Ioannis Amanatidis

Ioannis Amanatidis (Greek: Ιωάννης Αμανατίδης, Greek pronunciation: [io'anis amanaˈtiðis]; 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 at senior international level.

For the politician, see Ioannis Amanatidis (politician).

Ioannis Amanatidis
Personal information
Date of birth (1981-12-03) 3 December 1981
Place of birth Kozani, Greece
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s) Striker, winger
Youth career
1991–1995 Stuttgarter SC
1995–1999 VfB Stuttgart
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2004 VfB Stuttgart 35 (6)
2000–2002 → Greuther Fürth (loan) 42 (12)
2004 → Eintracht Frankfurt (loan) 15 (6)
2004–2005 1. FC Kaiserslautern 23 (6)
2005–2011 Eintracht Frankfurt 140 (42)
Total 255 (72)
National team
2000–2003 Greece U21 15 (2)
2002–2009 Greece 35 (3)
Teams managed
2014–2016 Iraklis U20
2016 Iraklis (caretaker)
2019– St. Gallen (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Amanatidis was born in Kozani, 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 academy. In 2002, he started his Bundesliga career having already played on loan for Greuther Fürth in lower divisions. After a clash with then VfB Stuttgart coach Felix Magath over his lack of opportunities he was given on loan to struggling Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt where he impressed despite the eventual relegation of the team to second division.

In the summer he signed on free to 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 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 Greece against the Republic of Ireland in November 2002. However, he was left out of the victorious Euro 2004 squad.[1]

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

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.[2]

Amanatidis' career high with the national team was his winning goal against Turkey in Istanbul in a highly passionate game.[3] He was also selected in the final squad for the Euro 2008 finals and featured in all the matches, against Sweden, Spain and Russia.

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 οf the first team.[4] On 15 January 2019, Amanatidis was presented as the new assistant manager of Swiss Super League side FC St. Gallen.[5]

International goals
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.17 October 2007Istanbul, Turkey Turkey0–1WinUEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
2.17 November 2007Athens, Greece Malta5–0WinUEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
3.24 May 2008Budapest, Hungary Hungary3–2LossFriendly Match

Honours

VfB Stuttgart

Eintracht Frankfurt

References
  1. "Papadopoulos in Greek squad". BBC. 23 May 2004. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  2. "Amanatidis tritt aus Nationalelf zurück" (in German). T-Online. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
  3. Istanbul triumph sends Greece through
  4. Αμανατίδης: "Υπηρεσιακός και βλέπουμε" (in Greek). www.sport24.gr. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  5. Brägger, Christian (15 January 2019). "Amanatidis kommt zum FCSG – Wiss könnte Kreuzband gerissen haben". St.Galler Tagblatt (in German). Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  6. "Stuttgart 2-0 Lille (Aggregate: 2 - 1)". uefa.com. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.