Ilias Chatzitheodoridis

Ilias Chatzitheodoridis (Greek: Ηλίας Χατζηθεοδωρίδης; born 5 November 1997) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Super League club Panetolikos.

Ilias Chatzitheodoridis
Personal information
Full name Ilias Chatzitheodoridis[1]
Date of birth (1997-11-05) 5 November 1997[2]
Place of birth Katerini, Greece
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[3]
Position(s) Left-back
Team information
Current team
 Panetolikos
Number 12
Youth career
2012–2014 Mas Kallitheakos
2014–2016 Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2018 Brentford 0 (0)
2018 → Cheltenham Town (loan) 18 (0)
2018–2022 Panathinaikos 55 (3)
2021 Panathinaikos B 1 (0)
2022– Panetolikos 20 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12:45, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

Chatzitheodoridis is a product of the Arsenal academy and played senior football in England for Brentford and Cheltenham Town, before returning to Greece to join Panathinaikos in 2018. He transferred to Panetolikos in 2022.

Club career

Arsenal

A left back, Chatzitheodoridis began his career in his native Greece, playing for Mas Kallitheakos and training part-time with Arsenal's Greek academy.[4] After impressing on trial, he signed a two-year scholarship deal with the Premier League club's principle academy in England on 6 June 2014.[4][5] Chatzitheodoridis made 44 appearances and scored one goal for the U18 team over the course of two seasons, before being released in June 2016.[6][7]

Brentford

Chatzitheodoridis joined the B team at Championship club Brentford on trial during 2016–17 pre-season and he impressed enough to sign a one-year professional contract on 6 August 2016.[8] An injury crisis at left back saw Chatzitheodoridis win his maiden first team call up for a league match versus Wolverhampton Wanderers on 24 September 2016, but remained an unused substitute during the 3–1 defeat.[2] He signed a new two-year contract extension in March 2017.[9]

The departure of second-choice left back Tom Field on loan for the first half of the 2017–18 season allowed Chatzitheodoridis to make his senior debut with a start in the Bees' 3–1 EFL Cup first round extra time win over AFC Wimbledon on 8 August 2017.[10][11] He remained on the pitch until the 97th minute, when he was substituted for Henrik Dalsgaard.[11] He played the full 90 minutes of the 4–1 victory over rivals Queens Park Rangers in the following round and on 7 September,[11] manager Dean Smith reported that Chatzitheodoridis would begin training with the first team on a regular basis.[12] A season-ending injury to Rico Henry in late September saw Chatzitheodoridis become the backup to stand-in left backs Josh Clarke and Yoann Barbet during the first half of the 2017–18 season.[10] On 19 January 2018, Chatzitheodoridis joined League Two club Cheltenham Town on loan and was an ever-present starter in the remaining 18 matches of 2017–18 season.[2][13] Despite being contracted for one further season,[9] Chatzitheodoridis was released on a free transfer in July 2018.[14]

Panathinaikos

On 23 July 2018, Chatzitheodoridis returned to Greece to join Super League club Panathinaikos on a free transfer.[14][15] He finished a mid-table 2018–19 season with 25 appearances and four goals.[2][16] Prior to his 2019–20 season being ended by an ankle injury,[17] Chatzitheodoridis had made 26 appearances.[2] He signed a new three-year contract in August 2020 and returned to match play in mid-January 2021,[18][19] making 8 appearances during what remained of the 2020–21 season.[2]

Despite frequently being named as a substitute, Chatzitheodoridis saw his playing time diminish and he made just six league appearances during the 2021–22 season.[2] He made one appearance during the club's successful Greek Cup campaign and received a winner's medal.[2][20] Chatzitheodoridis transferred out of the club in June 2022 and made 66 appearances, scoring four goals, during four seasons at the Leoforos Alexandras Stadium.[21]

Panetolikos

On 27 June 2022, Chatzitheodoridis signed a two-year contract with Super League club Panetolikos.[22] He made 19 appearances during the 2022–23 season,[2] in which the club narrowly avoided relegation.[23]

International career

Chatzitheodoridis was an unused substitute for the Greece U21 team during two 2019 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifiers in October 2018.[2]

Career statistics
As of match played 21 October 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Brentford 2016–17[24] Championship 00000000
2017–18[11] Championship 00103040
Total 00103040
Cheltenham Town (loan) 2017–18[11] League Two 180——180
Panathinaikos 2018–19[2] Super League Greece 20351—254
2019–20[2] Super League Greece 23030—260
2020–21[2] Super League Greece 6020—80
2021–22[2] Super League Greece 6010—70
Total 553111—664
Panathinaikos B 2021–22[2] Super League Greece 2 South 10——10
Panetolikos 2022–23[2] Super League Greece 18010—190
2023–24[2] Super League Greece 2 0 1 0 — 3 0
Total 20 0 2 0 — 22 0
Career total 943141301114
  1. Includes FA Cup, Greek Cup
  2. Includes EFL Cup

Honours

Panathinaikos

References
  1. "Premier League Clubs submit Squad Lists" (PDF). Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  2. Ilias Chatzitheodoridis at Soccerway. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  3. "Ηλιας Χατζηθεοδωριδης". Panathinaikos FC Official Web Site. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  4. "Arsenal make defender their first summer signing". Metro. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  5. "Ilias Chatzitheodoridis". www.arsenal.com. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  6. "Stats | Academy | Teams". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  7. "Stats | Academy | Teams". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  8. "Ilias Chatzitheodoridis signs from Arsenal". Brentford FC. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  9. "Ilias Chatzitheodoridis signs new contract". Brentford FC. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  10. "Ilias Chatzitheodoris targets league minutes". Brentford FC. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  11. "Games played by Ilias Chatzitheodoridis in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  12. Moore, Tom (7 September 2017). "Brentford hand first team promotion to young defender". getwestlondon. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  13. "New Signing: Ilias Chatzitheodoridis". Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  14. "Chatzitheodoridis leaves for Panathanaikos". Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  15. "Ο Παναθηναϊκός ανακοίνωσε τον Χατζηθεοδωρίδη". www.sport24.gr. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  16. "Summary – Super League – Greece". Soccerway. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  17. "Παναθηναϊκός: Χειρουργείο για Χατζηθεοδωρίδη". www.sport24.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  18. "Επέκταση συμβολαίου στον Χατζηθεοδωρίδη". ΠΑΕ ΠΑΝΑΘΗΝΑΪΚΟΣ (in Greek). 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  19. @paofc_ (19 December 2020). "162 ημέρες μετά το σοβαρό τραυματισμό του στο γήπεδο της Τούμπας, ο Ηλίας Χατζηθεοδωρίδης επέστρεψε στις προπονήσεις. Μέσα από το #PAOTV η προσπάθεια του για την επάνοδο. #Panathinaikos #paofc2020_21 #LikeGreensDo" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. @chatz_ilias (24 May 2022). "🏆🙏🏻" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. "Παραχώρηση του Χατζηθεοδωρίδη". ΠΑΕ ΠΑΝΑΘΗΝΑΪΚΟΣ (in Greek). 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  22. "Καλώς ήρθες". ΠΑΕ Παναιτωλικός / Panetolikos F.C. (in Greek). 27 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  23. "Summary – Super League 1 – Greece – Results, fixtures, tables and news". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  24. "Games played by Ilias Chatzitheodoridis in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
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