Sokratis Papastathopoulos Biography
A Greek professional footballer, Sokratis Papastathopoulos plays as a center-back for the Greece national team and is currently a free agent. He has previously played for AEK Athens and Niki Volou in Greece, Genoa, and Milan in Italy, and Werder Bremen and Borrusia Dortmund in Germany. He was also named the 2007-2008 Best Greek Young Player as he has won 2010-2011 Serie A with Milan, and 2016-2017 as well as DFL-Supercup twice in 2013 and 2014. He is the latest player to leave Arsenal this January as Mikel Arteta continues to trim his inflated wage bill. The Greek defender, signed from Borussia Dortmund, has fallen out of favor since Arteta took over and was left of the club's Europa League and Premier League squads, as his fellow veteran Mesut Ozil was too. Scroll down to read about Sokratis's Untold Story, Full Biography, Interesting Facts, Age, Wiki, Family, Personal Life, Net Worth, & more.
Famous For
- Being a Greek professional footballer.
- For playing as a center-back for the Greece national team.
Source: @instagram.com/sokratispapa.official
Sokratis Papastathopoulos Early Life
Sokratis Papastathopoulos opened his eyes for the first time on 9th June 1988 in Kalamata, Greece. He holds Greek nationality and his ethnicity is Greek-white. He is from the Christianity religion and his race is white. He happily celebrates his birthday on the 9th June of every year and he has celebrated his 32nd birthday as of 2020. His star sign is Gemini as his birthdate. He is the son of Charalampos Papastathopoulos (father) whereas his mother's details have not been disclosed yet.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos Career
AEK Athens
- Sokratis Papastathopoulos kicks off his football career joining AEK Athens from Apollon Petalidiou where he made his debut for AEK in a Greek Cup match against PAS Giannina on 26th October 2005, scoring in the seventh minute of the game to help lead AEK to a 3-0 win, however, he was loaned to Beta Ethniki club Niki Volou for six months to gain first-team football and gather valuable experience in January 2006.
- He also played in the 2007-2008 Champions League campaign, and in a Super League match, he became AEK's youngest-ever captain, at age 19, in a game against local Athens rivals Panathinaikos in 2008.
Genoa
- Sokratis agreed to transfer to Genoa of the Italian Serie A for an undisclosed fee on 1st August 2008 as he made his debut for Genoa on 27th September 2008 against Fiorentina whereas his first goal for Genoa came on 5th October 2008 at home against Napoli. Genoa won the game 3-2, but Papastathopoulos was sent off in the 89th minute.
A.C. Milan
- It was confirmed on A.C. Milan's website on 20th July 2010 that Papastathopoulos had joined the team after Genoa and Milan reached an agreement to transfer Papastathopoulos to the club for €14 million, with the following payment schedule: Gianmarco Zigoni (half of his registration rights, valued at €3.75 million), Nnamdi Oduamadi (half of his rights, valued at €3.5 million) and Rodney Strasser (half of his rights, valued at €2.25 million) in a co-ownership deal, plus €4.5 million in funds and became the club's first arrival under new manager Massimiliano Allegri.
Werder Bremen
- Sokratis moved to German club Werder Bremen on a loan deal until the end of the 2011-2012 season on 21st July 2011 although it was announced that he would join Bremen on a permanent basis for a 5 million euro transfer fee.
Borussia Dortmund
- Sokratis completed a 9.5 million euro transfer to Dortmund, agreeing to a five-year contract through to 2018 in the eve of the 2013 Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund on 24th May 2013 whereas he made his debut for Dortmund in a pre-season friendly away to Swiss club Basel at St. Jakob-Park on 10th July 2013.
- He won his first title with the club after entering the match as a substitute in a 4-2 win over Bayern Munich for the 2013 DFL-Supercup on 27th July as well as he scored his first goal for Dortmund in a 6-1 win over VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on 1st November 2013.
- Football news website Goal.com assessed statistics to determine which players maintained the highest tackle success rate in the first half of the 2014-2015 season across Europe's top five leagues on 3rd January 2015; Papastathopoulos finished joint-third, alongside Hamburger SV's Matthias Ostrzolek, having won 92.59 percent of all tackles.
- Later, he extended his contract with Borussia Dortmund until 2019 on 26th October 2015 as he scored his first goal in the 2015-2016 Bundesliga in an eventual 2-1 away loss to 1. FC Koln on 19ht December 2015.
- As well, he started the 2016-2017 season as the undisputed leader in BVB defense but he lost the 2017 DFL-Supercup on penalties' game against Bayern Munich as the captain of the club on 5th August 2017.
Arsenal
- Sokratis had agreed to a long-term contract with the club for a reported fee of 17.6 million pounds and would wear the number 5 shirt on 2nd July 2018 where he made his official debut with the club as a starter at Emirates Stadium, in a 2-0 loss against champions Manchester City on 12th August 2018.
- He scored his first for the club on 4th October 2018, setting the Gunners on their way to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Qarabag in the 2018-2019 UEFA Europa League.
- Also, he started in the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final against Chelsea which Arsenal lost 4-1 on 29th May 2019 as well as he scored with a volley to give Arsenal the lead in a 2-0 away win against Portsmouth, helping Arsenal to be the first team in the FA Cup quarter-finals on 2nd March 2020.
- Papastathopoulos played as a late substitute in the 2020 FA Cup Final against Chelsea, as Arsenal won the trophy for the 14th time on 1st August 2020.
- Sokratis and Mesut Ozil were notably excluded from Arsenal's Premier League and Europa League squads for 2020-2021, leaving them only eligible for one League Cup game between October and January.
- Later, Arsenal announced that Sokratis would be leaving the club after his contract was canceled "by mutual consent" on 20th January 2021. "He has been an important part of our group and has been a model professional throughout," Arsenal's technical director Edu said after Wednesday's official announcement. "The negotiations to end his contract have been collaborative and we wish Papa and his family well for the future."
International Career
- On 1st February 2008, Papastathopoulos was called up for the Greek senior team and he made his debut on 5th February 2008 in the 1-0 friendly victory against the Czech Republic.
- He was the unfortunate player to be cut from the provisional squad of 24 to the final 23-man selection and became the first player to be sent off at UEFA Euro 2012 during the opening game of the tournament against co-hosts Poland after receiving two yellow cards.
- As well, he was named to Greece's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in June 2014 as he started in each of the team's group matches, helping them to a clean sheet against Japan.
- Papastathopoulos scored his first international goal, equalizing in second-half stoppage time against Costa Rica in the Round of 16.
- He called for immediate changes to be made to the Greek national team set-up, and he allegedly requested for Angelos Anastasiadis to be removed from his role of head coach when speaking to EPO president, Evangelos Grammenos following the loss to Armenia at the Olympic Stadium on 11th June 2019.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos Awards and Achievements
A.C. Milan
- Serie A: 2010-2011
Borussia Dortmund
- DFB-Pokal: 2016-2017; runner-up: 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016
- DFL-Supercup: 2013, 2014
Arsenal
- FA Cup: 2019-2020
- UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2018-2019
Individual
- Best Greek Young Player: 2007-2008
Source: @dailystar.co.uk
Sokratis Papastathopoulos Personal Life
Reflecting on Sokratis Papastathopoulos's personal life, he is a married guy. He tied a knot with Xanthippi Stamoulaki in 2014 with whom he was in a romantic relationship for a long time. The pair has three children together. They are living a blissful life together sharing a lot of love with one another. Furthermore, talking about his sexual orientation, he is straight.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos Net Worth
Moving towards Sokratis Papastathopoulos's net worth, he has a worth of around 16 million euro (14.3 million pounds) as of 2020 whereas he has also a fine amount of salary too which is also in millions of dollars per year. Papastathopoulos signed a 3 year / 14,352,000 pound contract with the Arsenal F.C., including an annual average salary of 4,784,000 pounds. In addition, his major source of income is from his football career.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos Body Measurement
The height of handsome and adaptable footballer, Sokratis Papastathopoulos is around 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) though his body weight is around 82 kg. The image of this shirtless footballer who looks super hot flaunting his body is available everywhere on the internet. He has maintained his shape over the years with regular exercise as a footballer it seems. Sokratis has brown eyes and dark brown hair color as his body build type is athletic.
