Dimitrios Papadopoulos (footballer, born 1981)

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Dimitrios Papadopoulos
Dinamo Zagreb
in 2009
Personal information
Full name Dimitrios Papadopoulos
Date of birth (1981-10-20) 20 October 1981 (age 42)
Place of birth Gagarin, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s)
Striker
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)
2010–2012
Celta Vigo
25 (1)
2012Levadiakos (loan) 10 (0)
2012–2013 Panthrakikos 25 (11)
2013–2014 Atromitos 35 (14)
2014–2015
PAOK
24 (7)
2015–2016
Asteras Tripolis
12 (1)
2016–2017 Atromitos 20 (1)
2017 Panetolikos 9 (1)
Total 409 (112)
International career
2000–2002 Greece U21 27 (11)
2004 Greece Olympic 3 (1)
2002–2014 Greece 22 (2)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Greece
UEFA European Championship
Winner 2004
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 9 April 2017
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 5 March 2014

Dimitrios Papadopoulos (Greek: Δημήτριος Παπαδόπουλος; born 20 October 1981 in Uzbekistan, Jizzakh region, Mirzachul district) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Club career

Akratitos

Papadopoulos started his career from the youth academies of Greek minnows

Alfa Ethniki
in 2001 for the first time in its history.

Burnley

Shortly after, Papadopoulos was transferred to Burnley in England, for a transfer fee reported to be €500,000.[2] He stayed at the club for two seasons. In July 2003, Burnley sold Papadopoulos to Panathinaikos for a reported €200,000 including a sell-on clause in which Burnley could profit from future transfers.[2][3]

Panathinaikos

Papadopoulos starred in his very first season with Panathinaikos becoming its top scorer with 17 goals in 26 games and winning the double with the club. It was the first championship in almost 10 years of Olympiacos domination in the Greek championship.

He was subsequently voted best footballer of that year in the league and was awarded a place in the

Athens 2004
in the very same summer.

An integral part of the Panathinaikos offence, he signed a three-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 starter Michalis Konstantinou leave the team.

Lecce

On 13 November 2008,

Lecce announced to have signed Papadopoulos in a free transfer.[4]
He made his Italian Serie A debut for Lecce on 18 January 2009 in a home match at the .

Dinamo Zagreb

On 26 June 2009, he signed a three-year contract worth €650,000 annually with the Croatian champions

He contributed to
Croatian League
.

Celta Vigo

On 22 January 2010, Papadopoulos signed a contract with

Celta Vigo until the end of the season.[6] Things looked good for him but in late April, he got injured and was unable to play regularly. During the next summer, Celta Vigo signed striker David Rodríguez and winger Quique de Lucas in order to strengthen the squad. This 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 2010–11 season, Celta Vigo's manager Paco Herrera claimed that he would not count with Papadopoulos any more,[7]
putting pressure on him to leave the club due to his high salary and his poor performances. Although he played more than 20 matches, he failed to score more than a single goal. His contract was due to expire in 2013.

Levadiakos

In January 2012, Papadopoulos moved on loan to Levadiakos of the Greek Super League,[8] but he failed to score a goal although the team finished in 7th place.

Panthrakikos

In the summer of 2012 he moved to

OFI Crete
; with this goal Papadopoulos reached 10 goals in the Greek Super League.

Papadopoulos was named Best Player of the Super League. The player of

Panthrakikos stood out with his performances in the Greek Super League. He was the top goal-scorer of his team, scoring 11 times. In critical games, Papadopoulos excelled, helping his team to finish mid-table and avoid relegation comfortably. Panthrakikos also reached the semi-finals of the Greek Cup. PSAP spokesman Stamatis Sirigos added: "With his character, leadership skills and experience, Dimitros Papadopoulos helped his team-mates and boosted their confidence. All this combined with his ethos was recognised with his first position in the vote of professional footballers in Greece".[10]

On the other hand, Papadopoulos put several frustrating campaigns behind him : "I always believed I could get my career back on track," he said at Monday's award ceremony in Athens. "I was given that chance at

Panthrakikos, where we fought a tough war in order to secure our place in the league."[11]

Atromitos

After a great season, in the summer of 2013 he signed a two-year contract with

Ergotelis
.

On 30 August 2013 in a dramatic game against

Europa League, the latter beat Atromitos after fire caused a delay in playing the remaining 33 minutes. Spectators were evacuated after the match was halted in the 57th minute, with Atromitos leading 1–0, but trailing 3–2 on aggregate, through a goal from Dimitris Papadopoulos before play was stopped. When the action resumed next day, Thanasis Karagounis made it 2–0 in the second leg but the Greek team could not find a winning goal as the tie ended 3–3 on aggregate, with the Dutch side advancing into the group phase.[13]

On a 0-0 cup game against the Greek giant Olympiakos after an excellent appearance he said in front of TV : "We have a good team confronting any opponent. Our team has experienced players who know what to do in such games. In the first half Olympiacos pushing us so we could not keep the ball, and be aggressive. In the second half we got better and by entering Karamanos the whole match changed. Against Olympiakos we tried to have a good run defense, as our mail target was not to nil in the first match and see what happens in the second".[14]

At the end of the 2013/14 regular season he scored 14 league goals being the top scorer of his club.[15] On 27 May 2014 Atromitos announced the end of cooperation with the striker.[16]

PAOK

On 29 August 2014, Papadopoulos, although, he was linked with

PAOK was close to make a sensational move to Karşıyaka after agreed to sign a one-year deal,[19][20] but the deal was not fulfilled due to financial reasons. On 28 August 2015, Papadopoulos turned down an offer of a year contract from Super League club Kalloni, waiting for a better offer.[21]

Asteras Tripolis

On 8 September 2015, Papadopoulos signed a year contract with

AEK Athens.[24] On 20 January 2016, he solved in a mutual consent his contract with the club.[25]

Second spell in Atromitos

On 21 January 2016, Papadopoulos signed a contract with his former team,

PAOK
.

Panetolikos

On 1 February 2017, Papadopoulos signed a six-month contract with Panetolikos. At that very day, he had his first training session with his new team.[28] He made his debut 4 February 2017 against his previews team Atromitos. On 4 March 2017, scored his first goal with his new team against Levadiakos, his ex-club.

Retirement

On 23 September 2017, Papadopoulos officially announced his retirement from professional football.[29]

International career

Dimitrios Papadopoulos made his debut in the Greece national team on 20 November 2002 against

Euro 2004 that would go on to be tournament champions. His pass for the goal of Zisis Vryzas allowed Greece to qualify from the group stage at the expense of Russia and Spain and then become Euro 2004 Champions. He also participated in all three games of Greece Olympic football team in the 2004 Summer Olympics scoring 1 goal. As Euro 2004 winner, Dimitrios Papadopoulos was included in the Greek squad for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany. Otto Rehhagel also included him in the squad during qualification but he did not make it to the final selection for UEFA Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria
.

On 29 August 2013, the coach of the Greece national team,

Fernando Santos announced the return of Dimitrios Papadopoulos after six years absence[30] for the match against Liechtenstein in Vaduz at the Rheinpark Stadion stadium for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. He came in during the 84th minute replacing Lazaros Christodoulopoulos
.

International goals

Scores and results list Greece's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Papadopoulos goal.
List of international goals scored by Dimitris Papadopoulos
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 18 February 2004 Athens, Greece  Bulgaria 2–0 Friendly
2 12 October 2005 Piraeus, Greece  Georgia 1–0 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier

Honours

Panathinaikos

Dinamo Zagreb

  • 2009–10

Greece

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Dimitrios Papadopoulos » Club matches » Segunda División".
  2. ^ a b "Burnley sell Greek striker Papadopoulos". Yorkshire Post. 4 July 2003.
  3. ^ "Το πλήρες πακέτο φορ ψάχνει ο ΠΑΟ...Το "κάτι" που (αποδείχθηκε ότι) λείπει από τους Παπαδόπουλο, Μάντζιο, Σαλπιγγίδη". tovima.gr. 26 April 2007.
  4. ^ "Trovato l'accordo con il calciatore Papadopoulos" (in Italian). US Lecce. 13 November 2008. Archived from the original on 26 April 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2008.
  5. ^ "Στη Ντιναμό Ζάγκρεμπ για τρία χρόνια ο Δ. Παπαδόπουλος". prasinanea.gr. 26 June 2009. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Υπέγραψε στην Θέλτα ο Παπαδόπουλος". sentragoal.gr. 29 January 2010. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  7. ^ "¿Habrá un tercer descarte? - Faro de Vigo". 12 July 2011.
  8. ^ "Υπέγραψε στον Λεβαδειακό ο Δημήτρης Παπαδόπουλος". contra.gr. 16 January 2012.
  9. ^ "Στον Πανθρακικό ο Δημήτρης Παπαδόπουλος!". onsports.gr. 30 August 2012.
  10. ^ "Papadopoulos stars at Greek player awards". fifpro.org. 25 February 2014. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  11. ^ "Award completes Dimitris Papadopoulos revival". uefa.com. 3 February 2014.
  12. ^ Ατρόμητος: Παπαδόπουλος διετίας στο Περιστέρι (in Greek). onsports.gr. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  13. ^ "Europa League: AZ Alkmaar beat Atromitos after fire causes delay". bbc.com. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  14. ^ Ο Ατρόμητος κοντράρει κάθε αντίπαλο (in Greek). gazetta.gr. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  15. ^ "Summary - Super League 1 - Greece - Results, fixtures, tables and news - Soccerway".
  16. ^ "Τέλος Παπαδόπουλος, Σηφάκης και Φωτάκης". Τέλος Παπαδόπουλος, Σηφάκης και Φωτάκης
  17. ^ Μια υπογραφή καθρέφτης της τρικυμίας
  18. ^ "Στον ΠΑΟΚ ο Δημήτρης Παπαδόπουλος". Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  19. ^ Στην Καρσίγιακα ο Παπαδόπουλος Retrieved 19 July 2015
  20. ^ Papadopoulos ve Baye Djiby Fall Karşıyaka'da Retrieved 19 July 2015
  21. ^ Απάντησε αρνητικά σε Καλλονή ο Παπαδόπουλος Retrieved 28 August 2015
  22. ^ "Αρκάς" ο Παπαδόπουλος, πήρε το "9"
  23. ^ Ε-x-ασαν την ευκαιρία, έμειναν στο 1-1 Αστέρας και Ξάνθη
  24. ^ Αστέρας ο Παπαδόπουλος 1-0 την ΑΕΚ στο ΟΑΚΑ
  25. ^ Οριστικά τέλος από Αστέρα ο Παπαδόπουλος
  26. ^ Papadopoulos returns to Atromitos
  27. ^ «Πράσινη» τραγωδία: Ο Ατρόμητος πέταξε εκτός Κυπέλλου τον Παναθηναϊκό (1-0)
  28. ^ "Dimitris Papadopoulos officially joins Panaitolikos". sdna.gr. 1 February 2016.
  29. ^ "Ο "προτελευταίος" του EURO 2004 έβαλε τέλος στην καριέρα του!" (in Greek). Contra.gr. 23 September 2017.
  30. ^ "Papadopoulos back for Greece after 6-year absence". enetenglish.gr. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  31. ^ "Ο Δ. Παπαδόπουλος κορυφαίος Έλληνας της Super League 2012/2013". sport24.gr. 3 February 2014.
  32. ^ "Κορυφαίοι του ΠΣΑΠ για το 2014 Αναστασίου, Μπεργκ και Παπαδόπουλος". naftemporiki.gr. 2 February 2015.
  33. ^ "Οι κορυφαίοι του ΠΣΑΠ". Οι κορυφαίοι του ΠΣΑΠ. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

External links