Alexandros Kasmeridis
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexandros Kasmeridis | ||
| Date of birth | 23 April 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Serres, Greece | ||
| Height | 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –2002 | Anatoli Serres | ||
| 2002–2006 | OFI | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2011 | OFI | 6 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Thrasyvoulos | 26 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Levadiakos | 5 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Asteras Magoula | 20 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | Olympiacos Volos | 9 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | OFI | 14 | (0) |
| 2017–2019 | Irodotos | 13 | (0) |
| 2019–2020 | PAO Krousonas | ||
| International career‡ | |||
| 2004–2006 | Greece U19 | 8 | (0) |
| 2006–2008 | Greece U21 | 9 | (0) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 20:15, 25 June 2019 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 18:41, 23 August 2012 (UTC) | |||
Alexandros Kasmeridis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Κασμερίδης, born 23 April 1986) is a former Greek footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He started his career at OFI in 2002 and stayed there until 2011, followed by three one-year spells at Thrasyvoulos, Levadiakos, Asteras Magoula and Olympiacos Volos, until he returned to OFI in 2015.
Kasmeridis is a former member of all youth national teams of Greece; under-17, under-19 and under-21[1] – he was also part of Greece's 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship squad.
Early career
Kasmeridis was born in Serres and, during his early teens, he played for local club Anatoli.[2] Despite the efforts of Panserraikos to sign him, he decided to join OFI in 2002 at the age of 15.[3] He played for the club's amateur team until 2006, when he signed his first professional contract.[3] With OFI Amateurs, he won the 2004 Heraklion Football Clubs Association Cup against PANOM.[2]
During his whole spell at OFI, Kasmeridis was always a backup goalkeeper behind other goalkeeping talents produced by the club, such as Kostas Chaniotakis, Michalis Sifakis and Sifis Daskalakis.[3] Even during the later years, goalkeepers from Panathinaikos (Arkadiusz Malarz and Alexandros Tzorvas) or abroad (Tristan Peersman) were preferred, so he earned little playing time.[3]
OFI
Kasmeridis made his Super League debut on 30 November 2008 coming as a substitute during an away game against Panthrakikos, when Malatz was injured in the 26th minute.[4] He then went on to make another 3 performances for OFI during the 2008–09 season,[5] which saw the club ending in 14th place and being relegated from the first division for the first time since 1976.[6]
The 2009–10 season was worse for Kasmeridis, even though OFI was playing in the Beta Ethniki – he was the second goalkeeper behind Polychronis Vezyridis and only played once in the second-last game of the promotion play-offs against Pierikos[7] because Vezyridis was banned from the match.[8] OFI eventually missed promotion at the final fixture, so they stayed in the second division.[9]
Kasmeridis was still a backup for OFI in the 2010–11 season, as he made a total of 3 appearances in the now-called Football League. His season debut was on an away game against PAS Giannina, coming as a substitute for Vezyridis, after the latter was hit by a fan of PAS.[10] He made another appearance in the regular season against Ionikos[11] and a final appearance in the last game of the promotion play-offs against Diagoras, where OFI won and secured promotion to the Super League after 2 years.[12] However, Kasmeridis did not fit the plans of his manager, Nikos Anastopoulos, for the following season and was asked to look for a new club.[13]
Thrasyvoulos
On 10 September 2011, a day after his OFI contract was terminated, Kasmeridis signed a one-year contract with Thrasyvoulos in the second division.[14] He was a regular for the club in the 2011–12 season, making 26 appearances[1] and earning one red card in the final game against Anagennisi Epanomi.[15]
Kasmeridis blocked two penalties in the 4–2 penalty shoot-out win in his team's Round of 16 match against Super League side Levadiakos during the 2011–12 Greek Cup campaign.[16]
Levadiakos
On 12 June 2012, Kasmeridis signed a two-year contract for Levadiakos.[17] In a later interview, he justified his decision to join Levadiakos by saying that his goal was to establish himself in the Super League.[18] He made his league debut on 8 October 2012 during a home match against Panthrakikos – there, first-choice keeper Dimitris Kyriakidis received a red card on the 37th minute and Kasmeridis entered as a substitute for Stefano Napoleoni; he conceded an additional 2 goals for a final result of 0–3 for the visitors.[19] However, Kasmeridis never managed to establish himself as the first-choice goalkeeper at Levadiakos instead of Kyriakidis, as he only managed to make 3 ninety-minute appearances at the 2012–13 Super League – as a result, he terminated his contract one year early in May 2013 and were released from the club.[20]
