Michalis Konstantinou

Michalis Konstantinou (Greek: Μιχάλης

Michalis Konstantinou
Κωνσταντίνου; born 19 February 1978) is a Cypriot
former professional footballer who played as a Personal information
striker. He played for the Cyprus national football Full name Michalis Konstantinou
team, and he is the all-time leading scorer with 32 Date of birth 19 February 1978
goals in 78 appearances. He also played for Iraklis, Place of birth Deryneia, Cyprus
Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in Greece. Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Club career Paralimni
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Early
1993–1997 Paralimni 68 (31)
Born in Paralimni, he got his start in professional 1997–2001 Iraklis 119 (60)
football playing for hometown side Enosis Neon 2001–2005 Panathinaikos 94 (34)
Paralimni, for whom he scored 17 goals in 25 games 2005–2008 Olympiacos 57 (17)
in the 1996/97 season and became top goal scorer of 2008–2009 Iraklis 13 (3)
Cypriot Championship. 2009–2011 Omonia 59 (34)
2011–2012 Anorthosis Famagusta 15 (3)
Iraklis Thessaloniki 2012–2013 AEL Limassol 19 (6)
Total 444 (188)
Picked up by Iraklis Thessaloniki in 1997, his four
‡
International career
seasons produced a total of 61 goals in 119
appearances as he also played in the UEFA Cup. 1998–2012 Cyprus[1] 78 (32)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals,
correct as of 18 May 2013
Panathinaikos ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11
September 2012
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 after reuniting with
Takis Lemonis, who 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

10 February Tsirion Stadium, Euro 2000

1 San Marino 2–0 4–0
1999 Limassol, Cyprus qualifying

10 February Tsirion Stadium, Euro 2000

2 San Marino 3–0 4–0
1999 Limassol, Cyprus qualifying
Cyprus
2 February Tsirion Stadium,
3 Lithuania 1–0 2–1 International
2000 Limassol, Cyprus
Tournament

Cyprus
2 February Tsirion Stadium,
4 Lithuania 2–1 2–1 International
2000 Limassol, Cyprus
Tournament

Estadi Comunal
2
d'Andorra la Vella, 2002 World Cup
5 September Andorra 0–1 2–3
Andorra la Vella, qualifying
2000
Andorra
Estadi Comunal
2
d'Andorra la Vella, 2002 World Cup
6 September Andorra 2–3 2–3
Andorra la Vella, qualifying
2000
Andorra

28 March Tsirion Stadium, 2002 World Cup

7 Estonia 1–0 2–2
2001 Limassol, Cyprus qualifying

15 August A. Le Coq Arena, 2002 World Cup

8 Estonia 0–1 2–2
2001 Tallinn, Estonia qualifying
15 August A. Le Coq Arena, 2002 World Cup
9 Estonia 1–2 2–2
2001 Tallinn, Estonia qualifying

5 Antonis Papadopoulos
2002 World Cup
10 September Stadium, Larnaca, Portugal 1–0 1–3
qualifying
2001 Cyprus

Cyprus
12 February GSP Stadium, Nicosia,
11 Switzerland 1–0 1–1 International
2002 Cyprus
Tournament
Cyprus
13 February GSP Stadium, Nicosia,
12 Czech Republic 3–3 3–4 International
2002 Cyprus
Tournament

29 January GSZ Stadium, Larnaca,

13 Greece 1–0 1–2 Friendly
2003 Cyprus

Bežigrad Stadium, Euro 2004

14 2 April 2003 Slovenia 1–1 4–1
Ljubljana, Slovenia qualifying
Ta' Qali National Euro 2004
15 7 June 2003 Malta 0–1 1–2
Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta qualifying

Ta' Qali National Euro 2004

16 7 June 2003 Malta 0–2 1–2
Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta qualifying
18 August GSP Stadium, Nicosia,
17 Albania 1–0 2–1 Friendly
2004 Cyprus

18 August GSP Stadium, Nicosia,

18 Albania 2–0 2–1 Friendly
2004 Cyprus
 8
Ramat Gan Stadium, 2006 World Cup
19 September Israel 0–1 2–1
Ramat Gan, Israel qualifying
2004
9 October GSP Stadium, Nicosia, 2006 World Cup
20 Faroe Islands 1–0 2–2
2004 Cyprus qualifying

17 August Svangaskarð, Toftir, 2006 World Cup

21 Faroe Islands 0–1 0–3
2005 Faroe Islands qualifying

17 August Svangaskarð, Toftir, 2006 World Cup

22 Faroe Islands 0–2 0–3
2005 Faroe Islands qualifying
7 October GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Euro 2008
23 Republic of Ireland 1–1 5–2
2006 Cyprus qualifying

7 October GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Euro 2008

24 Republic of Ireland 3–2 5–2
2006 Cyprus qualifying

8
Dasaki Stadium, Achna,
25 September Armenia 3–1 3–1 Friendly
Cyprus
2007
Boris Paichadze
11 October 2010 World Cup
26 Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia 0–1 1–1
2008 qualifying
Georgia

Antonis Papadopoulos
28 March 2010 World Cup
27 Stadium, Larnaca, Georgia 1–0 2–1
2009 qualifying
Cyprus

Antonis Papadopoulos
2010 World Cup
28 6 June 2009 Stadium, Larnaca, Montenegro 1–0 2–2
qualifying
Cyprus
Antonis Papadopoulos
10 October 2010 World Cup
29 Stadium, Larnaca, Bulgaria 3–1 4–1
2009 qualifying
Cyprus

Antonis Papadopoulos
11 August
30 Stadium, Larnaca, Andorra 1–0 1–0 Friendly
2010
Cyprus

3 Estádio D. Afonso
Euro 2012
31 September Henriques, Guimarães, Portugal 1–2 4–4
qualifying
2010 Portugal
Cyprus
9 February Paralimni Stadium,
32 Romania 1–1 1–1 International
2011 Paralimni, Cyprus
Tournament

Honours

Club
Panathinaikos

Super League Greece: 2003–04

Greek Cup: 2003–04
Olympiacos

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

 Greek Cup: 2005–06, 2007–08
Greek Super Cup: 2007
Omonia

Cypriot First Division: 2009–10

Cypriot Cup: 2010–11
Cypriot Super Cup: 2010

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

See also
List of top international men's football goalscorers by country

References
1. "Cyprus – Record International Players" ([Link]
ml). [Link]. 9 May 2008. Archived ([Link]
[Link]/miscellaneous/[Link]) from the original on 27 December 2022.
Retrieved 9 May 2008.
2. "Η ακριβότερη μεταγραφή στην ιστορία του ελληνικού ποδοσφαίρου!" ([Link]
odosfairo/1098587_pineda-i-9i-akriboteri-metagrafi-stin-istoria-toy-ellinikoy-podosfairoy).
Archived ([Link]
8587_pineda-i-9i-akriboteri-metagrafi-stin-istoria-toy-ellinikoy-podosfairoy) from the original
on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
3. [Link] (16 January 2014). "Member associations - Cyprus - News" ([Link]
m/memberassociations/news/newsid=[Link]). [Link]. Archived ([Link]
[Link]/web/20170204125034/[Link]
[Link]) from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2019.

External links
[Link] biography ([Link]
Michalis Konstantinou ([Link] at
[Link]
Michalis Konstandinou – Goals in International Matches ([Link]
s/[Link])

Retrieved from "[Link]