Marios Oikonomou

Marios Oikonomou (Greek: Μάριος Οικονόμου; born 6 October 1992) is a Greek professional footballer who plays for Bologna, in the Serie A, as a central defender. He is a Greece international.

Club career

PAS Giannina

Born in Ioannina, Oikonómou began playing football with PAS Giannina. On 14 November 2012, he made his debut for the Greece U21 in a friendly match against Austria U21.^[1] He played only one season with the club having 23 appearances in all competitions.

Cagliari Calcio

After a strong 2012–13 season with PAS Giannina, Oikonomou signed a contract with Cagliari, a team in Serie A, the top league in Italy. He was the first ever player in the history of PAS Giannina who managed to sign directly a contract with a foreign club.^[2] His former club will receive an amount that will reach €500,000, while keeping a small percentage of resale. On April 6, 2014 he made his debut with the club in a home loss against Roma.

Bologna

On 1 July 2014, the Greek defender signed a contract with Bologna in Serie B on a transfer deal which involved striker Alessandro Capello, who moved permanently from Bologna to Cagliari. Oikonomou had made very few appearances for Cagliari during the previous season, thus he changed his football environment.^[3][4] On 23 September 2014 he made his debut with the club scoring in a 1–0 away win against Ternana Calcio. His remarkable season attracted the attention of several other Italian clubs, such as S.S. Lazio and Hellas Verona F.C.^[5]

Despite his initial strong performances on the pitch, in March 2015, Marios Oikonomou went through a difficult spell in which he was forced to stay in the bench after the arrival of Daniele Gastaldello. The transition to the three-man defence allowed him to return to the field and to unlock the game against A.S. Livorno Calcio by scoring a goal giving three key points in the race for promotion. He insisted on the method of training and the managerial abilities of Luis Diego López. Oikonomou is necessary to turn into a game the good things done in training: "We must think only of what we feel in the week and put it into practice in the match. There is nothing to change in our daily work even though we do few goals." But even with the arrival of Gastaldello, Oikonomou has seen it as a stimulus: "I tried to look on the bright side - admitted the defender - from players like him and Domenico Maietta I can learn a lot, they both have a valuable experience. With them I feel good, and now with the three-man defence we can do good things ".^[6]

On 9 June 2015, Marios Oikonomou contributed to Bologna's return to Serie A one-year after their relegation thanks to a dramatic 1–1 draw in the play-offs against Pescara Calcio.^[7]

On 20 September 2015, he helped his club to claim their first win since gaining promotion back to Serie A by beating Frosinone 1–0 at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. Bologna took the lead in the 27th minute as Anthony Mounier was picked out by Marios Oikonomou's ball over the top, before lashing a fierce drive across the keeper and into the far corner.^[8] Three days later, Oikonomou impressed enough against Fiorentina to have him turn to substitute, but eventually Bologna were undone and lost 2–0. The Greek defender linked up well with Rossettini to keep out the Viola for over an hour but eventually the home side’s pressure told. He won tackles, won headers and made clearances throughout as Fiorentina threatened to run riot. Will be disappointed to be on the losing side and was unfortunate to be so.^[9]

Playing for Bologna since 2014–15 season, the Greek centre-back Marios Oikonomou had his own deal with Felsinei and officially extended his contract until June 2020.^[10][11] On 27 October 2015, Oikonomou will be out of action for three to four weeks with a thigh strain. The centre-back pulled out during the warm-up for last night’s 1–0 defeat for Serie A to Inter and had been due to start the match. He underwent tests and they highlighted a Grade I lesion to the left femoral bicep. The recovery time is expected to be around three to four weeks, confirmed the club medical staff.^[12] On 6 December 2015, he returned to the starting XI in the 15th day of the Serie A campgain, in a 3–2 home win against Napoli. On 3 February 2016, in an away game against Frosinone, he was sent off for receiving two yellow cards, one for a somewhat harsh handball decision.^[13] He started the 2016-17 season as a starter.

International career

In 2012, Oikonomou was capped by Greece U21's. On the 16th of March 2016 Oikonomou was called for the first time to play for the senior Greece national football team in two friendly matches against Iceland and Montenegro.^[14] On 24 March 2016, he made his debut with the senior side as a substitute for Kostas Manolas in a 2–1 home friendly game against Montenegro.^[15]

Honours

Bologna

• Serie B: 3rd 2014–15 - promotion to Serie A

References

External links

• Marios Oikonomou profile at Soccerway
• Soccerbase.com