Fotis Papoulis (; born 22 January 1985) is a retired 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 last played for Omonia in the

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 ...

. Born in Greece, he played for the Cyprus national team.

Club career

Early career

Papoulis began his football career with

Acharnaikos F.C. Acharnaikos Football Club () is a Greek football club based in Acharnes (Menidi area), Athens, Greece. It was founded in 1939 as Panthiras Menidiou. The club was known as Yperochi Menidi until 1961. It plays in Acharnes Stadium, which has a 4,450 ...

in the

Gamma Ethniki The Gamma Ethniki (, C National Division) is the Greek football league system, third highest football league in Greece. History The Gamma Ethniki began in 1965 as an amateur championship, while in 1983 it was changed to professional. Although no ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut in January 2010 when he signed a professional contract with

Panthrakikos Panthrakikos Football Club () is a Greek football club based in Komotini, Thrace in North Eastern Greece founded in 1963. The club competed in Super League Greece during the 2008–09 season for the first time. History Early years (1963–2001) ...

. He scored three goals in twelve matches in the league. In January 2011, he left the club, signing a six-month contract with OFI, helping them return to the

after the play-offs. The following year, he helped the club avoid relegation. It was a very successful season for Papoulis, as he was nominated as an MVP of the week and selected among the top 18 players in the 2011-12 Superleague season.

Apollon Limassol

In summer 2012, Papoulis joined Cypriot club

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 his first three seasons at the club, he won the

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

, and competed in the group stage of 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 ...

twice. He was also

Apollon Apollon may refer to: * Apollo, ancient Greek god of light, healing and poetry * Apollon (Formula One), Formula One constructor * Apollon Kalamarias, Greek football club * Apollon Smyrnis F.C., a Greek football club from Athens * Apollon Pontou F ...

's top scorer in every one of these seasons. In May 2016, Papoulis scored the first goal of the

2015–16 Cypriot Cup The 2015–16 Cypriot Cup was the 74th edition of the Cypriot Cup. A total of 28 clubs entered the competition. It began on 28 October 2015 with the first round and concluded on 18 May 2016 with the final which was held at Tsirion Stadium. Apoll ...

final against Omonia. His team won with a final score of 2-1, and lifted the trophy. The following season, he captained Apollon in the cup final against APOEL, and helped his team win the competition for the second consecutive season. Papoulis also played in the 2017-18 Cup final, however his team lost to

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition (ancient state), Kition of Larnaca") is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional association football, football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EP ...

, and failed to win the competition for the third time in a row. On 2 August 2018, Papoulis scored a hat-trick in a home game against Željezničar Sarajevo, winning the match with a score of 3-1. This made him the first Greek player to score a hat-trick with a foreign club in a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

competition.

Omonia

In summer 2020, Papoulis signed a two-year contract with Omonia. Οn 4 May 2021, Papoulis scored the winning goal in a 1-0 away win against

. This win mathematically confirmed Omonia to be the champions of the

2020–21 Cypriot First Division The 2020–21 Cypriot First Division was the 82nd season of the Cypriot top-level football league. Stadiums and locations :''Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.'' Personnel and kits Note: Flags indicate national team as has been ...

. He was Omonia's top scorer in the league, tied with

Marko Šćepović Marko Šćepović ( sr-cyr, Марко Шћеповић, ; born 23 May 1991) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Club career Early career Born in Belgrade, � ...

and

Ernest Asante Ernest Asante (born 6 November 1988) is a Ghanaian footballer who plays for Cypriot club Doxa Katokopias. Club career Early career Asante played for the Brong Ahafo U12 side in the National Milo Games hosted in Sunyani, B/A while attending m ...

at eight goals. Papoulis was one of Omonia's most consistent players in the disappointing 2021–22 campaign. He was Omonia's top scorer across all competitions with 11 goals, including two very important goals leading up to the

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

final; against AEL in the quarter-final, and against

Anorthosis Anorthosis Famagusta (), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Famagusta multi-sport club founded in 1911 in Varosha, Famagusta.

in the semi-final. He played in the final, but was substituted after five minutes, when an early red card forced Omonia coach

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic. During his playing career he represe ...

to change his plans for the game. His team went on to win the match on penalties. On 14 June 2022, Papoulis extended his contract with Omonia for another year. His only goal of the 2022–23 season came on 3 September 2022, when he scored the winning goal in a 3–2 home win against AEK Larnaca. On 24 May 2023, Papoulis came off the bench to assist the winning goal in the

2022–23 Cypriot Cup The 2022–23 Cypriot Cup was the 81st edition of the Cypriot Cup. A total of 23 clubs were accepted to enter the competition. It began in October 2022 with the first round and concluded on 24 May 2023 with the final held at the GSP Stadium. Omo ...

final, winning the trophy for the fifth time in his career; aged 38, he announced his retirement from football after the match.

International career

In August 2018, after many years of residence in Cyprus, Papoulis settled all the necessary documents and has acquired the Cypriot citizenship and is eligible to participate in

Cyprus national football team The Cyprus national football team (, ) represents Cyprus in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association. The team's home ground is the AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis, AEK Arena in L ...

. On 6 September 2018, he made his debut with

in a 2–0 away loss against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

for the Nations League competition.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Cyprus' goal tally first.''

Career statistics (from 2009 onwards)

Date of last update: 10 January 2022

Honours

Apollon Limassol *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2015–16, 2016–17 *

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 ...

: 2016 Omonoia *

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 ...

: 2021–22,

2022–23 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 ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

*
Panthraxstats
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Profile
at Onsports.gr * {{DEFAULTSORT:Papoulis, Fotis 1985 births Living people Cypriot men's footballers Cyprus men's international footballers Greek emigrants to Cyprus Greek expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players Cypriot First Division players Acharnaikos F.C. players Panachaiki F.C. players PAS Lamia 1964 players Panthrakikos F.C. players OFI Crete F.C. players Apollon Limassol FC players AC Omonia players Footballers from Athens Greek men's footballers 21st-century Greek sportsmen