Georgios Karagounis (; born 6 March 1977), known as Giorgos Karagounis (), is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. In his club career, Karagounis played for Panathinaikos, Apollon Smyrnis, Inter Milan, Benfica and Fulham. At international level, Karagounis represented Greece between 1999 and 2014. He was a member of the UEFA Euro 2004-winning squad, and also represented Greece at UEFA Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup. With 139 appearances, he is the most capped player in the history of the Greece national team. Early life Karagounis was born in Pyrgos. Club career Panathinaikos and loan to Apollon Smyrnis Karagounis began his professional career in 1996 when he signed on loan for Apollon Smyrnis from Panathinaikos. In his first couple of years with the Athens-based club, he already showed signs of his talent as a very energetic player in the centre of midfield who could also score goals. After two seasons with Apollon, he returned to his parent club Panathinaikos in 1998, the club where he learned his trade. At Panathinaikos he became a fixture in the first team for the next five years. Although Panathinaikos did not win the Alpha Ethniki title during his spell due to several controversial reasons, including a ball-fixing scandal, the team was always a title contender, and had good runs in both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup, with Karagounis scoring important goals for the team. He scored 6 times in 24 league matches during his first season with the Greens, and in the 2000–01. In the UEFA Champions League, he appeared in all 12 of Panathanaikos' games, scoring a memorable goal from a free kick against Manchester United at Old Trafford. The following season, at the Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, Karagounis scored a wonderful goal against Arsenal, beating David Seaman with a header to help his team reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Inter Milan In the summer of 2003, Karagounis left Panathinaikos to join Italian Serie A club Inter Milan. During his first season with Inter, he was not a regular starter in the league, mainly appearing in European and Coppa Italia matches. At the end of his first season in Italy, despite Karagounis spending a lot of time on the substitutes' bench, Inter could only finish a disappointing fourth, with city rivals Milan winning the title. However, he