Ilias Chatzitheodoridis ( el, Ηλίας Χατζηθεοδωρίδης; born 5 November 1997) 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

club

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

. Chatzitheodoridis is a product of the

Arsenal academy The Arsenal Academy was a military academy in Columbia, South Carolina, originally established in 1842 as an independent school by the state of South Carolina. In 1845, the academy became a component of the South Carolina Military Academy (now Th ...

and played senior football in England for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

, before returning to Greece to join

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 ...

in 2018. He transferred to Panetolikos in 2022.

Club career

Arsenal

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, Chatzitheodoridis began his career in his native

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, playing for Mas Kallitheakos and training part-time with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

's Greek academy. After impressing on trial, he signed a two-year scholarship deal with the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club's principle

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 6 June 2014. Chatzitheodoridis made 44 appearances and scored one goal for the U18 team over the course of two seasons, before being released in June 2016.

Brentford

Chatzitheodoridis joined the

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

on trial during 2016–17

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

and he impressed enough to sign a one-year professional contract on 6 August 2016. An injury crisis at left back saw Chatzitheodoridis win his maiden first team call up for a league match versus

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on 24 September 2016, but remained an unused substitute during the 3–1 defeat. He signed a new two-year contract extension in March 2017. The departure of second-choice left back

Tom Field Thomas Geoffrey Field (born 14 March 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a left back for Canadian Premier League club Cavalry FC. A product of the Brentford Academy, Field graduated into the senior team in 2016. A fringe player, h ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

for the first half of the 2017–18 season allowed Chatzitheodoridis to make his senior debut with a start in the Bees' 3–1

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

first round extra time win over

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

on 8 August 2017. He remained on the pitch until the 97th minute, when he was substituted for

Henrik Dalsgaard Henrik Dalsgaard (born 27 July 1989) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Danish Superliga club FC Midtjylland. Dalsgaard began his professional career in his homeland with AaB, with whom he won the Danish league an ...

. He played the full 90 minutes of the 4–1 victory over rivals

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in the following round and on 7 September, manager

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...

reported that Chatzitheodoridis would begin training with the first team on a regular basis. A season-ending injury to Rico Henry in late September saw Chatzitheodoridis become the backup to stand-in left backs Josh Clarke and

Yoann Barbet Yoann Barbet (born 10 May 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and left-back for Ligue 2 club Bordeaux. A product of the Bordeaux youth system, he signed his first professional contract with Chamois Niortais a ...

during the first half of the 2017–18 season. On 19 January 2018, Chatzitheodoridis joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

on loan and was an ever-present starter in the remaining 18 matches of 2017–18 season. Despite being contracted for one further season, Chatzitheodoridis was released on a free transfer in July 2018.

Panathinaikos

On 23 July 2018, Chatzitheodoridis returned to Greece to join

club

on a free transfer. He finished a mid-table 2018–19 season with 25 appearances and four goals. Prior to his 2019–20 season being ended by an ankle injury, Chatzitheodoridis had made 26 appearances. He signed a new three-year contract in August 2020 and returned to match play in mid-January 2021, making 8 appearances during what remained of the

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 b ...

season. Despite frequently being named as a substitute, Chatzitheodoridis saw his playing time diminish and he made just six league appearances during the 2021–22 season. He made one appearance during the club's successful

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 ...

campaign and received a winner's medal. Chatzitheodoridis transferred out of the club in June 2022 and made 66 appearances, scoring four goals, during four seasons at the

Leoforos Alexandras Stadium Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium ( el, Γήπεδο Απόστολος Νικολαΐδης), commonly known as Leoforos Alexandras Stadium or Leoforos Stadium, is a football stadium and multi-sport center in Athens, Greece. It was inaugurated in 19 ...

Panetolikos

On 27 June 2022, Chatzitheodoridis signed a two-year contract with Super League club

. He made 19 appearances during the

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 b ...

season, in which the club narrowly avoided relegation.

International career

Chatzitheodoridis was an unused substitute for the Greece U21 team during two 2019 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifiers in October 2018.

Career statistics

Honours

Panathinaikos *

: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chatzitheodoridis, Ilias 1997 births Living people Greek men's footballers Brentford F.C. players Men's association football fullbacks Greek expatriate men's footballers Greek expatriate sportspeople in England Cheltenham Town F.C. players English Football League players Panathinaikos F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in England Super League Greece players Footballers from Katerini Panetolikos F.C. players