Role Footballer Salary 440,000 EUR (2013) Name Kostas Stafylidis Career start 2011 | 2006–2011 PAOK Weight 74 kg Number 3 Height 1.78 m | |
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Full name Konstantinos Stafylidis Date of birth (1993-12-02) 2 December 1993 (age 22) Playing position Current teams FC Augsburg (#3 / Defender), Greece national football team (Defender) Similar People Sami Hyypia, Roger Schmidt, Sascha Lewandowski | ||
Place of birth Thessaloniki, Greece | ||
Kostas Stafylidis MEMORIES FROM PAOK
Konstantinos Stafylidis (Greek: Κώστας Σταφυλίδης; born 2 December 1993) is a Greek footballer who plays as a left back for Bundesliga side Augsburg and the Greece national team.
Contents
- Kostas Stafylidis MEMORIES FROM PAOK
- Early career
- PAOK
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Fulham loan
- Augsburg
- International career
- Style of Play
- Club
- International
- International goals
- Honours
- References
Early career
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.
PAOK
After rising through the youth ranks where he featured at every level, while also breaking into the Greek national youth set up after earning call-ups to the U17’s and U19’s starting in 2010, Stafylidis would make his full debut for the White-Blacks in the fall of 2011 against Panetolikos, even registering the first-assist of his full professional career in the same outing.
Bayer Leverkusen
In the summer of 2012 and after his good performance at the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, 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 for €1.5 million, but decided to stay for one more year as a loan, in his former club. Having failed in breaking into the first-team at the Bay Arena for the 2013-14 season, he was again chucked out on loan, this time to England where he would join up with Championship side Fulham.
Fulham (loan)
On 9 July 2014, Konstantinos Stafylidis joined recently relegated Fulham on a season-long loan from Bayer Leverkusen. Fulham had the option to buy Stafylidis permanently at the end of his loan spell. He made 44 appearances with the club in all competitions. At the end of the season he returned to Bayer Leverkusen.
Augsburg
Though he would return to Leverkusen, fellow Bundesliga outfit Augsburg would bring him to Bavaria in a deal worth ₤2.1 million as both Bundesliga clubs confirmed in official statements. Stafylidis, 21, was on loan at Fulham last season but has now signed with Augsburg to 2017 with the option of extending the deal further. "I am delighted that my transfer worked out because I hope for more match practice in the Bundesliga. I want to help the team with my qualities and to improve myself," Stafylidis told the Augsburg homepage.
On 22 August 2015, he made his debut with the club in an 1-1 away draw against Eintracht Frankfurt. On 12 October 2015, Stafylidis was injured in the game against Hungary. "It's a minor injury. I will be out for 20 days", he mentioned. On 10 December 2015, he returned to the squad in a historic 3-1 away game against FK Partizan for UEFA Europa League, as they needing to score three and win by a two-goal margin, they were understandably on the front foot from the get-go. 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. Despite the move at the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign, Stafylidis would only go on to make sixteen total appearances (eleven in the Bundesliga) in what would be Markus Weinzierl’s final season in charge before moving Schalke the summer of 2016.
It has been under new boss Dirk Schuster that Stafylidis has been truly impressive during the 2016-17 campaign. 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. On 18 September 2016, despite his goal in the equaliser a minute later Mainz restore their lead through Yunus Mallı's glancing header, in a frustrtating 1-3 home loss. On 16 October 2016, the Greek international defender was the cause of Breel Embolo's severe injury as he broke Schalke forward's ankle in a tackle, in Augsburg's clash with Schalke and the former has now apologised, stating he never meant to harm him. Switzerland international Embolo could be set to miss the rest of the season after sustaining the injury midway through the first half of 1-1 draw between the teams. Stafylidis, who was booked for the challenge, was quick to offer his condolences to the 19-year-old striker. On 23 February 2017, the club announced the extension of Stafylidis till the summer of 2019, for an undisclosed fee. On 3 March 2017, he opened the score with a fierce 30-yard strike, in a 2-2 home draw against RB Leipzig. On 18 March 2017, Stafylidis made Lukas Kübler look bad and heads a cross from Georg Teigl to the top of the second post equalizing the score in a 1-1 home draw against SC Freiburg. Stafylidis not only scored his fourth league goal of the 2016-17 season against the Black Forest outfit, but the Greek defender’s set-pieces were also a constant source of worry for the visitors, who were perhaps lucky to escape the WWK Arena with a share of the spoils.
International career
He 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, being named to the team of the tournament. Stafylidis 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.
Style of Play
Though the Greeks are famed for their stout, physical defenders in the mold of Kostas Manolas and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, and rough-and-tumble holding midfielders like Giannis Maniatis, Stafylidis is very much a more modern full-back. Rather that sitting back, defending and calling it a day at the office, he is very much a left-back who loves bombing forward. The Greek international is a very well rounded full-back, with strong technical ability on the ball. Not only is he quite capable of influencing proceedings further forward through overlapping runs or fierce long shots, but his strength in reading the flow of a match to patrol the passing avenues as well as challenge in the air, truly make him an all-around threat for any opponent he faces off against.