Grigoris Georgatos

{{short description|Greek footballer (born 1972)}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Grigoris Georgatos | image = | full_name = Grigorios Georgatos | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1972|10|31}} | birth_place = Piraeus, Greece | death_date = | death_place = | height = 1.74 m | position = Left-back, Left midfielder, left winger | youthyears1 = 1984– | youthclubs1 = Aetos Patras | youthyears2 = {{0|0000}}–1990 | youthclubs2 = Ethnikos Patras | youthyears3 = 1990–1991 | youthclubs3 = Panachaiki | years1 = 1991–1995 | clubs1 = Panachaiki | caps1 = 120 | goals1 = 22 | years2 = 1995–1999 | clubs2 = Olympiacos | caps2 = 106 | goals2 = 22 | years3 = 1999–2002 | clubs3 = Internazionale | caps3 = 38 | goals3 = 3 | years4 = 2000–2001 | clubs4 = → Olympiacos (loan) | caps4 = 20 | goals4 = 5 | years5 = 2002–2003 | clubs5 = AEK Athens | caps5 = 29 | goals5 = 7 | years6 = 2003–2007 | clubs6 = Olympiacos | caps6 = 68 | goals6 = 5 | totalcaps = 381 | totalgoals = 64 | nationalyears1 = 1995–2001 | nationalteam1 = Greece | nationalcaps1 = 35 | nationalgoals1 = 3 }}

'''Grigoris Georgatos''' ({{langx|el|Γρηγόρης Γεωργάτος}}; born 31 October 1972) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He was nicknamed the “''Greek Roberto Carlos”'' and ''"the crazy bald"'' ''({{langx|el|"ο Τρελός φαλακρός"}})'' due to his highly-aggressive play on the pitch and his shaved hairstyle.

==Club career==

===Early career=== He began his career in 1991 at Panachaiki when his skills were first noticed in the Alpha Ethniki. After four and a half seasons in December 1995, he was transferred to Olympiacos. He came to the club playing as an attacking midfielder. He had to "fit" in the same line-up as Predrag Đorđević, so Dušan Bajević had he return to left-back. He gradually impressed with his performances lifting three consecutive championships with them from 1996 to 1997, when he finished as the side's top scorer despite his defensive role.

===Internazionale=== In the 1998–99 season, while playing in a UEFA Champions League match against Juventus, Georgatos caught the eye of Italian club Inter Milan, signing him in the 1999–2000 season for €7 million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sport24.gr/football/otan-i-inter-edose-2-5-dis-drachmes-kai-agorase-ton-georgato.8868778.html|title=Όταν η Ίντερ έδωσε 2,5 δις δραχμές και αγόρασε τον Γεωργάτο|website=sport24.gr}}</ref> He settled well in Serie A, playing 28 matches and scoring 2 goals for Inter.

Despite that, the following season he returned to Olympiacos for a season-long loan, as he was sad and missed his family, house and Athens city.<ref>{{Cite web|title=INTERVIEW GEORGATOS: "HOME-SICKNESS FOR GREECE BECAME HOME-SICKNESS FOR INTER"|url=https://www.inter.it/en/news/2001/10/7/interview-georgatos-home-sickness-for-greece-became-home-sickness-for-inter.html|access-date=2021-06-17|website=Inter Official Site}}</ref> After his loan was over, he returned to the Serie A, with Georgatos choosing to rejoin Inter after losing his first-team place at the club from Piraeus.

Although he returned to Inter, he could not get back into the first-team because of an injury that kept him out for a while, playing only 10 matches and scoring 1 goal that season. With his second spell in Italy being unsuccessful, Georgatos expressed his desire to return to Greece. He asked to return to Olympiacos, but the red-whites refused as they had just signed Stylianos Venetidis who also played in the same position.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.contra.gr/stiles/grigoris-georgatos-ithele-panta-na-epistrepsei-ston-olympiako.7232065.html|title=Γρηγόρης Γεωργάτος: Ήθελε πάντα να επιστρέψει στον Ολυμπιακό|website=contra.gr}}</ref>

===AEK Athens=== The boss of AEK Athens Chrarilaos Psomiadis, noticing the disire of Georgatos to return to his homeland took the opportunity and on 22 July 2002 he brought him to the club for a fee of €3 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.contra.gr/podosfairo/desmoi-aek.6755634.html|title=Δεσμοί... ΑΕΚ|website=contra.gr|lang=el}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pentapostagma.gr/athlitismos/6562719_oi-hryses-metagrafes-sto-elliniko-podosfairo-oi-paihtes-poy-tinaxan-ti-mpanka|title=Οι «χρυσές» μεταγραφές στο ελληνικό ποδόσφαιρο - Οι παίχτες που τίναξαν τη μπάνκα από Αναστόπουλο έως Πρίγιοβιτς|date=18 January 2019|website=pentapostagma}}</ref> There he was reunited with Bajević, as well as many teammates with the national team, such as Ilias Atmatsidis, Theodoros Zagorakis, Vasilios Tsiartas and Demis Nikolaidis. Due to the presence of Michalis Kasapis as the main left-back, Georgatos was used mainly as left midfielder to fin tin the squad.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aekpedia.com/2015/05/26/%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B7%CE%B3%CF%8C%CF%81%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B3%CE%B5%CF%89%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%AC%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%82/|title=Γρηγόρης Γεωργάτος|website=aekpedia.com}}</ref> In his first season at the club he played 23 games as AEK finished third and also featured in four of the club's six UEFA Champions League matches. His performances with AEK gained the favour of the supporters, despite his red and white past. The following season, he scored six goals in six games but was unsettled at AEK in December 2003 he terminated his contract, paying his own release clause in order to return to Olympiacos.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sport24.gr/football/pote-den-antexe-makria-apo-ton-olympiako.8304058.html|title=Ποτέ δεν άντεξε μακριά από τον Ολυμπιακό|website=sport24.gr|date=2 July 2015|location=Online|lang=el}}</ref>

===Olympiacos=== In January 2004 he signed for Olympiacos<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tanea.gr/2003/12/17/sports/erikse-agkyra-sto-limani/|title=Έριξε άγκυρα στο Λιμάνι|date=17 December 2003|website=tanea.gr}}</ref> and his first season of his third spell, he helped them finish at second place. During his spell at the club he won another three Championships and two Cups. In 2006 Georgatos expressed his intention to end his career at Olympiacos when he signed a one-year contract until July 2007, retiring at the end of the season.

==International career== He first appeared for Greece in a Euro 1996 qualifier against San Marino in September 1995. He prematurely retired from international football in September 2001, following a reported dispute with coach Otto Rehhagel. Georgatos played 35 times and scored 3 goals in total for Greece.

==After football== After the end of his career, Georgatos initially enacted with the administration of Panachaki, while since 2013 he was one of the heads of the Olympiacos academies.<ref>[http://www.sport24.gr/football/omades/Olympiakos/o_grhgorhs_gewrgatos_mesa_apo_20_fwtografies.2486111.html Sport24.gr] Ο Γρηγόρης Γεωργάτος μέσα από 20 φωτογραφίες.</ref> From the summer of 2015 to the summer of 2016, he worked as the sports director of the Olympiacos with responsibility for the first team's competitive department.<ref>{{cite web|author=Γιώργος Περπερίδης|title=Νέος Αθλητικός Διευθυντής ο Γεωργάτος|url=http://www.sport24.gr/football/omades/Olympiakos/neos-athlhtikos-dieythynths-o-gewrgatos.3555197.html|publisher=Sport24|date=2015-06-30|accessdate= 2015-07-01}}</ref>

==Style of play== Georgatos was known as an offensive fullback with an excellent crossing ability; his combative style at left back earned him the nickname, "the Greek Roberto Carlos."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gazzettaworld.gazzetta.it/features/serie-a-crossing/?refresh_ce-cp|title=The art of crossing in Serie A|publisher=La Gazzetta dello Sport|date=26 August 2015|access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2000/gennaio/08/Georgatos_una_cura_per_vincere_co_0_0001082746.shtml|title=Georgatos, una cura per vincere la nostalgia|publisher=Il Corriere della Sera|language=it|author1=Fabio Monti|date=8 January 2000|access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref>

==Career statistics== ===Club=== <ref>{{NFT player|id=10558|accessdate=}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- ! colspan=3 | Club performance ! colspan=2 | League ! colspan=2 | Cup ! colspan=2 | Continental ! colspan=2 | Total |- ! Season ! Club ! League ! Apps !! Goals ! Apps !! Goals ! Apps !! Goals ! Apps !! Goals |- ! colspan=3 |Greece ! colspan=2 | League ! colspan=2 | Greek Cup ! colspan=2 | Europe ! colspan=2 | Total |- |1991–92||rowspan="5"|Panachaiki||rowspan="3"|Alpha Ethniki||30||4|||||||||||| |- |1992–93||26||3|||||||||||| |- |1993–94||28||5|||||||||||| |- |1994–95||Beta Ethniki||26||7|||||||||||| |- |rowspan="2"|1995–96||rowspan="5"|Alpha Ethniki||10||3|||||||||||| |- |rowspan="4"|Olympiacos||17||2|||||||||||| |- |1996–97||33||6||7||0||2||0||42||6 |- |1997–98||30||2||2||0||8||2||40||4 |- |1998–99||26||12||6||2||9||1||41||15 |- ! colspan=3 |Italy ! colspan=2 | League ! colspan=2 | Coppa Italia ! colspan=2 | Europe ! colspan=2 | Total |- |1999–2000||Internazionale||Serie A||28||2||6||1||-||-||34||3 |- ! colspan=3 |Greece ! colspan=2 | League ! colspan=2 | Greek Cup ! colspan=2 | Europe ! colspan=2 | Total |- |2000–01||Olympiacos||Alpha Ethniki||20||5||9||2||6||0||35||7 |- ! colspan=3 |Italy ! colspan=2 | League ! colspan=2 | Coppa Italia ! colspan=2 | Europe ! colspan=2 | Total |- |2001–02||Internazionale||Serie A||10||1||-||-||2||0||12||1 |- ! colspan=3 |Greece ! colspan=2 | League ! colspan=2 | Greek Cup ! colspan=2 | Europe ! colspan=2 | Total |- |2002–03||rowspan="2"|AEK Athens||rowspan="5"|Alpha Ethniki||23||2||7||0||8||1||38||3 |- |rowspan="2"|2003–04||6||5||0||0||3||0||9||5 |- |rowspan="4"|Olympiacos|||13||1||5||2||0||0||18||3 |- |2004–05||25||3||7||1||8||0||40||4 |- |2005–06||22||1||3||0||3||0||28||1 |- |2006–07||Super League Greece||8||0||1||0||3||0||12||0 |- !rowspan=2| Country !!colspan=2| Greece !343||61|||||||||||| |- !colspan=2|Italy !38||3|||||||||||| |- !colspan=3|Total !381||64|||||||||||| |}

===International=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan=3 | Greece national team |- !Year!!Apps!!Goals |- |- |1995||4||0 |- |1996||0||0 |- |1997||6||0 |- |1998||5||0 |- |1999||11||3 |- |2000||7||0 |- |2001||2||0 |- !Total||35||3 |}

==Honours==

'''Olympiacos''' *Alpha Ethniki/Super League Greece: 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07 *Greek Cup: 1998–99, 2004–05, 2005–06

'''Individual''' *Greek Footballer of the Year: 1998–99 *Olympiacos Golden Eleven<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-06-05 |title=Οι «Golden Eleven» του Θρύλου! |url=https://www.olympiacos.org/2015/06/05/oi-golden-eleven-toy-thryloy/ |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΟΣ - Olympiacos.org |language=el}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{sports links}}

{{Greek Footballer of the Year}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Georgatos, Grigoris}} Category:1973 births Category:AEK Athens F.C. players Category:Men's association football central defenders Category:Men's association football full-backs Category:Footballers from Piraeus Category:Greek expatriate men's footballers Category:Inter Milan players Category:Serie A players Category:Olympiacos F.C. players Category:Panachaiki F.C. players Category:Greece men's international footballers Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Category:Living people Category:Super League Greece players Category:Football League (Greece) players Category:Greek expatriate sportspeople in Italy Category:Greek men's footballers