Dimitris Limnios (born 27 May 1998) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a winger for Dutch Eredivisie club Fortuna Sittard, on loan from Panathinaikos, and the Greece national team.
Club career
Early career
Born in Volos in 1998, Limnios started his football career with Niki Volos. In 2012, Limnios moved to the Atromitos youth team.
Atromitos
In 2014, Limnios was called up to the Atromitos first team. At the age of 16, on 16 October 2014, he made his Superleague Greece debut against Ergotelis at Peristeri Stadium, replacing Andreas Tatos at the 84th minute. He is the third-youngest player to have appeared in the Greek Super League (after Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Kostas Antoniou) and he made his European debut this season against AIK in the Europa League second qualifying round. He is not dissimilar to Kostas Mitroglou in playing style – often swatting aside defenders with his powerful runs. On 4 December 2016, Limnios scored his first goal with the club in a triumphic 2–1 away win against AEL in the Super League Greece. The goal came one minute into first half injury time, and was assisted by Anthony Le Tallec.
On 6 April 2017, Atromitos accepted an offer from PAOK for the signing of the 18-year-old international winger. PAOK have been in negotiations with Atromitos for the 18-year-old youngster who has impressed with his performances since the start of the 2016–17 season. The two clubs reached an agreement in the region of €900,000 (with a 15% future resale rate) and Limnios will join PAOK in the summer transfer window. Limnios is described as one of the best prospects in Greek football and PAOK moved quickly to secure his services.
PAOK
On 20 August 2017, Limnios made his debut with the club in a 0–0 away game against Levadiakos. He was replaced by Diego Biseswar in the 62nd minute. On 29 November 2017, he scored his first goal with the club in a 5–0 away Greek Cup win against Aiginiakos. On 8 August 2018, Limnios scored when Léo Matos from the right turned the ball to the penalty shootout and Limnios screamed for the equaliser, in a 3–2 home win game for UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round, 1st leg against Spartak Moskva. On 29 October 2018, Limnios barely 30 seconds after coming on to replace Biseswar, slide from close range after an assist from Léo Jabá to finish a slick move down the left flank, in a 2–0 home win game against rivals Panathinaikos.
Despite Limnios' goal in PAOK's 2019–20 Europa League play-off second leg that helped give his side a 3–2 win on the night, opponents Slovan Bratislava progressed on away goals after the scores finished 3–3 on aggregate. On 20 October 2019, Limnios nodded a header past Markos Vellidis, who found himself in a poor position again, from a Dimitris Giannoulis' cross, in a hammering 3–0 home win game against Lamia. A week later, he scored with a header in a 2–0 away win against Volos after Giannoulis' assist. On 15 December 2019, he scored after a Chuba Akpom's assist sealing a 3–0 away win against Panetolikos. On 15 February 2020, he opened the score lashing the ball high into the right corner after Akpom found him with a headed pass, in a 2–1 away win against AEL.
1. FC Köln
On 7 September 2020, 1. FC Köln have reached an agreement with PAOK to sign a four years' contract with the 22-year-old international winger for €3.3 million, according to Kicker. The Greek Super League side have secured a 15% sell-on clause of any future transfer fee that 1. FC Köln will receive. The Bundesliga club made a move for the attacker after Florian Kainz underwent surgery on his knee. 14 days later he became officially a new Köln player.
International career
Limnios has represented his country at various age groups. A talented, left-footed striker who is known for scoring acrobatic goals, the 17-year-old has been capped for Greece at Under-19 level. It was while on international duty, scoring a hat-trick against Moldova U19, that he was spotted by U.C. Sampdoria. He visited the Serie A club for a week's training in 2014.
He was a member of Greece national under-17 football team in the 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. In the competition, he played nine games and scored two goals including qualification round. Since March 2016, he has been member of Greece national under-19 football team and played in 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification. On 16 March 2018, he called in the Greek national team from Michael Skibbe for the friendly match against Switzerland on 23 March 2018.
On 15 November 2019, Limnios scored the only goal of the game after 35 minutes of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier against Armenia.
Personal life
Limnios' father, Stelios, was playing for Niki Volos. His mother is named Aide-Silva Barreto and she is Brazilian from Bahia.
