Kostas Stafylidis

Konstantinos Stafylidis was born on the 2nd of December 1993, and he is a Greek footballer who plays as a left back for Bundesliga side Augsburg and the Greek national team. Stafylidis started his football career at the age of 6 joining his village football team Aetos Akropotamou. At the age of twelve, PAOK scouts recognized his talent, and he joined the club’s academies. Stafylidis has played for all PAOK youth teams. On 20 November 2011, Stafylidis made his Superleague Greece debut in a match against Panetolikos at age of 17. He also gave his first assist in this game. In the summer of 2012 and after his good performance at the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, in which he was named one of the ten most talented players in the tournament, Stafylidis attracted attention from German club Bayer Leverkusen. After weeks of negotiations and due to PAOK’s financial problem the team accepted a bid from Bayer Leverkusen. On 9 July 2014, Konstantinos Stafylidis has joined Fulham on a season-long loan.He had 44 appearances with the club in all competitions. At the end of the season he returned to Bayer Leverkusen. Stafylidis, has now signed with Augsburg to 2017 with the option of extending the deal further. On 22 August 2015, he made his debut with the club in an 1-1 away draw against Eintracht Frankfurt. On 10 December 2015, he returned to the squad after injury, in a historic 3-1 away game against FK Partizan for UEFA Europa League. On 6 February 2016, in an away 2-1 loss against Ingosltadt Stafylidis scored his first goal with the club with a wonderful kick, after taking the rebound outside the penalty area. It was his first goal for the season. On 25 February 2016, in the second leg of the last 32 of UEFA Europa League, Stafylidis one minute before the final whistle, curls his free-kick over the wall but just wide of the upright. That was almost curtains for Liverpool that with James Milner’s early penalty was enough to book their place in the last 16 of the Europa League for the first time in five years at the expense of Augsburg. On 11 September 2016, Stafylidis notched the fifth direct free-kick in Augsburg’s Bundesliga history, helping his club to escape with a crucial 2-1 away win against Werder Bremen. Stafylidis has also played a major role in the Greek squad at the Under-19 European Champions and won a runners-up medal, after losing 1–0 to Spain U19. He made his debut with Greece national football team in a friendly match against Republic of Ireland on 14 November 2012, in which Greece won 1–0. On 11 October 2015, he scored his first goal with Greece in a 4-3 home win against Hungary when he opened the score, scoring their first home goal of the campaign as he turned in a cross from Stelios Kitsiou at close range in the fifth minute. On 10 October 2016, an exact year after his first goal, he scored from a free kick with a left footed shot to the bottom left corner, sealing a 2-0 away 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification win against Estonia