Giannis Fetfatzidis

Giannis Fetfatzidis (Γιάννης Φετφατζίδης; born 21 December 1990) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a winger for Super League club Aris.

He plays mainly as a winger but he can also play as an attacking midfielder.

Fetfatzidis began playing football in the Vouliagmeni academies at the age of six, at Sourmena FC s academy and senior (amateur) team.

Aged 12 he was spotted by coach Kostas Arzenis of the Olympiacos Academies.

Although there was competition from AEK Athens and Panathinaikos, he finally joined Olympiacos who helped him with his growth hormone treatment.

Fetfatzidis made his debut with Olympiacos in the Greek championship during the 2009–10 season, participating in the win against Atromitos on 31 October 2009.

Manager Zico gave him his Champions League debut against Standard Liège on 4 November 2009 in Liège, Belgium, substituting Luciano Galletti in the 39th minute of play.

On 15 July 2010, in Tirana, Albania, he made his first appearance in the Europa League against Besa Kavajë, replacing Jaouad Zairi in the 75th minute.

Fetfatzidis scored his first European goal in the home match against Besa Kavajë in G. Karaiskakis Stadium in a high-scoring victory for Olympiacos.

The match ended 6–1.

Fetfatzidis scored his first goal in the Greek Super League against Skoda Xanthi on 16 October 2010, replacing Dennis Rommedahl in the match.

The match ended in a 0–3 victory for Olympiacos.

His second goal was scored against Larissa in the last match of the season.

In early September 2010, Olympiacos extended his contract until 2015, increasing his wages and putting a €12.5 million release clause on his contract.

On 23 November 2011, Fetfatzidis gave Olympiacos a 1–0 victory over Olympique de Marseille in the Champions League by scoring in the 82nd minute at the Stade Vélodrome, placing them in third place in Group F.

Bizarrely at Olympiacos during the same season, despite having better goal/minute and assist/minute ratios than first team wingers like Djamel Abdoun, Fetfatzidis found himself planted to the bench for most of the 2011–12 season.

Controversy followed the player in 2012.

To everyone's surprise, despite helping Greece qualify for UEFA Euro 2012 with matching-winning qualifying goals, Fetfatzidis was quickly dropped from the first team when the tournament finally arrived and spent the whole competition on the bench.

To further confuse the issue, from the start of the 2012–13 season, despite an excellent 2012 pre-season, Fetfatzidis was again largely ignored at Olympiacos.

The 2012–13 season proved a major disappointment as he was left out of Olympiacos' line-up regularly, clocking up just 12 league appearances.

Despite that, the 22-year-old scored a sublime goal against Panthrakikos in the Greek Cup semi-finals, dribbling past five opponents along the way.

This prompted questions from the media about why he was abandoned as a player, with Sakis Tsiolis and other competing clubs' managers openly questioning why he is not being played despite outshining his peers and drawing comparisons to Kyriakos Papadopoulos's treatment at Olympiacos years previous.

Under Spanish coach Míchel, Fetfatzidis received more playing time at the club.

In September 2013, Fetfatzidis joined Serie A club Genoa for a reported €4 million transfer fee which made him the most expensive Greek player to move out of the Super League.

As part of deal Olympiacos secured a 25% sell-on clause while Fetfatzidis contract amounted to €400,000 per year.

He made his first appearance with the club on 21 September 2013 in a home 0–0 draw against Livorno as a substitute.

On 26 March 2014, he scored his first goal with the club in 2–0 home win against Lazio.

On 18 May 2014, Genoa have recorded a 1–0 win over Roma in last season's game for Serie A at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

The Giallorossi got a number of chances to open the scoring, but were made to pay for their profligacy in front of goal by Giannis Fetfatzidis' winner.

Genoa then went 1–0 up in the closing stages of the game against the run of play when Fetfatzidis found the goal with a calm finish.

On 15 January 2015, Fetfatzidis rescued Genoa by scoring two goals in a thriller game with Sassuolo as his club came from behind three times to deny Sassuolo a victory as their Serie A clash ended in a thrilling 3–3 draw.

On 31 January 2015, Chievo Verona took Fetfatzidis on loan from Genoa for the rest of the season.

On 30 July 2015, Fetfatzidis joined to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli signing a three-year contract.

On 12 September 2015, Fetfatzidis playing against Hajer for the last 16 of the Crown Prince Cup he managed to score his first goal with the club, three minutes after his entrance in the 78th minute.

At the end of the season he celebrated the Saudi Professional League.

On 8 August was a starter in a 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in London Fulham's stadium Craven Cottage against Al-Hilal winning the Saudi Super Cup.

On 6 November 2016, Fetfatzidis scored his first goal of the 2016–17 season in a 4–0 home win against Al-Wehda.

On 13 March 2017, he scored the second goal of his club giving a lead for a final 2–2 home draw against Al Ain in the AFC Champions League.

On 12 May 2017, one month after the renewal of the contract with Al-Ahli, Fetfatzidis scored a goal which paved the way to qualifying for the final of the King Cup in a glorious 3–0 win against Al-Faisaly.

On 17 August 2017, he scored his first goal for the 2017–18 season with a penalty kick in a 4–0 home win against Al-Fateh.