Panos Armenakas
Panayioti "Panos" Armenakas (; born 5 August 1998) is an American-born Australian professional footballer who plays as a right winger for Danish 1st Division club Vendsyssel FF. 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 Greek descent. 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. He was released at the end of the 2017-18 season having made no appearances for the senior team and only featuring in one matchday squad. 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. He was mostly an unused substitute during his time in Belgium, making six appearances. Panathinaikos. After a trial period  of three weeks Armenakas signed a -year contract with the Greek club at the beginning of January 2019. He left the Greens in January 2020 after only three appearances. Return to Belgium. Armenakas joined Roeselare in September 2020 but the club collapsed just ten days later. After this he trained for eight weeks with Zulte Waregem, before signing a contract until the end of the season in November, with an option for a further year. He scored twice in ten games before leaving the club at the end of the season. Vendsyssel FF. On 7 August 2021, Armenakas joined Danish  1st Division club Vendsyssel FF, signing a deal until June 2024. International career. He has triple nationality and he is eligible to play for Greek, American and Australian national team. 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 fifty best young talents in world football. He progressed onto the under-23 national team, where he was selected for friendly games on multiple occasions but was not included for the final squads for the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, 2020 AFC U-23 Championship or the 2020 Summer Olympics.