Konstantinos "Kostas" Chalkias (; born 30 May 1974) is a Greek retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He played for Panathinaikos, Apollon Athens, Iraklis,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, Real Murcia,

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

and Panachaiki. He was also capped 32 times by the Greece national team, with whom he won

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

. He also was selected at the next two European Championships and the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

Club career

Greece

Chalkias started his career in the Panathinaikos youth academy in the 1994–95 double winning team. He was transferred to feeder club Apollon Athens in 1996 as a replacement for retired Antonis Minou, signing a five-year professional contract. His solid performances helped Apollon avoid relegation from

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

and made him return to Panathinaikos two years later, in 1998. However, he did not get any playing time at Panathinaikos by his head coach Vasilis Daniil and in January 1999 he was re-sent to Apollon on loan for six months. After his return, he was forced to play third keeper to the legendary Jozef Wandzik and Greek legend Antonis Nikopolidis. He made a total of 25 starts over the next three years between 1998 and 2001 for Panathinaikos and was transferred for two seasons to Iraklis before good performances led to a return to Panathinaikos in the 2003–04 season. After playing second fiddle again to Nikopolidis during most of the 2003–04 season, he was allowed back into the first team after a dispute Nikopolidis had with management.

Going abroad

At the end of the 2003–04 season, Nikopolidis was let out on a free transfer to bitter rivals, Olympiakos, and a new keeper was bought, Mario Galinovic. After a fight for first team football, eventually Galinovic won out and due to overseas interest, Chalkias was shipped out to English side Portsmouth F.C. in January 2005, making his debut in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

fourth round tie away at fierce rivals

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Over the next few matches Chalkias's wild tactics and inconsistency led to some poorly conceded goals, and he was soon dropped and replaced by Jamie Ashdown. With the signing of Sander Westerveld in July 2005, Chalkias fell even further down the pecking order, and in January 2006 he left Portsmouth by mutual consent, having made only five league appearances for the club. Shortly after his release from Portsmouth he joined

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

side Real Murcia.

Return to Greece

Chalkias was bought in the summer transfer window of 2006 by

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki (), is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki. Nicknamed ''God of War'', Aris was one of the strongest Greek clubs during t ...

, who were then newly promoted to the Greek Superleague. After his transfer to Aris, Chalkias regained some of the form that he showed during his bright run in the first team for Panathinaikos and after an exceptional season, he was recalled tο the national team and gained a starting spot over Antonis Nikopolidis after the latter's poor performance earlier in a Euro 2008 qualifying match against

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. Chalkias left Aris in late May 2008 after his contract was due to run out and on 28 May 2008 he agreed to sign a two-year contract for rivals

, thus becoming the third player to have played for the all three major clubs of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

(Iraklis, Aris, PAOK) following Apostolos Tsourelas and Stefanos Borbokis. In the 2009–10 season he reached the second position with PAOK and the semifinal of the Greek cup. In January 2010 he renewed his contract with PAOK for two more years. Chalkias has contributed to the qualification of PAOK the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, after winning the preliminaries against AEK Athens, Olympiakos and Aris Thessaloniki F.C.

Retirement and comeback

On 22 September 2012, Chalkias announced his retirement from football. After four years of inactivity, he returned to the football for the Greek team Panachaiki. He was the last player from the legendary

-winning

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

team to retire from professional football.

International career

Chalkias made his debut on 10 November 2001, in a friendly 4–2 home win against Estonia, as he replaced Antonis Nikopolidis at half time. In the summer 2004 he was part of the squad which won

, although he was only the reserve 'keeper. Otto Rehhagel called him also for the qualification of Euro 2008. Chalkias played as the first goalkeeper for the Greece national team during most of the qualification for the World Cup 2010, after the retirement of the legendary goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis and he is the only goalkeeper from the

. In Euro 2012 Chalkias was the oldest player at the tournament at 38 years of age and one of just three players remaining from the victorious 2004 Greek squad. On 12 June 2012, he started the second group stage match against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

– at the 21st minute of the match, and having conceded two goals in 6 minutes, he was substituted with Michalis Sifakis due to injury. After Greece's lost quarterfinal to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on 22 June, a game which Chalkias watched from the bench, he announced his withdrawal from the national team alongside Nikos Liberopoulos.

Career statistics

Notes

Honours

;Panathinaikos *

: 1995–96, 2003–04 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2003–04 ;Panachaiki *

Gamma Ethniki The Gamma Ethniki (, C National Division) is the Greek football league system, third highest football league in Greece. History The Gamma Ethniki began in 1965 as an amateur championship, while in 1983 it was changed to professional. Although no ...

: 2016–17 ;Greece *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

;Individual * PAOK MVP of the Season: 2008–09

References

External links

Profile at PAOK's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalkias, Kostas 1974 births Living people Footballers from Larissa Greek men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Greece men's international footballers UEFA European Championship–winning players UEFA Euro 2004 players European champions for Greece 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA Euro 2012 players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players PAOK FC players Panachaiki F.C. players Real Murcia CF players Premier League players Super League Greece players Gamma Ethniki players Segunda División players Greek expatriate men's footballers Greek expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Greek expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain