If you’d ask him what he’d have done if he hadn’t become a footballer, he’d have no answer. After all, football has been his life’s purpose since childhood. It became even more so when fate dealt him a significant blow.
It wasn’t until he was 14, just before the turn of the century, that his father Stathis, returning from training, told him that “one day, you will captain the national team”. His dad’s words were prophetic.
He always had his father with him, although his father didn’t live to see his prediction come true. But while his father passed away in 2004, Vassilis continued to play for him, and with him…
If you’re looking for the secret to the success of the most accomplished player of the first two decades of the 21st century in Greek football, a big part lies in Vassilis’ shared path with his father. He was there in his son’s heart throughout a career that resembles a fairy tale, but without dragons or evil witches.
From the small team Aris Peteinos in Xanthi to the glory of Olympiacos, Roma, Bologna and the Greek national team, where Vassilis Torosidis, the great protagonist of this tale, didn’t just wear the captain’s armband, but ascended onto the pantheon of its top players of all time.
He did this with Olympiacos, too, who believed in him as a young player and acquired him from Xanthi in January 2007, allowing him to create his own history, marking an entire era at the top Greek club. He wore the captain’s armband at Olympiacos as well. You were right again, Stathis…
Vindication
“Toro”, as he was known in Greek football, emerged from Xanthi, playing his first professional game in 2002. On Oct. 17, 2005, as a key member of the team, he scored his first goal, an incredible shot from outside the penalty area for a 4-1 win against Iraklis Thessaloniki. He celebrating with his hands extended skywards, for his father.
In January 2007, Torosidis was the next big thing in Greek football by far. All the major teams were besieging him. Olympiacos finally won out.
“Olympiacos is definitely the biggest club in Greece. The fact that they’ve been champions in recent years was a motivation for me. Coming here, I was sure the team would win the championship and that made me think about it more, because a player wants to win the championship and the Greek Cup from a young age. There is a big difference between Olympiacos and the other teams,” Toro said at the time, after signing with the Piraeus club.
He played in the red-and-white jersey for the first time against Panionios at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium (1-0) as the starting right back. Elated with his new talent, manager Takis Lemonis didn’t think twice about starting him at home. And Vassilis’ long journey was about to begin…
Magic Numbers
From January 2007 to January 2013, during his first tenure with the Reds, Torosidis won most everything. He won championships, Cups, Super Cups, he was named the season VIP in 2010, and he participated as a key and irreplaceable member of every Olympiacos team over the six years. He was a member of the team that broke the “curse” of the Champions League away victory, and a key player in all the club’s major victories and qualifications.
He left in January 2013 for Roma, where he played until 2016; still, everyone knew his career with the Reds wasn’t over yet. Two years followed with Bologna, before he returned home in the summer of 2018.
He played until September 2020. When he finally retired, his tally was impressive: seven championships, four Cups, and one Super Cup in 221 appearances with Olympiacos, along with 20 goals and 25 assists! A captain for most of his years with the Reds, he continued to serve the Club after the end of his great football career.
“My father always said never forget where you started…” Vassilis Torosidis posted in a farewell retirement statement.
Every position except keeper
The goalkeeper’s position is the only one that doesn’t come to mind during his stellar tenure with Olympiacos. What fans do remember are the great performances and amazing goals.
Like the ones against AEK Athens at the Olympic Stadium in 2009 with a lobbing shot from the midfield, or the goal against Montpellier in France, against Alkmaar and Hertha at the Karaiskakis Stadium, or against PAOK and Panathinaikos, such as the 4-0 drubbing of the latter in 2008. The “Kill Bill” of Greek football was a “thoroughbred”!
He “galloped” along the right flank in his youth, learned to play left back as well, first on the national team and later, when needed, with his clubs. He became a stopper along the way and especially towards the end of his career (he has said he came to prefer that position), while he also played in the midfield during the Valverde era and even moved up as a right winger on occasions.
The national team
Toro recorded 438 appearances, 31 goals and 33 assists at the Club level, fully vindicating the prediction and faith his father had had in him. He also played in 101 games for the Greek national team, often as its captain. Torosidis, as he likes to remind us, scored and gave Greece their first victory in a World Cup. It was in 2010 in South Africa, when Greece beat Nigeria 2-1 with a goal by Torosidis, one of the 10 he scored with the national team, which he greatly honored.
He returned to the national team during the current Jovanovic era, serving as its sports director and offering his vast experience to younger players.
A sweet farewell
The coronavirus period turned our lives and sports upside down. It’s why the Cup final between Olympiacos and AEK Athens ended up being played in an empty Panthessaliko Stadium on September 12, 2020. Sadly, it was Vassilis Torosidis’s last game; he played 79 minutes on the team managed by Pedro Martins, who wanted him for another year.
However, “Toro” had made his decision before the kick-off. And when, after the final whistle, Evangelos Marinakis, recognizing his immense contribution to the club, gave him the Cup to lift, he knew he had made the right decision. It was the sweetest farewell for the kid from Xanthi with the limitless talent who embarked on a career in in the late 1990s that would send him to the stars. In an effort to keep his composure, Torosidis, remembering his beginnings, was asked if his decision to head to the port city in 2007 was the right one.
“It was absolutely right,” he managed to say, and how could it be otherwise?
With Olympiacos, he achieved everything. He became the team captain, staking out his place in Olympiacos history, in which he played an important part. He never forgot where he started from and remained faithful to the principles passed on to him by his father Stathis, who was always there, with him in his heart, during his fairytale journey through football.
“My father always said ‘never forget where you started’…” was how Toro’s post bidding his great footballing farewell began. He went on to thank those who stood by him, his mother, his brothers, his wife and children, and to cite all his greatest moments before ending with a video showing his first professional goal and this dedication to his beloved father.
“My father, Stathis, as much as I miss you, you were never absent from my life, you have always been here… I have never forgotten and I will never forget…” Toro said, demonstrating that dreams can come true, as he is now a reference point for the country’s top club over its 100 years in existence.
