Christos "Chris" Kalantzis (born 27 July 1967) is an Australian former soccer player who played at the highest level of domestic football in Greece and Australia. He played at international level for Australia.

Playing career

Club career

Born in Sydney to

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

immigrants. His father came from the village of Loukas in Arcadia region of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge whi ...

, Greece and his mother came from the village of Managouli in

Aetolia-Acarnania Aetolia-Acarnania ( el, Αιτωλοακαρνανία, ''Aitoloakarnanía'', ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the geographic region of Central Greece and the administrative region of West Greece. A combination of the histor ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, he began his career with

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The Club was founded as Pan-Hellenic Soccer Club in 1957 by Greek immigran ...

, First Grade, at the age of 15. He was then signed by the

team Panathinaikos, where he played for five years. Olympiacos, a rival Greek club, then signed him. On his debut against his former team he scored with his famous bicycle kick from outside the box. He played for Olympiacos another five years before returning to Sydney Olympic to finish his career, playing two years before retiring.

International career

Kalantzis played seven matches in full international matches for Australia.

Post-football career

In February 2011, Olympiacos announced the establishment of its first Olympiacos Academy outside of Greece in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

.Olympiakos keen on local talent
neokosmos.com. 13 February 2011. The Australian academy is managed by Kalantzis and

Kyriakos Tohouroglou Kyriakos Nektarios Tohouroglou (Greek: Κυριάκος Τοχούρογλου; alternatively spelt Tochouroglou) is an Australian former soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper. Biography Tohouroglou was born on 13 August 1972 in Sydney to par ...

, both former Olympiacos players.

Honours

*National Soccer League Cup Winners: 1983, 1985 * A' Ethniki: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1996–97 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most i ...

: 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993

References

External links

Chris Kalantzis Interview

1967 births Living people Australian soccer players Australian people of Greek descent Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players Australia B international soccer players Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players Sydney Olympic FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Association football midfielders Naturalized citizens of Greece Soccer players from Sydney {{Australia-footy-midfielder-stub