Stelios Giannakopoulos

Stylianos Giannakopoulos (Greek language: Στυλιανός Γιαννακόπουλος), popularly known as Stelios (born July 12, 1974 in Athens, Greece), is a Greek football (soccer) player who currently plays for Bolton Wanderers F.C. as a midfielder.

Club career

Early career

Stelios started his playing career in 1992 in his homeland of Greece, spending his first season with Ethnikos Asteras. Having been thrust immediately into first-team action, he found himself scoring six goals in his opening season, before moving to Paniliakos. In the three years he spent there, he scored 26 goals in 84 games and soon attracted the attention of bigger clubs.

Olympiakos

Olympiakos were successfull in getting his signature in the summer of 1996 where he spent the next seven seasons. As a regular player, Stelios was very successfull with the club making a total of 189 appearances and scoring 63 goals in all competitions. Olympiakos won the Greek championship in every single season while Stelios was with them and reached the quarter finals of the Champions League during the 1998-99 season.

Bolton Wanderers

However, after ten years playing in Greece he was snapped up by Bolton Wanderers F.C.. The manager at the time Sam Allardyce described Stelios as "...an attacking midfielder who knows how to score goals. His main attribute remains his ability to make late runs into the penalty area and his flair to shoot accurately from range." He made his Bolton début against Manchester United F.C. and helped Bolton reach the 2004 Football League Cup Final and their highest ever Premiership finish in his first season. His fine form continued in to the next two seasons with one of the highlights being the winning goal he scored against Arsenal F.C. in an FA Cup 2005-06 Fourth Round Proper match played at the Reebok Stadium on January 28 2006.

With Sam Allardyce leaving the club and only a year left on his contract, there have been rumours of Stelios moving to another Premiership club or returning to Greece.

Stelios also has the distinction of being part of the substitution that holds the record of the largest difference between the number of letters in the surnames of two players in a Premiership substitution. This occurred when he replaced Ibrahim Ba during a league game for Bolton Wanderers on February 7 2004. The difference was 12 letters, 14 and 2.

International Career

Stelios made his international debut on the 12th of March 1997 against Cyprus. One of his most important and memorable goals with the Greece national football team was in a 1-0 away victory against Spain, in a 2004 European Football Championship (qualifying) which ensured automatic qualification for Greece. He was also one of the key players selected for the team which were victorious in the 2004 European Football Championship.

Honours

- 2004 UEFA European Football Championship: 2004
- Greek Championship: 7
- Greek Football Cup: 1

References