Stathis Tavlaridis


Stathis Tavlaridis is a Greek retired football defender. Tavlaridis has earned the nickname "Taureau" in France which means "The Bull" due to his aggressive style of play.

Club career

Iraklis and England (Arsenal, Portsmouth)

Tavlaridis was born in Serres. He started his career at Iraklis Thessaloniki and in 2001 was transferred to Arsenal at the age of 21 for £1m. He never fully broke into the first team, unable to displace Sol Campbell and Kolo Touré, and spent a period on loan to Portsmouth. Whilst at Portsmouth he contributed four appearances as they won the First Division Championship and promotion to the Premier League. He made eight appearances for Arsenal, all but one of them in the League Cup. He made his Premier League debut in 2002–03 season against Southampton, where Arsenal rested many of their players for the upcoming FA Cup Final, also against Southampton. In early 2004 he was sent on a loan deal for the remainder of that season to French club Lille OSC.

Lille

On 29 April 2004, Tavlaridis was transferred from Arsenal to Lille OSC on a four-year contract. In his spell with the club he continually created a great deal of interest and attention from several other teams. With regard to Tavlaridis's time at Lille, he has regularly featured within both Champions League and Ligue 1 games for Les Dogues. Of such was the first leg of a Champions League tie against AEK at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in October 2006, of which eventually finished 3–1 to the hosts.
All in all, Tavlaridis in 2011 described his spell with Lille as "the most beautiful page of his career".

Saint-Étienne

Despite being linked with a hosts of Ligue 1 clubs, notably Bordeaux, Marseille, and Monaco, Tavlaridis announced that he was signing with AS Saint-Étienne for €2.5m after agreeing to a three-year deal with the club. Tavlaridis was handed the number 4 shirt and quickly inserted into the first eleven forming partnerships with Moustapha Bayal Sall. Tavlaridis made his debut against his former club Lille and was applauded by the Lille home fans.
Tavlaridis got off to a great start for the 2007–08 season scoring his first goal with AS Saint-Étienne in a 2–1 victory over Sochaux the following week. Tavlaridis was contract in the summer of 2009 with AS Saint-Étienne and a number of Premier League clubs were at the time believed to be prepared to offer him a route back to England. With this being so, he was named as the club's permanent captain by manager Alain Perrin following the first league match of the 2009–10 Ligue 1 season, after having served as vice-captain the previous season. Tavlaridis was removed as captain shortly due to his long-term injury. This move saw his playing time reduced, where he played only six more matches in that season for Saint-Étienne. Tavlaridis in all made 69 appearances for the Ligue 1 team, scoring twice.

AEL

On 30 April 2010 AEL announced that an agreement had been reached with the 29-year-old centre-back who will join the club in the summer on a free transfer, when his contract with les Verts has been finally wound down. Nicknamed 'Taureau' in France because of his bullish style of play, the Greek was initially a success in Ligue 1 with Lille OSC and then AS Saint-Étienne, though he fell out of favour at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard earlier this season under head coach Alain Perrin. When the former Olympique Lyonnais boss was axed, Tavlaridis had an immediate chance to impress under Christophe Galtier, though his red card against Olympique de Marseille 10 minutes into Galtier's first game in charge effectively ended his first team career with les Verts. Speaking to his future club's official website, the Greece international confessed: "I admit that initially my priority was to continue my career abroad. I had set a deadline of April if I was going to return to Greece, for a return after nine years requires serious preparation, since I now have a family. I had suggestions from three or four Greek clubs, but after much careful consideration, decided to accept that the offer of AEL.” Tavlaridis confessed there was a concrete offer from the Greek side last January, though he rejected this as he was expecting the birth of his second child. A four-year deal has been penned with the Super League side, who finished the league campaign in eighth.
On 9 August 2011, however, Tavlaridis terminated his contract without following the team's relegation to the Football League.

OFI

On 24 August 2011, Tavlaridis signed a one-year contract for OFI, who then were newly promoted to the Greek Superleague. The ex-footballer and president of the club Nikos Machlas wanted to add to the roster a very experienced defender, who could also play the role of the defence leader. The annual salary was fixed to €150,000.
However, due to the club's financial difficulties and payment inconsistencies, he decided to leave the club on 24 April 2012, before the 2011–12 campaign for OFI was over.

Atromitos

On 2 June 2012, Tavlaridis agreed to sign for Atromitos Athens. Tavlaridis after the signature said: "I chose Atromitos Athens as the next stop of my career, because it is a serious and organized group. However, the presence of Mr. George Spanos, gives me the security I need as he is a serious president who promises in today's reality is something really scarce. At this stage therefore I need a club like Atromitos Athens where in the recent years besides the creation of a good team,offers to the player all the amenities and services in order to send his best on the pitch. It is true that I received recommendations from several people who forced me to sign with the club. Atromitos Athens through his technical director Yiannis Angelopoulos showed me a comprehensive plan. So I think that is the team that suits me more. An additional motivation is of course the presence of Dusan Bajevic, whose skills and successes are well known. I do not like promises but I tried my best to fulfill the goals of the club."
On February 2014, Tavlaridis agreed to expand his contact till June 2016.

Panathinaikos

In December 2014, Atromitos announced that Tavlaridis was transferred to Panathinaikos.
Tavlaridis was delighted to sign with Panathinaikos, the team which he supported since youth. On 11 January 2015 he scored his first goal in a match against Ergotelis. It was his second appearance with the team and the first in its home ground Leoforos. Tavlaridis with Panathinaikos also scored in the game with PAOK in Touba for playoffs brought the club to practically within one point from clinching a spot in next season's UEFA Champions League qualifiers.
Moreover, Tavlaridis has joined a star-studded array of international active and retired players for the 12th Annual Match Against Poverty which will take place on 20 April at the Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium in Saint-Etienne, France. He will play along Didier Drogba, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane all of them UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors, for a match against an AS St-Etienne All Stars team to help boost Ebola recovery efforts. On 30 December 2015, Tavlaridis verbally agreeing to renew his contract with the Greens until the summer of 2017 and within January he will put pen to paper, that eventually took place five days later.
On 19 June 2016, Tavlaridis is not considered among Andrea Stramaccioni's plans. Panathinaikos tried to offload him over the summer but the Greek defender did not manage to find a club to continue playing.
On 12 January 2017, Tavlaridis is another footballer in eight months to file an appeal against Panathinaikos for payments' delay. The Greek international in his appeal, he claims for an amount that covers his compensation during his career in the club. On 11 May 2017, the committee of the Greek Football Federation's financial disputes has given the football player the amount of €272,000.

Aris

On 2 February 2017, Aris announced the signing of experienced central defender, who was recently released from Panathinaikos, until the summer of 2018.

International career

Tavlaridis only managed to play twice for the Greek national football team in 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, having fallen out of favor with coach Otto Rehhagel as well as Akis Zikos, Ieroklis Stoltidis, Grigoris Georgatos, Nikos Lyberopoulos and Vassilis Tsartas. After ten years and the amazing 2014-2015 season with Atromitos and Panathinaikos he was called up by Markarian for the games against Faroe Islands for the preliminary round of UEFA Euro 2016 and the friendly game against Poland. On 17 June 2015, in a friendly match against Poland, at the beginning of the second half, he wore the jersey of the Greek team after almost ten years, by replacing Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Dispute with Panathinaikos

On 27 February 2018, the administration of financially struggling Panathinaikos managed to agree terms with veteran international central defender, Tavlaridis. The Greens will finally pay €80,000 to the 38-year-old former defender, who was a member of the historic Athens club between January 2015 and January 2017, and therefore avoid a possible 3-point deduction from the Hellenic Football Federation.

Honours

Lille