Georgios Samaras

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (June 2009)

Georgios Samaras
Personal information
Date of birth	21 February 1985 (1985-02-21) (age 24)
Place of birth	Heraklion, Greece
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing position	Striker / Winger
Club information
Current club	Celtic
Number	9
Youth career
0000–2001 2001–2003	OFI Crete Heerenveen
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003–2006 2006–2008 2008 2008–	Heerenveen Manchester City → Celtic (loan) Celtic	088 (25) 055 0(8) 016 0(5) 031 (15)
National team2
2006–	Greece	025 0(4)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 May 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 1 April 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Georgios Samaras (Greek: Γιώργος Σαμαράς) born 21 February 1985 in Heraklion) is a Greek footballer who plays as a striker for Scottish Premier League side Celtic and also for the Greece national team.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Heerenveen

Samaras moved to the Netherlands together with his father (ex-professional footballer Giannis) at the age of 16, signing for Heerenveen. He made his first team debut in the 2003–04 season, starting a total of ten matches. This was followed by another successful two seasons in the Dutch top flight before some Premiership clubs started showing interest in the striker. After interest from teams like Arsenal,^[1] he joined Manchester City for a fee that was close to £6 million.

[edit] Manchester City

His Manchester City debut came in as a substitute against Newcastle United, and he scored his first goal in English football on 12 February 2006 in a 3–2 victory over Charlton Athletic. Following a good start with Manchester City, Samaras had a lacklustre first season in the Premier League during 2006–07, scoring only 6 goals from 42 appearances (most of which were made as a substitute). The highlight of his season was scoring two late goals in a 2–1 victory over Everton. Although Samaras was criticised by some journalists for his lack of goals, Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce (who rarely started the Greek), always maintained that he would develop in to a great striker, saying "Georgios is a 21-year-old playing in the Premier League for the first time in his life. He's a young man learning the game in the hardest league to learn".^[2]

Following the departure of Pearce, Samaras did not feature in the Premier League for Manchester City in the first two months of the 2007–08 season under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. Some reports claimed that he was on his way out following the signing of eight new players by the new City manager.^[3] However, Samaras refused to leave even after early interest from Middlesbrough,^[4] preferring to fight for his place in the Manchester City team. On 25 September 2007, Samaras got his first game of the 2007–08 season for City in the League Cup game against Norwich City. Samaras repaid the manager's faith in him by scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute. Samaras featured in a few more Premier League games following that, earning the his manager's praises for his work ethic, professionalism and willingness to fight for his place in the team.^[5] However transfer speculation continued from teams like Birmingham City.^[6]

[edit] Celtic

Tranfer speculation surrounding Samaras continued and on 28 January 2008 the striker signed for Celtic on loan until the end of the season. It was confirmed that he would wear the number 9 jersey.^[7] The Greek striker confirmed that as well as helping Celtic, one of the reasons he moved was in order to get more games so that he would be considered for the Greek national team in the UEFA Euro 2008 competition. Samaras scored on his debut for Celtic, coming on as a sub during a 5–1 Scottish Cup victory over Kilmarnock. His successful start continued with goals against Hibernian, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Gretna in his first few games. The season ended in triumph for Samaras with Celtic becoming SPL champions on the last day of the league, gaining Samaras his first Championship medal. In total he scored six goals for Celtic in 21 appearances during his loan spell.

On 15 July 2008 he signed permanently from Manchester City after agreeing a three-year contract with the Scottish club for an undisclosed fee of around £1.5m.^[8] Samaras scored his first two goals of the 2008/2009 season against Falkirk on 23 August. Following some impressive performances, Samaras was named SPL Player of the Month in September 2008.

[edit] International career

Samaras was eligible to play for Australia as a youngster. His father Giannis was born in Melbourne but eventually moved to Greece at the age of 13 and had a successful career in football himself, playing for Panathinaikos and the national team. His grandfather (also Georgios) was one of the founding members of South Melbourne.^[9] Although technically eligible, the opportunity to play for Australia was never pursued as Samaras chose to play for the country of his nationality.

He made his debut for Greece just a week after his 21st birthday on 28 February 2006 in a friendly game against Belarus, in which he scored the only goal of the game.^[10] He featured in Greece's Euro 2008 qualifiers and was a member of the unsuccessful Greek squad at the finals. Samaras 4th international goal, went on to be a crucial one, when he scored the winning goal in a World Cup 2010 qualifier against Israel in front of his hometown crowd in Heraklion.

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	28 February 2006	Limassol, Cyprus	Belarus	1–0	Win	Friendly Match
2.	1 March 2006	Nicosia, Cyprus	Kazakhstan	0–2	Win	Friendly Match
3.	11 October 2006	Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0–4	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
4.	1 April 2009	Heraklion, Greece	Israel	2–1	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier

[edit] Statistics

Last updated 5 April 2009

Season	Club	Nat	Apps	Goals
2002–03	SC Heerenveen	NED	15	4
2003–04	SC Heerenveen	NED	27	4
2004–05	SC Heerenveen	NED	31	11
2005–06	SC Heerenveen	NED	15	6
2005–06	Manchester City	ENG	14	4
2006–07	Manchester City	ENG	36	4
2007–08	Manchester City	ENG	5	0
2007–08	Celtic	SCO	16	5
2008–09	Celtic	SCO	31	15
Total			190	53

[edit] Honours

• Celtic F.C.
• Winners
  • Scottish Premier League 2007–08
  • Scottish League Cup 2008–09

• Individual
  • SPL Player of the Month – September 2008

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Georgios Samaras career stats at Soccerbase
• FootballDatabase.com Profile

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