Stathis Tavlaridis ( el, Στάθης Ταυλαρίδης; born 25 January 1980) is a Greek former 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 ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Tavlaridis has earned the nickname ''"Taureau"'' in France which means ''"The Bull"'' due to his aggressive style of play.

Club career

Iraklis and England (Arsenal, Portsmouth)

Tavlaridis was born in

Serres Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) 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 Nort ...

. He started his career at Iraklis Thessaloniki and in 2001 was transferred to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

at the age of 21 for £1m. He never fully broke into the first team, unable to displace

Sol Campbell Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell (born 18 September 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Southend United. He previously managed Macclesfield Town from November 2018 to August 2 ...

and

Kolo Touré Kolo Abib Touré (born 19 March 1981) is an Ivorian professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Championship side Wigan Athletic. He played as a defender for Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and the Ivory ...

, and spent a period on loan to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

. Whilst at Portsmouth he contributed four appearances as they won the First Division Championship and promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. He made eight appearances for Arsenal, all but one of them in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. He made his

debut in 2002–03 season against Southampton, where Arsenal rested many of their players for the upcoming FA Cup Final, also against Southampton. In early 2004 he was sent on a loan deal for the remainder of that season to French club

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played i ...

Lille

On 29 April 2004, Tavlaridis was transferred from

on a four-year contract. In his spell with the club he continually created a great deal of interest and attention from several other teams. With regard to Tavlaridis's time at Lille, he has regularly featured within both Champions League and

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

games for Les Dogues. Of such was the first leg of a Champions League tie against AEK at the

Stade Pierre-Mauroy The Stade Pierre-Mauroy, also known as the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre-Mauroy for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-use retractable roof stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Métropole Européenne de Lille), France, that opened in August 2012. It has ...

in October 2006, of which eventually finished 3–1 to the hosts. All in all, Tavlaridis in 2011 described his spell with Lille as "the most beautiful page of his career".

Saint-Étienne

Despite being linked with a hosts of

clubs, notably

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

, and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...

, Tavlaridis announced that he was signing with

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

for €2.5m after agreeing to a three-year deal with the club. Tavlaridis was handed the number 4 shirt and quickly inserted into the first eleven forming partnerships with

Moustapha Bayal Sall Moustapha Bayal Sall (born 30 November 1985) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Jordanian club Al Faisaly SC. At international level, he has represented Senegal, earning 29 caps and scoring one goal. Playing c ...

. Tavlaridis made his debut against his former club

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

and was applauded by the Lille home fans. Tavlaridis got off to a great start for the 2007–08 season scoring his first goal with

in a 2–1 victory over

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy S ...

the following week. Tavlaridis was contract in the summer of 2009 with

and a number of

clubs were at the time believed to be prepared to offer him a route back to England. With this being so, he was named as the club's permanent captain by manager

Alain Perrin Alain André Christian Perrin (born 7 October 1956) is a French professional football manager and former player. Perrin made his managerial breakthrough at Troyes, whom he took from the fourth tier to Ligue 1 and UEFA Cup qualification by winnin ...

following the first league match of the

2009–10 Ligue 1 The 2009–10 Ligue 1 season was the 72nd since its establishment. Bordeaux were the defending champions. The fixtures were announced on 5 June 2009, and play commenced on 8 August and ended on 15 May 2010. There were three promoted teams from L ...

season, after having served as vice-captain the previous season. Tavlaridis was removed as captain shortly due to his long-term injury. This move saw his playing time reduced, where he played only six more matches in that season for Saint-Étienne. Tavlaridis in all made 69 appearances for the Ligue 1 team, scoring twice.

AEL

On 30 April 2010 AEL announced that an agreement had been reached with the 29-year-old centre-back who will join the club in the summer on a free transfer, when his contract with les Verts has been finally wound down. Nicknamed 'Taureau' in France because of his bullish style of play, the Greek was initially a success in

with

and then

, though he fell out of favour at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard earlier this season under head coach

. When the former Olympique Lyonnais boss was axed, Tavlaridis had an immediate chance to impress under Christophe Galtier, though his red card against Olympique de Marseille 10 minutes into Galtier's first game in charge effectively ended his first team career with les Verts. Tavlaridis signed a four-year deal. On 9 August 2011, however, Tavlaridis terminated his contract without following the team's relegation to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

OFI

On 24 August 2011, Tavlaridis signed a one-year contract for OFI, who then were newly promoted to the

Greek Superleague The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

. The ex-footballer and president of the club

Nikos Machlas Nikos Machlas ( el, Νίκος Μαχλάς, born 16 June 1973) is a retired Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career OFI Crete Machlas began his career with OFI Crete, where he made his debut in February 1991 ag ...

wanted to add to the roster a very experienced defender, who could also play the role of the defence leader. The annual salary was fixed to €150,000. However, due to the club's financial difficulties and payment inconsistencies, he decided to leave the club on 24 April 2012, before the 2011–12 campaign for OFI was over.

Atromitos

On 2 June 2012, Tavlaridis agreed to sign for

Atromitos Athens Atromitos Football Club (, ''PAE APS Atromitos Athinon''), also simply known as Atromitos (literally meaning "Fearless"), is a Greek professional football club based in Peristeri, Athens, that plays in the Super League. It was founded in 1923 a ...

. In February 2014, Tavlaridis agreed to extend his contract till June 2016.

Panathinaikos

In December 2014, Atromitos announced that Tavlaridis was transferred to Panathinaikos. Tavlaridis was delighted to sign with Panathinaikos, the team which he supported since youth. On 11 January 2015 he scored his first goal in a match against Ergotelis. It was his second appearance with the team and the first in its home ground Leoforos. Tavlaridis with Panathinaikos also scored in the game with PAOK in Touba for playoffs brought the club to practically within one point from clinching a spot in next season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

qualifiers. Moreover, Tavlaridis has joined a star-studded array of international active and retired players for the 12th Annual Match Against Poverty which will take place on 20 April at the Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium in Saint-Etienne, France. He will play along

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of the Ivory Coast national team. He is best known for his career at ...

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: Ass ...

and

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the m ...

all of them UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors, for a match against an

AS St-Etienne As, AS, A. S., A/S or similar may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * A. S. Byatt (born 1936), English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer * "As" (song), by Stevie Wonder * , a Spanish sports newspaper * , an academic male voice ...

All Stars team to help boost Ebola recovery efforts. On 30 December 2015, Tavlaridis verbally agreeing to renew his contract with the Greens until the summer of 2017 and within January he will put pen to paper, that eventually took place five days later. On 19 June 2016, Tavlaridis is not considered among Andrea Stramaccioni's plans. Panathinaikos tried to offload him over the summer but the Greek defender did not manage to find a club to continue playing. On 12 January 2017, Tavlaridis is another footballer (after

Michael Essien Michael Kojo Essien (born 3 December 1982) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and is currently a member of Danish Superliga club Nordsjælland's coaching staff. He was also capped for the Ghana national tea ...

Rasmus Thelander Rasmus Thelander (born 9 July 1991) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Aalborg BK. Club career AB Thelander began his career as a senior footballer in 2010 for Akademisk Boldklub (AB) in Danish 1st Division, the ...

, Jens Wemmer and Niklas Hult) in eight months to file an appeal against Panathinaikos for payments' delay. The Greek international in his appeal, he claims for an amount that covers his compensation during his career in the club. On 11 May 2017, the committee of the Greek Football Federation's financial disputes has given the football player the amount of €272,000.

Aris

On 2 February 2017, Aris announced the signing of experienced central defender, who was recently released from Panathinaikos, until the summer of 2018.

International career

Tavlaridis only managed to play twice for the

Greece national football team The Greece national football team ( el, Εθνική Ελλάδας, ) represents Greece in men's international football matches and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play mos ...

2005 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FIFA World Cup winners ...

, having fallen out of favor with coach

Otto Rehhagel Otto Rehhagel (; born 9 August 1938) is a German former football coach and player. Rehhagel is one of only two people who, as player and manager combined, has participated in over 1,000 Bundesliga matches (the other being Jupp Heynckes). In ...

as well as Akis Zikos, Ieroklis Stoltidis,

Grigoris Georgatos Grigoris Georgatos ( el, Γρηγόρης Γεωργάτος; born 31 October 1972) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a left-back. His nickname was ''"the Crazy bald"'' ''( el, "ο Τρελός φαλακρός")'' due to hi ...

, Nikos Lyberopoulos and

Vassilis Tsartas Vasilios Tsiartas ( el, Βασίλειος Τσιάρτας; born 12 November 1972) is a Greek former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Although he was famed for his lackadaisical playing style, ...

. After ten years and the amazing 2014-2015 season with Atromitos and Panathinaikos he was called up by Markarian for the games against

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

for the preliminary round of

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

and the friendly game against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. On 17 June 2015, in a friendly match against

, at the beginning of the second half, he wore the jersey of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

team after almost ten years, by replacing

Sokratis Papastathopoulos Sokratis Papastathopoulos ( el, Σωκράτης Παπασταθόπουλος; born 7 June 1988), commonly known mononymously as Sokratis, is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Super League club Olympiacos. Club c ...

Dispute with Panathinaikos

On 27 February 2018, the administration of financially struggling Panathinaikos managed to agree terms with veteran international central defender, Tavlaridis. The Greens will finally pay €80,000 to the 38-year-old former defender, who was a member of the historic Athens club between January 2015 and January 2017, and therefore avoid a possible 3-point deduction from the Hellenic Football Federation.

Honours

Lille *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International F ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Individual *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

Team of the Year: 2013–14, 2014–15

References

External links

Arsenal F.C. ProfileGuardian ProfileSoccerbase Profile & StatsLFP Profile & Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavlaridis, Efstathios 1980 births Living people Greek footballers Greece international footballers Greece under-21 international footballers 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Association football central defenders Ligue 1 players Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Lille OSC players AS Saint-Étienne players OFI Crete F.C. players Atromitos F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players Premier League players Super League Greece players Greek expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in France People from Kapetan Mitrousi AEK F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Central Macedonia