Leonidas Kabantais
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Leonidas Kabantais | ||
 |
||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | March 8, 1982 | |
| Place of birth | Athens, Greece | |
| Height | 183 cm (6ft ) | |
| Nickname | "Leo" | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | AEK Athens FC | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2002-2004 2004-2005 2005-2005 2005-2006 2006- |
Aris FC AEK Athens FC Anorthosis Famagusta FC(loan) Panionios NFC(loan) AEK Athens FC |
18 (3) 11 (2) 4 (1) 12 (2) 7 (3) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2002- | Greece | - (-) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Leonidas Kabantais (born in March 8, 1982 in Athens, Greece) is a football player, currently playing for AEK Athens FC
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] In Aris FC
Kabantais began his professional career in Aris FC in 2002, appearing in 11 matches in Alpha Ethniki (from 2006 has been renamed to Super League), scoring 2 goals. He remained in Salonica for another year, scoring 1 goal in 7 appearances.
[edit] The Move to AEK Athens
He joined AEK Athens in 2004. Kabantais, picked number 11, which was used by Nikolaidis, who was a fan favourite).
In Season 2005, Fernando Santos proposed him to go on-loan, to gain the required experience. He agreed, and moved to Anorthosis Famagusta FC, where Temuri Ketsbaia (a former player of AEK Athens) was a player-manager. However, Kabantais returned after 6 months, in January of 2006, after scoring only 2 goals and wasting numerous goal opportunities in 14 matches. Although Kabantais claimed that the reason Anorthosis released him due to personal problems he had with player/manager Temuri Ketsbaia which appeared to be true. He moved then to Panionios NFC for 6 months. Panionios had the option of buying the player. At first, he was not considered to play very well, even though he appeared in almost every game, scoring 2 very important goals. Additionally, the last 3-4 appearances were very good.
I 2006, Ilja Ivic told him that the best for him was to go on-loan again. However, Kabantais was unwilling to go, unless the new manager would told him so. Serra Ferrer (the new manager), gave him enough chances to prove his worth, as he did. However, Ferrer did not register him for the Champions' League matches, which upseted Leonidas, but he later showed his worth.
Even though not considered a first team regular, he was one of the best players in the friendly matches. Serra Ferrer, trusted him in the derby vs Panathinaikos. Leonidas, even thought he didn't score, did a good game.
The next match, in which Kabantais played, was versus Aris and Larissa. These two matches were critical for AEK, and Leonidas managed to score in each game once. (in both matches, he was in the first team). Versus Kerkyra, Kabantais, was awarded two clear penalties, and the fans was chanting "Leonida, Leonida, gamise tous tin kolotripida" ( Leonida, Leonida, fuck them in the ass"). He was announced as Most Valuable Player in that match. That was the first time Kabantais was given this award. Since them he appears in every match and scores goals. He was voted one of the two MVP in the big derby against Olympiakos early February and rumors say that Otto Rehangel (Greek National Team coach) is seriously considering to call him up. His contract with AEK is expiring summer 2007.
[edit] International career
Kabantais played for the Greek Olympic Team in 2004.
[edit] Trivia
- One of his best friend is Simos Krassas. They have been playing for AEK Athens for 1 year, and then they were both given on-loan to Panionios NFC
[edit] Sources
- [1]
- AekFC.gr
- Sportime.gr Information for loan-moves, wages
- [2] Football Manager, information about the wages.
[edit] External links
| AEK Athens FC - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Kafes | 4 Moras | 5 Cirillo | 6 Alexopoulos | 7 Kiriakidis | 8 Sapanis | 10 Kone | 11 Manduca | 13 Pautasso | 14 Tziortziopoulos | 15 Papastathopoulos | 16 Zikos | 17 Ivić | 19 Lagos | 20 Pliatsikas | 22 Chiotis | 23 Lakis | 25 Emerson | 28 Sorrentino | 31 Georgeas | 33 Lyberopoulos | 35 Kapetanos | 55 Dellas | 56 Hetemaj | 79 Kapantais | 84 Arabatzis | 85 Fysekis | 88 Tőzsér | 99 Júlio César | Coach Serra Ferrer |
