Panos Armenakas

Panagiotis "Panos" Armenakas (born 5 August 1998) is an Australian footballer who plays as a right winger. Armenakas has played youth football for Sydney Olympic, Watford and Udinese. Originally, Armenakas represented Greece U17, before switching to the Australian U17 side.

Panos Armenakas
Personal information
Full name Panagiotis Armenakas
Date of birth (1998-08-05) 5 August 1998
Place of birth Newport Beach, California, U.S.
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Winger
Club information
Current team
 S.V. Zulte Waregem
Youth career
2002–2010 Sydney Olympic
2011–2012 Brescia
2012–2014 Watford
2014–2017 Udinese
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2018 Udinese 0 (0)
2017–2018 → Tubize (loan) 6 (0)
2019–2020 Panathinaikos 3 (0)
2020 Roeselare 0 (0)
2020– S.V. Zulte Waregem 6 (2)
National team‡
2014 Greece U17 2 (0)
2014–2015 Australia U17 7 (0)
2017– Australia U23 3 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:15, 31 January 2021 (UTC).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 October 2019

Early life

Armenakas was born in Newport Beach, California, U.S.[1] before moving to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia at a young age.[1] He is of American, Australian and Greek nationality.[2]

Club career

Youth

Armenakas started his youth career playing for Sydney Olympic, after being scouted in a park by ex-Socceroo Jim Patikas.[1] At the age of six, he was invited to spend three weeks training with FC Barcelona's elite juniors squad.[3] While in Europe, he also spent time with Bolton Wanderers.[4][5] Armenakas trained with the Milan Soccer School in Sydney under Andrea Icardi and Misha Radovic, before trialing with A.C. Milan in early 2010.[6] In late 2010, he moved to Europe, initially joining Brescia before signing with Watford's Youth Academy.[7]

Udinese

After spending two years with Watford, Armenakas signed a three-year deal with Udinese.[8] By signing with the Italian club, Panos became the youngest Australian ever to sign a professional contract in any of the top five leagues in Europe.[9] In November 2015, Armenakas signed a contract extension, keeping him at Udinese until 2018.[10]

Loan to Tubize

In July 2017, Armenakas joined Tubize in the Belgian First Division B on a one-year loan to have a chance at first team football.[11]

Panathinaikos

After a trial period of three weeks Armenakas signed a ​2 1⁄2-year contract with the Greek club at the beginning of January 2019.[12]

International career

Armenakas initially represented Greece at under-17 level, playing in two friendly matches against Turkey U-17 in August 2014.[13][14]

In late 2014, Armenakas accepted a call up to the Australian U-17 squad, to play in the 2014 Nike International Friendlies tournament in the United States,[2] where he made his debut in a loss to Brazil U-17 in November 2014.[15] In October 2015, he was selected in Australia's 21-man squad for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.[16] During this time, he was also selected by The Guardian as one of the best fifty young talents in world football.[17]

References
  1. Taneka, Taku (16 October 2014). "Panos Armenakas". Inside Sport. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  2. Murray, Les (27 October 2014). "Teenage prodigy Armenakas chooses Australia". The World Game. SBS. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  3. "Future star of football". Neos Kosmos English Edition. 2 October 2007. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  4. Kay, Oliver (10 November 2005). "Chelsea and United prepare for battle over seven-year-old". The Times.
  5. "Australian To Experience Bolton Atmosphere". thefootballnetwork.net. 8 November 2005. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  6. Ormond, Aidan (25 March 2010). "Aussie tween's AC Milan trial". fourfourtwo.com.au. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  7. "Armenakas' astronomical climb". Neos Kosmos English Edition. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  8. https://neoskosmos.com/en/24760/armenakas-signs-to-serie-a-club-udinese/
  9. Ratcliffe, Joey (3 April 2015). "How will the Socceroos line up in 2018?". theblogfc.com.au. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  10. SEG Football [@SEG_Football] (27 November 2015). "Panos Armenakas (@panaldinho10) signed a contract extension with @Udinese_1896 until 2018. Congrats, Panos!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. Murray, Les (9 July 2017). "Aussie teen star Armenakas leaves Udinese for Belgium". The World Game. SBS.
  12. "Παναθηναϊκός: "Πράσινος" για 2,5 χρόνια ο Αρμενάκας". /www.sport24.gr. 23 December 2018.
  13. "Turkey Greece – National Team Matches Details" (in Turkish). Turkish Football Federation. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  14. "Turkey Greece – National Team Matches Details" (in Turkish). Turkish Football Federation. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  15. "Brazil Earns Convincing 4–0 Win against Australia in Nike Friendlies Opener". United States Soccer Federation. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  16. "Joeys squad named for 2015 U-17 FIFA World Cup Chile". Football Federation Australia. 2 October 2015.
  17. "Next Generation 2015: 50 of the best young talents in world football". The Guardian. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
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