 Salpingidis with Greece in 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 18 August 1981 | ||
| Place of birth | Thessaloniki, Greece | ||
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Winger / Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | PAOK | ||
| Number | 14 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1999–2006 | PAOK | 103 | (50) |
| 1999–2000 | → Larissa (loan) | 7 | (0) |
| 2000–2002 | → Kavala (loan) | 43 | (25) |
| 2006–2010 | Panathinaikos | 120 | (46) |
| 2010– | PAOK | 116 | (30) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2005– | Greece | 72 | (13) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 December 2013.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2013 | |||
Dimitrios "Dimitris" Salpingidis (Greek: Δημήτρης Σαλπιγγίδης; born 18 August 1981) is a Greek footballer who plays as a striker for PAOK and the Greek national team. He is known to be "very quick and so a useful tool on the counter attack."[1]
Club career
PAOK
Salpingidis started his career through the youth ranks of PAOK FC. On 30 September 1999 he marked his official debut against FC Lokomotivi Tbilisi with a goal in a 2-0 win. Acknowledging his potential and in order to gain much needed experience, the team soon loaned him for two successive seasons to Kavala FC where he finished top scorer of the Second Division. His plea for a return to PAOK FC was granted by his mentor, Angelos Anastasiadis and he became an integral part of the team. On 25 August 2002 he made his league debut for PAOK in a 4-1 win against Panathinaikos. He scored his first league goal in 2-3 away win against OFI Crete.
Despite playing out of position as a right midfielder he managed to earn a place in the starting line-up, just a few months after returning from loan. Plagued with financial problems, the next season saw the club experiencing an exodus of its top players such as striker Ioannis Okkas and ex-Newcastle United forward Giorgos Georgiadis, Salpingidis, at the age of 21, then became first-choice striker and captain of the team. The 2003–2004 season proved to be the best in many years, as the club finished an unexpected 3rd, qualifying for the Champions league, despite running on a very low budget. His significance for PAOK FC was such that in the summer 2004 he was given permission to miss a match with the Greek Olympic team so that he could participate in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The elimination at the hands of the Israeli team, followed by the sack of coach Anastasiadis and subsequent financial turmoil hit the team badly, resulting in his exodus less than 2 years later. In the 2005-06 season he was top-scorer in the league with 17 goals.
Panathinaikos
In the summer of 2006, as the club's president Giannis Goumenos was desperate to cash in, he was openly chased by Olympiakos, AEK and Panathinaikos. Salpingidis publicly refused the offer of bitter rivals Olympiakos despite being the most profiting one among the three. On 16 August, after a lengthy negotiation period, he finally agreed to sign a 4-year contract toPanathinaikos. He transferred for a fee of €1.8 million, with PAOK additionally receiving 3 players (Sandor Torghelle, Kostas Chalarambidis and Athanasios Tsigas). This was the third most expensive transfer between Greek teams at that time, estimated at €5 million. This transfer caused heavy turmoil amid PAOK fans, branding Salpingidis a traitor and ungrateful to the pains they had taken to keep him in the club. This tense situation brought about the demise of Goumenos' troubled presidency soon after. His debut with Panathinaikos was on 20 of August 2006 in an away win with 4-1 against Aigalaio where he scored three goals.
Return to PAOK
After four very successful seasons with Panathinaikos (including a double-winning 2009–2010 season), in the summer of 2010 Salpingidis joined PAOK once again. On 16 June 2010, it was officially announced that he signed a four-year contract with PAOK FC, after his contract with Panathinaikos had expired. On 9 January 2011, he scored his 100th goal in the Greek Superleague against Asteras Tripoli with a header. On 3 November 2011, Salpingidis became the Greek player with the most goals in Europe. On 30 November he scored a header, beating Heurelho Gomes, in a 2–1 win against Tottenham Hotspur F.C. at White Hart Lane, after a cross from Giorgios Georgiadis, in the Europa League.
In the start of the 2012/2013 season he changed his squad number from 9 to his favourite 14. In the late February and early March 2013 he was in suberb form scoring 6 goals in 4 matches. On 17 March 2013 he put pen to paper on a 4-year deal to stay at the club until 2017. He scored two scissor kicks on 23 Febryary 2013 against Kerkyra in a 3-1 home win. On 20 March 2013 he assumed the team captaincy after Pablo Garcia left the club. For the first time in his career, he received a red card in an away match against Platanias in which PAOK won 1-2. On 17 April 2013 he went on to score the winning goal in a thrilling 2-1 victory over Asteras Tripoli in the first leg of the Greek Cup semi-finals.
International career
Salpingidis has made 71 appearances and scored 13 times for the Greece national football team, including the winning goal in the away leg of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification play-offs against Ukraine, which sent Greece through to the final tournament.[2][3] He made his debut for the national team on 17 August 2005 against Belgium. On 17 June 2010, in a 2010 FIFA World Cup group stage match against Nigeria, he scored Greece's first ever World Cup goal with a shot from outside the area deflected off in Lukman Haruna.[4] On 8 June 2012, Salpingidis came on as a substitute and scored Greece's first goal in the Euro 2012 tournament, in the opening match, a 1–1 draw against Poland,[5]becoming the first ever Greek player who scored in both the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro. Later in the quarterfinals against Germany, he assisted Giorgos Samaras' goal and also scored the last goal with a penalty againstManuel Neuer, a match that ended 4–2, resulting Germany procceding to the semi-finals.
