Michalis Konstantinou

Michalis Konstantinou

Personal information
Full name	Michalis Konstantinou
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	AC Omonoia
Number	19
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 6 June 2009

Michalis 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 27 goals in 70 appearances. He played for Panathinaikos and Olympiacos.

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.

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 start his career in Greece in 1997 and he spent few season before go to Panathinaikos. Here he played 13 matchs where he scored 3 goals.

Omonoia Nicosia

Halfway through the 2008-2009 season, Konstantinou was transferred to Cyprus to play for Cypriot giant, AC Omonoia. Upon setting foot on the field, he automatically made his mark as one of Omonoia's top scoring threats along with Stathis Aloneftis, and Giorgos Efrem. During the 2009-2010 season, he continued to score many important goals for the club, including numerous goals 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.

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).

Honours

Panathinaikos

• Greek Championship (1): 2004
• Greek Cup (1): 2004

Olympiacos

• Greek Championship (3): 2006, 2007, 2008
• Greek Cup (2): 2006, 2008
• Greek Super Cup (1) 2007

Omonia

• Cypriot Championship: 2010
• Cyprus FA Shield: 2010

External links

• UEFA.com biography
• National Football Teams