Angelos Charisteas

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Angelos Charisteas
Personal information
Full name	Angelos Charisteas
Date of birth	February 9, 1980 (1980-02-09) (age 28)
Place of birth	Serres, Greece
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	striker
Club information
Current club	1. FC Nuremberg
Number	9
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–2002 1998–1999 2002–2005 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–	Aris Thessaloniki → Athinaikos (loan) Werder Bremen AFC Ajax Feyenoord 1. FC Nuremberg	87 (19) 07 0(1) 66 (18) 31 (12) 280 (9) 22 0(6)
National team2
2001–	Greece	62 (18)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 8, 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of February 6, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Angelos Charisteas (Greek: Άγγελος Χαριστέας; IPA: [ˈaɲɟeˌlos xariˈsteˌas]) (born February 9, 1980 in Strimoniko, Serres) is a Greek football striker who currently plays for 1. FC Nuremberg. He is a member of the Greece national football team and played in the 2004 European Football Championship, in which Greece was triumphant, scoring the winning goal in the final against Portugal.

[edit] Club Football

After a few year playing for non-league Strimonikos Serron Charisteas eventually started his professional career with Greek side Aris FC. This actually came against his family's wishes at the time as Angelos had to famously go to the Aris trials in secret. It was during his first season at Aris that Charisteas started making a name for himself, scoring twice in nine matches as they won the Greek second division in 1997–98. Charisteas started well in his first season in the Greek top league and got further noticed when he scored twice in the local derby against Thessaloniki rivals PAOK. The striker made twelve appearances in the Alpha Ethniki - six as a substitute - before a loan at Athinaikos FC in 1998–99. He returned to Aris the following season and made his European debut in a UEFA Cup defeat by RC Celta de Vigo at the age of 19. Charisteas was continuously developing and in the 2000–01 season scored seven goals, his best return in Aris colours.

Having been watched by scouts from a number of Europe's leading sides, he was signed by German Bundesliga side Werder Bremen in the summer of 2002. He had a successful first season scoring nine goals in 31 appearances in the Bundesliga and two goals from four games in the UEFA Cup. Then in 2003–04, Bremen won the Bundesliga and the German Cup with Charisteas scoring four goals from 24 appearances. He was largely a fringe player at Bremen before Euro 2004, and his heroics in that competition did not change his status at Bremen, as he was the fourth-choice striker.

In the 2004–05 season, Charisteas scored five goals in eleven matches for Bremen, before moving to the Netherlands to play for AFC Ajax for a reported €4.5m fee. Greece national team coach Otto Rehhagel had publicly urged Charisteas to try to move to another club during the January 2005 transfer window in order to get more first-team action. Ajax fitted the bill as they were hoping to find a replacement for Swedish international striker Zlatan Ibrahimović, who had been sold to Juventus. Charisteas made his Ajax debut on 23 January 2005 against FC Utrecht and scored his first goal four days later against SC Heerenveen. However, he only managed three more games all season. Charisteas netted home eight goals in the 2005–06 season, which included a late winner against Vitesse. Charisteas missed Greece's crucial match in the World Cup qualifying due to a head injury received after colliding with Arsenal's Kolo Touré in a Champions League match which Ajax lost 2-1.

Under the new Ajax coach Henk ten Cate Charisteas was the 5th striker behind Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Markus Rosenberg, Ryan Babel and Rydell Poepon. Ten Cate explained this by saying that Charisteas is a great striker for the 4-4-2-system, but not for the 4-3-3-system which is played in Amsterdam. Despite stating that he was only interested in a move to England or Germany, Charisteas signed for arch-rivals Feyenoord Rotterdam on 31 August 2006, the final day of the summer transfer window. This move caused some agitation in Rotterdam with parts of Het Legioen that did not want an Ajax player at their club protesting at De Kuip and demanded chairman Jorien van den Herik to resign. Charisteas made his debut for Feyenoord on the 10 September against Sparta Rotterdam and played the full game. He eventually scored his first goal for his new club in his tenth game. Although he seemed to establish and convince most fans at a certain point, Charisteas never enjoyed a good relationship with Feyenoord supporters. The Greek striker played a total of 28 games for Feyenoord and netted nine goals.

On July 6, 2007 1. FC Nuremberg confirmed a deal with Feyenoord to sign Charisteas on a four year deal worth 2.5 million euros. Charisteas scored his first two “official” goals with German club Nuremberg, in a 6-0 victory, against fourth division club Victoria Hamburg.

[edit] International career

Having been a regular player for the Greek Under-21 side, Charisteas made his senior international debut in February 2001 in a 3-3 draw against Russia. His impact was immediate as he scored two of the goals for Greece that day. His prolific goal scoring continued, eventually helping his team qualify for the Euro 2004 Championship.

During the victorious Euro 2004 campaign, Charisteas scored 3 goals: one in the group stage against Spain, one against France in the quarterfinals and the winning goal against Portugal in the final. His contribution to the team and his impact in the competition was further recognised when he was named in the Euro 2004 All-star Team.

In January 2007, Charisteas told Dutch football magazine Voetbal International that winning Euro 2004 was an unbelievable experience which he would not swap for all the money in the world: “Even in 50 years time, everybody will remember that I scored the goal which made Greece the champions of Europe. We wrote history and my life changed completely at that point.”

In the qualifying rounds for Euro 2008 Charisteas scored three goals helping Greece to automatically qualify for the competition with two games left.

[edit] International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	28 February 2001	Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion, Greece	Russia	2 – 3	3 – 3	Friendly match
2.	28 February 2001	Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion, Greece	Russia	3 – 3	3 – 3	Friendly match
3.	28 March 2001	Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece	Germany	1 – 1	2 – 4	2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier
4.	6 October 2001	Old Trafford, Manchester, England	England	0 – 1	2 – 2	2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier
5.	2 April 2003	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	0 – 1	0 – 2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifier
6.	2 April 2003	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	0 – 2	0 – 2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifier
7.	11 June 2003	Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece	Ukraine	1 – 0	1 – 0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifier
8.	3 June 2004	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	0 – 2	0 – 2	Friendly match
9.	16 June 2004	Estádio do Bessa, Porto, Portugal	Spain	1 – 1	1 – 1	UEFA Euro 2004
10.	25 June 2004	Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal	France	0 – 1	0 – 1	UEFA Euro 2004
11.	4 July 2004	Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal	Portugal	0 – 1	0 – 1	UEFA Euro 2004 Final
12.	17 November 2004	Karaiskákis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece	Kazakhstan	1 – 0	3 – 1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
13.	17 November 2004	Karaiskákis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece	Kazakhstan	2 – 0	3 – 1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
14.	30 March 2005	Karaiskákis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece	Albania	1 – 0	2 – 0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
15.	11 October 2006	Bilino Polje, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0 – 1	0 – 4	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
16.	6 June 2007	Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion, Greece	Moldova	1 – 0	2 – 1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
17.	13 October 2007	Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1 – 0	3 – 2	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
18.	6 February 2008	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Finland	1 – 1	2 – 1	Friendly match

[edit] Honours

Werder Bremen

• German Championship: 2004
• German Cup: 2004

AFC Ajax

• Dutch Super Cup: 2006
• Dutch Cup: 2006

Greece

• European Championship: 2004
• 2004 UEFA European Football Championship: UEFA Team of the Tournament

[edit] External links

• Angelos Charisteas Picture of Charisteas
• Official Ajax player profile
• Official Feyenoord player info (Dutch)
• Statistics

v • d • e Greece squad - UEFA Euro 2004 Winners (1st Title) 1 Nikopolidis • 2 Seitaridis • 3 Venetidis • 4 Dabizas • 5 Dellas • 6 Basinas • 7 Zagorakis • 8 Giannakopoulos • 9 Charisteas • 10 Tsiartas • 11 Nikolaidis • 12 Chalkias • 13 Katergiannakis • 14 Fyssas • 15 Vryzas • 16 Kafes • 17 Georgiadis • 18 Goumas • 19 Kapsis • 20 Karagounis • 21 Katsouranis • 22 Papadopoulos • 23 Lakis • Coach: Rehhagel

v • d • e Greece squad - UEFA Euro 2008 1 Nikopolidis • 2 Seitaridis • 3 Patsatzoglou • 4 Spiropoulos • 5 Dellas • 6 Basinas • 7 Samaras • 8 Giannakopoulos • 9 Charisteas • 10 Karagounis • 11 Vyntra • 12 Chalkias • 13 Tzorvas • 14 Salpigidis • 15 Torosidis • 16 Kyrgiakos • 17 Gekas • 18 Goumas • 19 Antzas • 20 Amanatidis • 21 Katsouranis • 22 Tziolis • 23 Liberopoulos • Coach: Rehhagel