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Alexandros Tzorvas (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Τζόρβας; born 12 August 1982) is a Greek footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Apollon Smyrni and the Greek national team.

Club career
Early career

Ηe began his career as a member of the renowned (domazos academy) Panathinaikos football academy but, despite his potential, he found it hard to make the first team as the more experienced Antonis Nikopolidis, Konstantinos Chalkias and Stefanos Kotsolis provided more than full cover for the goalkeeping position. Due to the strong competition, and as the team laid hopes on him for the future in the next 4 years, he was loaned to the affiliated teams of Agios Nikolaos, Markopoulo and Thrasyvoulos in order to gain experience.

In 2005 Panathinaikos recalled him from loan as a cover for Mario Galinović and Pierre Ebede.

OFI Crete

A lack of first team opportunities led to his trade to OFI with Orestis Karnezis – a hot goalkeeping prospect too – following the opposite path. A string of very good performances made him quickly a starter for the team from Crete even though his transfer was looked critically by OFI fans mainly because of what they see as one sided "colonial"-style agreements that their team is signing with Panathinaikos. In 2008, Tzorvas became the Second Greek Best Goalkeeper behind the legendary Antonis Nikopolidis.

Return to Panathinaikos

During the 2008–09 season, Panathinaikos recalled him from OFI with Arkadiusz Malarz taking the opposite way. Although Mario Galinović was considered the first option for the goalkeeper position for the 2008–2009 season, Tzorvas had his chances already in October being in the starting eleven for a few games for the Greek Superleague and the UEFA Champions League.

For the 2009–2010 Super League season, beginning from the match against Aris Thessaloniki F.C., he is considered a basic choice for the goalkeeper position, mainly due to bad performances by teammate Galinović.

Tzorvas is a die-hard fan of Panathinaikos. Once, in a game against Olympiakos at Karaiskákis Stadium, he went in front of the partisan opposition fans and kissed the shamrock badge on his shirt.

Italy

On 26 August 2011[1] he moved to Italy, joining Serie A club Palermo for €700,000;[2] the player agreed a two-year contract with the club and will wear the No. 33 jersey for the Sicilian club, replacing Salvatore Sirigu who left weeks earlier in order to join Paris Saint-Germain FC.[3] He debuted in rosanero on 11 September 2011, in the match won 4–3 against Inter in Serie A. Originally hired as starting goalkeeper, he fell out of favour with head coach Devis Mangia following some unimpressive performances and ultimately lost his place to Francesco Benussi. He was confirmed as second choice also by Bortolo Mutti, who replaced Mangia as Palermo boss in December, and then clearly relegated on the bench after Palermo opted to sign promising Italian international Emiliano Viviano during the January 2012 transfer window from Genoa.

In the summer 2012 he moved to Genoa in definitive deal for €600,000 in 1-year contract,[4] together with youth team striker Daniel Jara Martínez in temporary deal, in an exchange deal that took Swiss defender Steve von Bergen at Palermo for €1.7 million.[4][5] On 17 March 2013, Alexandros Tzorvas made his Genoa debut away to Fiorentina. On 9 July 2013 Tzorvas returned to Greece to play for the newly promoted club of Apollon Smyrni as a free agent.

Apollon FC

On 9 July 2013 Tzorvas returned to Greece to play for the newly promoted club of Apollon Smyrni as a free agent. On 18 August 2013, he made his debut with the club in a 2–1 home win against Aris. Tzorvas decision to return to Greece was not an easy one, knowing the differences between Serie A and Super League, but his enormous desire to regain his position in the Greek national football team made him to sign a contact with a team that is among the favorites for relegation. Eventually, he succeeded to be among Fernando Santos calls' for a friendly against South korea[6]

International career

On 21 March 2008, Otto Rehhagel called Tzorvas as third choice goalkeeper for the friendly against Portugal on 26 March at Frankfurt, Germany.[7] After the retirement of Antonis Nikopolidis from the national team, Tzorvas became the second goalkeeper for Greece. He made his senior international debut for Greece on 19 November 2008 in a friendly match against 2006 FIFA World Cup champions Italy at the Karaiskákis Stadium in Piraeus.

One of Tzorvas's greatest career accomplishments to date came in Greece's 2009 home-and-away World Cup playoff with Ukraine. Tzorvas turned away the Ukrainian attack for the entire 180 minutes over ties in Athens and Donetsk, sustaining the Greeks' 1–0 aggregate victory that sent the team to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he was the starting goalkeeper in all three group matches, beating off competition from Kostas Chalkias and Michalis Sifakis.

Honours
Panathinaikos

Super League Greece: 2009–2010
Greek Football Cup: 2010

References

"TZORVAS: "PALERMO, SVOLTA PER LA MIA CARRIERA"" (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
"UN PALERMO CHE INVESTE" (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
"TZORVAS: "PALERMO, SVOLTA PER LA MIA CARRIERA"" [TZORVAS: "PALERMO, KEY MOVE IN MY CAREER"] (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
Genoa CFC SpA Report and Accounts on 31 December 2012 (Italian)
"VON BERGEN E' ROSANERO TZORVAS E JARA MARTINEZ AL GENOA" [VON BERGEN IS ROSANERO; TZORVAS AND JARA MARTINEZ TO GENOA] (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 20 August 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
"Απόλλων Σμύρνης: Το "ευχαριστώ" του Τζόρβα για Εθνική". onsports.gr. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
Rehhagel rewards in-form Tzorvas

External links

Transfermarkt profile
OnSports profile

Greek footballers

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