Theofanis Gekas

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Theofanis Gekas
Personal information
Full name	Θεοφάνης Γκέκας
Date of birth	May 23, 1980 (1980-05-23) (age 28)
Place of birth	Larissa, Greece
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Bayer Leverkusen
Number	10
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–1998 1998–2001 2001–2004 2005–2007 2006–2007 2007–	Toxotis Larissa Larissa Kallithea Panathinaikos → Bochum (loan) Bayer Leverkusen Total	000 00(0) 061 0(15) 099 0(46) 041 0(23) 032 0(20)[1] 026 0(11) 259 (115)
National team2
2005	Greece	025 00(6)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 6, 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of May 19, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Theofanis (Fanis) Gekas (Greek: Θεοφάνης Γκέκας, born May 23, 1980, Larissa, Greece) is a footballer who currently plays for German side Bayer 04 Leverkusen. He has been very successful in the last few years, being top goalscorer of the Greek League (17 goals) in 2005 and runner-up in 2006 (15 goals), and top scorer of the German Bundesliga in 2007 (21 goals). He has also won 20 caps for the Greek National Team. Gekas has been described as a prolific forward with a vision for goal. Gekas got his first hat-trick for the National Team with 3 goals against Malta.

[edit] In Greece

Theofanis Gekas started his professional career at his local club AEL 1964 (then Greek Second Division). After three years there, he moved to Kallithea FC in the summer of 2001. In his first season Kallithea was promoted to the Greek first division. Gekas had scored 30 goals in 87 second division matches.

Gekas kept scoring goals, so the Greek top clubs became interested in him. After scoring 32 goals in 73 matches Gekas moved to Panathinaikos during the 2005 winter break. At his new club Gekas kept up the scoring and became top goal scorer of the Greek league in 2005 (17 goals). He shot into the national squad, where he made his debut in the 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory against Albania in March 2005, despite never having represented the Greek national side at junior level. In the Confederations Cup 2005 Gekas was part of the team of the European champion.

With Panathinaikos, Gekas scored 23 goals in 41 appearances. In the season 2005/2006 Gekas made his debut in the UEFA Champions League and came second in the Greek top goalscorers list.

[edit] At VfL Bochum

The 2. Fußball-Bundesliga club VfL Bochum already showed interest in Gekas in the spring of 2006, but Panathinaikos wanted €1.5 million for its forward, which was too much money for the German club.

But in the summer of 2006 Panathinaikos signed Greek top scorer Dimitris Salpigidis from PAOK FC Thessaloniki - one of the reasons was that Gekas didn't want to sign a long-term contract. As part of the deal Gekas should have been transferred to PAOK, but Gekas refused to be transferred to the club. Panathinakos's owner Giannis Vardinogiannis felt personally insulted and loaned Gekas to newly-promoted VfL Bochum for only €300,000. VfL Bochum had the right to buy Gekas for €700,000 at the end of the season if they remained in the First Division.

During the 2006/2007 season VfL Bochum was again fighting against relegation, but within a short period Gekas became one of the stars of the team and very popular among the fans. They called him the "Greek god" and his goals were celebrated with Sirtakis. Coach Marcel Koller accurately described him in November 2006 as their "life insurance," as Bochum in fact remained in the top German league due mainly to Gekas' many goals. Gekas finished the Bundesliga season as top scorer, with a final tally of 21 goals.

[edit] Move to Leverkusen

At the end of April 2007 VfL Bochum intimated that Gekas would play for Bayer 04 Leverkusen starting in the following season. The transfer fee was not immediately certain because the two clubs chose a quite bizarre construction: Bayer 04 Leverkusen would pay €700,000 at the end of the season to Panathinaikos, and if Bochum were to be relegated, they would get €1.5 million from Leverkusen, but if they were to remain in the Bundesliga First Division they would get €4 million. Gekas' future salary at Bayer Leverkusen is estimated to be €2 million a year, four times what he earned at VfL Bochum. Gekas' first game for Bayer Leverkusen was a friendly which Bayer won 15-1; Gekas scored 7 of those 15. However despite a promising start and being the top scorer for Bayer Leverkusen and second highest scorer in the whole League this season, Gekas has been consistently dropped by coach Michael Skibbe making mostly sub appearances. Following an injury to teammate Dmitri Bulykin, Gekas was place back into the starting 11 and made quite the come back; scoring 3 goals in 3 games including 2 winners against SV Hamburg which earned Leverkusen a quarter-final spot in the UEFA Cup.

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	2 June 2007	Heraklion, Greece	Hungary	2-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
2.	22 August 2007	Thessaloniki, Greece	Spain	2-3	Loss	Friendly Match
3.	13 November 2007	Athens, Greece	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3-2	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
4.	17 November 2007	Athens, Greece	Malta	5-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
5.	17 November 2007	Athens, Greece	Malta	5-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
6.	17 November 2007	Athens, Greece	Malta	5-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier

[edit] Honours

Individual

• Greek Superleague Top Goalscorer: 2005
• Bundesliga Top Goalscorer: 2007

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Article in German sports magazine Kicker (German)
• Career statistics at fussballdaten.de (German)

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