Sotirios Kyrgiakos

He is a Greek football player. He plays as a defender.

Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Σωτήριος Κυργιάκος; born July 3, 1979 in Trikala, Greece) is a football (soccer) player. He signed his new player contract with the German football club Eintracht Frankfurt for the duration of two years in June 2006 for two years after leaving the Scottish football club Rangers in May 2006.
He made his first football steps with a local team, Thyella Megalochoriou. It didn’t take long for him to be recognized. At the start of the 1996-97 season he became a member of the Panathinaikos soccer academy. He lived and played soccer at the Paiania athletic complex, the club’s training ground.
In the wake of the 1999-2000 season he became a member of Agios Nikolaos, a second division club and won the respect of president Lampros Maris whom Sotirios considers as his second father. He stayed with Agios Nikolaos for two years and in 2001 he took part in the pre-season camp at OFI Crete.
The centre-back injuries at his parent club, Panathinaikos, just before the 3rd Qualifying round matches with Slavia Prague for the 2000-2001 Champions League meant that he had to return to Paiania and become a regular member of the starting line-up.
Kyrgiakos, although not the paciest of defenders, makes up for this with his tough tackling, immense strength and tremendous ability in the air. In a crucial match against rivals Olympiacos, Kyrgiakos famously provoked opposing striker Giovanni to such an extent-Kyrgiakos punched him- that the Brazilian star kicked him back and was consequently sent off, while the referee turned a blind eye on Kyrgiakos' behaviour. Panathinaikos went on to score and win that year's title. The following January, he joined Rangers on loan during season 2004-05 with a view to a permanent deal at the end of the season. With his new club he won a second consecutive championship and also the Scottish League Cup scoring two goals in the 5-1 win against Motherwell in the final He initially failed to agree terms with Rangers and held talks with Everton, Portsmouth and FC Schalke 04 before finally agreeing a one year deal at Ibrox on 30 August 2005, he was released in May 2006 after it ran out.
He has also been capped several times for the Greek national team and was unlucky to miss their upset European Championship 2004 victory through injury. He scored the first two goals for the Greek national team in their Euro 2008 qualifier in Oslo, Norway.

Frankfurt
3 July 1979
Source: Wikipedia