page_title: Sokratis Papastathopoulos
section_title: International career
hierarchical_section_title: Sokratis Papastathopoulos / International career
caption_attribution_description: Freundschaftliches Länderspiel Österreich - Griechenland am 14. August 2013 in Salzburg: Sokratis Papastathopoulos
context_page_description: Sokratis Papastathopoulos, commonly known mononymously as Sokratis, is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a centre back for English Premier League club Arsenal and the Greece national team.
context_section_description: Papastathopoulos was called up for the Greek senior team on 1 February 2008 and made his debut on 5 February 2008 in the 1–0 friendly victory against the Czech Republic. The Greece squad for UEFA Euro 2008 was announced by Otto Rehhagel on 27 May 2008, and Papastathopoulos was the unfortunate player to be cut from the provisional squad of 24 to the final 23-man selection.
  Papastathopoulos became the first player to be sent off at UEFA Euro 2012 during the opening game of the tournament against co-hosts Poland after receiving two yellow cards, following what pundits decried as two poor decisions by referee Carlos Velasco Carballo.
  In June 2014, Papastathopoulos was named to Greece's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He started in each of the team's group matches, helping them to a clean sheet against Japan. In the round of 16, Papastathopoulos scored his first international goal, equalising in second half stoppage time against Costa Rica. However, the Greeks were eventually defeated 5–3 in a penalty shootout by the Central American champions.
  On 11 June 2019, following the loss to Armenia at the Olympic Stadium, Papastathopoulos called for immediate changes to be made to the Greek national team set-up, and he allegedly requested for Angelos Anastasiadis to be removed from his role of head coach when speaking to EPO president, Evangelos Grammenos.
caption: Papastathopoulos playing for Greece in 2013
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