Konstantinos Chalkias

Kostas Chalkias
Personnel
Surname	Konstantinos Chalkias
birthday	May 30, 1974
place of birth	Larissa ,  Greece
size	199 cm
position	goal
Juniors
Years	station
0000-1995	Panathinaikos Athens
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1995-2001	Panathinaikos Athens	10 (0)
1996-1998	→  Apollon Athens  (loan)	59 (0)
1999	→ Apollon Athens (loan)	16 (0)
2001-2003	Iraklis Thessaloniki	50 (0)
2003-2005	Panathinaikos Athens	21 (0)
2005-2006	Portsmouth FC	5 (0)
2006	Real Murcia	2 (0)
2006-2008	Aris Thessaloniki	51 (0)
2008–2012	PAOK Thessaloniki	85 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2001–2012	Greece	32 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Konstantinos Chalkias ( Greek Κωσταντίνος Χαλκιάς , born May 30, 1974 in Larisa , Greece ) is a former Greek football player . The goalkeeper was most recently under contract with PAOK Saloniki in the domestic Super League .

Career

society

Konstantinos Chalkias, who plays in the position of goalkeeper , began his football career in the youth academies of Panathinaikos Athens . He trained there under Takis Ikonomopoulos until 1995, when he received his first professional contract at the age of 21 and was promoted to the men's team. Although Chalkias won the Greek championship with the team in the first year , it was only third choice behind Poland's Josef Wantzik and Antonios Nikopolidis . In order to collect match practice, Chalkias was finally loaned out to league rivals Apollon Athens in 1996 , where he replaced the resigned goalkeeper Antonis Minou and only missed one league game in the following two years. He landed with Apollon in the middle of the table on ranks nine and twelve. After his good performances, he returned to Panathinaikos after the loan expired in the summer of 1998. But again Wantzik and Nikopolidis were preferred to him, and so in January Chalkias was given to Apollo again. There he denied the second half of the season again as a regular goalkeeper and helped to secure relegation as table fourteenth.

In the summer of 1999 Chalkias returned to Panathinaikos. Because Wantzik no longer played for Panathinaikos, he now took the status of number two behind Nikopolidis. He played six games in 1999/00 and four more games the following season. In 2000 he also made his debut in the UEFA Champions League on the third group matchday at Hamburger SV . In the 1-0 victory of the guests, Chalkias was able to keep his box clean as in the 0-0 in the second leg. In the following game he had to be substituted in the 0-1 defeat at Deportivo La Coruña in the 63rd minute against Nikopolidis. Nevertheless, Panathinaikos reached the second group stage of the competition as second of the season, where Chalkias was only used in the last game, a 1: 2 at Valencia CF , as Panathinaikos had already been eliminated. But because he was unable to prevail against Nikopolidis in the long term despite his international assignments, he was given to Iraklis Thessaloniki in 2001 as part of an exchange deal . Together with Chalkias and a transfer fee of approx. DM 30 million, two other players also moved to Thessaloniki . In return, Panathinaikos secured the Cypriot international Michalis Konstantinou . Chalkias went down in Greek football history as part of this transfer, as this is still the most expensive transfer that a Greek club has ever made.

At Iraklis Chalkias played 50 games in the following two years and was number one goalkeeper. In his first season he only missed one league game and reached sixth place in the table with Iraklis and thus the UEFA Cup . He missed four goals and saved a penalty from Goran Vlaović in a 2-1 win over his former club Panathinaikos on matchday seven . Also in 2002/03 he showed good performances, Iraklis finished seventh and only narrowly missed a place in the European Cup. However, they were eliminated from the UEFA Cup in the first round against Anorthosis Famagusta from Cyprus . In the cup , Iraklis made it to the semi-finals, where they lost to Olympiacos Piraeus .

After his convincing performances, Chalkias returned to Panathinaikos Athens in the summer of 2003. Again he had to line up behind Antonios Nikopolidis. It was only used when Nikopolidis was injured at the end of September. In the UEFA Champions League group game at Manchester United , Chalkias came on for Nikopolidis at half-time and conceded one goal at 5-0. As a result, Chalkias played his first game of the season in the domestic Super League and saved a penalty from Vasilios Tsiartas in the 2-2 draw at AEK Athens on matchday four . After conceding a 2-0 win over Ionikos Nikea , he played again in the Champions League in a 1-1 draw against Glasgow Rangers before he had to go back to the bench behind the recovered Nikopolidis and then ended of the year injured himself, whereupon Stefanos Kotsolis temporarily took his post as number two of the capital city. Chalkias returned in early 2004 and surprisingly he was finally promoted to number one in the Panathinaikos box. The reason for this was a dispute between Nikopolidis and management over his contract extension, which ultimately led to coach Itzhak Shum taking Nikopolidis out of the gate on matchday 21 and leaving Chalkias to his place. Ironically, in the 3-0 win against his ex-club Iraklis, he returned to the field and stayed clean in his first five games. It was only on the 26th matchday in a 2-2 draw against Olympiacos Piraeus that Chalkias had to come back for the first time. At the end of the season he was able to celebrate winning the championship with the team - it was the first for the Athenians in eight years, so since Chalkias' first professional season. However, this had to be exchanged for Stefanos Kotsolis injured on the penultimate matchday in the 2-1 win at Proodeftiki . Nevertheless, Chalkias conceded only six goals in eleven league games in 2003/04, seven times he remained zero. In time for the cup final against Olympiakos he was fit again and was able to conquer the next title with a 3-1 with Panathinaikos.

After Antonios Nikopolidis had left Panathinaikos in the summer of 2004, a new goalkeeper was signed with Mario Galinović . At the beginning of the 2004/05 season, Chalkias was able to win the competition for the regular place for the time being and again showed a good rate of only five goals against and six zero games in the first ten games of the season. In the Champions League he was represented by Galinović on the first match day of the group stage, in the second game at PSV Eindhoven (0-1) the Greek was back on the field. Chalkias was also used in the following games against Arsenal (2: 2; 1: 1) and at Rosenborg Trondheim (2: 2). But in December, after the 10th league game, a 0-1 at Olympiakos, took coach Zdeněk Ščasný Chalkias out of the gate and replaced him with Galinović.

After losing his regular place, Chalkias decided in January 2005 to move abroad for the first time in his career. Former Panathinaikos manager Velimir Zajec , now with Portsmouth FC , made the Greek an offer, which he accepted. In the fourth round of the FA Cup at Southampton FC , Chalkias made his England debut . On February 1, he made his debut in the Premier League on the occasion of the 25th match day in the 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough FC . But in the following games against Tottenham Hotspur , Aston Villa , Manchester United and Arsenal FC , the keeper could not convince and caused some of his eleven goals, so that he lost his regular place to Jamie Ashdown in early March . After the commitment of Sander Westerveld Chalkias moved even further down the goalkeeper hierarchy of the "Pompeys" and did not play any more games in the first half of 2005/06.

Therefore, Chalkias and Portsmouth FC separated amicably in January 2006. The Greek then moved to the Spanish second division Real Murcia . But even there he had to be content with the substitute goalkeeper behind number one Juanmi. Only when Juanmi was sent off the field in a 1-0 draw against Gimnàstic de Tarragona on Matchday 31 , Chalkias came on eight minutes before the end and made his only 90-minute appearance a week later in the 0-1 at Recreativo Huelva .

After his unsuccessful stints abroad, Chalkias returned to his Greek homeland in August 2006 to join the newcomer Aris Thessaloniki . Here he was able to establish himself immediately as a regular goalkeeper and service provider. It was also thanks to Chalkias' strong performances that Aris reached fourth place in the table and thus qualified for the UEFA Cup . He only missed one league game and conceded only 24 goals in 29 games. He played thirteen times to zero and saved four of six penalties against his team. Also in the following season 2007/08 Chalkias was a top performer and at the end of the season again finished fourth with Aris. In the UEFA Cup , the keeper played all his team's games. In the first round first leg on September 20, 2007 against Real Saragossa (1-0), he made his debut in this competition. After a 1: 2 in the second leg in Spain, Aris surprisingly moved into the group stage, where they were drawn into a relay with the German representative FC Bayern Munich . In the first game in the 3-0 win against FK Red Star Belgrade , Chalkias was able to keep his goal clean for the second and last time in the tournament. After the duels with Bolton Wanderers , in which they conquered a surprising 1-1 draw in England , and Sporting Braga (also 1-1), Bayern met in the last game. The performance in the Allianz Arena was particularly unsuccessful for Chalkias, who had to reach behind him six times in the 0: 6. Luca Toni alone scored four goals . After that defeat, Aris was eliminated from the UEFA Cup. This year, due to health problems, he was only able to play 22 league games at the end, in which he only had to concede thirteen and played twelve times to zero. In the play-offs for the international competition, in which Aris again made it into the UEFA Cup, Chalkias played three times against Panathinaikos (1-1; 1-3) and AEK Athens (4-0), but Chalkias missed due to his injury the cup final against Olympiakos (0: 2).

On May 28, 2008, it was announced that Chalkias would replace Daniel Fernandes, who had migrated to VfL Bochum, to join arch rivals PAOK Thessaloniki and sign a two-year contract. This makes him only the third player in the history of Greek football after Apostolos Tsourelas and Stefanos Borbokis , who has been under contract with all three major clubs from Thessaloniki during his career. In his first season, the number one with PAOK took second place in the Super League behind Olympiakos. Chalkias only missed one league game and only conceded fifteen goals. He finished 17 of 29 games to zero. After the end of the regular season, the play-offs for the international competition were due. In the end, PAOK was only able to conquer third place and thus missed out on a place in the Champions League, instead they qualified for the newly created UEFA Europa League . Four of the six play-off matches were lost, Chalkias conceded nine goals. After all, he stayed with the two victories against AE Larisa (2-0; 1-0) without conceding a goal. In the 1: 3 at AEK Athens, however, he underwent a self-goal in the 60th minute to the final score. In the Greek Cup, PAOK reached the quarter-finals; in the 5th round it came to the derby with Chalkias' old club Aris. After a 0-0 draw in the first game, a penalty shoot-out had to decide in the second match. Chalkias parried Vitolo's penalty , PAOK won 9: 8.

The 2009/10 season began for PAOK and goalkeeper Chalkias with the qualifying round for the Europa League . After they had prevailed against Vålerenga Oslo 2-1 and 0-1, it was already in the fourth round against SC Heerenveen (1: 1; 0: 0). In the domestic Super League, PAOK finished third this year. Once again, Chalkias had a very strong rate of only fourteen goals in 28 games. Eighteen times he stayed at zero, on the 26th matchday he saved a penalty kick at 0-2 at Aris. Injury problems plagued Chalkias at the end of October and in November 2009. On the eighth and ninth matchdays he had to be replaced in the second half and subsequently also missed his only two league games. After the end of the regular season, PAOK celebrated a great success in the play-offs when they left their competitors AEK, Aris and Olympiakos behind and entered the Champions League. Chalkias was on the pitch in the first four of the six decisive games and promptly played four times to zero. In his competitive game record 2009/10 there were also two games in the national cup, in which PAOK failed in the quarter-finals against PAS Ioannina (0: 4). In January, Chalkias had extended his contract with PAOK for another two years.

In the new 2010/11 season, Chalkias was injured in the first competitive game, the Champions League qualifying game at Ajax Amsterdam (1-1) and had to be replaced after a quarter of an hour by his substitute Dario Krešić . But even after his return, the Greek had to be content with the status of number two behind Krešić. It was not until December, on the thirteenth game day of the Super League, that Chalkias pushed his opponent out of the gate. In February, at 0-1 at Panionios Athens , he had to be replaced again injured and did not return until a month later and was still able to help secure fourth place and thus a place in the international play-offs. In the only fourteen games of the regular season that Chalkias played, he had to accept eight goals and stayed eight times to zero. In the play-offs, PAOK finished second behind Panathinaikos Athens and qualified for the Europa League. Keeper Chalkias was on the field in all six games and conceded seven goals. In the last game, a 5: 1 against Olympiakos Volos , he had to be replaced after half an hour for the fourth time this season. Before that he was in the Champions League qualification, in the league and also in the Europa League in the intermediate rounds [[PAS Ioannina [PAS Giannina]] (2: 1) and Olympiacos (1: 1; 1: 0) to to the semi-finals, which he missed due to his injury in February.

At the beginning of the 2011/12 season, Chalkias was pushed out of the gate again by Dario Krešić and only saw PAOK qualify from the bench against Vålerenga Oslo and Karpaty Lviv for the group stage of the Europa League. But in mid-October, on the sixth game day of the Super League against OFI Crete (0-0), Chalkias returned to goal and a few days later played his first international game of the season in the Europa League against Shamrock Rovers (2-1). In the next two group matches at the Rovers (3: 1) and at Tottenham Hotspur (2: 1), the right-footer had to reach behind him once. But at the end of November he injured himself again and was absent until the beginning of February, which meant that he could not experience PAOK's entry into the intermediate round of the Europa League on the pitch. It was not until the beginning of March that Chalkias was back to number one in his club and still led the club to third place in the final table of the regular season. In this he had only been able to complete fourteen games and had to reach zero fifteen times in seven appearances. In the play-offs for international business, PAOK came last this year. Chalkias had to leave the field injured after an hour in the penultimate game at AEK Athens (0-2).

Chalkias ended his active career in the summer of 2012.

National team

Konstantinos Chalkias went through all the youth teams of the Greek national football team . At the beginning of October 2001 he was called up for the first time by the new German coach Otto Rehhagel for the A-team, but stayed on the bench in the last World Cup qualifier for the Greeks against England in Old Trafford (2-2). A month later, on November 10, 2001, the time had come and Chalkias made his first international match in the friendly against Estonia when he came on for Antonios Nikopolidis at half time . Ten minutes before the end he had to accept his first goal from a penalty to make it 4-2 for the Greeks. Four days later, Chalkias was also used from half-time in the test match against Cyprus (1: 2), and here too he had to go behind him once.

In Greece's successful qualification for the 2004 European Football Championship , Chalkias had to put up with the role of substitute keeper behind his Panathinaikos club colleague Nikopolidis, but at least it was enough for two more friendly matches at the beginning of 2003. In the 2-1 win in Cyprus, he was as a substitute at half time as in the 2-2 in Austria . In Cyprus he stayed without a goal for the first time, while he conceded the two goals against Austria. Although he had meanwhile ousted Nikopolidis in the club, trainer Rehhagel also relied on this at the finals of the Euro 2004 in Portugal , while Chalkias only remained keeper number two and experienced from the bench how the team became sensationally European champions, which also happened for Chalkias the greatest title of his career.

Even after the European Championship, Chalkias was only a substitute and was not used in the failed qualification for the 2006 World Cup or in the Confederations Cup in Germany in 2005 . He played his fifth international game after three years on the bench in March 2006 in a 2-0 win over Kazakhstan , again after substituting for Stefanos Kotsolis at halftime . His next use was in February 2007 against South Korea again for 45 minutes, where he had to accept the winner of the Koreans. After that, Chalkias even managed to oust regular goalkeeper Nikopolidis at short notice, and in March 2007 he played the first competitive match of his national team career in a 1-0 win in Malta . He did not concede in the next game against Hungary in June , but Nikopolidis returned to goal four days later. As a result, the two took turns in the box: in the 2: 3 in the test against Spain each played half time, in the qualifying match in Norway (2: 2) Chalkias played through. In October Nikopolidis completed the game against Bosnia-Herzegovina , a few days later Chalkias helped secure the 1-0 win in Turkey , which was decisive for participation in the finals . A month later, after Nikopolidi's chance in a 5-0 win against Malta, Chalkias had to be replaced with an injured break in the last qualifying match in Hungary (2-1).

In the friendly matches before Euro 2008, Chalkias played one half against the Czech Republic (1-0), 90 minutes against Cyprus (2-0) and 69 minutes in the 2-3 in Hungary. Nevertheless, national coach Rehhagel decided for the finals in Austria and Switzerland for Nikopolidis and thus against Chalkias. During the European Championship this pulled in training the national team a middle finger fracture of the left hand and could not therefore intervene in the tournament. Chalkias stayed in the Greek camp until they were eliminated after the group stage as bottom group.

After Nikopolidis had finished his national team career, Chalkias finally made it to the Greek number one and played the first qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup, conceding seven goals and three friendly matches. But after he was plagued by minor injury problems in autumn 2009, he was taken out of the goal by Otto Rehhagel in the national team and only sat on the bench in the last two qualifying appearances. He was therefore no longer taken into account for the subsequent play-offs, which the Greeks were able to successfully shape against the Ukraine . In March 2010, he returned for half-time in the test against Senegal , but it was already too late to challenge his rival Alexandros Tzorvas for number one status in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa . Chalkias was not used in any of his team's three games.

After the World Cup, Chalkias was injured and under the new national coach Fernando Santos , who had also coached him at PAOK, only found consideration for the Greek squad in the 1-0 win over Canada in early 2011 , when he completed half-time. A month later against Poland (0-0) he played 90 minutes, but in the competitive games of the European Championship qualifiers for 2012 he could not get past Michalis Sifakis and Tzorvas. But in the run-up to the euro , Chalkias had a chance at the status of regular keeper, as Sifakis and Tzorvas had little match experience in the previous season due to an injury. Chalkias played the test match against Slovenia (1-1) in the run-up to the European Championship .

National coach Santos finally decided on Chalkias as the Greek number one, making him the first goalkeeper in his country in his fourth major tournament. At 38 years of age, he is also the oldest EM participant in 2012. In the opening game against Poland (1: 1) Chalkias had to accept the first goal of the tournament by Robert Lewandowski after 17 minutes . In the second game against the Czech Republic (1: 2), the Greeks fell 2-0 after just six minutes, with Chalkias partly to blame for both goals. Due to thigh problems, he also had to be substituted for Sifakis after 23 minutes, which ended his tournament. After the tournament he announced his retirement from the national team.

successes

• Greek champion : 1996, 2004
• Greek Cup Winner : 2004
• European Champion : 2004

Web links

• Profile of Chalkias on the website of PAOK Saloniki
• Kostas Chalkias in the database of National-Football-Teams.com (English)
• Kostas Chalkias in the database of weltfussball.de
• Profile of Konstantinos Chalkias on de.fifa.com ( Memento from December 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Profile of Konstantinos Chalkias on soccernet.espn.go.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.tovima.gr (Greek) ( Memento from June 4, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk: Southampton 2-1 Portsmouth, January 29, 2005
3. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk (English)
4. ↑ sports.in.gr.
5. ↑ sports.in.gr.
6. ↑ sport-fm.gr
7. ↑ sports.in.gr.
8. ↑ irishexaminer.com: The European Championship from A to Z
9. ^ Liberopoulos, Chalkias bid farewell to National Team, on footballhellas.com, accessed June 27, 2012