Michalis Kapsis
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Michalis Kapsis (born on October 18, 1973) is a Greek football player who currently plays for APOEL FC and the Greek national football team at the position of central defender. He is son of Anthimos Kapsis, who played for Panathinaikos in the 1971 European Champion Clubs' Cup final, a 2-0 loss to AFC Ajax.
He turned in a number of impressive performances for Aris Nikeas in the early 1990s as well as Anagennissi Artas before helping Ethnikos Piraeus achieve promotion to the Greek top flight in his first season at the club, 1993/94. The step up in class did not have a negative effect on the player's game, Kapsis amassing 30 appearances - his highest tally ever. In total he scored just one goal in 123 games for Ethnikos prior to joining AEK during the 1998-99 in Greek football|1998/99 season.
He finished that campaign with 15 AEK appearances under his belt in 1999 and was a regular over the next two seasons before, in 2001/02, he was fined for his involvement in a training ground row with goalkeeper Elias Atmatsidis, as AEK surrendered the championship to Olympiacos CFP in the closing weeks of the season.
In 2002/03, he featured in AEK's six UEFA Champions League draws and played 20 Alpha Ethniki games. Kapsis was his usual consistent self in what was a disappointing 2003/04 campaign for AEK, who finished fifth.
Fine performances for AEK Athens FC earned Kapsis a call-up for the critical UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying matches against Spain and Ukraine; he marked Raúl González and Andriy Shevchenko superbly in famous victories. He was also ever-present in the wonderful run in Euro 2004 that gave Greece the European title, and remained a regular in FIFA World Cup qualifying.
After EURO 2004™, he left AEK and signed for FC Girondins de Bordeaux. He played 29 league matches in France, but then returned to Greece on a two-year deal with champions Olympiacos.
He has since failed to settle at the Piraeus club. Frequent injuries and a lack of confidence from successive coaches have deprived him of a first-team slot. There is often speculation about his future at the club, and he was allegedly offered as an exchange in a failed transfer bid for PAOK's Dimitris Salpigidis. Trond Sollied announced on August 31, 2006 that Kapsis would not be included in the team eligible to participate in the 2006-7 UEFA Champions League competition.
Michalis in a move to continue playing football and enjoy the game he moved to APOEL FC in Nicosia,Cyprus to help the club win the the champion title race for 2007. The agreement is for this season only with the option to renew for the next one.
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Greece squad - UEFA EURO 2004 Champions | |
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1 Nikopolidis | 2 Giourkas | 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 |
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Categories: 1973 births | AEK Athens players | Greek footballers | APOEL FC players | Living people | UEFA Euro 2004 players | UEFA European Football Championship-winning players | Greece international footballers | Olympiacos footballers | FC Girondins de Bordeaux players | Football (soccer) central defenders
