Georgios Tzavellas

Georgios Tzavellas was born on the 26th of November 1987 and he is a Greek professional footballer who plays for PAOK FC and the Greek national team as a left back. Tzavellas began his professional career with Kerkyra in a home match against Larissa (0–0). In Kerkyra he played in 23 games (two goals) before signing for Panionios in January 2008. 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. On 3 June 2010, the left back signed a three-year contract with Eintracht Frankfurt. 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. 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. Eintracht were relegated to 2. Bundesliga at the end of the season. During summer 2011, Bundesliga new-boys Augsburg were reported to want the Greece defender, who was under contract until 2013, to strengthen their squad ahead of what promised to be a difficult season. 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. 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. On 2 September 2013, he signed a four years’ contract with PAOK 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. 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. In January 2015, Deportivo La Coruna were in advanced talks to sign Tzavellas from PAOK but the deal will not go through. He started the 2015-16 season as a main left back of the team. Incidentally, Tzavellas is among the best players of PAOK till now. On 18 October 2015, Tzavellas scored his first Superleague goal with PAOK for the 2015-16 season against Iraklis in a 3-3 away draw. On 7 February 2016, in an episodic derby Super League away match against rivals Olympiakos, Tzavellas and Luka Milivojević were involved in an incident, which was ended with an unsportsmanlike conduct by Olympiakos’ Serbian midfielder, resulting to leave the field for some time because he was bleeding. Eventually he was expelled at the second half due to a second yellow card, leaving his club with 10 players. It was his 7th red card in his career, but the 1st that his club did not win despite his absence. On 17 April 2016, in the last matchday of the 2015-16 season in an away game against Platanias, Tzavellas reached 100 appearances with the club in all competitions. On 25 August 2016, in the play offs second leg of UEFA Europa League against Dinamo Tsibili he scored his first international goal after Facundo Pereyra’s corner with the head, sealing a 2-0 home win. On 13 September 2016, Tzavellas extended his contract with PAOK till summer of 2020. 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. On 11 May 2010, Tzavellas was named in Rehhagel’s 30 man provisional World Cup squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He made his international debut in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Croatia on 7 September 2010. Tzavellas was named to the 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2012. 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.