The Chicago Fire’s Open Tryouts typically do not yield a first team player, but this year seems to be the exception. Today, the Fire have announced the winner of their annual Open Tryout and this year it is Paraskevas “Pari” Pantazopoulos. The 22-year old Greek player beat out 210 other players from 19 nations to win a spot on the Fire roster. Terms of the deal were not released.

Pantazopoulos is a midfielder/defender who was born in Athens, Greece before moving to Mount Prospect, Illinois where he attended high school and played in the US Olympic Development Program. Since 2007 Pantazopoulos has been playing professionally for lower-division sides in Cyprus and Greece and this experience was one of the reasons that the team cited for his signing.

“Playing professional soccer has always been a dream of mine,” said Pantazopoulos. “I moved to Chicago in 1998 and grew up idolizing Fire players like Razov, Nowak and Klopas and now I’m a part of this team. I’m thankful to the Fire organization for this unbelievable opportunity.”