Canberra-born footballer George Timotheou took a giant step forward in his football career on Sunday morning when he made his full senior debut in the German Bundesliga for his club FC Schalke 04.
It is a major achievement for the 21-year-old defender who signed for Schalke from NSW NPL club Sydney Olympic in July last year following a successful two-week trial. In his first season at Schalke, he has bided his time playing 20 matches with the Schalke U 23 side and being an unused substitute for the senior team on three occasions. However in the final round of the season last Sunday morning, Timotheou was rewarded with his first full senior start for Schalke , playing against VfB Suttgart. Timotheou took his place in the back three where one of his opponents was the tall German international striker Mario Gomez, who has over 70 caps for his country and is also a former Bayern Munich player.
German International Mario Gomez shadowed closely by George Timotheou (L). Photo: Goal.com
Timotheou performed well helping his team to keep a clean sheet in what turned out to be a scoreless draw.
Timotheou began his junior football at Canberra Olympic, graduating to the AIS before being picked up by Sydney FC, where he played in their reserve squad in the NPL. After failing to break into their senior team, he left the A-League club and joined Sydney Olympic where he played 27 matches over a couple of seasons, before leaving Belmore after his successful trial with Schalke last July.
Timotheou said when he signed with the Bundesliga club last year,”It’s a much different mentality to Australia. Football is the priority, you wake up and all you think about is football,”
“In Australia sometimes you have to go to work instead of training but even Schalke’s reserve team is a fully professional environment.”
The 20-year-old left-footed centre back gave credit to NPL side Sydney Olympic for opening the door on the overseas opportunity.
Timotheou joined Olympic after being released by the Sky Blues at the end of the 2016/17 campaign.
He described the latest opportunity as “one of the happiest days of my life so far.”
Timotheou was born and bred in Canberra. His big break came when he was awarded a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for 16 months.
During this period, he played in the National Youth League against other A-League youth teams and National Premier League.
Then in 2014, he was offered a chance to be part of Sydney FC’s academy set up. The Canberra born youngster admitted it was a difficult experience to move away from home as a teenager.Timotheou’s dad, Chris, was born in Wollongong and his mum Donna is from the regional NSW town of Yass. His grandparents from his father’s side come from the villages of Politiko and Peraorinis in central Cyprus near Nicosia, while his grandparents from his mother’s side come from Edessa in northern Greece.
Even though he is second generation Greek Australian, Timotheou is close to his Greek roots and says his family’s support has been vital in his football career.
“My dad got me started, he coached me with all the basics, and continues to be an honest source of advice when I need it,” he says.
“I cannot begin to describe how much my family have helped me to get to where I am today. They have made many sacrifices for me and I will never be able to repay what they have done for me. I love my Greek heritage, food, music, dancing and culture. As a toddler, I was bi-lingual. I went to a Greek-Australian pre-school and Greek afternoon schools to learn the basics and I was also part of the Hellenic Club dancing groups for many years.”
