Angelos Basinas

Angelos Basinas

Personal information
Date of birth	3 January 1976
Place of birth	Chalkida, Greece
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Defensive Midfilder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–2005	Panathinaikos	199	(27)
2005–2008	Mallorca	75	(1)
2008–2009	AEK Athens	14	(0)
2009–2010	Portsmouth	15	(0)
2010–2011	Arles-Avignon	4	(0)
Total		307	(28)
National team^‡
1999–2009	Greece	100	(7)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 May 2010. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 April 2009

Angelos Basinas (Greek: Άγγελος Μπασινάς, born on 3 January 1976 in Chalkida, Greece) is a retired Greek international footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He can also operate as a central midfielder and centre-back. He is best remembered for his key role in the Greek national team that won the 2004 European Championship. He provided the header through which Angelos Charisteas scored the winning goal in the Euro 2004 Final against Portugal.

Club career

Panathinaikos

Basinas started his career with Greek side Panathinaikos, during his time at Panathinaikos he won both the league and the Greek Cup in 2004. After a row broke out between Basinas, the manager and the Panathinaikos board over wages, Basinas was released on 21 September 2005, which brought an end to a career at the club which lasted over 10 years, during this time he made over 150 appearances for the club scoring many crucial goals both domestically and in European competitions.^[1] ( He played 153 games (26 goals, 5 assists) with the club in all competitions).

Mallorca

Although rumored to go to Birmingham City, Everton, AEK Athens and Olympiacos during the 2006 Winter transfer window, Basinas signed a contract with Mallorca preferring to leave Greece and join the Spanish Primera División. In the second half of the 05/06 season, Basinas completed a successful first period at Mallorca, helping to save the team from relegation proving a key part of the struggling teams survival. In his second year at the club he helped the team to finish in 7th position, one point from European qualification. He was released by Mallorca on 1 July 2008 after his 2½ years' contract came to an end. He played 81 games (1 goals, 1 assists) with the club in all competitions.

AEK Athens

On 31 July 2008 he signed a 3-year contract of €1.4 million per annum with AEK Athens,^[2] choosing the number 14. Despite the pre-season odds, AEK underachieved during the first half of the season and lost the title race too early, making Basinas favourable towards a new move during the winter transfer period.

Portsmouth

On 2 February 2009, Portsmouth confirmed the signing of Basinas on an eighteen-month contract.^[3] He made his debut for Portsmouth on 7 February 2009 against Liverpool. Just a few hours after his debut, manager Tony Adams, who brought Basinas in, was sacked by the club and replaced by Paul Hart. Under the new manager, Basinas hardly played and was benched for the rest of the season after only making 3 appearances for Portsmouth. Despite little playing time in his first season at Portsmouth, Basinas stated that he wanted to stay at the club.^[4] When Avram Grant became the manager of the club, Basinas had continued to impress for Portsmouth when called upon and a poll among Portsmouth fans on 23 January 2010, showed that he's appreciated by the fans. 77% of fans believe that "Basinas has the creative touch and must play", while only 2% believed he should leave the club.^[5] With Portsmouth Angelos Basinas reached the 2010 FA Cup Final against Chelsea of Carlo Ancelotti.

AC Arles-Avignon

In the summer 2010, Angelos Basinas moved to Arles, with his teammate Angelos Charisteas, in the Ligue 1. He made his debut on 21 August 2010 in a 1–2 away defeat against Toulouse. Basinas made a total of five appearances in League 1 and French Cup. The contract was broken two months later.

International career

Basinas won his first cap in a 3–1 win over El Salvador on 18 August 1999 and scored his first goal in just his second match, also against El Salvador just two days later. He has remained a part of the national team setup since his debut and has been a regular since Otto Rehhagel took over in 2001.

He was a key player in Greece's upset European Championship victory, scoring a penalty in his country's 2–1 upset win over host team Portugal in the tournament's opening game. Basinas was a vital player in the hard working midfield of the Greek team throughout the tournament. In the final, Charisteas scored the winning goal for Greece against Portugal off a corner kick by Basinas, which saw Greece win the trophy.

After Theodoros Zagorakis retired, Basinas was selected to take the captains arm band. Basinas earned his 100th cap for Greece 1 April 2009 in a FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier against Israel. At the time, he was only the second Greek player to achieve 100 national team appearances alongside Theodoros Zagorakis.

Career statistics

^[6]

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Greece			League		Greek Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1995-96	Panathinaikos	Alpha Ethniki	1	0	1	0	-	-	0	0	2	0
1996-97			1	0	4	0	-	-	0	0	5	0
1997-98			26	1	8	1	-	-	-	-	34	2
1998-99			21	0	4	0	-	-	6	0	31	0
1999-2000			29	4	4	0	-	-	6	0	39	0
2000-01			25	3	9	3	-	-	14	2	48	8
2001-02			22	4	6	1	-	-	14	3	42	8
2002-03			24	5	6	0	-	-	9	2	39	7
2003-04			26	7	7	2	-	-	6	1	39	10
2004-05			24	3	2	0	-	-	8	0	34	3
2005-06			0	0	0	0	-	-	0	0	0	0
Spain			League		Copa del Rey		League Cup		Europe		Total
2005-06	Mallorca	La Liga	14	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	0
2006-07			29	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	29	0
2007-08			32	1	2	0	-	-	-	-	34	1
Greece			League		Greek Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
2008-09	AEK Athens	Super League Greece	14	0	2	0	-	-	1	0	17	0
England			League		FA Cup		English League Cup		Europe		Total
2008-09	Portsmouth	Premier League	3	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	0
2009-10			12	0	3	0	2	0	-	-	15	0
France			League		Coupe de France		Coupe de la Ligue		Europe		Total
2010-11	Arles-Avignon	Ligue 1	4	0	-	-	1	0	-	-	4	0
Country	Greece		213	27	53	7	-	-	64	8	330	42
	Spain		75	1	2	0	-	-	-	-	77	1
	England		15	0	3	0	2	0	-	-	20	0
	France		4	0	-	-	1	0	-	-	5	0
Career total			307	28	58	7	3	0	64	8	432	42

International career statistics

Greece national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1999	6	1
2000	9	0
2001	7	1
2002	9	0
2003	7	0
2004	15	1
2005	13	1
2006	8	0
2007	10	3
2008	13	0
2009	3	0
Total	100	7

^[7]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	20 August 1999	Kavala National Stadium, Kavala, Greece	El Salvador	1–0	3–0	Friendly Match
2.	28 February 2001	Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium, Heraklion, Greece	Russia	3–3	3–3	Friendly Match
3.	12 June 2004	Estádio do Dragão, Porto, Portugal	Portugal	0–2	1–2	UEFA Euro 2004
4.	9 February 2005	Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece	Denmark	2–0	2–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
5.	28 March 2007	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	0–1	0–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
6.	17 November 2007	Spyros Louis Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece	Malta	2–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
7.	21 November 2007	Ferenc Puskás Stadium, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	1–2	1–2	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
Correct as of 7 October 2015[8]

Honours

Clubs

Panathinaikos

• Greek League: 1995–96, 2003–04
• Greek Cup: 2003–04; Runners-up 1997–98, 1998–99

Portsmouth

• FA Cup: Runners up 2010

International

Greece U-21

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship: Runners-up 1998

Greece

• European Championship: 2004

References

1. Basinas quits PAO
2. AEK FC sign Basinas
3. Basinas joins Blues Archived 6 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
4. Basinas staying at Portsmouth
5. "NO Basinas in Pompey's FA Cup plans?" Vitalfootball.co.uk 23 January 2010. Accessed 23 January 2010.
6. Angelos Basinas at National-Football-Teams.com
7. The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation - Angelos Basinas International Appearances Archived 31 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
8. "Football PLAYER: Angelos Basinas". eu-football.info. Retrieved 7 October 2015.

External links

• Official Website