 Tziolis with Greece in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 13 February 1985 | ||
| Place of birth | Katerini, Greece | ||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | PAOK | ||
| Number | 6 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1995–2002 | Apollon Litochorou | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002–2005 | Panionios | 61 | (3) |
| 2005–2010 | Panathinaikos | 116 | (6) |
| 2009–2010 | → Werder Bremen (loan) | 15 | (1) |
| 2010 | Siena | 13 | (0) |
| 2010–2012 | Racing Santander | 22 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Monaco | 3 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | → APOEL (loan) | 30 | (0) |
| 2013– | PAOK | 14 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2001–2005 | Greece U21 | 12 | (6) |
| 2005– | Greece | 46 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 December 2013.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2013 | |||
Alexandros Tziolis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Τζιόλης) (born 13 February 1985) is a Greek footballer who plays for PAOK and the Greek national team.
Club career
Early club career
Tziolis began his playing career as a teenager in a local team called Apollon Litochorou. He played there for about 7 years and in 1995, a Panionios scouter spotted his talent and brought him to Athens. He was an integral part of Panionios team for 3 seasons, playing 61 matches and scoring 3 goals. As a result, Panathinaikos F.C.offered Panionios€650.000 and signed him.
Panathinaikos
Tziolis has been established as a first team player for Panathinaikos after replacing the big-name but disappointing Igor Biscan during the 2006–2007 season. The lack of titles for Panathinaikos put Tziolis in the center of criticism alongside with his team-mate Loukas Vyntra. For both players, though, this criticism could be considered unfair since they were neither big-money signings of the club nor did they receive the biggest contracts. By the end of 2007–2008 season Tziolis was close to his exit from Panathinaikos but the new manager Henk Ten Cate chose to keep him. After being mostly neglected at the beginning of 2008–2009 season, Tziolis was included in the team in November and was MVP in the epic 3–0 win in Germany against Werder Bremen for the UEFA Champions' League, where he also scored the third goal for Panathinaikos. According to some Greek sport newspapers, he avoided to celebrate the victory with the fans, embittered by the recent criticism he received. Since ten Cate shows his preference to 4–3–2–1 tactics, he is expected to gain more opportunities in the first XI at the expense of Marcelo Mattos. He has since established himself as a valuable member of the squad, linking well with team-mates Gilberto Silva and Simao Mate Junior.
Werder Bremen
On 7 January 2009, Panathinaikos agreed terms with Werder Bremen and Tziolis will go on loan at the German club for at least 6 months, for a fee of €300.000. After those months, Werder Bremen has the right to fully obtain Tziolis for a fee of €1.6m.[1][2]
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 where 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
In January 2010 he signed for the Italian Serie A club AC Siena on 29 January 2010.[3] He made his debut in the Serie A on 7 February 2010 against Sampdoria. Tziolis was a regular for Siena, but the team wasn't able to avoid relegation to the Serie B.
Racing Santander
In August 2010, it was confirmed that the Spanish La Liga side Racing Santander had agreed to take Tziolis on a one year loan deal. Then after a successful league campaign for the 2nd half of the season they signed him from Siena for an undisclosed fee.
AS Monaco
In January 2012, Tziolis moved to the French Ligue 2 side AS Monaco, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the club.
APOEL
On 31 August 2012, Tziolis joined Cypriot side APOEL on a season-long loan deal from AS Monaco.[4] 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. On 17 August he made his league debut in a 3-0 home win against Xanthi.
International career
After representing his country 12 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 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.
