Theodoros Zagorakis

Theodoros Zagorakis
Personnel
birthday	October 27, 1971
place of birth	Kavala ,  Greece
size	1.78 m
position	midfield player
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1988-1992	AO Kavala	114 0(6)
1993-1997	PAOK Thessaloniki	155 (10)
1998-2000	Leicester City	50 0(3)
2000-2004	AEK Athens	101 0(4)
2004-2005	Bologna FC	32 0(0)
2005-2007	PAOK Thessaloniki	44 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1994-2007	Greece	120 0(3)
1 Only league games are given.

Theodoros Zagorakis ( Greek Θεόδωρος Ζαγοράκης , born October 27, 1971 in Kavala ) is a former Greek football player and politician of the Nea Dimokratia . In 2004 he led the Greek national team as team captain to the European title. With 120 internationals, he has the second most nominations for the Greek national team after Giorgos Karagounis .

Athletic career

In the club

Zagorakis began his career in 1988 with the Greek club AO Kavala . In 114 league games he scored six goals for his home club. The defensive midfielder then moved to PAOK Thessaloniki in 1992 . He stayed with the Greek first division for six years before moving to Leicester City in England in 1998 for 1.2 million euros .

In his two years at Leicester he reached the league cup final . While he was defeated with Leicester in the final in 1999, he won his first title in 2000 by defeating Tranmere Rovers .

In 2000, Zagorakis moved back to Greece to AEK Athens . In 2002 he won the Greek Cup with AEK. After missing salary payments, he moved to the Italian club FC Bologna in the summer of 2004 without a transfer . At the end of his career he played again for PAOK Thessaloniki from 2005 to 2007.

In 2001, Zagorakis showed an increased testosterone level during a doping control . He was acquitted by the Greek sports court because his body was producing more testosterone. Before the 2004 European Championships, he again had too high values. Only five days before the tournament did he receive approval from UEFA to play.

In the national team

He made his debut in the Greek national team in 1994 against the Faroe Islands . In the national team he was a record player with 120 appearances until 2012. At the 2004 European Championships , Zagorakis was the captain of the Greek team with which he surprisingly won the European Championship. Zagorakis was voted the best player of the tournament and came fifth in the European Footballer of the Year election. On June 14, 2007, he announced his retirement and was subsequently appointed President of PAOK Thessaloniki . He played his last game as an active player on August 22, 2007 with the Greek national team against Spain in the Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki .

successes

• European Champion 2004 (also: best player of the tournament)
• Greek cup winner 2002
• English league cup winner 2000

Political career

Zagorakis is a member of the Greek party Nea Dimokratia . In 2014 he became a member of the European Parliament . There he is a member of the Committee on Culture and Education and the delegation to the Committee on Parliamentary Cooperation between the EU and Russia.

See also

• List of football players with at least 100 international matches

Web links

• Photo by Theodoros Zagorakis
• Entry on Theodoros Zagorakis in the Members' database of the European Parliament

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brazil player in positive drugs test news24.com June 6, 2001
2. ↑ Eros in short pants berliner-zeitung.de April 14, 2005
3. ↑ European Parliament: Theodoros Zagorakis