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Andreas Samaris

Samaris playing for Benfica in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Andreas Samaris
Date of birth	(1989-06-13) 13 June 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth	Patras, Greece
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Central midfielder
Team information
Current team	Benfica
Number	7
Youth career
0000–2006	PAO Varda
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2009	Panachaiki	37	(3)
2009–2012	Panionios	49	(1)
2012–2014	Olympiacos	28	(4)
2012–2013	→ Panionios (loan)	21	(5)
2014–	Benfica	26	(0)
International career
2007	Greece U19	1	(0)
2013–	Greece	12	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2 May 2015 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 29 March 2015

Andreas Samaris (Template:Lang-el; born 13 June 1989) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Portuguese club Benfica and the Greece national team.

Club career

He made his first football steps at an early age in his hometown team PAO Varda. He started his career in Gamma Ethniki side Panachaiki in 2006, making a total of 37 league appearances and scored 3 goals for the club. On 10 April 2007, Samaris signed his first professional contract in Panachaiki. On 11 January 2010 he moved to Panionios.

He joined Olympiacos in August 2012 for a transfer fee of €350,000, but he was loaned to Panionios for 2012–13 season. He scored his first goal with the club on 23 November 2013 in an away 4–1 victory against Panthrakikos. He ended the league with 38 appearances and scored four goals, on the way to the Greek's 41st title.

On 22 August 2014, Samaris moved abroad and joined Portuguese champions Benfica for a transfer fee of €10 million with a release clause set at €45 million. He made his debut for the 'Eagles' on 12 September against Vitória Sétubal.

game against SC Braga, there can be no doubt: Samaris is a huge talent player. The truth is that the Greek, from Olympiacos, had a terrible start to the season, showing huge tactical gaps and a whopping difficult to realize what you want to Jorge Jesus for the category "6" at the tactical scheme of eagles. Who follows the Portuguese football for some years, especially Benfica, has no hesitation in pointing out that the latch is a crucial position for the balance of the team. Jorge Jesus always shown a peculiar knack for turning any medium in 6 world-renowned. So it was with Javi Garcia, with Matic and now it seems, Samaris will follow in the footsteps of the current players of Chelsea and Zenit.

But stepping back again a few months, the Greek international, which cost ten million euros to Benfica coffers, was labeled a playmaker for most of the national sports press. With Fejsa injured for several months, the struggle for ownership would be with Cristante, former player of AC Milan. Did not take long for everyone to realize what the bet Jorge Jesus. Samaris played almost every game, even if the views grazed the disaster. The average Greek showed some technical arguments, it is true, but the ability to go out with ball was weak, the ability to launch colleagues progression was weak and, more importantly, the containment levels at midfield were very low

International career

Samaris is a former Greece under-19 international. He made his debut in a 2008 European Under-19 Championship qualifier against France under-19. In October 2013 he was invited by Fernando Santos in the Greece national football team and made a substitute appearance in the final group qualifier against Liechtenstein and rose from the bench in the two play-off matches against Romania. Samaris exceptional season year with Olympiakos was his passport not only to be called from Greek national manager Fernando Santos to the 30 man provisional World Cup squad, but also to the final 23-man squad for 2014 FIFA World Cup.

On 24 June 2014, in his first appearance in a final tournament of World Cup, the Greek midfielder succeeded to open the score scored after Cheick Tiote's defensive mistake in the 42nd minute of the game for a final 2-1 win against Ivory Coast as an early replacement for the injured Panagiotis Kone.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 2 May 2015

Other tournaments include the Taça da Liga.

International

International appearances

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	24 June 2014	Estádio Castelão‚ Fortaleza, Brazil	Ivory Coast	1–0	2–1	2014 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Olympiacos

• Superleague Greece : 2013–14

References

1. "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil: List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 11 June 2014. p. 18. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
2. ^ "Andreas Samaris profile". uefa.com. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
3. ^ "Τον Ανδρέα Σάμαρη απέκτησε ο Πανιώνιος (Panionios signed Andreas Samaris)". Eleftherotypia (in Greek). 11 January 2010.
4. "11/24/2013: Latest Greek Super League Results with Video". greece.greekreporter.com. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
5. "Quem é Andreas Samaris?". Desporto.sapo.pt (in Portuguese). 21 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
6. "Samaris assina contrato com o SL Benfica por cinco épocas". www.slbenfica.pt (in Portuguese). 22 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
7. "Jorge Jesus confirma contratação de Samaris pelo Benfica". Público (in Portuguese). 22 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
8. "Announcement to CMVM" (PDF). S.L. Benfica. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
9. "V. Setúbal-Benfica, 0-5 (crónica)". Maisfutebol.iol.pt (in Portuguese). 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
10. "Greece World Cup 2014 squad". telegraph.co.uk. 19 May 2014.
11. "Greece-Ivory Coast 2-1". goal.com. 24 June 2014.
12. "Greece 2-1 Ivory Coast - 24 June 2014". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 June 2014.

External links

• Andreas Samaris on Facebook
• Benfica official profile Template:Pt icon
• Andreas Samaris at ForaDeJogo (archived)
• Andreas Samaris at Soccerway
• Andreas Samaris at National-Football-Teams.com
• Andreas Samaris – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Andreas Samaris – UEFA competition record (archive)

v t e Greece squad – 2014 FIFA World Cup
1 Karnezis 2 Maniatis 3 Tzavellas 4 Manolas 5 Moras 6 Tziolis 7 Samaras 8 Kone 9 Mitroglou 10 Karagounis (c) 11 Vyntra 12 Glykos 13 Kapino 14 Salpingidis 15 Torosidis 16 Christodoulopoulos 17 Gekas 18 Fetfatzidis 19 Papastathopoulos 20 Holebas 21 Katsouranis 22 Samaris 23 Tachtsidis Coach: Santos

Template:Persondata

• 1989 births
• Living people
• People from Patras
• Greece youth international footballers
• Greece international footballers
• Panachaiki players
• Panionios G.S.S. players
• Superleague Greece players
• Greek footballers
• 2014 FIFA World Cup players
• Olympiacos F.C. players
• Primeira Liga players
• S.L. Benfica footballers
• Expatriate footballers in Portugal
• Greek expatriates in Portugal