Giorgos Tzavellas

Georgios Tzavellas
Tzavellas with Greece in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Georgios Tzavellas
Date of birth	(1987-11-26) 26 November 1987 (age 26)
Place of birth	Athens, Greece
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Left back / Centre back
Club information
Current club	PAOK
Number	3
Youth career
1992–2006	Doxa Vyronas
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2006–2008	Kerkyra	23	(2)
2008–2010	Panionios	45	(2)
2010–2012	Eintracht Frankfurt	27	(1)
2012	→ Monaco (loan)	14	(1)
2012–2013	Monaco	24	(2)
2013–	PAOK	24	(2)
National team‡
2010–	Greece	13	(0[1])
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 May 2014. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 4 June 2014

Georgios Tzavellas (Greek: Γεώργιος Τζαβέλλας; born 26 November 1987) is a Greek footballer who plays as a left back or centre back for PAOK and the Greek national team.

Club career

Kerkyra

Tzavellas began his professional career with Kerkyra in a home match against Larissa (0–0).In Kerkyra played in 23 games (two goals) before signed for Panionios in January 2008.

Panionios

After signing for Panionios, Tzavellas was given the number 31. He made his debut on 13 September 2008 in the 0–1 away win versus Panserraikos. He scored his first goal on 7 December 2008 in the 45th minute in the 1–1 draw with Larissa. In his first full season, Tzavellas went on to make 17 appearances, scoring two goals. The 2009–10 season began brightly for Tzavellas as he cemented his place in the squad. In his second season with Panionios, he made a total of 24 appearances, starting all 24, but not scoring.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 3 June 2010, the left back signed a three-year contract with Eintracht Frankfurt, which spent 1.2 million euros to sign him.^[2] He soon became a member of Eintracht's starting eleven. On 12 March 2011, Tzavellas scored his first Bundesliga goal during an away match against Schalke. He managed to beat German international goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with an effort from 73 meters, setting a new record for the longest distance a Bundesliga goal was ever scored from.^[3]

During the Bundesliga match against Werder Bremen on 8 April 2011, Tzavellas suffered a partial rupture of the cruciate ligament in his left knee. He missed the remainder of the 2010–11 season.^[4] Eintracht were relegated to 2. Bundesliga at the end of the season.

On summer 2011, Bundesliga new-boys Augsburg are reported to want the Greece defender, who is under contract until 2013, to strengthen their squad ahead of what promises to be a difficult season. At the same time, Tzavellas is rumoured to want to leave Eintracht Frankfurt following their relegation from the top flight. But his agent, Paul Koutsoliakos, told Bild when asked if he was discussing a move to Augsburg: "There is simply no truth in this." Eintracht Frankfurt general manager Bruno Hubner added: "We would refuse to accept any loan arrangements in this respect as something like this would just postpone a permanent transfer for the player. We would be in the same situation in 12 months." ^[5]

Monaco

An injury to his left knee towards the end of the 2010-11 season, put the knockout and the relegation of the team, substantially accelerated its consignment of borrowing to Monaco at the end of next season. On 31 January 2012, it was announced that Tzavellas would leave Eintracht Frankfurt and join French Ligue 2 outfit Monaco with immediate effect.^[6] Under the guidance of Claudio Ranieri, the Greek international left-back, helped the Monegasque escalate in Ligue 1, scoring twice in 24 appearances during their promotion season, but French Football News understands that Monaco’s left back Giorgos Tzavellas is in advanced negotations with PAOK Salonika after being considered as ‘dead wood’ by Monaco manager. It is also the towering hurdle set by the Russian team owner, Dmitry Rybolovlev and very expensive signings made, essentially paved the way for the repatriation and the agreement with PAOK.^[7] The left back who has spent two seasons with the club is understood to have agreed to move to the club but Monaco and PAOK are currently in negotiations regarding the fee.^[8]

PAOK

On 2 September 2013, he signed a four years' contract with PAOK ^[9] and made his club debut on 14 September 2013 against Veria.He scored his first goal with the club in a 1-1 away draw against Atromitos. On 19 September 2013, he made his first ever appearance in UEFA competitions in a 2-1 home victory against FC Shakhter Karagandy. ^[10]

After six months in PAOK and his commitment by scoring the winning goal to the victory against the Greek giant Olympiakos, he believes that "this time, there has nothing to envy from Monaco and it made me very positive impression! We have an excellent administrative and organization of football, the club operates on a purely European standards and the most important is that the administrative leader has the vision to reach the high score! As a player I can say that I do not miss anything of what I had in Montecarlo! I believe in the team all the conditions required to look up ..."^[11]

He scored twice in his first season with the club, but undoubtedly the most important was the winning goal, on 9 March 2014, against the champions Olympiacos F.C..

International career

Greece

After his impressive performances for Panionios, Tzavellas was called up to the Greek national football team on 15 November 2009 by Otto Rehhagel to face Ukraine in the second leg of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification playoffs. However he did not feature in this game.^[12] On 11 May 2010, Tzavellas was named in Rehhagel's 30 man provisional World Cup squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[13]

He made his international debut in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Croatia on 7 September 2010.^[14]

Tzavellas' season year with PAOK was his passport not only to be called from Greek national manager Fernando Santos to the 30 man provisional World Cup squad, but also to the final 23-man squad for 2014 FIFA World Cup.^[15]

Career statistics

Honours

• France Ligue 2
  • Champions (1): 2013

References

External links

• Giorgos Tzavellas at fussballdaten.de (German)
• Giorgos Tzavellas – FIFA competition record
• Giorgos Tzavellas – UEFA competition record
• Transfermarkt profile
• ESPN FC profile