THE Fotis Ioannidis is a hot name and a footballer that is constantly being looked at by clubs from abroad. His quality is great, as is his improvement, with the Greek striker being a point of reference for Panathinaikos and the National Team.
THE Ioannidis he gave an extensive interview to “mens arena” and mentioned many interesting things. He talked about the moment that… changed everything in his career, as well as his entire course so far. He talked about what he would like to do if he wasn’t playing football, as well as the music he likes to listen to.
In February 2022, even before your success at Panathinaikos had really begun, an offer to transfer you to an MLS team, the American soccer league, for more than 2 million euros “popped up”. Your team didn’t agree to it, even though most people thought it was generous. Did you feel like you were missing an opportunity?
“On the contrary! First of all, because I don’t believe that in life each of us has only one chance. Each day can hide at least one. On the other hand, I am of the opinion that before taking your next step, you should have established yourself where you were before. At that time, too, I had not yet established myself in Panathinaikos and Greek football. I believed that by continuing at Panathinaikos and connecting my name with his own development I would achieve more. As it turned out – and even if, by the standards of the time, the money seemed like a lot – I made the right choice.”
Is it, you say, also a question of luck?
“I don’t believe in luck. Life is not a gamble. We determine our course, with our choices. If you are a positive person, things will probably turn out positive for you. If you’re miserable and lacking confidence, no.”
The fact that when you were 14-15 years old and competing in the Olympiakos Academies, your team at the time was not interested in you continuing in the competitive categories, wasn’t it a blow to your self-confidence?
“The decision I made then – after discussing it with my family, of course – to try out for Olympiakos Chalkida turned out to be one of the best in my entire life. I found myself at 15 training and competing with the men’s team, at a whole other level of speed and strength. When I then went to Levadeiakos and started playing with my peers, it seemed so simple to me – after two years of trying the hardest!”
You belong to that rare category of players who can change the facts of a game, coming off the bench. What’s the secret?
“There is no player who would rather come on as a substitute than to start as a starter. Everyone expects the substitute to be fresher and stronger but, believe me, it is not at all simple from where you watch from the bench to do a short warm-up and immediately get into the rhythm of the match. Mainly mentally.”
However, you have succeeded many times.
“Indeed, last year, coming on as a substitute towards the end of three games – and playing all-around 20 minutes – to score two goals and win the penalty against Olympiakos. It was in a sense the moment that changed everything. A race that I did full of nerves, in the last minute of the race, in a phase that seemed lost. But I chased after her.”
Others might not have been chasing her…
“Whether you play for one minute or 90, you have to chase every phase. And if you deserve it, football will reward you. What you deserve, you will eventually get. I have a characteristic, as a player but also as a person. I never get stuck in the previous phase, I always look to the next one. I remember last year we were playing a game and in 3-4 minutes I lost the ball three times – the worst that can happen to a centre-forward. Twice it went under my feet, another time I miscontrolled. Other football players may have been temporarily running away from where the ball is burning or hiding. But not me. In the very next phase I asked for a ball. Kourbelis, our leader last year, sees me and tells me that’s why I like you.”
How does it feel when you play away from home and a whole stadium curses you?
“It cheers me up. Few things are nicer than scoring a goal on a pitch like this and being silent.”
It seems to describe the moment of the penalty in the last minute of the match against Marseille…
“Before, you know, I didn’t want to take penalties. I said it’s not for me. But I worked on it a lot. When you take a penalty, the chances are three. Right, left, center. Depending on where you choose to throw it, you have 66%, the goalkeeper 33%. How can you improve the odds? Throw it high and hard so that even if it lands in the right corner the goalkeeper can’t save it. I take 40-50 penalties every week to get better at just that.”
How do you respond to those who say that young Greek footballers are runaways?
“Of course some may be, but it is not the norm. But do you know what the difference is? That very often the position of a Greek with X potential will be taken by a foreigner who is at the same level as him or even worse. Well, how is this kid going to improve after that if he doesn’t get competitive opportunities? Do you remember when I told you that when I was 15 I played in Chalkida against men? This matured me. When a 19-year-old in France plays against Mbappe, he will be better than if he was in Greece and playing in the Youth Championship with his peers.”
Were you a good student at school?
“Yes, especially in Chalkida. When I went to Livadia, in the last two classes, I fell a little. But I was also strange. Within the group of non-essentialists but also among those who ate the most hourly discharges”.
Did you read a lot?
“I’m still reading. I like to be informed about what is happening around me, history. I have a feeling that there is life outside of football and that all of us who deal with it, are a bit in a bubble”.
Which historical figure would you like to have met and interacted with?
“Winston Churchill. For the way he led his people in World War II.”
In his address to the British people, he had promised them, as you know, “blood, tears and sweat”. No easy wins. Does it look like something Jovanovic could have promised by taking over Panathinaikos?
“I never thought of it that way, but…maybe!”
Is Jovanovic a strict coach?
“Yes it is. But also great in regular game preparation. His main advantage is that he has been a football player himself – and a very good one at that. He knows how the footballer thinks and feels, without him telling him.”
Do you think that someone who has never been a player himself could not become a good coach? Mourinho would have a different opinion!
“Without wanting to ignore the value or successes of Mourinho, I will tell you that I don’t like the football served by his teams and it doesn’t express me. He doesn’t seem to understand the beauty of the game. Or that it doesn’t matter to him.”
Have you ever thought about what you could have become if you weren’t a football player?
“I have no idea. I have never imagined it. Maybe I did something around politics or Formula 1 – I love cars and speed.”
What is the fastest speed you have reached on the road?
“…more than 230. But only once.”
Were you a spoiled child?
“If you ask my sister – who is 5 years older – she will tell you that my mother had a weakness for me. But I don’t believe it!”
Is your mother one to worry about you hitting the game?
“Not particularly, maybe because my father was also a football player and he’s kind of used to it. But when my grandmother watches games and I get fouled, she curses the opponents!”
When you started your football career, what did you think about the future? Could you imagine yourself in Panathinaikos, in the National Team?
“In my dreams I saw – still see – a lot of ball. That I was playing in big teams, that I was scoring crucial goals. I was once with Savvas Panteliadis and he told me to get a pad and write down your goals on it. I did it. I had written, I remember, that I want to have played in the national team at the age of 24. Check, a year earlier in fact.”
Do you still have this pad?
“Yes, I have it saved somewhere. When I’m done with football, I want to look at it to see what I’ve achieved from all this.”
Do you remember the first goal you scored with the Panathinaikos jersey?
“Of course. Day of Lights in 2021 against Apollon. With the newspapers writing “Fotis illuminated him”, “he was treated to his feast”, such”
What is your relationship with religion?
“I don’t go to church often – maybe only at Easter – but I believe in God. I light a candle, I pray”
Are you good at managing money? If you were rich, what would you do?
“I believe in moderation, I believe that I am neither stingy nor wasteful. If I had a lot of money, I might collect cars. Supercars or old classics – like a Mercedes whose doors open up like wings and is worth close to a million”
Could you, you say, be the boss of a business? Even if that means you have to lay people off at some point?
“Yeah, I don’t think I’d have a problem. I personally do not see such issues. You may be good – and still my friend – but you don’t fit into my plan. You don’t have to hate the other person to do it”
In the three years that you have been playing for Panathinaikos, the only title that the team has won – after many years of drought – is a Greek Cup. What do you remember from that night?
“Before the match, I remember, we felt that there was no way we could lose. After we got this far, we were like, we’ll take it. And when after the match we went to the bouzoukis, it looked like redemption, with an incredible loss – especially for the guys who had been in the team for years and had lived through its entire difficult period”
Do you speak Greek? do you dance
“I hear everything. House, Greek, old rock from my mother’s records. But I hardly dance at all – or I dance badly”
If at the end of the interview I told you that there is a car waiting for you around the corner, what would you do?
“I’d take it and go for a ride to Chalkida probably – I like night drives. I would listen to Iggy Pop, Depeche Mode or something like that. And I would drive fast…”
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.