Ioannis Fetfatzidis

Giannis Fetfatzidis

Personal information
Full name	Ioannis Fetfatzidis
Date of birth	(1990-12-21) 21 December 1990 (age 22)
Place of birth	Drama, Greece
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder Winger
Club information
Current club	Olympiacos
Number	18
Youth career
2004–2009	Olympiacos
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2009–	Olympiacos	51	(5)
National team‡
2010–	Greece U21	3	(0)
2010–	Greece	13	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 9 February 2013. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 31 May 2012

Ioannis "Giannis" Fetfatzidis (Greek: Ιωάννης Φετφατζίδης) (born 21 December 1990), also called simply "Fetfa" by fans, is a professional Greek footballer. He plays for the Greek club Olympiacos F.C. and the Greece national football team. He is a very versatile left-footed winger known for his pace, dribbling skills and agility. Because of these attributes, he is known as Greek Messi.^[2]

Early years [edit]

Fetfatzidis began playing football in the Vouliagmeni academies at age 6. His father was also a footballer for the lower league Glyfada Thunder. Fetfatzidis most significant spells were at the Glyfada and Sourmena Academies. He left Sourmena FC's youth team in 2004 (age 12) after he was spotted by coach Kostas Arzenis (Olympiacos Academies) and although there was competition from AEK Athens and Panathinaikos, he joined Olympiacos who helped him with his growth hormone treatment.^{[3][3] [4]}

Olympiacos [edit]

Fetfatzidis made his debut with Olympiacos F.C. in the Greek championship during the 2009–2010 season, participating in the win against Atromitos on 31 October 2009. Zico gave him his Champions League debut against Standard Liège on 4 November 2009 in Liège substituting Luciano Galletti in the 39th minute of play.

On 15 July 2010 in Tirana he made his first appearance in Europa League against Besa Kavajë replacing Jaouad Zairi in the 75th minute. Fetfatzidis scored his first European goal against Besa Kavajë in G. Karaiskakis Stadium in a high-score victory for Olympiacos F.C.. The match ended 6–1. Fetfatzidis scored his first goal in Superleague against Skoda Xanthi F.C on 16 October 2010, replacing Dennis Rommedahl. The match ended 0–3 victory for Olympiacos F.C.. His second goal, scored against Larissa in the last match of the season.

In early September 2010, Olympiacos F.C. reinforced his contract until 2015, increasing his wages and putting a €12.5 million release clause on his contract.^[5]

On 23 November 2011, Fetfatzidis gave Olympiacos a 1–0 victory over Olympique Marseille in the Champions League by scoring in the 82nd minute at the Stade Vélodrome, placing them in 3rd place in Group F.^[6]

Controversy followed the player in 2012. To everyone's surprise despite helping Greece qualify for Euro 2012 with matching winning qualifying goals, Fetfatzidis was quickly dropped from the team when the tournament finally arrived and spent the whole competition on the bench. Bizarrely at Olympiacos during the same season, despite having better goal/minute and assist/minute ratios than first team wingers like Djamel Abdoun, Fetfatzidis found himself planted to the bench for most the 2011-2012 season. ^[7] To further confuse the issue, from the start of the 2012 season, despite an excellent 2012 pre-season, Fetfatzidis has again been largely ignored at Olympiacos. This has in turn prompted questions from the media about why he has been abandoned as a player - with Sakis Tsiolis and other managers openly questioning why he is not being played despite outshining his peers and drawing comparisons to Kyriakos Papadopoulos's treatment at Olympiacos. ^[8] Lately, he has been in the starting line-up after the new manager, Michel.

Career Statistics [edit]

International career [edit]

Fetfatzidis made his debut with Greece in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying participating in the 1–0 win against Latvia on 8 October 2010 at the G. Karaiskakis Stadium as a 82nd minute substitution for Sotiris Ninis. The following game with Israel he was substituted early for Sotiris Ninis who picked up an injury. On 9 February 2011, he scored his first goal for the national team at the AEL FC Arena in Larissa in a friendly match against Canada that Greece won 1–0.
Fetfatzidis scored his 2nd and 3rd goals for his country on 3 June against Malta during a Euro 2012 qualifying game.^[9]

International goals [edit]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	9 February 2011	Larissa, Greece	Canada	1–0	Win	Friendly Match
2.	3 June 2011	Piraeus, Greece	Malta	3–1	Win	UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifier
3.	3 June 2011	Piraeus, Greece	Malta	3–1	Win	UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifier

Honours [edit]

Olympiacos [edit]

• Superleague Greece (3): 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13
• Greek Cup (1) : 2012
• Cinco Violinos Trophy: 2012 Silver Medal

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• (English) Olympiacos FC
• (English) Olympiacos FC/Players Profile
• Profile at transfermarkt

v t e Greece squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Chalkias 2 Maniatis 3 Tzavelas 4 Malezas 5 K. Papadopoulos 6 Makos 7 Samaras 8 A. Papadopoulos 9 Liberopoulos 10 Karagounis (c) 11 Mitroglou 12 Tzorvas 13 Sifakis 14 Salpingidis 15 Torosidis 16 Fotakis 17 Gekas 18 Ninis 19 Sokratis 20 Cholevas 21 Katsouranis 22 Fortounis 23 Fetfatzidis Coach: Santos