Kostas Chalkias

Konstadinos "Kostas" Chalkias () 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...
Read More