Charalampos 'Babis' Lykogiannis ( el, Χαράλαμπος 'Μπάμπης' Λυκογιάννης; born 22 October 1993), also known as ''Lykos'' (Greek for "

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

" – from the first letters of his name), 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, rugb ...

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

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

and the Greece national team.

Club career

Olympiacos

Lykogiannis is a product of the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a numbe ...

and very soon became a vital part of Olympiacos' football academy. He is considered as one of the most gifted players of his generation. On 25 January 2012, he made his debut with the first team in a

Greek Football 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 imp ...

match against

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'' ...

as a substitute in the 82nd minute in front of 15,000 fans. On 25 October 2012, Lykogiannis made his European debut in an away

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 competi ...

game against

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current ...

as a substitute in the 88th minute. He was brought on to play as a defensive midfielder for the remaining minutes of the match. Four days after his debut in

, on 29 October 2012, Lykogiannis made his first appearance in an away game for Superleague Greece against Aris as a substitute in the 68th minute. He signed a professional contract with Olympiacos in June 2011, which in August 2012 he renewed until summer 2015. In August 2013, he joined Levadiakos on loan. A year later, in August 2014 he joined

Ergotelis The Gymnastics Club «Ergotelis» Heraklion Crete ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος «O Εργοτέλης» Ηρακλείου Κρήτης, Γ.Σ. Εργοτέλης), commonly known simply as Ergotelis ( el, Εργοτέλης), ...

on loan.

Sturm Graz

On 16 July 2015, Lykogiannis joined

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

for an undisclosed fee, having signed a contract for two years plus the option of a further year, while

kept a 30% future resale rate. On 6 August 2015, he made his debut with the club as a substitute in an away 1–1 draw against

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

for the 2nd leg of the 3rd qualifying

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. ...

round. On 27 October 2015, he made his debut in the

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

playing in a 3–2 win against ASK Ebreichsdorf. On 22 November 2015, he scored his first goal with the club in a 3–1 away loss against Red Bull Salzburg for

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

. On 27 November 2016, he opened the score with a free kick, in a 2–1 away win against rivals

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

. On 4 December 2016, he scored his second goal with another free kick in a 4–0 away win against

Wolfsberger AC Wolfsberger AC, commonly referred to as Wolfsberg or simply WAC, is an Austrian association football club from Wolfsberg, Carinthia, who currently play in the Austrian Bundesliga. Between the 2007–08 and 2011–12 seasons, Wolfsberger AC entere ...

. On 12 March 2017, Lykogiannis scored with a long distance kick after an assist from Barış Atik giving a lead of two goals in his club in a final 2–1 home win against Rapid Wien. On 29 May 2017, Lykogiannis received a great distinction as he included in the team of the season for the 2016–17 season. Lykogiannis scored three goals and an equal number of assists in 36 games in all competitions. On 6 August 2017, he scored his first goal for the 2017–18 season in a 3–2 away win against

SV Mattersburg SV Mattersburg was an Austrian association football club from Mattersburg, Burgenland. History The club was formed in 1922 and played its home games at the 17,100 capacity Pappelstadion. The club played in the Bundesliga since the 2003– ...

. On 25 November 2017, he scored the only goal with a wonderful kick after a corner from his teammate Peter Žulj, in the extra time of the game sealing a 1–0 home win against

LASK Linz Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as Linzer ASK () or simply LASK, is an Austrian professional football club, from the Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football ...

. In December 2017, it was reported that Lykogiannis’ performances had attracted interest from Greek clubs as well as foreign clubs like English Championship side

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. Eventually, he left the club having 81 appearances (6 goals, 5 assists) in all competitions. On 28 December 2019, Sturm Graz revealed their Team of the Decade, with Tasos Avlonitis and Lykogiannis both included in the starting 11.

Cagliari

On 17 January 2018, the Sardinian club managed to signed the Greek international, on a four-and-a-half years' contract, for a transfer fee of €600,000. His contract, which ran until 2022, was worth €1.4 million per year. On 25 October 2020, he scored with a free kick in a 4–2 home win game against

F.C. Crotone Football Club Crotone S.r.l., commonly referred to as Crotone, is an Italian football club based in Crotone, Calabria. They play in the third division of Italian football, the Serie C. Founded in 20 settembre 1910, it holds its home games at Stad ...

. It was his first goal with the club in all competitions. During the 2020–21 season, Cagliari was in danger of being relegated this year. On 25 April 2021, Lykogiannis opened the score in a thrilling 3–2 win against A.S. Roma and two weeks later scored a fantastic goal in the 1st minute of the match in a crucial game against

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and '' comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

, where Cagliari prevailed 3–1. It was his best season so far, and his effectiveness can be seen from the statistics as he had 4 goals and 2 assists during 2020–21 season. The most important thing, however, is that the four times he sent the ball into the net, he scored his team's first goal in three wins and one draw.

Bologna

On 1 July 2022, Lykogiannis moved to

International career

Greece under-17

He was called for duty for Greece under-17 to participate in the 2007 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship qualifying round against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Greece under-19

Lykogiannis make his debut with Greece under-19 in an international friendly game against Sweden under-19.

2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship

Lykogiannis scored his first and winning goal in the 108th minute (1–2 after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

) for Greece U19 in the semifinals against England U19 for the

2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 61st edition of UEFA's European Under-19 Championship (the eleventh since the age competition change to an Under-19 level) and took place in Estonia from 3 to 15 July. Spain are the title hol ...

finals that took place in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

. He came on as a substitute at the 67th minute for Greece U19 in the final against Spain U19, but the Spanish U19 side won the tournament with 1–0.

Greece under-21

On 15 August 2012, he made his debut with Greece U21 for an international friendly game at Dimotiko stadio Kozanis against Poland U21.

Greece

On 24 May 2017, Lykogiannis received his debut

Greece national football team The Greece national football team ( el, Εθνική Ελλάδας, ) represents Greece in men's international football matches and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play most ...

call from

Michael Skibbe Michael Heinz Skibbe (born 4 August 1965) is a German former football player and current manager of Japanese club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Club career In his youth, Skibbe played for SG Wattenscheid 09, then moved to the professional team of FC Sch ...

for the match against Bosnia national football team at the preliminary round of the 2018 World Cup. On 3 September 2017, he made his debut as a substitute in a 1–2 home loss for

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 ...

against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Honours

Club

Olympiacos *

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 w ...

: 2012–13 * Greek Cup: 2011–12, 2012–13 SK Strum Graz *

: 2017–18

International

Greece U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

runner-up:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Individual

Team of the Tournament:

Team of the Year: 2016–17

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lykogiannis, Charalampos 1993 births Living people Greek footballers Association football defenders Greece youth international footballers Greece under-21 international footballers Greece international footballers Olympiacos F.C. players Levadiakos F.C. players Ergotelis F.C. players SK Sturm Graz players Cagliari Calcio players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Super League Greece players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Serie A players Greek expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Austria Expatriate footballers in Italy Greek expatriate sportspeople in Austria Greek expatriate sportspeople in Italy Footballers from Piraeus