Renowned for becoming the youngest player to appear in the Greek Super League, Kyriakos Papadopoulos left his first club Olympiacos FC for FC Schalke 04 in 2010. The defender's rapid development in Germany has earned him senior international honours to add to the many he obtained for Greece at youth level.

• Entered the record books when he appeared as a substitute for Olympiacos in a top-flight fixture against Atromitos FC on 2 December 2007; would also have been the UEFA Champions League's youngest ever participant had the 15-year-old left the bench in a couple of games that season.

• Made a handful of appearances over the next two seasons while establishing his international credentials with Greece's Under-17 and U19 teams.

• Left Piraeus for Gelsenkirchen in June 2010, joining Schalke on a four-year contract.

• Made 18 Bundesliga appearances, ten of them from the start, in his debut campaign and was especially prominent in the UEFA Champions League, making his competition debut in a matchday two encounter with SL Benfica and starting both legs of the quarter-final against FC Internazionale Milano and the semi-final against Manchester United FC.

• Starred in Schalke's run to the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League quarter-finals, and helped his side to a third-place Bundesliga finish, securing a UEFA Champions League group stage place.

• Enjoyed a memorable start to his senior international career, scoring on his debut in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier at home to Malta on 4 June 2011; registered a more important goal three months later in a 1-1 draw with Latvia and started the decisive final group qualifier against Georgia.