Dimitrios Grammozis (; born 8 July 1978) is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player, who last managed

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

. During his playing years, he was known as a versatile defender and

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Born in Germany, he was a youth international for Greece.

Playing career

Early years

Grammozis was born in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

and grew up in

Velbert Velbert (, Low Rhenish: ''Vèlbed'') is a town in the district of Mettmann (district), Mettmann, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The town is renowned worldwide for the production of locks and fittings. Geography Velbert is located ...

. He began his football career in 1984 with local side TuS Neviges in the Velbert neighborhood district. After four years, in 1988, Grammozis moved to

SSVg Velbert SSVg Velbert is a German association football club based in Velbert, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded in 1902 as ''Velberter FC 02'' and is the third oldest football club in the region. History Early predecessors Several other prede ...

, where he played for three years. His next and final stop in Velbert was a two-year stint at Borussia Velbert. In 1992, Grammozis returned to his hometown. After a year in the youth teams of

Wuppertaler SV Wuppertaler SV is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in the year of 1880 by the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cr ...

, he moved in 1994 to

KFC Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 was a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side, which had its greatest successes in the 1980s, plays in the fourth-level Regionalliga. In 2025, t ...

, where he played two more years in the A-youth. In 1996, aged 18, Grammozis played his first senior season in the 2. Bundesliga with KFC Uerdingen. In 1998, after another season in the 2. Bundesliga, he was transferred to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

for €350,000.

Senior career

Grammozis spent two years with Hamburger SV, contributing to a third-place

1999–2000 Bundesliga The 1999–2000 Bundesliga was the 37th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 13 August 1999 and ended on 20 May 2000. FC Bayern Munich were the defending champions. Competition modus Every team played two game ...

finish and subsequent qualification to the Champions League. However, he did not manage to permanently assert himself as a regular, and in addition to the arrival of quality players, Grammozis moved to

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

in 2000. He spent five years with ''The Red Devils'', characterized by injury problems and difficulties with his coaches, especially in his last two seasons. At the start of the season 2005–06 season, Grammozis moved to newly promoted side

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

on a two-year deal. However, after the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, the club prematurely terminated Grammozis' contract. As a result, on 20 July 2006 he moved on a free transfer to 2. Bundesliga newly promoted side

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

, signing a contract until 30 June 2008. In June 2007 Grammozis left Germany and moved to

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 ...

side

Ergotelis Ergotelis Football Club () is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, Crete, which competes in the Heraklion Football Clubs Association, FCA Heraklion A1, the fourth tier of the Greek football league system, ...

, signing a one-year contract with an option for another year. After a successful 2007–08 season with Ergotelis in which he played in 23 games and scored once, the club opted to extend his contract. However, after falling out with coach

Nikos Karageorgiou Nikos Karageorgiou (; born 8 December 1962) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. Club career Karageorgiou began his football career at his local village football club Aetos Eratino, before he was transferred to the region ...

in November 2008, Grammozis was transferred out to

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

side

Omonia Nicosia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia (; ''Athlitikós Sýllogos Omónoia Lefkosías''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (also transliterated as Omonoia), is a Cypriot professional multi-sport club, established on 4 June 1948 in Nico ...

in December for a reported €150,000. He spent 2.5 years at Omonia, where he became Cypriot champion in 2010, and won the

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

against

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

. In January 2011, Grammozis returned to the Super League Greece and joined newly promoted side

Kerkyra Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is admin ...

. In the summer of 2012, he moved to

VfL Bochum II VfL Bochum II (also known as VfL Bochum Amateure, VfL Bochum U-21 or VfL Bochum U-23) is the reserve team of German football club VfL Bochum. The team has made two appearances in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, in 1984–85 and 2005–06. Sinc ...

, signing for two years, but ended up retiring his career at the end of the

2012–13 Regionalliga The 2012–13 Regionalliga was the fifth season of the Regionalliga as the fourth tier of the Germany, German association football, football German football league system, league system. From this season onwards, the structure of this tier has cha ...

, having played in 26 games.

Coaching career

On 25 January 2014, Grammozis was hired as assistant to head coach

Thomas Reis Thomas Reis (, born 4 October 1973) is a German football manager and former professional player who's the current head coach of Süper Lig club Samsunspor. As a player, he began his career at Wertheim-Eichel and later played for clubs like VfB ...

for

. At the start of the 2014–15 season, he took over the U-15 juniors of

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

in the

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...

, his first youth team as coach. In March 2018, Grammozis successfully received his coaching license by the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

. On 24 February 2019, he was appointed as the head coach of

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

until the end of the 2019–20 season. On 2 March 2021, he was appointed as the fifth head coach of

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

during the

2020–21 Bundesliga The 2020–21 Bundesliga was the 58th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 18 September 2020 and concluded on 22 May 2021. The season was originally scheduled to begin on 21 August 2020 and conclude on 15 ...

season. He received a contract until 2022. On 6 March 2022, he was relieved from his duties. On 3 December 2023, he was appointed as the head coach of

. He was sacked in February 2024.

Personal life

Grammozis parents hail from

Kefalovryso, Ioannina Kefalovryso (, ) is a mountain village and a community of the Pogoni municipality. Before the 2011 local government reform it was a part of the municipality of Ano Pogoni, of which it was a municipal district and the seat. The community of Kefalo ...

Career statistics

Club

Managerial

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grammozis, Dimitrios Living people 1978 births Footballers from Wuppertal Greek men's footballers Greece men's under-21 international footballers Greek football managers German men's footballers German football managers German people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent Men's association football midfielders KFC Uerdingen 05 players Hamburger SV players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players 1. FC Köln players Rot-Weiss Essen players Ergotelis F.C. players AC Omonia players A.O. Kerkyra players VfL Bochum II players Greek expatriate men's footballers German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Super League Greece players Cypriot First Division players Bundesliga managers 2. Bundesliga managers SV Darmstadt 98 managers FC Schalke 04 managers 1. FC Kaiserslautern managers