Leo Bertos

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Personal information
Leo Bertos
Full name	Leonida Christos Bertos
Date of birth	December 20, 1981 (1981-12-20) (age 26)
Place of birth	Wellington, New Zealand
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Right Winger
Club information
Current club	Wellington Phoenix
Number	18
Youth clubs
	Wellington Olympic
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999–2001 2001–2003 2003–2005 2005 2005–2006 2006 2006 2006–2008 2008–	Wellington Olympic Barnsley Rochdale Chester City York City Scarborough Worksop Town Perth Glory Wellington Phoenix	35 0(4) 12 0(1) 82 (13) 05 0(0) 04 0(0) 01 0(0) 07 0(2) 35 0(1) 00 0(0)
National team²
2002–	New Zealand U-23 New Zealand	18 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 January 2008. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 22 January 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Leonida Christos "Leo" Bertos (born 20 December 1981 in Wellington) is a New Zealand soccer player who last played as a winger for Perth Glory. He is now on the roster for Wellington Phoenix FC.

1 Club career
2 International career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Club career

Leo's father was born in Greece, his mother born in New Zealand and his grandfather is from Romania but he chose to represent New Zealand.

Bertos enjoyed a spell in English football from 2002-06, with the bulk of his appearances coming for Rochdale. He also played professionally for Barnsley and Chester before making appearances for three non-league clubs shortly before returning to New Zealand.

He signed for Perth Glory for the 2006/2007 A-League season on a two year deal and attempted to add depth in midfield that lacked consistency and a dominant factor in 2006-07, replacing star midfield player Nick Ward. Leo's pace and crosses on the wing has contributed nine assists this season to be among the top of the A-League in that statistic. Many fans bemoaned the fact he lacked to find the back of the net though despite a number of good scoring opportunities.

Bertos explored opportunities elsewhere during the A-League off season and glory manager Ron Smith had allowed him to trial with Greek club Skoda Xanthi before returning to Perth Glory.

On January 24, 2008, Bertos signed a 2 year deal with his hometown club Wellington Phoenix FC. ^[1]

[edit] International career

He made his international debut against Iran in 2003 and has represented New Zealand on several occasions and has also represented New Zealand at under 23 level.

Leo is known for his reasonable dribbling and quality skills on the ball. This was shown in the New Zealand vs Brazil game when he dribbled around two defenders to win a corner and then gained a real confidence booster by receiving a pat on the back by a Brazilian defender. In the first game of the New Zealand vs Malaysia series (Which New Zealand won 2-0), Leo received man of the match for his magnificent dribbling performance where he dominated the Malaysian defence.