Giourkas Seitaridis

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Georgios "Giourkas" Seitaridis (Greek: Γιούρκας Σειταρίδης, born 4 June 1981 in Piraeus) is a Greek football player currently playing for Atletico Madrid in Spain. Giourkas (pronounced "Yurkas"), which he uses in both national team and Atlético Madrid shirts, means "George" in the Greek Pontic dialect and is his grandfather's name.

[edit] Club career

Seitaridis started his professional career with PAS Giannina in 1998, he was spotted by Greek giants Panathinaikos, for whom he signed for in 2001. At the age of 20 he won his first championship in the 2003-04 season. He was signed by Portuguese side and then Champions League winner FC Porto, there he won the Intercontinental Cup in 2004, there were constant rumours about a possible change of course to Real Madrid, following his success at Euro 2004, but the deal fell through, and on May 23, 2005 he was sold to Russian side Dynamo Moscow for a fee approaching €10m euros.^[1]

Seitaridis decided to leave Dynamo after one season, so on 16 June 2006 he was transferred to Atlético Madrid for a transfer fee of €12 million euros.^[2] Seitaridis scored his first goal for Atletico in a game against Gloria Bistriţa.^[3] On 11 November 2007, Seitaridis damaged his achilles tendon in a match against UD Almería, he underwent surgery and was expected back middle of March 2008.^[4] He made his return in the away 2-1 win over Sevilla, although not playing he did make the sub's bench and claimed it was good to be back after such a long time out.^[5] Seitaridis has been linked with moves to Italian giants Juventus^[6] and Aston Villa^[7].

[edit] 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 also participated at Euro 2004 in Portugal, and was named as part of the 23-man UEFA All-Star squad, together with four other Greek players.

He scored his first international goal against Hungary in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match.

[edit] Statistics

Last updated May 31, 2008

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	Atletico Madrid	La Liga	31	0
2007/08	Atletico Madrid	La Liga	14	0
Total			193	5

[edit] Honours

• Greek Super League winner in 2003-04 with Panathinaikos
• Greek Cup winner in 2003-04 with Panathinaikos
• Euro 2004 winner with Greece
• Euro 2004 member of the UEFA Team of the Tournament
• Intercontinental Cup winner in 2004 FC Porto

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

• Official Atletico Madrid profile
• UEFA player profile
• FootballDatabase.com statistics for Giourkas Seitaridis

v • d • e Greece squad - 2004 UEFA European Championship Winners (1st Title) 1 Nikopolidis • 2 Seitaridis • 3 Venetidis • 4 Dabizas • 5 Dellas • 6 Basinas • 7 Zagorakis • 8 Giannakopoulos • 9 Charisteas • 10 Tsiartas • 11 Nikolaidis • 12 Chalkias • 13 Katergiannakis • 14 Fyssas • 15 Vryzas • 16 Kafes • 17 Georgiadis • 18 Goumas • 19 Kapsis • 20 Karagounis • 21 Katsouranis • 22 Papadopoulos • 23 Lakis • Coach: Rehhagel

v • d • e Greece squad - Euro 2008 1 Nikopolidis • 2 Seitaridis • 3 Patsatzoglou • 4 Spiropoulos • 5 Dellas • 6 Basinas • 7 Samaras • 8 Giannakopoulos • 9 Charisteas • 10 Karagounis • 11 Vyntra • 12 Chalkias • 13 Tzorvas • 14 Salpigidis • 15 Torosidis • 16 Kyrgiakos • 17 Gekas • 18 Goumas • 19 Antzas • 20 Amanatidis • 21 Katsouranis • 22 Tziolis • 23 Liberopoulos • Coach: Rehhagel