Antonios Papadopoulos

Antonios Papadopoulos was born to a Greek family in Bad Cannstatt, a district of Stuttgart, before turning senior at VfR Aalen. A free transfer took him to Hallescher FC in 2019, and two years later Borussia Dortmund picked him up, also without a fee. He started out with the reserve side, Borussia Dortmund II, but injuries in the first-team defence opened a door: Papadopoulos made his Bundesliga debut and went on to collect five league appearances, adding minutes in the DFB-Pokal and a UEFA Champions League debut along the way. He joined Dortmund after the club's 2020–21 cup final, so that particular trophy sits just outside his own history there.

In June 2024 he signed a three-year contract with FC Lugano, moving to the Swiss Super League on a free transfer from that summer. The switch has brought him regular football: he has made 96 appearances for the club, with 8 goals and 2 assists to his name, including a late strike against Grasshoppers, netted in the 86th minute. Wearing number 6 at the back, the right-footed defender plays in Lugano's side.

Papadopoulos has not featured for Germany or Greece at senior or youth international level. Off the back of a solid run in Switzerland, he remains a player defined more by steady progress than by a single defining moment — a route from Stuttgart's youth pitches to Dortmund's first team, and now a settled home in Lugano.