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Born in Athens on 4th of June 1981, he is one of the few youngsters in the Greek squad. More importantly, he was one of the few youngsters who actually shone at the 2004 UEFA European Championship. He used to ply his trade at Panathinaikos FC in Greece but signed with Portuguese side and then Champions League winner FC Porto, after constant rumours about a possible change of course to Real Madrid, following his success at EURO 2004. He had a great tournament at Portugal, leading some to even comment that he was the player of the tournament. UEFA did indeed recognize his contribution to Greece's success and named him as part of the 23-man UEFA All-Star squad, together with 4 other Greek players.
He usually plays as a right-back but can move into the position of a right midfielder, if so required by the team formation implemented. He joined Panathinaikos in January 2001 from the Giannina club. He played his first game for Greece on 13 February 2002 against Sweden, and later that year participated in the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final round in Switzerland.