Kostas Fortounis

Kostas Fortounis

Fortounis with Greece in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Konstantinos Fortounis
Date of birth	(1992-10-16) 16 October 1992
Place of birth	Trikala, Greece
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Central midfielder Attacking midfielder Winger
Club information
Current team	Olympiacos
Number	25
Youth career
2003–2008	Olympiacos
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2008–2010	Trikala	13	(0)
2010–2011	Asteras Tripolis	24	(1)
2011–2014	Kaiserslautern	70	(2)
2014–	Olympiacos	23	(6)
National team‡
2010–2011	Greece U19	9	(1)
2011–	Greece U21	11	(2)
2012–	Greece	13	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 April 2015. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 29 March 2015

Konstantinos "Kostas" Fortounis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Φορτούνης; born 16 October 1992) is a Greek footballer^[1] who plays for Olympiacos.

Style of Play

Fortounis’ ability to combine well with his colleagues down the flank, while also being able to drive the net in order to create a goal-scoring opportunity. Fortounis’ speed on and off the ball make him an efficient player to have in the line-up as his time with the ball usually creates an attack for his team. His speed is another factor that is to his benefit, as he is able to burst past markers with flare and trickery.^[2]

Club career

Trikala

After leaving Olympiacos' youth team in 2008, he moved to Trikala in order to play for the team of AO Trikala.Fortounis, who had an impressive spell in the Under-21 side scoring four goals in 14 matches, began his career with fourth division club A.O. Trikala, where from 2008-2010 he played in 30 matches and scored 26 goals.^[3]

Asteras Tripolis

Because of his good appearances with the Greece under-17 national team, Vangelis Vlachos, Asteras's manager convinced him to join the Peloponeesean team. He made his debut in a draw with PAOK in Tripolis. Used predominantly as a substitute, the teenager clocked up 24 league appearances, scoring his first Super League goal on 19 September 2010 in a 2-2 draw at AEK Athens FC, unable, however, to save the side from relegation.^[4] Due to his good performances at Asteras, Juventus made an offer in the winter transfer window for a loan transfer until summer with an option to buy him. Asteras finally declined Juventus's offer.

1. FC Kaiserslautern

The midfielder has moved to Germany on a contract until June 2015 after being transferred for an undisclosed fee. 1. FC Kaiserslautern general manager Stefan Kuntz now wants to help Fortounis in his progress at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion. Kuntz told Kaiserslautern's official website: "Konstantinos Fortounis is a very talented attacking player with a good chance to make it in the future. We are keen to further develop him as a player and we feel he will benefit from working under our manager, Marco Kurz, with regard to his abilities in the game." ^[5] Racked up 28 league appearances for Kaiserslautern but endured a second successive relegation.Despite having experienced the disappointment of relegation in his first season with Bundesliga side Kaiserslautern, Fortounis has reportedly attracted interest from Dutch champions Ajax and Italian champions Juventus. Fortounis is willing to continue his career at Kaiserslautern but the likeliest scenario is that another club will come hunting for him as there is a relatively cheap exit clause on his contract of just 800,000 euros."I don't have any problem of playing in the second division of the German league," he said. "Of course I will look at the situation and if there is another offer from a team abroad and my team agrees to let me go, I will most likely leave. As for my return to a Greek team, I wouldn't want to return at this phase of my career." ^[6]

In the season 2012/13 he scored twice in 24 appearances as he helped Kaiserslautern to a third-place finish in the German second tier only to miss out on promotion due to defeat in he promotion/ relegation play-off with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.^[7] On 16 April 2014, he missed his first final of his career in the semifinal of DFB-Pokal by facing as a substitute a 5-1 loss from the German champions Bayern Munich.

Olympiacos

On 22 July 2014, Fortounis signed a 4-years' contract with Olympiacos and returned to the club after six years.

International career

He has represented Greece at U-21, U-19 and U-17 level.

Fortounis' debut with the Greece came against Belgium in February 2012 as a suspension with the U-21 side allowed Fernando Santos to call-up the Kaiserslautern's prospect to the senior squad. Showing plenty of maturity against the Belgians, Fortounis was also given test runs against Slovenia and Armenia in the final two Greece friendlies ahead of UEFA EURO 2012. Strong runs down the left flank in Greece’s friendlies allowed Fortounis to form a strong bond with the likes of Giorgos Karagounis and Jose Holebas down the left side; thus forming a strong chemistry between the trio all the while improving Greece’s transition game and attack.^[8] Eventually was picked in the Greece squad for Euro 2012.

Career statistics

References

External links

• Kostas Fortounis at National-Football-Teams.com
• Kostas Fortounis – FIFA competition record
• Kostas Fortounis – UEFA competition record
• Kostas Fortounis career statistics at Soccerbase
• ESPN FC profile

Greece squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Chalkias 2 Maniatis 3 Tzavellas 4 Malezas 5 K. Papadopoulos 6 Makos 7 Samaras 8 A. Papadopoulos 9 Liberopoulos 10 Karagounis (c) 11 Mitroglou 12 Tzorvas 13 Sifakis 14 Salpingidis 15 Torosidis 16 Fotakis 17 Gekas 18 Ninis 19 Sokratis 20 Holebas 21 Katsouranis 22 Fortounis 23 Fetfatzidis Coach: Santos