Vasilios Tsiartas

Vasilios "Vasilis" Tsiartas (Greek: Βασίλειος "Βασίλης" Τσιάρτας, born 12 November 1972) sometimes wrongly called Vasilios Tsartas, is a Greek former international footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Although he was famed for his lackadaisical playing style, his ability was never in question and he was in many ways the epitome of a classic "number 10" player. "El Mago", as was his nickname, was predominantly left footed but was just as dangerous with his right foot. A great football mind, a literally world-class vertical pass, amazing set-up and amazing long-range shots. His racing flaw was his lack of speed, which, however, was overshadowed by his great technical skills. Also characteristic of the incredible potential of his left foot is the fact that in addition to the many goals he scored with free kicks, long and short shots and penalties, sometimes in his career he scored with direct corner kicks. Thus, Tsiartas was the main set piece taker for the national and his club team. He was an important member of Greece, claiming two assists in Portugal towards Greece's ultimate victory in Euro 2004. In his entire career he did not receive a single red card. Although he played as a passer, Tsiartas was capable of scoring many goals due to his deadly footage and scoring abilities being one of AEK Athens' ever top scorers. He is considered one of the best Greek players in history.

Vasilios Tsiartas
Tsartas signing an autograph for a Greek fan.
Personal information
Full name Vasilios Tsiartas
Date of birth (1972-11-12) 12 November 1972
Place of birth Alexandreia, Greece
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1992 Naoussa 92 (23)
1992–1996 AEK Athens 98 (37)
1996–2000 Sevilla 140 (44)
2000–2004 AEK Athens 98 (43)
2004–2005 1. FC Köln 4 (1)
2006–2007 Ethnikos Piraeus 3 (1)
Total 449 (149)
National team
1996–1999 Greece U21 2 (0)
1994–2005 Greece 70 (12)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Born in Alexandreia, Greece, he began his career at the academy at AE Alexandris and later the team of Naoussa, which also produced players such as Vassilis Lakis and Dimitris Markos. While playng for Naousa, he aroused the interest of the big teams, mainly AEK Athens and Panathinaikos. In the end, in December 1992, he was transferred to AEK. After the first 1.5 years, which was a period of adjustment and was between substitutes and starters. However Tsiartas, showing direct examples of his rare class with a characteristic debut on 12/12/1992, which he scored 2 goals in a 7-0 victory against Korinthos in Nea Filadelfeia, made permanent in the team starting lineup during the 1994-1995 seaspn. This season he had a very good presence in the matches for the Champions League, while he also made several very good appearances in domestic competitions. The period 1995-1996 Tsiartas was probably the best of his career in Greece, since he became the top scorer of the Greek championship with 26 goals in 33 league matches, achieving and many impressive goals, while he also scored many assists for his teammates. For the specific season, he also scored 7 goals in the Cup, which AEK won in the end, while he was voted the best Greek football player of the league (alongside Karapialis and Donis) by his colleagues in the league. Tsiartas soon made a name for himself and his subsequent move to AEK Athens resulted in him scoring the most goals in the 1996 season in the Alpha Ethniki.

This and his huge attacking presence lead to a move to Sevilla for a fee of 1.5m €. There, he was an influential captain and vital in team gaining promotion to the Primera Division. He was known in Seville as "El Mago" which ment "The Magician: due to his lethal ability with any free kicks combined with a powerful shot in or outside the box. He was also loved by the Sevilla fans and was one of the most important "10s" of the Andalusian team's history. He managed 140 appearances in the championship with 44 goals and many assists, while he was also the leader of the team.[1]

Tsiartas returned to AEK Athens in 2000 for 3.5m € on another successful 4 year spell at AEK. He was now the "maestro" of the build-up of the game, wearing his favorite "10" on the back, while he scored very often. He scored a total of 43 goals for the championship during his second spell in the team, he created a lot of goals for his teammates, while he was also an awesome duo with Demis Nikolaidis.A memorable appearance was in the Champions League match in Nea Filadelfeia against Real Madrid in a 3-3 draw, when he scored an amazing goal. with a foul and assisted two more goals, one by Christos Maladenis with a corner and one by Demis Nikolaidis also with an excellent foul.On the other hand, a bad moment was that he missed the penalty, in the penalty shootout, in the Cup Final with Panathinaikos on 20/4/1994, in one of the best Greek cup finals of all time (2-2 after regular time, 3-3 after extra time and 5-3 for Panathinaikos, after penalty shotout).In total, Tsiartas had 196 appearancess in AEK in the Greek championship and 80 goals, many of which are particularly impressive and today he is in the top 10 of the all time scorers of AEK for the championship. He also had 24 participations with 12 goals in the cup and 49 games with 10 goals in European games (3rd scorer in the history of the team until today in European games, behind Demis Nikolaidis and Mimis Papaioannou).[2]

He ended his career at 1. FC Köln. Tsiartas officially returned to action, by signing with Ethnikos Piraeus in Greece. On 14 February 2007 Vasilis Tsartas announced his retirement from professional football.[3]

International career

Having played U-16 and U-21, Tsiartas made his debut for men's team on 27 April 1994 in a game against Saudi Arabia. He managed to score 12 goals in his 70 caps with Greece including an important penalty against Northern Ireland in 2003 which led to Greece's qualification for Euro 2004. During the Euro 2004 he was used mainly as a substitute by the team's coach Otto Rehhagel, but managed to claim two vital assists, one against Spain and the other against the Czech Republic on the way to Greece's victory in the tournament.

Post-playing career

After his playing days were over, Tsiartas became a agent. Tsiartas was also the technical director of AEK Athens for three months during the 2012-13 season.[4][5]

Career statistics

International
National team Season Apps Goals
 Greece 1994 06 00
1995 10 02
1996 06 01
1997 02 00
1998 02 00
1999 03 02
2000 07 00
2001 01 01
2002 08 01
2003 09 03
2004 14 02
2005 02 00
Total 70 12

Last updated: 2010-3-03
Source: national-football-teams.com at National-Football-Teams.com

Vasilis Tsartas: International goals
GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
11995–05–17Žalgiris Stadium, Vilnius, Lithuania Lithuania1–12–1Friendly
21995–11–15Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium, Heraklion, Greece Faroe Islands5–05–01996 UEQ
31996–01–24Chalcis, Greece Israel2–02–1Friendly
41999–10–06Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Athens, Greece Albania1–02–02000 UEQ
51999–10–09Ljudski vrt, Maribor, Slovenia Slovenia0–10–32000 UEQ
62001–11–10Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece Estonia3–04–2Friendly
72002–03–27Kostas Davourlis Stadium, Patras, Greece Belgium1–23–2Friendly
82003–03–26UPC-Arena, Graz, Austria Austria0–12–2Friendly
92003–04–30Žilina, Slovakia Slovakia0–12–2Friendly
102003–10–11Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece Northern Ireland1–01–02004 UEQ
112004–03–31Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion, Greece  Switzerland1–01–0Friendly
122004–10–09Olimpiysky National Sports Complex, Kiev, Ukraine Ukraine1–11–12006 WCQ

Honours

Club
Naoussa
AEK Athens
Köln

International
Greece

Individual

Trivia
  • He featured on the cover of the Greek edition of FIFA 2000.

References
  1. http://www.bdfutbol.com/es/j/j2572.html
  2. http://www.kitrinomavro.gr/aekpedia/2015/05/24/%ce%b2%ce%b1%cf%83%ce%af%ce%bb%ce%b7%cf%82-%cf%84%cf%83%ce%b9%ce%ac%cf%81%cf%84%ce%b1%cf%82/
  3. "Το αντίο του El Mago" (in Greek). Contra.gr. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  4. http://www.inews.gr/11/aek-neos-technikos-diefthyntis-o-tsiartas.htm
  5. http://www.ethnos.gr/ethnosport/article.asp?catid=8720&subid=2&pubid=129161190

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