Christopher James Ikonomidis ( el, Χριστόφορος Οικονομίδης; ; born 4 May 1995) is an Australian 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 le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

or as a winger for

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

and the Australia national team. He is notable in being

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

by his senior national team despite not yet having played a single senior game at club level at the time.Socceroos squad to face Germany
FourFourTwo

Club career

Early career

Ikonomidis came from a family who had always played football, started playing himself when he was four years old in Sydney at local team Cronulla RSL.Interview: Chris Ikonomidis Talks to Young Roos
Young Roos He played youth football for

NPL NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, the organising body in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues Northern ...

side

Sutherland Sharks Sutherland Sharks Football Club is an Australian Association football club based in the suburb of Sutherland in Sydney New South Wales. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The club's home games are played at Seymour ...

. In 2010, he was part of the team that won the Oceania zone of the

Manchester United Premier Cup The Manchester United Premier Cup is a global youth football tournament that was established by Nike in 1993. History The tournament was established by Nike in 1993 as the Nike Premier Cup and featured 624 teams from 15 European countries. Th ...

, qualifying for the finals in England. His performance in England, including four goals in a 7–0 defeat of a

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

youth side. After scoring several goals on trial with Italian club

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

, including one against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, Ikonomidis was offered a youth contract on his 16th birthday.

Lazio

In 2013, after 18 months at Atalanta, Ikonomidis was offered a three-year youth contract by

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

.Unknown teenager Chris Ikonomidis on verge of breakthrough in Italy
The Australian 3 August 2013 After strong performances with Lazio's '' Primavera'' squad, Ikonomidis made his senior debut for Lazio on 10 December 2015 starting in the final Group Stage match of the

2015–16 UEFA Europa League The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League was the 45th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the seventh season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2016 UEFA Europa League Final w ...

against

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 ...

. Ikonomidis signed a new contract on 5 June 2015.

Loan to Salernitana

For the second half of the 2015–16 season, Lazio loaned Ikonomidis to

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

from the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. He made his Serie B debut for Salernitana on 22 January 2016, playing the full match at home to Brescia, where his cross led to a Brescia own goal.

Loan to AGF

On 31 August 2016, Ikonomidis joined AGF in the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

on a season-long loan in a bid for regular game time. He made his debut on 12 September 2016, coming on as a 66th minute substitute in a 3–1 victory over

Nordsjælland North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...

. He had a good season at AGF, but AGF announced that Ikonomidis was one out of five players that wouldn't continue at the club for the 2017–18 season.

Loan to Western Sydney Wanderers

On 31 January 2018, Ikonomidis joined

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

on loan until the end of the season. At the end of the season he returned to Lazio.

Perth Glory

On 11 September 2018, Ikonomidis signed a three-year contract with

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

Melbourne Victory

On 21 July 2021, Ikonmoidis signed a three-year marquee contract with

International career

Ikonomidis is of Greek heritage and was eligible for senior call-ups to both the Australia national team and the Greece national team. He turned down Greece in favour of Australia, being quoted in 2013 saying "I was approached by the Greek federation 12 months ago, but I said no. I am 100 per cent playing for Australia if given the chance". In 2013, he was called up by

Paul Okon Paul Michael Okon (born 5 April 1972) is a former Australian soccer player. He has Belgian citizenship. He previously captained the Australian National Team and has represented Australia Olympic Football Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Ba ...

to the Australian U20's for the

COTIF Tournament COTIF may refer to: * L'Alcúdia International Football Tournament, known as COTIF, an annual international youth football competition * Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF), a 1980 meeting and treaty that established the In ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, and again in the

2014 AFC U-19 Championship The 2014 AFC U-19 Championship was the 38th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for players aged 19 and below. Myanmar were approved as hosts of the competition on 25 ...

, where he played one game against the UAE. He was also called up to the

Olyroos The Australia national under-23 soccer team represents Australia in international under-23 soccer and at the Olympic Games. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a membe ...

for the

2013 AFC U-22 Championship The 2013 AFC U-22 Championship (also known as the 2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup) was the first edition of the AFC U-22 Championship. The hosting rights for the tournament was awarded to Oman. It was set to take place between 23 June and 7 July 2013 but ...

in Oman (which was actually held in 2014), where he played against Kuwait and Japan. On 11 March 2015, Socceroos coach

Ange Postecoglou Angelos Postecoglou ( el, Άγγελος Ποστέκογλου, ; born 27 August 1965) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Born in Greece, he moved ...

named Ikonomidis in the senior squad for friendlies against reigning World Champion

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Macedonia to be held that month. He was substituted on replacing

Nathan Burns Nathan Burns (born 7 May 1988) is a retired Australian professional footballer who last played for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League and the Australian national team. Club career Adelaide United He formerly played for Parramatta Eagles and t ...

in the game against Macedonia in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

on 30 March to earn his first senior Socceroos cap. His competitive debut for the Socceroos came on 3 September 2015 during

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

, when he was substituted on in the 61st minute during Australia's 5–0 win over

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Perth Oval Perth Oval, currently branded HBF Park (under a sponsorship agreement with HBF Health Fund) and called Perth Rectangular Stadium for international football matches, is a sports stadium in Perth, the capital of the Australian state of Western A ...

. Ikonomidis was named in the Olyroos squad for the

2016 AFC U-23 Championship The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2016 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the second edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) fo ...

, although he was recalled later from the camp by Lazio for his loan to Salernitana. On 30 December 2018, Ikonomidis scored his first international goal for Australia against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

in an international friendly in the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. Ikonomidis scored off a cross by

Awer Mabil Awer Bul Mabil (born 15 September 1995) is a professional soccer player who plays as a winger for La Liga club Cádiz. Born in Kenya, he represents the Australia national team at international level. Born a South Sudanese refugee in Kenya, ...

from within the box.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ikonomidis goal.''

Honours

Lazio *

Coppa Italia Primavera The Coppa Italia Primavera (Italian for Spring Italian Cup) is an Italian football competition played by youth teams from Campionato Primavera. All players are under 20 of age. The first edition was held in the 1972–73 season. Due to sponsorshi ...

: 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Supercoppa Primavera The Supercoppa Primavera is an Italian youth teams football match played by the winners of the Campionato Primavera championship and the winners of the Coppa Italia Primavera at the beginning of the season. The competition has been held since 200 ...

: 2014 Perth Glory *

Premiership: 2018–19 Melbourne Victory *

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Australia ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual * A-League Young Footballer of the Year: 2018–19 * PFA A-League Team of the Season: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ikonomidis, Chris 1995 births Living people Australian people of Greek descent Soccer players from Sydney Australian soccer players Association football midfielders Australia international soccer players Australia youth international soccer players Australia under-20 international soccer players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Serie B players A-League Men players Marquee players (A-League Men) Danish Superliga players S.S. Lazio players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Perth Glory FC players Melbourne Victory FC players Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy