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Konstantinos "Kostas" Chalkias (Greek: Κώστας Χαλκιάς) is a Greek footballer, born 30 May 1974 in Larissa, Greece. He stands 2.00 m (6 ft 6 1⁄2 in) tall and plays in the goalkeeper position. He currently plays for PAOK F.C..
Club career
Greece
Chalkias started his career in the Panathinaikos youth academy in the 94/95 double winning PAO team and was loaned out for his first two seasons to Apollon Athens. After he returned, 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 03/04 season. After playing second fiddle again to Antonis Nikopolidis during most of the 03/04 season, he was allowed back in to the first team after a dispute Nikopolidis had with management.
Going abroad
At the end of the 2003/2004 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 fourth round tie away at fierce rivals Southampton F.C. 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 was released by the club, after making only 5 appearances. Shortly after his release from Portsmouth he joined Segunda División side Real Murcia.
Return to Greece
Chalkias was bought in the summer transfer window of 2006 by Aris Thessaloniki. Chalkias was a member of the Greek national team that won the Euro 2004 in Portugal, albeit as reserve keeper and without making an appearance. 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 (as possibly the best keeper in Greece during season 06/07), he was recalled for the National Team and gained a starting spot over Antonis Nikopolidis after his poor performances earlier in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
Chalkias left Aris in summer 2008 [1] and moved to arch-rivals PAOK F.C., signing a two year contract on 28 May 2008, thus becoming the third player to have played for the all three major clubs of Thessaloniki (Iraklis, Aris, PAOK), following Apostolos Tsourelas and Stefanos Borbokis . He is currently the first keeper for PAOK F.C. and the Greek national team.
In the season 2009/2010 he reached the second position with PAOK F.C. and the semifinal of the Greek cup. In January 2010 he renew his contract with PAOK F.C. for 2 more years. Chalkias has contributed to the qualification of PAOK F.C. the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, after winning the preliminaries against AEK Athens, Olympiakos and Aris Thessaloniki F.C..
International career
Chalkias made his debut on 10 November 2001, in a frienly 4-2 home win against Estonia, as he replaced Antonis Nikopolidis at half time.[2][3] In the summer 2004 he won Euro 2004 included in the team together with the other goalkeepers Antonis Nikopolidis and Fanis Katergiannakis. Otto Rehhagel called him also for the qualification of Euro 2008. Chalkias during the qualification for the World Cup 2010 play as the first goalkeeper for Greek national team, after the retirement of the legendary goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis and he is the only goalkeeper from the Euro 2004.[4]
Honours
Club
Panathinaikos
Greek Super League: 2003–04
Greek Cup: 2003–04
Aris
Greek Cup Runners up: 2007–08
PAOK
Greek Super League Runners up: 2009-10
Country
Greece
European Championship: 2004
References
^ sport-fm.gr, sport-fm:Chalkias leaves Aris FC, accessed 19 May 2008.
^ "Αγώνες Εθνικής Ανδρών του 2001" (in Greek). Ελληνική Ποδοσφαιρική Ομοσπονδία (Greek Football Federation). Retrieved 2 february 2011.
^ "ΣΥΜΜΕΤΟΧΕΣ - ΓΚΟΛ (Χ-Ω)" (in Greek). Ελληνική Ποδοσφαιρική Ομοσπονδία (Greek Football Federation). Retrieved 2 february 2011.
^ "Αγώνες Εθνικής Ανδρών του 2010" (in Greek). Ελληνική Ποδοσφαιρική Ομοσπονδία (Greek Football Federation). Retrieved 2 february 2011.
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