Australian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Sutton United.
He played junior football in Australia before joining English side Liverpool as a youth player, where he appeared for the Under 18 and reserves sides. After a loan move to Accrington Stanley he joined Oldham Athletic, before brief stays at Aris FC and Carlisle United. In 2014, he returned to Australia to play for the Wanderers in the A-League.
He has been capped by both Australia and Greece at youth level.
International career
Bouzanis was first named in the Australian U17 side in 2005 at the age of 15. He was also later included in the squad for Australia’s unsuccessful 2006 AFC U17 Championships qualifying campaign.
On 2 February 2008, Bouzanis was invited by the Greek FA manager Alexis Alexiou to represent the youth team against Slovakia on 5 February 2008. Bouzanis visited Greece on 3 February 2008 for an interview with Greek radio station SportFM, and also to play in the friendly against Slovakia, in which he kept a clean sheet. He also played in a 1–0 win against Serbia in March 2008.
Despite playing for the Greek U19 team Bouzanis remained eligible to play for either the Greek or Australian full international sides. The Australian press stated that his departure would be a “disaster” likening it to the loss of Joey Didulica to the Croatian national side.
In April 2008 he was called up to the Australia Under 23 squad to compete in the Intercontinental Cup in Malaysia as part of their preparations for the Olympics due to Danny Vukovic’s suspension. He played in the 4–0 defeat of Togo in the final group match. With the announcement that Vukovic’s suspension would not be lifted for the Olympics, suggestions were made that Bouzanis would be included in the squad but this did not eventuate.
In June 2008, Bouzanis accepted an invitation to represent Greece in the UEFA U-19 European Championships. and stated he was proud to be competing at the finals with Greece. Bouzanis’ decision to play for the Greek under-age team upset some of Australia’s football community. Bouzanis’ agent suggested he still wanted to play for Australia. In April 2008 Australian national coach Pim Verbeek met Bouzanis in Liverpool to discuss his football allegiance.
In February 2009, his agent stated that Bouzanis wanted to play for Australia rather than Greece. Bouzanis subsequently appeared in Australia’s first two group matches at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt. Bouzanis’ next international appearance was as a half-time substitute in an Under-23 friendly on 1 June 2011 against Japan. He was subsequently named in the squad for the Olyroos London Olympics 2012 qualifying matches against Yemen in June 2011.
source: wikipedia
