Alexandros Paschalakis (; born 28 July 1989) is a Greek professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

and the Greece national team.

Club career

Early career

Paschalakis started playing football in Terpsithea. He was at the youth team of AEK for a year and then at the youth team of Olympiakos for two years (2003–2005). He then moved to the team of

Ilioupoli Ilioupoli (, " Sun City") is a suburban municipality and a town in Central Athens regional unit and located in the central-southern part of the Athens agglomeration. Its name is the modern form of the ancient name of Heliopolis in Egypt ...

. At the age of 17 he transferred to the youth team of

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

but could not sign a contract due to restrictions on the number of foreign players. He signed for

Levadiakos Levadiakos Football Club (officially romanized: ''Levadeiakos'' ) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, ...

in the summer of 2008. He signed for

PAEEK PAEEK (; short for Ποδοσφαιρική Αθλητική Ένωσις Επαρχίας Κερύνειας, ''Podosfairiki Athlitiki Enosis Eparxeias Kerynias'', translated as "Football and Sport Union of Kyrenia District", literally "Footb ...

in the summer of 2012.

Akhisar Akhisar () is a municipality and district of Manisa Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,645 km2, and its population is 177,419 (2022). It is the site of the ancient city of Thyatira. With archaeological findings that are proving settlements go ...

was interested in Paschalakis but he did not want to move there. After returning to Greece and spending six months in limbo, he signed for Panthrakikos in January 2014, but played just 13 matches until January 2016.

PAS Giannina

Paschalakis signed for

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club (), or with its full name Panipirotikós Athlitikós Síllogos Giánnina (, ''Panepirotic Athletic Club Giannina'') is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ioannina, the capita ...

on 26 January 2016, to replace Markos Vellidis' transfer to

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

. He did not play at all in his first six months in

Ioannina Ioannina ( ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus (region), Epirus, an Modern regions of Greece, administrative region in northwester ...

. On 25 July 2017, the 28-year-old goalkeeper that was bound by a contract to the club until the summer of 2018, had made an appeal due to a delay in his annual salary. The Athenian goalie had an outstanding season playing in 27 games, four of which were in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, along with Asteras Tripoli and Panathinaikos expressed interest in his acquisition, having nine clean sheets. On 1 August, Paschalakis was released from

PAOK

On 7 August 2017, he signed a year contract with

for an undisclosed fee. On 2 December 2017, he made his debut in a 3–0 away win against

Xanthi Xanthi is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope mountain chain, the city is divided ...

. A day later he renewed his contract with the club till the summer of 2020. The 28-year-old goalkeeper increased his earnings and the release clause would be set in the region of €5 million. It was initially planned that he would be back-up to Argentinian Rodrigo Rey, but since head coach

Răzvan Lucescu Răzvan Lucescu (; born 17 February 1969) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently managing Super League Greece, Greek Super League club PAOK FC, PAOK. ...

gave him a chance, Paschalakis made himself PAOK's starter. As of 4 February 2018, Paschalakis holds PAOK's record for most consecutive minutes without conceding, with 971 excluding stoppage time (1008 in total), before conceding in a 1–3 away win over PAS Giannina, to surpass current runner-up

Kostas Chalkias Konstantinos "Kostas" Chalkias (; born 30 May 1974) is a Greek retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Panathinaikos, Apollon Athens, Iraklis, Portsmouth, Real Murcia, Aris, PAOK and Panachaiki. He was als ...

with 859 min. Unsurprisingly, PAOK boast the

Superleague Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

's tightest defence with seven goals conceded in nineteen matches, a statistic which is largely down to Paschalakis' superb performances between the sticks. On 8 August 2018, Paschalakis saved second-half

Quincy Promes Quincy Anton Promes (born 4 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a winger or forward. He is currently appealing criminal convictions for aggravated assault and drug trafficking. Promes started his career with Twente i ...

's penalty in a 3–2 home win in the UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round, 1st leg against Spartak Moscow, helping his team to maintain the win. At the first half of the 2018–19 season Paschalakis played every minute of domestic championship action, conceding a mere six goals in 15 matches while tallying an impressive nine clean sheets. On 17 January 2019, Paschalakis was awarded a new contract with PAOK through to 2022. On 25 April 2019, he made a number of saves in a semifinal second leg

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

game against

Asteras Tripolis Asteras Tripolis Football Club (), currently known as Asteras AKTOR for sponsorship reasons, commonly referred to as Asteras, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Asteras Tripolis ...

, helping PAOK's title defence of the Greek Cup, as the newly crowned

champions secured a 0–0 draw in Tripoli to progress 2–0 on aggregate. PAOK, for the third consecutive season, would meet

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

in the Greek Cup final.

Olympiacos

On 29 September 2022, Paschalakis signed for Olympiacos for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut on 13 October 2022 in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

against Qarabag FK keeping a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw. On 27 October he made another appearance against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

making a number of crucial saves resulting in a 1–1 draw

International career

On 5 October 2018 Greece coach

Michael Skibbe Michael Heinz Skibbe (born 4 August 1965) is a German former football player and current manager of J1 League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. He is currently the 2024 ' J.League Manager of the Year'. Club career In his youth, Skibbe played for SG Wa ...

called up Paschalakis for upcoming

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competition ...

matches against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

. ''"''All players dream of someday representing their country and I am happy for this opportunity. I waited for a long time for this call'',"'' said Paschalakis. On 30 May 2019, he made his debut in a 2–1

friendly game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

away loss against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Personal life

Paschalakis hails from

Serres Serres ( ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northern Greece. The c ...

. He was in a relationship with Greek singer from 2019 to 2023.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

PAOK *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 2018–19 *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2017–18, 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

; runner-up: 2021–22 Olympiacos *

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

: 2023–24 *

: 2024–25 *

: 2024–25

Individual

* Super League Greece Goalkeeper of the Season: 2018–19 * Super League Greece Team of the Season: 2018–19

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paschalakis, Alexandros 1989 births Living people Greece men's international footballers Gamma Ethniki players Football League (Greece) players Super League Greece players Levadiakos F.C. players PAEEK FC players Panthrakikos F.C. players PAS Giannina F.C. players PAOK FC players Olympiacos F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Athens Greek men's footballers Cypriot Second Division players Greek expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Greek expatriate men's footballers UEFA Conference League–winning players 21st-century Greek sportsmen