Former National team director of Greece and Ex-Fulham Midfielder, Giorgios Karagounis has been leading a rather personal life since his disgraceful exit by the apex footballing body in Greece. Greek football federation (EPO) terminated the contract of the 38-year-old who doubles as the most capped Greek player. Giorgios Karagounis has 139 caps to his credit for the national team.
The star player was fired alongside other technical staff August last year. The apex body also claimed Giorgios Karagounis interfered with the job of Sergio Markarian when he was the head coach of the Greek team. Local media concurred with the claims of the Greek apex body and even went further to say Karagounis was the reason behind the resignation of Markarian.
The star player, whose club footballing career includes Panathinaikos, Inter Milan, Benfica and Fulham, refuted the claims.
Giorgios told the reporters last year: “The most striking thing is that… since all of this first started I have kept seeing my professional dignity being tarnished in the media and nobody (from the EPO) has bothered to contact me to tell me anything. This is not consistent with my behavior over the years, especially towards the national team that I’ve served for 24 years. They should respect all these years that I’ve been involved. It’s so bad to let rumors and heresy continue with so many lies being bandied about and nobody responding to them.”
The Pirate Ship lost their EURO qualifier games and eventually missed out of the tournament billed to take place this summer in France. The chaos in management and subsequent quit of the former coach contributed to the loss of the team’s campaign in Europe. Greece did not win any of their seven matches until they were officially butted out by Finland. The confidence in the team was so eroded that they finished last in group F.