Michalis Konstantinou

Cypriot footballer

Michalis Konstantinou
Personal information
Full name	Michalis Konstantinou
Date of birth	(1978-02-19) 19 February 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth	Deryneia, Cyprus
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
	Paralimni
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1997	Paralimni	68	(31)
1997–2001	Iraklis	119	(60)
2001–2005	Panathinaikos	94	(34)
2005–2008	Olympiacos	57	(17)
2008–2009	Iraklis	13	(3)
2009–2011	Omonia	59	(34)
2011–2012	Anorthosis Famagusta	15	(3)
2012–2013	AEL Limassol	19	(6)
Total		444	(188)
International career^‡
1998–2012	Cyprus^[1]	85	(32)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 May 2013 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 September 2012

Michalis Konstantinou (Greek: Μιχάλης Κωνσταντίνου; born 19 February 1978) is a Cypriot former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played for the Cyprus national football team, and he is the all-time leading scorer with 32 goals in 85 appearances. He also played for Iraklis, Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in Greece.

Club career

Early

Born in Paralimni, he got his start in professional football playing for hometown side Enosis Neon Paralimni, 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 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 players to Iraklis, Konstantinou transferred to Panathinaikos for €8 million. It was a successful purchase, but many believed that the young Cypriot striker was worth less than the expenditure of €8million made by Panathinaikos – the highest figure ever paid for a player in the Greek Superleague.^[2] With Panathinaikos, he had the opportunity to play in the Champions League, earning praise for his performances 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 45m goal in the Camp Nou return in the quarter-final against Barcelona in the 2001–02 Champions League. 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 semi-finals.

In 2004–05 he had 15 goals. Konstantinou scored against the champions in a 1–0 home win, at the end of the season Konstantinou did not renew with Panathinaikos, because he stated that he was going to continue his footballing career in a league of higher value to gain better experience.

That summer though, he was not signed by a club overseas and was signed by Olympiacos.

Olympiacos

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 Athens (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 where he started his career in Greece in 1997. He spent some seasons at Iraklis before going to Panathinaikos back in 1997. Here he played 13 matches of which he scored three goals.

Omonia

Halfway through the 2008–2009 season, Konstantinou was transferred to Cyprus to play for Omonia. 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 Omonoia to win its 20th Cypriot Championship and in the club he found his couch Takis Lemonis that was also his coach in Olympiacos.

Anorthosis Famagusta

In Summer 2011, Konstantinou signed a contract with Anorthosis Famagusta.

AEL Limasssol

In Summer 2012, Konstantinou signed a one-year contract with AEL Limassol.

Retirement

In January 2014, he announced his retirement from football as a player.^[3]

International career

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 10 February 1999 against San Marino at Tsirion Stadium (final score 4–0).

International goals

**Michalis Konstantinou: International goals**
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 February 1999	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus	San Marino	2–0	4–0	Euro 2000 qualifying
2	10 February 1999	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus	San Marino	3–0	4–0	Euro 2000 qualifying
3	2 February 2000	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus	Lithuania	1–0	2–1	Cyprus International Tournament
4	2 February 2000	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus	Lithuania	2–1	2–1	Cyprus International Tournament
5	2 September 2000	Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella, Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	0–1	2–3	2002 World Cup qualifying
6	2 September 2000	Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella, Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	2–3	2–3	2002 World Cup qualifying
7	28 March 2001	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus	Estonia	1–0	2–2	2002 World Cup qualifying
8	15 August 2001	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	0–1	2–2	2002 World Cup qualifying
9	15 August 2001	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	1–2	2–2	2002 World Cup qualifying
10	5 September 2001	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Portugal	1–0	1–3	2002 World Cup qualifying
11	12 February 2002	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Switzerland	1–0	1–1	Cyprus International Tournament
12	13 February 2002	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Czech Republic	3–3	3–4	Cyprus International Tournament
13	29 January 2003	GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Greece	1–0	1–2	Friendly
14	2 April 2003	Bežigrad Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia	Slovenia	1–1	4–1	Euro 2004 qualifying
15	7 June 2003	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	0–1	1–2	Euro 2004 qualifying
16	7 June 2003	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	0–2	1–2	Euro 2004 qualifying
17	18 August 2004	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Albania	1–0	2–1	Friendly
18	18 August 2004	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Albania	2–0	2–1	Friendly
19	8 September 2004	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel	Israel	0–1	2–1	2006 World Cup qualifying
20	9 October 2004	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Faroe Islands	1–0	2–2	2006 World Cup qualifying
21	17 August 2005	Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands	0–1	0–3	2006 World Cup qualifying
22	17 August 2005	Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands	0–2	0–3	2006 World Cup qualifying
23	7 October 2006	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Republic of Ireland	1–1	5–2	Euro 2008 qualifying
24	7 October 2006	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Republic of Ireland	3–2	5–2	Euro 2008 qualifying
25	8 September 2007	Dasaki Stadium, Achna, Cyprus	Armenia	3–1	3–1	Friendly
26	11 October 2008	Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia	Georgia	0–1	1–1	2010 World Cup qualifying
27	28 March 2009	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Georgia	1–0	2–1	2010 World Cup qualifying
28	6 June 2009	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Montenegro	1–0	2–2	2010 World Cup qualifying
29	10 October 2009	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Bulgaria	3–1	4–1	2010 World Cup qualifying
30	11 August 2010	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Andorra	1–0	1–0	Friendly
31	3 September 2010	Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimarães, Portugal	Portugal	1–2	4–4	Euro 2012 qualifying
32	9 February 2011	Paralimni Stadium, Paralimni, Cyprus	Romania	1–1	1–1	Cyprus International Tournament

Honours

Club

Panathinaikos

Olympiacos

Super League Greece: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08
Greek Cup: 2005–06, 2007–08
Greek Super Cup: 2007

Omonia

Individual

Cypriot First Division Top scorer: 1996–97
Greek Cup MVP: 2003–04, 2005–06

References

^ "Cyprus – Record International Players". rssf.com. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2008.
^ "Η ακριβότερη μεταγραφή στην ιστορία του ελληνικού ποδοσφαίρου!".
^ uefa.com (16 January 2014). "Member associations - Cyprus - News". UEFA.com.