- Michalis Konstantinou
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Michalis Konstantinou Personal information Full name Michalis Konstantinou Date of birth February 19, 1978 Place of birth Paralimni, Cyprus Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in) Playing position Striker Club information Current club Anorthosis Famagusta FC Number 19 Youth career Paralimni Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1993–1997 Paralimni 68 (31) 1997–2001 Iraklis FC 119 (60) 2001–2005 Panathinaikos 94 (34) 2005–2008 Olympiacos[1] 57 (17) 2008–2009 Iraklis FC 13 (3) 2009–2011 AC Omonoia 59 (34) 2011- Anorthosis Famagusta FC 5 (2) National team‡ 1998– Cyprus[2] 82 (32) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 April 2010.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 8 October 2011Michalis Konstantinou (Greek: Μιχάλης Κωνσταντίνου, born February 19, 1978 in Paralimni, Cyprus) is a Cypriot football striker. He plays for the Cyprus national football team, and is already the all-time leading scorer with 32 goals in 80 appearances. He played for Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. He currently plays for Anorthosis Famagusta FC
Contents
Career
Club
Early
He got his start in professional football playing for Cypriot side Enosis Neon Paralimni FC, for whom he scored 17 goals in 25 games in the 1996/97 season and became top goal scorer of Cypriot Championship.
Iraklis Thessaloniki
Picked up by Iraklis Thessaloniki FC in Greece in 1997, his four seasons produced a total of 61 goals in 119 appearances as he also played in the UEFA Cup.
Panathinaikos
In 2001, in a deal which took three Panathinaikos FC players to Iraklis, Konstantinou transferred to Panathinaikos for €11.3 million. It was a great purchase, but many believed that the young Cypriot striker was worth less than the expenditure of € 11.3 million made by Panathinaikos FC - the highest figure ever paid for a player of Cyprus. With Panathinaikos had the opportunity to play in the Champions League, earning praise for his performance in attack. There he found with the Portuguese players Paulo Sousa and later Robert Jarni, taking Panathinakos a long way in the competition. He scored a beautiful goal in the Nou Camp return in the quarter-final against Barcelona in the Champions 2001/02. Panathinaikos seemed to ensure its marking the semi-finals, as they were needed 3 goals to go to the Spaniards. Barça, however, came back and won 3-1, qualifying for the semifinals.
In 2004/05 he had 15 goals. Konstantinou scored against the champions in a 1–0 home win, but it was deemed as too little, too late and his contract was not renewed. Olympiacos CFP jumped at the chance and Konstantinou signed a three-year deal with the double winners, on July 14, 2005.
Olympiakos
As an Olympiacos player he won with his team the double for 2005/06 and made it two in his career. At the Greek Cup final in 2005/06, where Olympiacos beat AEK Athens 3–0, Konstantinou scored Olympiacos' first goal. He also notably scored a late strike to make it 1–2 in the early season league victory of Olympiacos against AEK FC (final score 1–3) and a crowd-pleaser against his former team, Panathinaikos, to make it 3–1 (match ended 3–2). He became for the second consecutive time champion again with Olympiakos in 2007, even though the season was full of personal injuries and bad luck, he still managed to perform well on some important matches, most notably scoring on the away Champions League match at Shakhtar Donetsk. During the 2007–2008 season, he has suffered from injuries and has lost his starting position to Darko Kovacevic. It was the last season at Olympiakos.
Iraklis Thessaloniki
Konstantinou started the 2008–09 season in Greece at Iraklis F.C. where he started his career in Greece in 1997. He spent some seasons at Iraklis F.C. before going to Panathinaikos back in 1997. Here he played 13 matches of which he scored 3 goals.
Omonoia Nicosia
Halfway through the 2008–2009 season, Konstantinou was transferred to Cyprus to play for Cypriot team AC Omonoia. During the 2009–2010 season, he scored several goals for the club, including in derbies against rivals Apoel, Anorthosis, and Apollon. After taking a leadership and mentor role with the team in his first full season in 2010, Konstantinou helped lead AC Omonoia to its 20th Cypriot Championship and in the club he found his couch Takis Lemonis that was also his coach in Olympiakos.
International
He made his international debut against Albania in August 1998 and subsequently averaged almost a goal every other game in his first 35 caps. His first two goals came the 10th of February 1999 against San Marino at Tsirion stadium (final score 4–0).
International goals
Michalis Konstantinou: International goals Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 10 February 1999 Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus 
San Marino2–0 4–0 Euro 2000 qualifying 2 10 February 1999 Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus San Marino3–0 4–0 Euro 2000 qualifying 3 2 February 2000 Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus 
Lithuania1–0 2–1 Cyprus International Tournament 4 2 February 2000 Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus Lithuania2–1 2–1 Cyprus International Tournament 5 2 September 2000 Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella, Andorra la Vella, Andorra 
Andorra0–1 2–3 2002 World Cup qualifying 6 2 September 2000 Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella, Andorra la Vella, Andorra Andorra2–3 2–3 2002 World Cup qualifying 7 28 March 2001 Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus 
Estonia1–0 2–2 2002 World Cup qualifying 8 15 August 2001 A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Cyprus Estonia0–1 2–2 2002 World Cup qualifying 9 15 August 2001 A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Cyprus Estonia1–2 2–2 2002 World Cup qualifying 10 5 September 2001 Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus 
Portugal1–0 1–3 2002 World Cup qualifying 11 12 February 2002 GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus 
Switzerland1–0 1–1 Cyprus International Tournament 12 13 February 2002 GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus 
Czech Republic3–3 3–4 Cyprus International Tournament 13 29 January 2003 GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus 
Greece1–0 1–2 Friendly 14 2 April 2003 Bežigrad Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia 
Slovenia1–1 4–1 Euro 2004 qualifying 15 7 June 2003 Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta 
Malta0–1 1–2 Euro 2004 qualifying 16 7 June 2003 Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta Malta0–2 1–2 Euro 2004 qualifying 17 18 August 2004 GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus 
Albania1–0 2–1 Friendly 18 18 August 2004 GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus Albania2–0 2–1 Friendly 19 8 September 2004 Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel 
Israel0–1 2–1 2006 World Cup qualifying 20 9 October 2004 GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus 
Faroe Islands1–0 2–2 2006 World Cup qualifying 21 17 August 2005 Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands Faroe Islands0–1 0–3 2006 World Cup qualifying 22 17 August 2005 Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands Faroe Islands0–2 0–3 2006 World Cup qualifying 23 7 October 2006 GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus 
Republic of Ireland1–1 5–2 Euro 2008 qualifying 24 7 October 2006 GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus Republic of Ireland3–2 5–2 Euro 2008 qualifying 25 8 September 2007 Dasaki Stadium, Achna, Cyprus 
Armenia3–1 3–1 Friendly 26 11 October 2008 Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia 
Georgia0–1 1–1 2010 World Cup qualifying 27 28 March 2009 Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus Georgia1–0 2–1 2010 World Cup qualifying 28 6 June 2009 Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus 
Montenegro1–0 2–2 2010 World Cup qualifying 29 10 October 2009 Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus 
Bulgaria3–1 4–1 2010 World Cup qualifying 30 11 August 2010 Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus Andorra1–0 1–0 Friendly 31 3 September 2010 Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimarães, Portugal Portugal1–2 4–4 Euro 2012 qualifying 32 9 February 2011 Paralimni Stadium, Paralimni, Cyprus 
Romania1–1 1–1 Cyprus International Tournament Honours
- Greek Championship (1): 2004
- Greek Cup (1): 2004
- Greek Championship (3): 2006, 2007, 2008
- Greek Cup (2): 2006, 2008
- Greek Super Cup (1) 2007
- Cypriot Championship: 2010
- Cypriot Cup: 2011
- Cyprus FA Shield: 2010
Individual- Cypriot Top Scorer
1996–97 – Paralimni
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Cyprus – Record International Players". rssf.com. 2008-05-09. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/cyp-recintlp.html. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
External links
Categories:- 1978 births
- Living people
- Cypriot footballers
- Association football forwards
- Cyprus international footballers
- Greek Cypriot people
- Enosis Neon Paralimni players
- Iraklis FC players
- Panathinaikos footballers
- Olympiacos F.C. players
- AC Omonia players
- Cypriot expatriate footballers
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