A footballer says young people should pick any sport and put their passion into it.

Stelios Giannakopoulos loves that Bolton has so much sport to offer, not forgetting the England V France rugby game this weekend (October 22).

The Greek national recently attended an event to welcome the teams to Bolton and was impressed by the sheer enthusiasm of young people in attendance.

Stelios joined the Wanderers from Greek giants Olympiacos back in 2003 and fell in love with Bolton.

The winger made 177 appearances during his five years and became a firm fan favourite.

He said: “It’s very important to support sport in Bolton because it’s big here and Bolton is also well known for the Bolton Wanderers, of which I had a role in for the five years I was playing there.

“I also think it’s really important to support rugby and the most important thing is that as many as possible kids and younger generations follow sport either rugby or football or whatever it is, as long as it’s something that includes some type of sport.”

Stelios himself had a wondrous career with the Wanderers and is determined to support sport in Bolton as it reaches new heights.

One of the main sporting events includes the Rugby League World Cup with a game hosted by UniBol on the weekend.

READ: Bolton welcomes French Rugby League World Cup 2021 squad

Stelios said: “Getting the opportunity to host sport events in the town is definitely good for Bolton and a prerogative for young people to follow more sports other than football as well.

“I was impressed by seeing so many young people at the launch event with a genuine interest in rugby, so I know that schools are introducing it to young people, which is good, because we need young people to recognise a sport, they like doing and it’s not always football.”