Takis Fyssas ( el, Τάκης Φύσσας, born 12 June 1973) is a Greek former 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 ...

who played 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 ...

. He works as the sporting director of the Greece national team. He was previously the technical director of the Panathinaikos Youth Departments. From 1999 to 2007, he earned 60 caps for the Greece national team. He was part of the team which won

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 ...

Club career

Panionios

Fyssas started his career in the

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

youth academy, achieving his senior debut in the 1990–91 season. After eight seasons in

Nea Smyrni Nea Smyrni ( el, Νέα Σμύρνη, ''Néa Smýrni'', "New Smyrna") is a municipality in South Athens, Greece. At the 2011 census, it had 73,076 inhabitants. It was named after İzmir in Turkey, which Greek's called it as Smyrna, whence many ...

, which included a

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 ...

triumph.

Panathinaikos

He signed for Athens club

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 1998. The increased exposure Fyssas received playing at the Spiros Louis ensured a rapid elevation to the Greece national side and he made his debut against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in 1999. Fyssas also made his first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

appearance while with the ''Greens'', in the 2000–01 season.

Benfica

In December 2003, he moved to

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

with Benfica, where he was to stay for a season and a half, helping Benfica claim the 2003–04

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and 2004–05

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. On 25 January 2004, he was on the bench for a 1–0 away win against

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

, a game overshadowed by the sudden death of his teammate

Miklós Fehér Miklós "Miki" Fehér (; 20 July 1979 – 25 January 2004) was a Hungarian professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his nine-year career in Portugal, representing four clubs and amassing Primeira Liga totals of 80 ga ...

. He scored a goal on the final of

that season, that gave them the victory against FC Porto.

Hearts

After being allowed to leave Benfica in the summer of 2005, Fyssas made the surprise decision to move to Scotland with the Hearts, despite reported interest from England and Germany. He collected his fourth career winners medal in his first season with the Tynecastle side, when they defeated Gretna in the 2005–06

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Motherwell on 9 December 2006. He became a popular member of the Hearts team and will always be remembered fondly for his celebrations after clinching a place in the

. He left the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

club at the end of the 2006–07 season to move back to Panathinaikos.

Panathinaikos

In his second Panathinaikos term, he played just a couple of games and he silently decided to retire from football.

International career

Fyssas played 60 matches for Greece national team and he scored four goals. He was one of the key players for team that won the

championship in Portugal, a win that shocked the footballing world as Greece were considered 100–1 outsiders before the tournament started. He was subsequently selected in the Team of the Tournament.

After retirement

Fyssas after his retirement entered into the staff of the Greece national team, helping

Otto Rehhagel Otto Rehhagel (; born 9 August 1938) is a German former football coach and player. Rehhagel is one of only two people who, as player and manager combined, has participated in over 1,000 Bundesliga matches (the other being Jupp Heynckes). In t ...

for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

and the new coach Fernando Santos after Rehhagel retired in 2010. In May 2019 Fyssas, was nominated as a candidate for Greece's New Democracy Party, and started his career in politics.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

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

Honours

Panionios *

: 1997–98 Panathinaikos *

: runners–up 1998–99 Benfica *

: 2004–05 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

: 2003–04 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

: runner-up 2004 Hearts *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: 2004

References

External links

Profile
at londonhearts.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fyssas, Takis 1973 births Living people Footballers from Athens Greek footballers Greek expatriate footballers S.L. Benfica footballers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players UEFA Euro 2004 players UEFA European Championship-winning players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Greece international footballers Panionios F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players Primeira Liga players Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Portugal Greek expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Association football defenders Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff Greek expatriate sportspeople in Scotland