Alexandros Tabakis (; born 8 December 1992), also known as Alex Tambakis, 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

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

side

New Mexico United New Mexico United is an American professional soccer team based in Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U. ...

Career

He started playing football for Takis Oikonomopoulos's academy, in

Artemida, Attica Artemida (, until 1977 ''Loutsa'', ) is an Eastern suburb of Athens. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Spata-Artemida, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 18.653 km2. Histor ...

, from there, he moved to

Paiania (training ground) The Paiania training ground is a training ground base, the new training center of the Greek National Football Team. The training center will house national teams of all ages, men and women, and will be the "Home of the National Teams". It was of ...

to be a member of Panathinaikos's youth academies. He promoted to the first team on July 1, 2011 signing a contract which keeps him in Panathinaikos until 2016. He made his debut as a player of the first team on April 23, 2012 at a 4-0 win against

Panetolikos F.C. Panetolikos Football Club (), or with its full name officially romanized as Panaitolikós Gymnastikós Filekpaideftikós Sýllogos (''; Pan- Aetolian Gymnastic and Educational Club''), is a Greek professional football club. It is based in Agrinio ...

, replacing Kotsolis on the 86th minute of the game. On February 2, 2015, Tabakis was loaned to

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

side

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

until the end of the season, but he did not make an appearance with the first team before returning. He made two appearances with the Under-21 side, and he was also named to the squad for Venlo's first-round

promotion playoff Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

matches against

Oss OSS or Oss may refer to: Places * Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands * Osh Airport, IATA code OSS People with the name * Oss (surname), a surname Arts and entertainment * ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about ...

, ahead of

Eric Verstappen Eric Verstappen (born 19 May 1994) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Club career De Graafschap In 2015, Verstappen moved from VVV-Venlo to De Graafschap. Eintracht Braunschweig II In 2017, Verstappen moved to German club ...

. On January 25, 2016, Tambakis transferred from

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won one MLS Cup, one U.S. Open Cup, and one Eastern ...

on a free transfer. He became the first player to be signed by the club, who were set to make their debut in the 2017 season. He was immediately sent on loan to third division with

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

. Tambakis made 19 appearances for the Battery in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, as well as 2 in the postseason, keeping 6 clean sheets. Tambakis was loaned back out to Charleston ahead of the 2017 season, and was recalled multiple times by Atlanta throughout the season. Tambakis made his first teamsheet with Atlanta on March 18, listed ahead of

Kyle Reynish Kyle Patrick Reynish (born November 3, 1983) is a former American soccer goalkeeper. Early life and education Reynish attended Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California where he had a 0.84 career goals against average, as well as setting ...

as the reserve goalkeeper. On October 3, 2017, Tambakis made his

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

debut, coming on as a substitute for Reynish, who was sent off for denying

Minnesota United Minnesota United Football Club, often shortened to MNUFC, is an American professional soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Th ...

forward

Abu Danladi Abu Danladi (born October 18, 1995) is a Ghanaian footballer who plays as a forward for New Mexico United in the USL Championship. Career Amateur & College Abu Danladi graduated from Ghana's Right to Dream Academy. He attended Dunn High Sc ...

a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Entering the game at a 1–0 deficit, Atlanta would score two goals before conceding two more in the 3–2 defeat. Tambakis was in the squad because first-choice goalkeeper

Brad Guzan Bradley Edwin Guzan (; born September 9, 1984) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. A College soccer in the ...

was away at international duty, and second-choice

Alec Kann Alec Kann (born August 8, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club FC Cincinnati. Career Youth and college Kann attended Lakeside High School (DeKalb County, Georgia), where he was a ...

was out injured. After his option was declined following the 2017 season, Tambakis' rights were traded by Atlanta on December 10, 2017 to

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

along with

Kenwyne Jones Kenwyne Joel Jones CM (born 5 October 1984) is a Trinidadian football manager and retired professional player who played as a forward. He managed the Trinidad and Tobago women's national team. He began his football career with Joe Public F. ...

's rights and a 2021

MLS SuperDraft The MLS SuperDraft is an annual Draft (sports), college draft for teams of Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada in which MLS clubs take turns selecting from a pool of eligible amateur players. These drafted players usually come f ...

pick in exchange for a second-round pick in the

2018 MLS SuperDraft The 2018 MLS SuperDraft was the nineteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. As customary, the SuperDraft was held in conjunction with the annual United Soccer Coaches convention. The 2018 UCS was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania b ...

, Kevin Oliveira, and

Tyler Pasher Tyler Pasher (born 27 April 1994) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Birmingham Legion in the USL Championship. Club career Youth Pasher became a member of the Woolwich Soccer Association, of which his father ...

. On March 2, 2018, Tambakis joined

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

side

North Carolina FC North Carolina FC is an American professional association football, soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Caro ...

. On March 11, 2021, Tambakis joined

. He was named New Mexico United's Defensive Player of the Year following the 2022 season.

Career statistics

Honours

;Panathinaikos *

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 ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

References

External links

*
Profile and statistics at Myplayer.grProfile at leoforos.gr (Greek)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabakis, Alexandros 1992 births Living people Greek expatriate men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Atlanta United FC players Charleston Battery players Niki Volos F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players VVV-Venlo players North Carolina FC players Super League Greece players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States USL Championship players Major League Soccer players New Mexico United players Footballers from Athens Greek men's footballers 21st-century Greek sportsmen