Dimitrios Konstantopoulos

Dimitrios Konstantopoulos (Δημήτριος Κωνσταντόπουλος; born 29 November 1978) is a Greek former international football player who played as a goalkeeper.

After playing amateur football with Iraklis Ampelokipi, Konstantopoulos signed his first professional contract with Kalamata in 1996, where he made 12 appearances in six years for the club, with a spell at Egaleo yielding three further appearances between 2001 and 2002.

Konstantopoulos began his professional career with Kalamata in 1996, having previously been playing amateur football for Iraklis Ampelokipi that year.

After making seven appearances in four seasons, he spent just over a season with Egaleo from 2001 to 2001, where he made three appearances.

He then returned to Kalamata, and made another five appearances the following season.

Prior to moving to England, he had been playing in Portugal for SC Farense.

He moved to Portuguese side Farense after this, before joining Hartlepool United in October 2003.

Konstantopoulos was given a trial at Hartlepool United in 2003 by the then-manager Neale Cooper.

He signed a permanent contract in October 2003.

Konstantopoulos spent the majority of his first season playing for Hartlepool's reserve team and as a substitute.

In the following 2004–05 season, Konstantopoulos finally made his début in the 2–1 League Cup win over Macclesfield Town on 24 August 2004.

Konstantopoulos then made his league début in the 2–1 win against Colchester United six days later.

Although still second-choice to Jim Provett at that point, he would become number one from the end of October, going on to make a total of 37 appearances that year.

He was part of the Hartlepool United side that reached the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2005, and he kept 25 clean sheets during Hartlepool's 2005–06 campaign.

After making 117 league appearances for Hartlepool, Konstantopoulos opted to switch to Coventry City in 2007.

Konstantopoulos signed for Coventry City on 30 June 2007, after he rejected a new contract offer from Hartlepool.

He made his debut in Coventry's first match of the season, which was a 4–1 victory over Barnsley.

However, he was unable to hold down a first team place, and, after loan spells with Nottingham Forest, Swansea City (twice) and Cardiff City between 2008 and 2009, Konstantopoulos was released in 2010 having made 31 league appearances for Coventry.

He returned to Greece, spending a successful season with Kerkyra before switching to AEK Athens for the next two seasons.

Although a regular starter for Coventry for the first half of the season, the arrival of Kasper Schmeichel pushed him to third choice (behind Andy Marshall), and Konstantopoulos made his 23rd, and last, appearance of the season on 9 February 2008, in a 1–0 defeat to Millwall.

On 24 March 2008 Konstantopoulos signed for Nottingham Forest on loan until the end of the 2007–08 season.

He then ruptured his Achilles tendon on his first day of training at The City Ground.

On 24 October 2008, Konstantopoulos signed for Swansea City on a one-month emergency loan deal, after Swansea's first choice keeper Dorus de Vries suffered a double fracture to his jaw against Queens Park Rangers.

He made his Swansea début against Doncaster Rovers on 1 November, saving a penalty late in the match.

He extended his loan spell by a month later in November, having made two further appearances.

His form for Swansea led to manager Roberto Martinez stating that he wished to keep Konstantopoulos permanently in December.

After one further appearance, he briefly returned to Coventry on 2 January 2009 after being recalled due to Coventry's injury problems, before rejoining Swansea on loan four days later until the end of the month.

Although Coventry and Swansea agreed a deal that would see Konstantopoulos remain in Wales until the end of the season, issues with the paperwork meant that the Football League refused to allow the extension.

He thus returned to Coventry having made five appearances for Swansea in total.

Three days after returning to Coventry, Konstantopoulos was again loaned out, this time to Swansea's local rivals Cardiff City until the end of the season as cover for Finland international Peter Enckelman who was ruled out for up to two months after undergoing knee surgery.

With second choice goalkeeper Tom Heaton also being ruled out through injury, Konstantopoulos was handed his debut on 22 February against Wolverhampton Wanderers, a match which ended in a 2–2 draw after Konstantopoulos scored an own goal after dropping a cross from Wolves midfielder Kyel Reid into his own net.

Konstantopoulos remained in goal for the following games, but made another error in a 2–0 defeat to Norwich City, when he failed to clear a long pass and was tackled by Dave Mooney to concede the first goal of the game.

After Konstantopoulos suffered a foot injury in March, Cardiff manager Dave Jones signed Stuart Taylor on loan from Aston Villa; although Konstantopoulos remained with Cardiff for the rest of the season, he did not play again for the club, and he returned to Coventry at the end of the season having made a total of six appearances.

Konstantopoulos remained with Coventry City for the start of the 2009–10 season, and made his first appearance in a year for the club in the 1–0 League Cup defeat to Hartlepool on 12 August 2009.

Following an injury to first choice goalkeeper Keiren Westwood during a match against West Brom on 24 October, Konstantopoulos was brought on as a substitute and helped the club to their first clean sheet in eleven games.

Although stating an intention to fight for a first team place, he made just two more appearances before Westwood returned to the team on 21 November.

His next appearance came in a 1–1 draw with Portsmouth in the FA Cup on 2 January 2010; although he drew praise from BBC Sport for his performance in this match, it would also prove to be his last game for Coventry.

He was released at the end of the season after his contract expired, having made 27 appearances for the club.

Internationally, Konstantopoulos made nine appearances for the Greek under-21 side, and made his full international debut for Greece in 2011; his only senior cap.

Following AEK's relegation, he was released at the end of his contract, and joined Middlesbrough in August 2013.