Alexandros Tziolis

Alexandros Tziolis (Αλέξανδρος Τζιόλης; born 13 February 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

He played there for about seven years and in 1995, a Panionios scouter spotted his talent and brought him to Athens.

He was an integral part of Panionios team for three seasons, playing 61 matches and scoring three goals.

As a result, Panathinaikos offered Panionios €650,000 and signed him.

He was a Greek international from 2005 until his international retirement in 2018.

He won 75 caps, scoring twice.

Tziolis initially established himself as a first-team player for Panathinaikos ahead of Igor Biscan during the 2006–07 season.

In April 2007, he scored a goal helping his club break Skoda Xanthi's unbeaten home run in the Superleague Greece and secure a place in the Greek Cup final against Larissa.

By the end of 2007–08 season Tziolis was close to his exit from Panathinaikos but new manager Henk ten Cate chose to keep him.

After being mostly left out of the starting lineup in the beginning of 2008–09 season, he was included in the team in November and was voted "Man of the Match" in a 3–0 win in Germany against Werder Bremen in the UEFA Champions League, where he scored the third goal for Panathinaikos.

He went on to again established himself, linking well with teammates Gilberto Silva and Simao Mate Junior.

In his time at Panathinaikos, he made in all his competitions 113 appearances (six goals, eight assists) with the club.

On 7 January 2009, joined Bundesliga side Werder Bremen on a half-season loan, for a fee of €300,000.

Werder Bremen secured the right to sign him permanently for a fee of €1.6 million.

Tziolis played a regular role in Bremen's midfield and helped the club to make the UEFA Cup final against Shaktar Donetsk, on 20 May 2009.

He appeared in two World Cups (2010, 2014) and Euro 2008.

Tziolis began his playing career as a teenager in a local team called Apollon Litochorou.

In the final, he came on as a substitute for Peter Niemeyer in the 103rd minute.

After having nearly scored the equalizing goal when Bremen were a goal behind, the team lost the final of the last UEFA Cup edition to Shaktar with a final score of 2–1.

Tziolis also featured in Bremen's 1–0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup final the same season, where Tziolis won his first ever trophy in professional football.

On 29 January 2010, Serie A club AC Siena, coached by former Panathinaikos coach Alberto Malesani, signed Tziolis for a fee of €1.4 million.

He made his debut in the league on 7 February 2010 against Sampdoria.

Tziolis was a regular for Siena, while the team was relegated to the Serie B.

In August 2010, Tziolis moved to La Liga side Racing Santander on a one-year loan deal.

In October 2010, he suffered a leg break in the 1–0 defeat of Latvia.

Racing Santander announced that recuperation would be between four and six months.

After a successful league campaign in the second half of the season Racing Santander signed him permanently from Siena for an undisclosed fee.

In January 2012, Tziolis joined AS Monaco for a reported transfer fee of €200,000.

On 31 August 2012, Tziolis joined Cypriot side APOEL on a season-long loan deal from AS Monaco.

During his loan spell at APOEL, he became a league champion for the first time in his career, appearing in all but two of the league matches and helping his team to win the Cypriot First Division.

On 25 June 2013, Tziolis signed a three-year contract with Greek Superleague side PAOK.

On 17 August, he made his league debut in a 3–0 home win against Xanthi.

On 22 December 2013, he scored his first goal with the club in a home victory against Levadiakos.

He was among the key players of PAOK in the first half of the 2013–14 season.

In the winter transfer window he signed with Süper Lig team Kayserispor with the stated intention of securing his selection for the Greece national team for the 2014 World Cup.

At the beginning of 2014–15 season, Tziolis returned to PAOK and played 34 games in all competitions scoring one goal for the Greek Cup.

On 27 November 2015, Tziolis in the UEFA Europa League match against Gabala FK achieved 400 appearances with all his clubs for all competitions.

Tziolis' contract with PAOK would expire at the end of 2015–16 season, with the stipulation that it would have been automatically renewed if that season he had played at least 70% of team's matches.

In December 2015 the club stated it wanted to keep the international midfielder for many years and that Tziolis had a first meeting with technical director Frank Arnesen, to speak about the terms of a contract extension.

On 19 August 2016, PAOK officially announced the 2016–17 season did not include the international midfielder.