Georgios Toursounidis
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Georgios Toursounidis | ||
| Date of birth | 21 August 1970 | ||
| Place of birth | Thessaloniki, Greece | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1978–1988 | PAOK | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–2000 | PAOK | 261 | (35) |
| 2000–2002 | Xanthi | 35 | (0) |
| 2002 | PAOK | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 296 | (35) | |
| International career | |||
| 1990–1995 | Greece | 22 | (1) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Georgios Toursounidis (Greek: Γεώργιος Τουρσουνίδης; born 21 August 1970) is a Greek former international footballer who played as a right winger and spent most of his career at PAOK.
Career
Club career
Toursounidis joined PAOK Academy at the age of 8 and his skills and talent quickly stood out and developed. His technical ability, dribbling and speed were at a high level and resulted in him being called as the successor of Giorgos Koudas, who had retired from active football a few years ago. On 2 April 1989, he made his league debut with the first team in a match against Levadiakos (2–0) held at Toumba Stadium. In the early 1990s, Panathinaikos president at the time, Giorgos Vardinogiannis, offered him 250 million drachmas to sign a five-year contract and his transfer to the Athenian club seemed almost certain. However, Toursounidis' emotional bond with the club, combined with the protests of PAOK fans, prevented the transfer from being completed.[1] Toursounidis remained at his beloved PAOK and played for 11 years, recording a total of 341 appearances in all competitions (261 in the league, 62 in the Cup, 17 in European competitions and 1 in the League Cup) and he is currently PAOK 9th all-time appearance maker. He often performed well and played with passion in matches against Aris and Olympiacos and made his best performance on December 7, 1994, where he scored the first two goals of the Aris–PAOK derby that took place at Charilaou Stadium and ended with a huge 0–4 away victory.[2][3]
n January 2000, he was informed by Dušan Bajević, who had recently taken over as PAOK's manager, that he was not in his plans and was transferred to Xanthi as a free agent.[4] He made 35 league appearances with Xanthi and in January 2002 he requested to return to PAOK. In a private conversation with Bajević, he clarified that he had no demand from him to use him and his only desire was to return to the club he loved from young age and end his football career wearing the white-black jersey.[5][6] Bajević gave his consent but never used him in a match until the summer when he completed his coaching career at PAOK. When Toursounidis realized that the team was not counting on him for the new season and did not offer him a new contract, he suddenly announced in a press conference his retirement from active football at the age of 32.[7][8][9][10]
International career
Toursounidis made his international debut with the Greek national side on 30 May 1990, in an away friendly against Italy which ended 0–0. He had 22 caps and scored one goal for Greece between 1990 and 1995. He was unlucky and not included in the squad that participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as he missed a large part of that season due to injury.
Career statistics
Club career
| Club | Season | Greek League | Greek Cup | Europe | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| PAOK | 1988–89 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1989–90 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28[a] | 3 | |
| 1990–91 | 32 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 3 | |
| 1991–92 | 30 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 46 | 7 | |
| 1992–93 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 5 | |
| 1993–94 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 | |
| 1994–95 | 30 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 3 | |
| 1995–96 | 33 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 5 | |
| 1996–97 | 31 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 7 | |
| 1997–98 | 27 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 39 | 9 | |
| 1998–99 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 2 | |
| 1999–2000 (i) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 261 | 35 | 62 | 10 | 17 | 0 | 341 | 45 | |
| Xanthi | 1999–2000 (ii) | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| 2000–01 | 20 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 2 | |
| 2001–02 (i) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 35 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 2 | |
| PAOK | 2001–02 (ii) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career total | 296 | 35 | 72 | 12 | 17 | 0 | 386 | 47 | |
- ^ Toursounidis had 1 additional appearance that season in the Greek League Cup.
International career
| Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 1 | 0 |
| 1991 | 8 | 0 |
| 1992 | 5 | 1 |
| 1994 | 3 | 0 |
| 1995 | 5 | 0 |
| Total | 22 | 1 |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 March 1992 | Tsirio Stadium, Limassol | Cyprus | 1–0 | 3–1 | Friendly |
References
- ^ "Ο ΠΑΟ μου έδινε 250 εκ. για 5 χρόνια και έμεινα στον ΠΑΟΚ με 0" [Panathinaikos gave me 250 million drachmas for 5 years and I stayed at PAOK with 0]. betarades.gr (in Greek). 4 October 2025. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ Stavros Sountoulidis (7 December 2020). "Άρης-ΠΑΟΚ: Ο απόλυτος σταρ και ο «ασπρόμαυρος» θρίαμβος του 1994 (pics & vids)" [Aris-PAOK: The absolute star and the "black and white" triumph of 1994]. gazzetta.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ Antonis Tsakaleas (14 March 2023). "Συνέντευξη Γιώργου Τουρσουνίδη: «Στα ματς με Άρη και Ολυμπιακό, έπαιζα πρώτα ως ΠΑΟΚτσής»" [In the matches against Aris and Olympiacos, I played as a PAOK fan]. SportDay (in Greek). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ Antonis Repanas (20 January 2000). "Συγκίνηση στο αντίο" [Emotions high at farewell]. Ta Nea (in Greek). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ "Ο Τουρσουνίδης θα κλείσει την καριέρα του στον ΠΑΟΚ" [Toursounidis will end his career at PAOK]. in.gr (in Greek). 12 January 2002. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ "Ο ΠΑΟΚ είναι όλη μου η ζωή, υποστήριξε ο Τουρσουνίδης" [PAOK is my whole life, claimed Toursounidis]. in.gr (in Greek). 16 January 2002. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ "PAOK Story: Giorgos Toursounidis". paokfc.gr (in Greek). 6 October 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
- ^ Stavros Sountoulidis, Panagiotis Dalatariof, Dimitris Samolis. "Toursounidis' interview at Gazzetta". gazzetta.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Ilias Kalonas (21 August 2020). "Τουρσουνίδης στο Sport24.gr: "Είμαι τρελαμένος με τον ΠΑΟΚ, αλλά έκανα τρία μεγάλα λάθη"" [I'm crazy about PAOK, but I made three big mistakes]. sport24.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ Antonis Karpetopoulos (24 November 2008). "Μεγάλα ταλέντα που δεν ωρίμασαν ποτέ..." [Great talents that never matured]. To Vima (in Greek). Retrieved 1 December 2024.