Lampros Choutos (sometimes Lambros; born 7 December 1979) 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. During his career, he played equal periods of time in his country and Italy.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Choutos started his career with Asteras Polygonou, being discovered by scouts of

Panathinaikos FC Panathinaikos Football Club ( ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', ), is a Greek professional Association football, footbal ...

. After only two years, he moved to Italy to finish his football grooming with

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

Professionals

Choutos' first stop as a senior was back in his country, loaned by Roma to

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Football Club ( ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Piraeus. Part of the major Sports club, multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP (''Olympiakós Sýnde ...

after stellar performances during the qualifying stages for the

2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 12th staging of UEFA's UEFA European Under-21 Championship, European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Slovakia from 27 May to 4 June 2000. The tournament had 47 entrants ...

, as he netted 15 goals in only ten matches. He gradually made his way into the first team under the direction of

Alberto Bigon Alberto "Albertino" Bigon (born 31 October 1947) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder or forward. Playing career Born in Padua, Bigon started his playing career for his native city team Padova. He made ...

, forming a productive attacking trio with

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Zlatko Zahovič Zlatko Zahovič (; born 1 February 1971) is a Slovenian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. After making a name for himself in Portugal, most notably with Porto and Benfica where he amassed Primeira Liga totals ...

and

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

from Brazil. Although he suffered from an injured knee, Choutos managed to score decisive goals. He helped the

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

club win the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

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 ...

championships before returning to Italy, with

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

. Choutos signed a three-year contract with Inter in summer 2004, but could never settle there, being constantly loaned to other minor sides in both the country and abroad (Spain's

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

, where he quickly fell out of favour with manager

Héctor Cúper Héctor Raúl Cúper (; born 16 November 1955) is an Argentine football manager and former player who was most recently head coach of the Syria national team. As a player, he was a defender who spent most of his career at Ferro Carril Oeste, w ...

). He made his competitive debut for the ''Nerazzurri'' on 9 November 2006, coming on as a 78th-minute substitute for

Mariano González Mariano Nicolás González (born 5 May 1981) is a retired Argentine professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or as a winger. Club career Born in Tandil, Buenos Aires Province, González started his career at Racing Club d ...

in a

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

clash against F.C. Messina Peloro, which took place more than two years after his arrival; he left at the end of the campaign. Choutos returned to his country in the 2007 off-season after signing with

Panionios FC Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek (language), Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Sy ...

, but was only eligible to start playing in the following January. He again began experiencing first-team football, and notably scored two of three at

Athens Olympic Sports Complex The Olympic Athletic Center of Athens Spiros Louis (, ''Olympiakó Athlitikó Kéntro Athinón "Spýros Loúis"'') or OACA (OAKA)), is a sport facilities complex located at Marousi, in the north section of the city. The complex consists of fi ...

to help defeat hosts

AEK Athens F.C. A.E.K. Football Club (), known simply as A.E.K. (; ) in Greece and AEK Athens internationally, is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica, Greece. Established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the ...

and collect the ''

Man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

'' award; he finished his half

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 ...

with 12 goals, as his team finished in sixth position and participated in the second stage. Choutos started his second year in scoring fashion, netting twice against

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English language, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK ...

in the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

( 3–1 home win, 3–2 on aggregate). After a run-in with the club's assistant coach that supposedly turned physical, however, the player was forced to leave. On 2 February 2009, Choutos signed a six-month contract with

PAOK FC PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athletic Club of Constantinople, Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional Association football, football cl ...

, appearing in eight scoreless matches. On 25 August he returned to Italy once again, joining lowly A.S. Pescina Valle del Giovenco for two years; his contract was cancelled in July 2010, after the club was excluded from the

Italian football league system The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three b ...

due to financial issues.

International career

Courtesy of his solid under-21 performances, Choutos soon made his debut for the Greek full side, going on to win ten

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

in four years. He was overlooked for the squads that appeared at both

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Personal life

Choutos origin is from the village Agioi Thedoroi,

Trikala Trikala () is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala (regional unit), Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios. According to the Greek Natio ...

.Το σπίτι του Λάμπρου Χούτου στα Τρίκαλα larissanet.gr
/ref>

Honours

Olympiacos *

Alpha Ethniki 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 ...

: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03 Inter *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

: 2006–07 *

: 2004–05

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Choutos, Lampros 1979 births Living people Footballers from Athens Greek men's footballers Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie C players AS Roma players Inter Milan players Atalanta BC players AS Reggina 1914 players Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Panionios F.C. players PAOK FC players La Liga players RCD Mallorca players Greece men's under-21 international footballers Greece men's international footballers Greek expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Survivor Greece contestants Greek expatriate sportspeople in Italy Greek expatriate sportspeople in Spain