Georgios Koutsias' tucked-in shirt is nothing new

Life is pretty normal for Georgios Koutsias in Chicago. 15 months on from his arrival from PAOK, the 20-year-old has settled well in the United States, learning English at an impressive pace while still finding Greek restaurants and coffee in the Windy City.

But earlier this summer, he was under the spotlight for a rather peculiar reason – his uniform.

From his MLS debut, it was noticeable that the young forward usually played with his jersey tucked in, but sometime last summer, he opted to untuck it. Fire fans observed that the untucking of the shirt coincided with a dip in form and started a campaign for Koutsias to revert to his old habit, and when he did so against the L.A. Galaxy on June 1st, the Fire just so happened to break a two-month winless duck, marking an uptick in performances.

To commemorate this, during a recent home match against the Philadelphia Union, the club sold t-shirts reading “tuck in your friggin’ shirt” with Koutsias’ name and number on the back. Even with a few weeks for that to set in, the striker still doesn’t entirely understand the sensation.

“It’s the first time in my life that I saw something like this,” Koutsias told MIR97 Media. “In Europe, they don't care if you tuck in the shirt. Here, I saw they were selling the t-shirt, it was amazing. The feeling was incredible.”

But why was the shirt tucked in to begin with? These days, it is fairly standard practice for uniforms to remain untucked, despite the best efforts of youth soccer referees around the country, and the vast majority of players today have long ditched the traditional, tidy look.

It’s nothing new for Koutsias, however – he’s been tucking in his jersey since he was about eight years old. He says it came at the advice of his father.

“My dad led me to do that because when I started to play football, he told me he saw me the Barcelona academy,” Koutsias said. “He showed it to me on the computer, and he told me every guy in the Barcelona academy does this. It is the best team in the world. So you have to do it.”

“I started to do this and I continue until now, so I will continue with it all my life… If the people want to keep going to do this. Of course, I will do it if that helps the team to go forward.”

Unusual subplots aside, Koutsias is finding room in Chicago to continue to develop as a center forward. Though he was thrust into a starting role at the end of last season due to inconsistencies from other players at the position, the arrival of big-money signing Hugo Cuypers in the offseason has taken the pressure off of the youngster and allowed him to return to an understudy role.

Koutsias and 27-year-old Cuypers, who joined the Fire from Gent in a club-record $12 million transfer, actually crossed paths long before arriving in the U.S., as far back as January 2021. Koutsias was a 16-year-old on the fringes of PAOK’s first team, while Cuypers was in the midst of a frustrating two-year spell at Olympiacos.

Neither played, and they both watched from the sidelines – now they’re teammates in Chicago. Aside from bonding over coffee, working with the expensive striker has also helped Koutsias in his development, even if it means his role is different to what it was in the final stretch of 2023.

“I speak with him every day, and this is very good,” Koutsias said. “Of course, when you have an experienced guy, he played in Belgium, he played in the Europa Conference League, it is good for the young players. Not just for me, for every player, to have some help some with movements, the energy, the feeling from Europe.”

Despite the Fire’s lowly 14-place position entering the Leagues Cup break, the striker has not been a problem position. Cuypers overcame a slow start to the season to now reach a respectable total of nine goals, and Koutsias has grown more mature and well-rounded, although almost exclusively as a substitute. His energy has also been important in big moments, including closing out a shock 1-0 win at FC Cincinnati last week.

Now, attention shifts to Leagues Cup; the Fire will face a tough group containing Sporting Kansas City and red-hot Toluca, so finding the back of the net more consistently will be the main key to success. If Koutsias can translate his positive development into goals, that will contribute to that… and if he keeps his shirt tucked in, perhaps it will contribute to the team’s fortunes.