Ioannis Amanatidis ( el, Ιωάννης Αμανατίδης, ; born 3 December 1981) is a Greek football manager and former player. As a player, Amanatidis played as a striker and winger, and was active professionally in Germany. He also represented

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 ...

at senior international level.

Club career

Amanatidis was born in

Kozani Kozani ( el, Κοζάνη, ) is a city in northern Greece, capital of Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas river valley. The city lies above sea ...

, Greece. His family immigrated when he was nine years old to Stuttgart where he joined SC Stuttgart. Two years later he went to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

academy. In 2002, he started his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

career having already played on loan for Greuther Fürth in lower divisions. After a clash with then VfB Stuttgart coach

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

over his lack of opportunities he was given on loan to struggling Bundesliga side

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

where he impressed despite the eventual relegation of the team to second division. In the summer he signed on free to

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

, but after only one season he signed again to the newly promoted Eintracht Frankfurt side and has been instrumental in the team's attack ever since scoring regularly and eventually becoming the captain of the team since the 2007–08 season. In April 2008, it was reported that the captain of Eintracht has agreed to an extension of his contract till 2012 with the club. On 18 July 2011, Amanatidis officially announced his retirement from professional football. He finished his career having 325 appearances (98 goals, 24 assists) in all competitions.

International career

Amanatidis earned his first cap for

against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

in November 2002. However, he was left out of the victorious

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 football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

squad. He was selected in the final squad for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and featured in the matches against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. On 9 August 2010, Amanatidis decided to retire from international football. He stated, that "there are many strange and suspicious choices, some players are always in the starting eleven and many of us know the reasons of the selection, but if I say more, there are going to be many reactions.", Amanatidis stated. Amanatidis' career high with the national team was his winning goal against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

in a highly passionate game. He was also selected in the final squad for the Euro 2008 finals and featured in all the matches, against Sweden,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Coaching career

After his retirement from football, in 2014, Amanatidis joined Iraklis U20 as a reserve team head coach. In October 2016, he acted as caretaker manager of the first team. On 15 January 2019, Amanatidis was presented as the new assistant manager of Swiss Super League side

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

. On 3 August 2020, he was presented as

Abel Ferreira Abel Fernando Moreira Ferreira (born 22 December 1978), known simply as Abel as a player, is a Portuguese football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Brazilian club Palmeiras. As a right-back, he played 234 Primeira Li ...

's new assistant manager at PAOK.

International goals

Honours

VfB Stuttgart * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2002 Eintracht Frankfurt *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

runner-up: 2005–06

References

External links

*
Ioannis Amanatidis
at eintracht-archiv.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Amanatidis, Ioannis 1981 births Living people Footballers from Kozani Greek emigrants to Germany Association football forwards Greek footballers Greek football managers Greek expatriate football managers Expatriate footballers in Germany Greece international footballers Greece under-21 international footballers Greek expatriate footballers 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Eintracht Frankfurt players VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. managers