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Alexandros Paschalakis
	Paschalakis playing with PAOK in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Alexandros Paschalakis
Date of birth	28 July 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth	Athens, Greece
Height	1.97 m (6 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Olympiacos
Number	1
Youth career
2002–2003	AEK Athens
2003–2005	Olympiacos
2005–2006	Ilioupoli
Senior career*
Years	Team
2006–2008	Ilioupoli
2008–2012	Levadiakos
2012–2013	PAEEK
2014–2016	Panthrakikos
2016–2017	PAS Giannina
2017–2022	PAOK
2022–	Olympiacos
International career‡
2019–2022	Greece
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 28 April 2024; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20 November 2022

Alexandros Paschalakis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Πασχαλάκης; born 28 July 1989) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Super League club Olympiacos and the Greece national team.

Club career

Early career

Paschalakis started playing football in Terpsithea. He was at the youth team of AEK for a year and then at the youth team of Olympiakos for two years (2003–2005). He then moved to the team of Ilioupoli. At the age of 17 he transferred to the youth team of Galatasaray but could not sign a contract due to restrictions on the number of foreign players.

He signed for Levadiakos in the summer of 2008. He signed for PAEEK in the summer of 2012. Akhisar was interested in Paschalakis but he did not want to move there.^[1]^[2] After returning to Greece and spending six months in limbo, he signed for Panthrakikos in January 2014, but played just 13 matches until January 2016.^[3]

PAS Giannina

Paschalakis signed for PAS Giannina on 26 January 2016, to replace Markos Vellidis' transfer to PAOK.^[4] He did not play at all in his first six months in Ioannina. On 25 July 2017, the 28-year-old goalkeeper that was bound by a contract to the club until the summer of 2018, had made an appeal due to a delay in his annual salary. The Athenian goalie had an outstanding season playing in 27 games, four of which were in the UEFA Europa League. PAOK, along with Asteras Tripoli and Panathinaikos expressed interest in his acquisition, having nine clean sheets.^[5] On 1 August, Paschalakis was released from PAS Giannina.^[6]

PAOK

On 7 August 2017, he signed a year contract with PAOK for an undisclosed fee.^[7] On 2 December 2017, he made his debut in a 3–0 away win against Xanthi. A day later he renewed his contract with the club till the summer of 2020. The 28-year-old goalkeeper increased his earnings and the release clause would be set in the region of €5 million.^[8]

It was initially planned that he would be back-up to Argentinian Rodrigo Rey, but since head coach Răzvan Lucescu gave him a chance, Paschalakis made himself PAOK's starter. As of 4 February 2018, Paschalakis holds PAOK's record for most consecutive minutes without conceding, with 971 excluding stoppage time (1008 in total), before conceding in a 1–3 away win over PAS Giannina,^[9] to surpass current runner-up Kostas Chalkias with 859 min. Unsurprisingly, PAOK boast the Superleague's tightest defence with seven goals conceded in nineteen matches, a statistic which is largely down to Paschalakis' superb performances between the sticks.^[10]

On 8 August 2018, Paschalakis saved second-half Quincy Promes's penalty in a 3–2 home win in the UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round, 1st leg against Spartak Moscow, helping his team to maintain the win.^[11] At the first half of the 2018–19 season Paschalakis played every minute of domestic championship action, conceding a mere six goals in 15 matches while tallying an impressive nine clean sheets. On 17 January 2019, Paschalakis was awarded a new contract with PAOK through to 2022.^[12]

On 25 April 2019, he made a number of saves in a semifinal second leg Greek Cup game against Asteras Tripolis, helping PAOK's title defence of the Greek Cup, as the newly crowned Super League champions secured a 0–0 draw in Tripoli to progress 2–0 on aggregate. PAOK, for the third consecutive season, would meet AEK Athens in the Greek Cup final.^[13]

International career

On 5 October 2018 Greece coach Michael Skibbe called up Paschalakis for upcoming 2018–19 UEFA Nations League matches against Hungary and Finland in the UEFA Nations League. "All players dream of someday representing their country and I am happy for this opportunity. I waited for a long time for this call," said Paschalakis.^[14] On 30 May 2019, he made his debut in a 2–1 friendly game away loss against Turkey.

Personal life

Paschalakis hails from Serres.^[15] He was in a relationship with Greek singer Irene Papadopoulou [el] from 2019 to 2023.

Career statistics

As of match played 29 May 2024^[16]

Club	Season	League			National cup^[a]		Europe		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Levadiakos	2010–11	Football League	1	0	—		—		1	0
Levadiakos	2011–12	Super League Greece	–		–		—		—
PAEEK	2012–13	Cypriot Second Division	23	0	2	0	—		25	0
Panthrakikos	2013–14	Super League Greece	5	0	—		—		5	0
	2014–15		4	0	3	0	—		7	0
	2015–16		4	0	2	0	—		6	0
	Total		13	0	5	0	—		18	0
PAS Giannina	2015–16	Super League Greece	—		—		—		—
PAS Giannina	2016–17	Super League Greece	20	0	3	0	4^[b]	0	27	0
PAOK	2017–18	Super League Greece	17	0	7	0	0	0	24	0
	2018–19		30	0	7	0	12^[c]	0	49	0
	2019–20		16	0	6	0	4^[d]	0	26	0
	2020–21		18	0	6	0	1^[b]	0	35	0
	2021–22		34	0	4	0	16^[e]	0	54	0
	Total		115	0	30	0	33	0	178	0
Olympiacos	2022–23	Super League Greece	24	0	1	0	2^[b]	0	27	0
	2023–24	Super League Greece	26	0	2	0	13^[f]	0	41	0
	Total		50	0	3	0	15	0	68	0
Career total			222	0	43	0	52	0	317	0

^ Includes Cypriot Cup, Greek Football Cup
^ ^a ^b ^c Appearances in UEFA Europa League
^ Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, six appearances in UEFA Europa League
^ Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
^ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
^ Ten appearances in UEFA Europa League, three appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League