Sotirios Kyrgiakos - Club Career

Club Career

Kyrgiakos made his first football steps with a local team, Thyella Megalochoriou. It did not take long for him to be recognized. At the start of the 1996–97 season he became a member of the Panathinaikos football academy. He is well known as alani. He lived and played football at the Paiania athletic complex, the club's training ground. In the wake of the 1999–2000 season he became a member of Agios Nikolaos, a second division club and won the respect of president Lampros Maris whom Kyrgiakos considers as his second father. He stayed with Agios Nikolaos for two years and in 2001 he took part in the pre-season camp at OFI Crete. The centre-back injuries at his parent club, Panathinaikos, just before the Third Qualifying round matches with Slavia Prague for the 2000–01 Champions League meant that he had to return to Paiania and become a regular member of the starting line-up. In the 2003–04 season, Kyrgiakos won with Panathinaikos the Greek League and Greek Cup against the eternal rival Olympiakos.