Giourkas Seitaridis

Giourkas Seitaridis

Personal information
Full name	Giorgos Seitaridis
Date of birth	4 June 1981 (1981-06-04)
Place of birth	Piraeus, Greece
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Right-back / Centre back
Club information
Current club	Panathinaikos
Number	2
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–2001	PAS Giannina	40	(5)
2001–2004	Panathinaikos	77	(1)
2004–2005	Porto	23	(0)
2005–2006	Dynamo Moscow	8	(0)
2006–2009	Atlético Madrid	59	(1)
2009–	Panathinaikos	15	(0)
National team‡
2002–	Greece	72	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2009-11-29. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 2010-09-07

Georgios "Giourkas" Seitaridis (Greek: Γιούρκας Σεϊταρίδης) (born 4 June 1981) is a Greek footballer who plays as a defender. He is currently playing for Panathinaikos and is a member of the Greek national football team. Giourkas (pronounced "Yurkas") means "George" in the Pontic Greek dialect and is his grandfather's name.

Club career

PAS Giannina

Seitaridis started his professional career with northern Greek side PAS Giannina named, Ajax of Epirus in 1997, becaming one of the most important player for the defence. Seitaridis helped the team towards promotion in the Greek Super League in the season 1999/2000. He also played with PAS Giannina, playing more than 40 games and scoring 5 goals.

Panathinaikos

He was soon spotted by Greek Panathinaikos, for whom he signed for in 2001. He quickly established himself as a regular player for the team and at the age of 22 he won his first silverware by helping Panathinaikos to the championship and cup double in the 2003–04 Greek Super League season. He scored his first European goal against Manchester United on 7 March 2001. His impressive performances earned great interest from teams abroad. Seitaridis in 2004 he won the Greek title with Panathinaikos and the Greek Cup against the Olympiakos.

Porto

Before the 2004 European Championships Seitaridis signed for Portuguese side and at the time Champions League winners F.C. Porto in June 2004 for €3 million,. Soon after joining the Dragões he won the Intercontinental Cup. There were constant rumours about a possible change of course to Real Madrid, following his success at UEFA Euro 2004, but the deal fell through, and on 23 May 2005, he was sold to Russian side Dynamo Moscow for €10 million., following the foot step of former team-mate Derlei, Costinha and Maniche.

Dynamo Moscow

Soon after signing for Dynamo Moscow, Seitaridis began to show his discomfort at the club. He claimed the reasons he wanted to leave was that the weather was different to his native Greece and that he could not cope with the coldness. Seitaridis decided to leave Dynamo after one season, and on 16 June 2006, he was transferred to Atlético Madrid for a transfer fee of €12 million.

Atlético Madrid

He was advised by fellow ex-Atlético Madrid player Demis Nikolaidis to join Atlético stating that its a big club and the fans are great. He was given his number 2. Seitaridis was sent off on the 44th minute of his debut for the club in the opening game of the season away to Racing Santander on 27 August 2006. Seitaridis scored his first goal for Atletico on 21 July 2007 in a game against Gloria Bistriţa in the Intertoto Cup.

In November 2007, Seitaridis damaged his achilles tendon in a match against UD Almería, which meant he needed to undergo surgery and was off the field for six months. He made his return in the 2–1 away win over Sevilla FC, although not playing; he made an appearance on the substitute's bench.

Seitaridis started the 2008–09 season, playing in Atlético's first game, in a 4–0 victory over Málaga CF, and making many plays down the wing, being a regular starter for the team. He picked up a few injuries, and after three games out, he returned on Atlético Madrid's Champion's League match against PSV.

On 13 May 2009, Seitaridis was released by Atlético a year before his contract expires, a statement on the club's official website read "Seitaridis is therefore free to negotiate with other clubs who may be interested in signing him.".

Panathinaikos F.C.

On the very last day (10 September 2009) of the Greek transfer period for free agent players, he signed a 4 year deal with Panathinaikos. There he met again with players like Kostas Katsouranis and Giorgos Karagounis which had together won Euro 2004 with the Greek National Team.

Seitaridis however has been struggling to re-establish himself due to a lot of injuries, missing most of the 2009–10 season's matches. However, on 21 March 2010, Seitaridis returned to the line-up for the big derby against rivals Olympiacos. Panathinaikos impressed and finished the season positively by winning his second Greek league title and getting more playing time and two weeks after he won his second Greek Cup.

International career

Seitaridis made his international debut on 13 February 2002 against Sweden, and later that year participated in the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final round in Switzerland. He was also one of the key players for the Greek national team that won the Euro 2004 championship in Portugal, a win that shocked the footballing world as Greece were considered 100–1 outsiders before the tournament started. Seitaridis had such an impact on the victorious team that he was named as part of the 23-man UEFA All-Star squad, together with four other Greek players. He scored his first international goal on 2 June 2007 against Hungary in a Euro 2008 qualifying match. helping the Greek National Team to be the first country qualified for Euro 2008. Seitaridis impressed by contributing to the qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Together with Angelos Charisteas, Kostas Katsouranis, Georgios Karagounis, Kostas Chalkias who were on the winning Euro 2004 squad, they were part of the Greek National that won its first game in a World Cup, 2–1 win against Nigeria.

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2 June 2007	Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion, Greece	Hungary	2–0	2–0	Euro 2008 qualifying

Statistics

Last updated (30 May 2009)

Season	Club	Competition	Apps	Goals
1998/99	PAS Giannina	Beta Ethniki	6	0
1999/00	PAS Giannina	Beta Ethniki	24	3
2000/01	PAS Giannina	Greek Super League	10	2
2000/01	Panathinaikos	Greek Super League	12	0
2001/02	Panathinaikos	Greek Super League	19	0
2002/03	Panathinaikos	Greek Super League	25	0
2003/04	Panathinaikos	Greek Super League	21	0
2004/05	Porto	Portuguese Liga	23	0
2005/06	Dynamo Moscow	Russian Premier League	8	0
2006/07	Atlético Madrid	La Liga	31	0
2007/08	Atlético Madrid	La Liga	14	0
2008/09	Atlético Madrid	La Liga	14	0
2009/10	Panathinaikos	Greek Super League	8	0
2010/11	Panathinaikos	Greek Super League	7	0
2011/12	Panathinaikos	Greek Super League	1	0	Total			222	5

Honours

Individual

• Greek Young Footballer of the year: 2001

Team

• PAS Giannina
  • Greek Second Division: 2000

• Panathinaikos
  • Greek Super League: 2003–04, 2009–10
  • Greek Cup: 2003–04, 2009–10

• Porto
  • Portuguese Super Cup: 2004
  • Intercontinental Cup: 2004

• Greece
  • Euro 2004

External links

• UEFA player profile
• FootballDatabase.com statistics for Giourkas Seitaridis