Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Panagiotis "Panos" Armenakas (born 5 August 1998) is an Australian footballer who plays as a right winger. Armenakas has played youth football for Sydney Olympic, Watford and Udinese. Originally, Armenakas represented Greece U17, before switching to the Australian U17 side.
Early life
Armenakas was born in Newport Beach, California, U.S. before moving to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia at a young age. He is of American, Australian and Greek nationality.
Club career
Youth
Armenakas started his youth career playing for Sydney Olympic, after being scouted in a park by ex-Socceroo Jim Patikas. At the age of six, he was invited to spend three weeks training with FC Barcelona's elite juniors squad. While in Europe, he also spent time with Bolton Wanderers. Armenakas trained with the Milan Soccer School in Sydney under Andrea Icardi and Misha Radovic, before trialing with A.C. Milan in early 2010. In late 2010, he moved to Europe, initially joining Brescia before signing with Watford's Youth Academy.
Udinese
After spending two years with Watford, Armenakas signed a three-year deal with Udinese. By signing with the Italian club, Panos became the youngest Australian ever to sign a professional contract in any of the top five leagues in Europe. In November 2015, Armenakas signed a contract extension, keeping him at Udinese until 2018.
Loan to Tubize
In July 2017, Armenakas joined Tubize in the Belgian First Division B on a one-year loan to have a chance at first team football.
Panathinaikos
After a trial period of three weeks Armenakas signed a 2 ⁄2-year contract with the Greek club at the beginning of January 2019.
International career
Armenakas initially represented Greece at under-17 level, playing in two friendly matches against Turkey U-17 in August 2014.
In late 2014, Armenakas accepted a call up to the Australian U-17 squad, to play in the 2014 Nike International Friendlies tournament in the United States, where he made his debut in a loss to Brazil U-17 in November 2014. In October 2015, he was selected in Australia's 21-man squad for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. During this time, he was also selected by The Guardian as one of the best fifty young talents in world football.