherdan Shaqiri, but a solid run towards the end of the season wasn't enough to convince Watford to sign him permanently.
11. Apostolos Vellios
Vellios spent most of his three years with Everton in the reserves, but he did manage three goals and one assist in 22 senior games between 2011 and 2014.
The super sub netted all those three goals in his first 235 minutes of action, and by the end of the 2011/12 season, he boasted a club-high average of one goal every 86 minutes.
10. Konstantinos Mavropanos
We're yet to see the best of the 22-year-old Arsenal centre-back, but Mavropanos has shown a few flashes of exciting potential since joining the club back in 2017.
9. Georgios Samaras
Towering forward Samaras was brought to England by Manchester City in 2006, becoming the most expensive Greek player at the time at £6m.
Alleged attitude problems plagued his time with City, but he did bag eight Premier League goals in his first two seasons, and he was even invited back to England by West Bromwich Albion for a brief spell in 2014/15.
His best work, however, was done north of the border.
8. Sotirios Kyrgiakos
Initially arriving at Liverpool in 2009 as quite an underwhelming signing, Kyrgiakos quickly became somewhat of a cult hero at Anfield with a series of rugged performances.
The towering centre-back's momentum disappeared after a nasty red card against Everton and he was sold in 2011, and it's probably best if we don't talk about his return to England with Sunderland in 2012.
7. Angelos Basinas
Another Euro 2004 winner to play for Portsmouth, Basinas endured a challenging year at Fratton Park in the 2009/10 campaign and initially looked like a flop.
Manager Paul Hart wasn't a fan, but his replacement, Avram Grant, saw something special in Basinas and allowed him to flourish in midfield, and his industrious and creative showings helped lead Pompey to the FA Cup final.
6. Giorgos Karagounis
A reliable midfielder for Fulham between 2012 and 2014, the veteran Karagounis made his name by scoring a worldie in the FA Cup but then failed to replicate that afterwards.
Muscle injuries plagued his final season, but he still put in a real shift.
5. Theodoros Zagorakis
Zagorakis established himself as a popular figure during his three-year spell with Leicester between 1997 and 2000, with fans enamoured by the midfielder's work rate.
He bagged one goal in each of his three seasons there and even enjoyed a brief cameo as an emergency goalkeeper in a League Cup game.
Famously, he went on to win Euro 2004 as Greece's captain, was named player of the tournament and later became an MEP.
4. Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Perhaps the biggest name in Greek football these days, Sokratis sealed an expensive move to Arsenal in 2018 and has spent two years proving himself as a solid centre-back in the league.
Things have fallen off a bit as Sokratis has aged, but he still looks capable of doing a job when called upon.
3. José Holebas
A late bloomer, left-back Holebas enjoyed a number of outstanding seasons with Watford, racking up six goals and 14 assists in 114 games between 2015 and 2020.
They called him 'The Greek God of Assists', which should tell you all you need to know.
2. Nikos Dabizas
One of the few minority of Greeks who moved to England before the Euro 2004 success, Dabizas did a great job of showing the Premier League that there was some real untapped potential in his homeland.
With Newcastle, he played in two FA Cup finals and even netted a winning goal in a Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland.
The centre-back racked up an impressive 11 goals in his 148 appearances in the Premier League, but failed to hit the target in his final year with Leicester.
1. Stelios Giannakopoulos
It just had to be.
An unknown quantity when he joined Bolton in 2003, Stelios left England five years later as a cult hero and one of Bolton's finest-ever players.
He finished his Premier League career (which also included a brief spell with Hull) with 20 goals and three assists from 139 assists. One of those goals came in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham in April 2008 and effectively ensured Bolton would not be relegated that season. Iconic.