Giannis Mystakidis ( el, Γιάννης Μυστακίδης; born 7 December 1994) is a Greek 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 a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Career

Born in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

, Mystakidis started his career in Germany playing for Regionalliga Südwest club

SC Freiburg II SC Freiburg II is the reserve team of German association football club SC Freiburg, based in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg. The team played as SC Freiburg Amateure until 2005. The team has reached the first round of the DFB-Pokal, the German Cup ...

. He first played professionally in the 2014–15 season with

Pierikos S.F.K. Pierikos ( el, Σ.Φ.Κ. Πιερικός) is a Greek football club based in Katerini, Greece, part of the major multi-sport club of the same name. Their name was inspired from the State's name of Pieria. The club recently competed in ...

. He can cover all three positions behind the forward, is not predictable in his playing and has good finishes in both short and long distance. Mystakidis scored his first goal for PAOK in an unofficial match against

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

. On 16 July 2015, he made his debut with PAOK in an away loss game against Lokomotiva Zagreb for the second qualifying round of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. He scored his first goal in 2015–16 season in a 3–1 away win against

Kalloni Kalloni ( el, Καλλονή) is a town in the west-central part of the island of Lesbos, Greece. It is the seat of the West Lesbos municipality and the Kalloni municipal unit within it. Prior to 2011 the current municipal unit was a municipali ...

. On 25 August 2016, PAOK extended the contract of the young striker till the summer 2020. On 29 January 2017, he scored the only goal in a 1–0

Superleague 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 ...

away win against

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναιτωλικός), or with its full name Panetolikós Yimnastikós Filekpedeftikós Síllogos ( el, Παναιτωλικός Γυμναστικός Φιλεκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος'' ...

. Two days later, he scored another goal in a 2–0 away win against AEL and a week after he scored 2–1

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

away win against

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi (regional unit), Xanthi regional unit of the modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace. A ...

. The 2016–17 season was an establishment year for the young striker, as he had gradually managed to gain the trust of

Vladimir Ivić Vladimir Ivić (; born 7 May 1977) is a Serbian football manager and former player who is currently head coach of Krasnodar. A former Serbia and Montenegro international, Ivić is best remembered for his time with Partizan and PAOK at club le ...

. On 2 April, in the 80th minute of the match against AEL for the 26th day of the

, the 23-year-old ace was forced to request an immediate change after an attempt to avert a throw-out. A day later, Mystakidis had a surgery, faced a cruciate ligament rupture that probably kept him out of the team for six months. On 19 December 2017, he made his return to competitive football, coming on in the 82nd minute during the club's 5–1

away win against

Trikala Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...

. His first appearance came 260 days after the knee injury. He almost scored too, as a firm header was turned aside by the Trikala goalkeeper. Mystakidis received a cut to the right eyebrow after a collision with an opposing player. On 31 January 2018, he signed a six-month contract with rivals

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

on loan from PAOK, until the end of the 2017–18 season without a purchase option. On 20 August 2018, he signed a long season contract with

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

on loan from PAOK, until the end of the 2018–19 season without a purchase option. The loan contract was terminated on 4 January 2019, six months before it was due to expire. On 2 February 2019, he joined Polish club

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Poli ...

on a six months loan from PAOK. On 30 June 2019, it was confirmed that Mystakidis would spend the 2019–20 season on loan at

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

. On 14 January 2020, he signed a contract with

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

club

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

until July 2020.

Career statistics

Honours

;PAOK *

: 2016–17, 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mystakidis, Giannis 1994 births Living people Greek men's footballers Greek expatriate men's footballers Greece men's under-21 international footballers Greece men's youth international footballers Super League Greece players Super League Greece 2 players Ekstraklasa players Eerste Divisie players SC Freiburg players PAOK FC players S.F.K. Pierikos (football) players PAS Giannina F.C. players Górnik Zabrze players Volos F.C. players Veria NFC players De Graafschap players Xanthi F.C. players Panserraikos F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Thessaloniki