Vassilios Tsiartas

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Personal information
Vassilios Tsiartas

Full name	Vasilios Tsiartas
Date of birth	November 12, 1972 (age 34)
Place of birth	Alexandria, Greece, {{{countryofbirth}}}
Height	1.85 cm
Playing position	Central Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current club	retired
Number	10
Youth clubs
1987–1989	Alexandreia FC
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1988-1993 1993-1996 1996-2000 2000-2004 2004-2005 2006-2007	Naousa FC AEK Athens FC Sevilla FC AEK Athens FC 1. FC Köln Ethnikos Piraeus	92 (32) 97 (37) 142 (45) 98 (43) 4 (1) 3 (1)
National team
1994 - 2005	Greece	70 (12)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Vassilios Tsiartas is a former Greek footballer, who has been labelled by many as perhaps one of the most naturally talented Greek footballers of his generation. Tsiartas was born on November 12th, 1972 in Alexandria, Greece and currently resides in Athens. As a player he was famed for his almost lackluster and slow movement on the ball, however his ability was never in question and was in many ways the definition of a player who wears the number 10 shirt. Tsiartas was predominantly left footed but was just as dangerous with his right. He was a phenomenal free kick specialist and also took all penalties for the National Team of Greece and his club sides. He was an important part of the Greek National Side with two assists for the team that qualified for Euro 2004 and later would go on to win the tournament as 100-1 outsiders. Throughout his career he never saw a single red card by the referees.

1 Club Career
2 International Career
3 References
4 Articles

[edit] Club Career

He began his career at the academy at AE Alexandris and later the team of F.A.S. Naoussa FC which also produced such players as Yiotis Tsalouchidis and Dimitris Markos. The left footed attacking midfielder soon made a name for himself and his subsequent move to AEK Athens FC resulted in him scoring the most goals in the 1996 season in the Alpha Ethniki (A League). This and his huge attacking presence lead to a move to Sevilla FC where he was an influential captain and vital in team gaining promotion to the Primera Division. He was known in Sevilla as 'El Mago' due to his lethal ability with any free kicks combined with a powerful shot in or outside the box. He returned to AEK Athens FC in 2000 and after another successful 4 year spell ended his career at FC Köln. Tsiartas officially returned to active competition by signing with Ethnikos Piraeus in Greece. On February 14, 2007 Vasilis Tsiartas announced his retirement from professional football [1]

[edit] International Career

Having played U-16 and U-21 he debuted for the Greek National Team in 1994 against Saudi Arabia. He managed to score 12 goals (5 of which were penalties) in his 70 caps with the National Team including an important penalty against Northern Ireland in 2003 which led to Greece's qualification for Euro 2004. During the Euro 2004 he was used mainly as a substitute by the team's coach Otto Rehhagel, but managed to claim two vital assists, one against Spain [2] and the other against the Czech Republic [3] on the way to Greece's victory in the tournament.

	Greece squad - UEFA EURO 2004 Champions
1 Nikopolidis \| 2 Giourkas \| 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