Christos Tzolis

Christos Tzolis (Greek: Χρήστος Τζόλης; born 30 January 2002) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a winger for EFL Championship club Norwich City and the Greece national team.

Christos Tzolis
Tzolis with PAOK in 2020
Personal information
Full name Christos Tzolis[1]
Date of birth (2002-01-30) 30 January 2002
Place of birth Thessaloniki, Greece
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Norwich City
Number 18
Youth career
2006–2010 Doxa Pentalofos
2010–2016 PAOK
2016–2017 SG Rosenhöhe Offenbach
2017–2018 SV Alemannia Königstädten
2018–2020 PAOK
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2021 PAOK 42 (7)
2021– Norwich City 24 (1)
2022–2023 → Twente (loan) 10 (1)
International career‡
2018–2019 Greece U17 9 (6)
2019–2020 Greece U19 3 (0)
2022– Greece U21 2 (2)
2020– Greece 13 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10 April 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:30, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

Club career

Early career

Tzolis started his first football steps in the academy of his village team, Doxa Pentalofos. He played there from 2006 until 2010, before joining PAOK. In 2015, the then 13-year-old impressed at the Lennart-Johansson-Cup, a tournament for 13 to 14-year-olds. The right-footed winger scored 11 goals in five games and guided his team to the final. Despite losing the final he won the golden boot and was voted the best player of the tournament. In 2018, he returned to PAOK and scored 29 goals in 25 games for the PAOK U17 side, including two goals against Panathinaikos in the championship semi-final.

PAOK

On 20 June 2020, in only his second senior appearance, the 18-year-old displaying excellent technique to net a crucial equaliser. It’s worth noting that Tzolis managed to score 19 goals in just 23 Super League U19 matches this season. Tzolis became the youngest player to score a Super League goal during the 2019–20 season.

On 25 August 2020, Tzolis scored a brace for 2020–21 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round against Beşiktaş J.K. Tzolis also added an assist for Dimitris Pelkas.[2] On 11 September 2020, he scored the only goal against AEL in the 2020–21 season opener, named MVP of the game. On 17 September 2020, Tzolis renew his contract with the club until 2024 without a buy out clause.[3] On 5 November 2020, he scored in a 4–1 home win 2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage game against PSV Eindhoven helping PAOK to increase the possibility of qualifying for the next phase of the UEFA Europa League.[4]

Norwich City

On 12 August 2021, Tzolis left PAOK to join Premier League club Norwich City on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[5] He made an impressive debut for the Canaries on 24 August, as he scored a brace and assisted a further two goals, to help his team seal an emphatic 6–0 win over Bournemouth and progress to the third round of the EFL Cup.[6] He was voted man of the match for his performance.[7]

On 22 July 2022, he joined Twente in the Netherlands on a season-long loan.[8] He returned from his loan spell on 31 January 2023, after a mutual agreement was reached to cut short his loan spell.[9] During his time at Twente, the left winger scored three goals in 15 appearances.[9]

He scored his first goal for Norwich since his return from loan, and his first goal for Norwich in the league, in a 3-1 win against Birmingham City on 21 February 2023.[10]

International career

Tzolis has represented Greece at the under-17 level and under-19 level. At the under-17 level, he appeared in 9 matches and scored 6 goals. On 7 October 2020, Tzolis made his debut for the senior national team in a 2–1 loss to Austria after being substituted on in the 82nd minute for Dimitris Limnios. At the time of his debut, Tzolis became the 7th youngest player in the history of the Greece national team. On 11 November 2020, Tzolis scored his first international goal in a 2–1 victory against Cyprus.[11]

Personal life

His parents, hail from Dropull, Albania

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 21 February 2023[12]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
PAOK 2019–20 Super League Greece 9110—00101
2020–21 33645—9[lower-alpha 3]54616
2021–22 ———1[lower-alpha 4]010
Total 42755—1055717
Norwich City 2021–22 Premier League 1401022—172
2022–23 Championship 41———41
Total 1811022—213
FC Twente (loan) 2022–23 Eredivisie 10110004[lower-alpha 4]2153
Career total 70975221479323
  1. Includes Greek Cup, FA Cup, KNVB Cup
  2. Includes EFL Cup
  3. Four appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, five appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa League
  4. Appearance in UEFA Europa Conference League

International
As of match played 8 September 2021[13]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Greece 202041
202150
Total91
Scores and results list Greece's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tzolis goal[13]
List of international goals scored by Christos Tzolis
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
111 November 2020Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece Cyprus1–02–1Friendly

Honours

Club

PAOK

Individual

References
  1. "2021/22 Premier League squads confirmed". Premier League. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  2. "ΑΡΗΣ– ΟΦΗ 3–1: Με ανατροπή στις καθυστερήσεις". www.sport24.gr. 20 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  3. "ΠΑΟΚ: Τζόλης μέχρι το 2024, συμβόλαιο χωρίς buy out". www.sport24.gr. 17 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  4. "ΠΑΟΚ - Αϊντχόφεν 4-1: Μαγεία με Γκαρσία" (in Greek). www.sport24.gr. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  5. "City land Greek winger Tzolis". Norwich City F.C. 12 August 2021.
  6. "Norwich hit Bournemouth for six in cup". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  7. Norwich City FC [@NorwichCityFC] (24 August 2021). "2️⃣ goals 2️⃣ assists 1️⃣ MOTM Some debut from CT! 👏 t.co/yKXAjPjLFL" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021 – via Twitter.
  8. "FC Twente huurt Christos Tzolis" (in Dutch). Twente. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  9. "Tzolis returns from FC Twente loan". Canaries. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  10. Sofascore. "Norwich City vs Birmingham City live score, H2H and lineups | Sofascore". www.sofascore.com. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  11. "Cyprus' long winless streak continues with defeat to Greece". Cyprus Mail. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  12. Christos Tzolis at Soccerway
  13. "Christos Tzolis". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  14. "Paok win Greek cup final over Olympiakos". Greek City Times. 23 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.