Kyriakos Papadopoulos Information & Kyriakos Papadopoulos Links at HealthHaven.com

Kyriakos Papadopoulos
	Kyriakos Papadopoulos
Personal information
Full name	Kyriakos Papadopoulos
Date of birth	February 23, 1992 (age 17)
Place of birth	Katerini, Greece
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Olympiakos
Number	2
Youth career
	Svoronos Katerinis; Olympiacos U18
Senior career1
National team
	1 Senior club appearances and goals; counted for the domestic league only and; correct as of 17 July 2009.; * Appearances (Goals)

Kyriakos Papadopoulos (born 23 February 1992 in Katerini) is a Greek footballer currently playing for Greek club Olympiacos and is also part of the Greek U-21 national team. He plays as a central defender.

[edit] Club career

Kyriakos Papadopoulos was signed from Svoronos Katerinis and was promoted from the Olympiacos U18 team in July 2007. He has so far featured in several Olympiacos pre-season friendlies, three league games and three Greek cup games.

In the summer of 2007, Papadopoulos was invited on trial to train with the Espanyol youth team during the pre-season, with a view to giving the player a role in the team. However, Papadopoulos performed well enough for the club's management staff to fast-track him and promote him to the first team, and offered him a contract immediately.

However, Olympiakos scouts were also aware of the prodigy's talents,and especially the former Manager of Olympiacos Mr. George Louvaris was quick to secure a deal with Papadopoulos' father Nikos Papadopoulos,thus bringing him to Piraeus.

The 2007/2008 season has been very promising for Papadopoulos. He made his competitive debut for Olympiacos in the Greek Superleague as a substitute during a 3-1 win over Atromitos on December 2, 2007^[1], thus becoming the youngest player to ever play in the Greek league. He also made the substitutes bench in the Champions League against Real Madrid and Lazio, and has featured in several Greek Cup games. If Papadopoulos featured in any Champions League games, he would have smashed the record for the youngest player to ever compete in the competition by nearly two years.

In September 2008 Kyriakos signed a new contract with Olympiakos, which included a £4.6 million release clause, over three years. On 2 November 2008 Kyriakos made his first league appearance of the 2008/2009 season for Olympiakos at home to Ergotelis in a 2-0 home win.

[edit] International career

He was called for duty for the U-19 Greece team to participate in the Elite round of the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. He participated in all three group games against Moldova, Netherlands and Russia, helping Greece finish top and qualify for the finals.

Papadopoulos featured at the heart of the Greek defence in the finals tournament and was partners with team-mate Konstantinos Lambropoulos. He was instrumental in keeping a clean sheet against the Czech Republic, as well as good performances against England and Italy. His performances attracted attention from scouts of teams such Manchester United and Nottingham Forest, Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC ^[2].

The teams were impressed with the defender's maturity in a competition in which he was the youngest player by 13 months. Despite being the youngest player in the tournament, he was also one of the 10 most talented players in Europe as considered by UEFA in their UEFA U19 Team of the Tournament. ^[3]

Otto Rehhagel is also said to have been impressed with the youngster's performances, and has met with EPO officials to talk about moving Kyriakos to the senior team.^[4] He has yet to be invited to a senior team match.

[edit] Records

Youngest ever player to play in the Greek League at 15 years and 283 days.
UEFA U19 Team of the Tournament (being the youngest player by 13 months)

[edit] Honours

[edit] References

^ Match Statistics ESPN Soccernet December 2, 2007. Accessed December 28, 2007.
^ Greek starlet in demand, Sky Sports]
^ uefa.com - UEFA European U-19 C'ship.
^ DayNews.gr : ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΟΣ >> Τους τρέλλανε όλους ο μικρός.

[edit] External links

Player profile Olympiakos website

[0] Match Statistics ESPN Soccernet December 2, 2007. Accessed December 28, 2007.

[1] Greek starlet in demand, Sky Sports]

[2] uefa.com - UEFA European U-19 C'ship.

[3] DayNews.gr : ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΟΣ >> Τους τρέλλανε όλους ο μικρός.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]