Georgios Samaras

Georgios Samaras (Γεώργιος Σαμαράς, ; born 21 February 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker.

In 1994, when he was 10 years old, Samaras joined his boyhood heroes, OFI Crete.

His father was playing for them at the time and then retired in 1996.

Six months later, he became Academy chief manager, a position he retained until 2000, when he became manager.

Samaras credits his father highly with helping start his football career.

His influence meant that Samaras trained every day of his childhood and he also got to spend a lot of time behind the scenes at OFI.

Samaras started his career at OFI Crete, before moving on to Eredivisie side Heerenveen in 2001.

Samaras left for Eredivisie club Heerenveen in 2001.

Samaras broke into the Heerenveen team during the 2002–03 season, still aged only 18.

He scored three goals in his first four appearances, all of which were from the bench.

This form prompted Heerenveen activate a three-year extension clause in his contract.

Samaras' first goal of the 2003–04 season came, on 25 October, in a shock 2–1 loss for Heerenveen against NEC Nijmegen.

On 3 December, Samaras scored as Heerenveen beat ADO Den Haag 2–0.

His next goal came 10 days later as he scored an equaliser to secure a draw 1–1 for Heerenveen against RBC Roosendaal.

He then scored on 20 December, as Heerenveen beat Roda JC 2–1.

Samaras' first goal of the 2004–05 season came on 11 September, in a 2–0 win over De Graafschap.

He then scored a last-minute winner on 3 October, as Heerenveen secure all three points against ADO Den Haag.

On 28 November, Samaras scored one of Heerenveen's goals as they staged a late comeback against title-chasing Feyenoord, and secured a 2–2 draw.

He then scored on 22 January, as Heerenveen, who were performing very well in the Eredivisie, beat Den Bosch 2–1.

On 12 March, Samaras scored an equaliser against RKC Waalwijk, but Heerenveen then conceded a late goal and fell to a 2–1 defeat.

On 2 April, Samaras scored to help Heerenveen secure a shock 2–1 victory over Ajax.

A fortnight later, Samaras scored the equaliser as Heerenveen came from behind to beat Vitesse Arnhem 3–1.

This win moved Heerenveen up to fifth in the table.

In the next match Samaras, along with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, scored a hat-trick as relegation candidates RBC Roosendaal were defeated 7–1 and Heerenveen pushed to finish the league in a European spot.

At the start of the 2005–06 season, Sevilla were reported to be interested in Samaras as a replacement for Júlio Baptista.

While Arsenal were also looking at him after they had missed out on signing Baptista, some news organisations had reported that Arsenal had already signed Samaras and that he would join at the end of the season.

He made his first team debut two years later and after a further three seasons with the club he moved to Premier League club Manchester City for a fee of £6 million in 2006.

After Sven-Göran Eriksson took over as manager Samaras fell out of favour with the first team.

He made his debut in 2006, and became a regular over the next eight years, earning 81 caps and scoring 9 goals.

In January 2008 he was loaned out to Scottish Premier League team Celtic, moving on a permanent basis in the summer.

Samaras helped Celtic win Scottish league championships in 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014, totalling 74 goals in 249 competitive games.

He represented his country at Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup, Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup.

Samaras was born in Heraklion, the capital city of the Greek island of Crete to a Melbourne-born father who had settled back in Greece before Georgios' birth.

His grandfather, also called Georgios, was from Arnaia and was also one of the founders of Australian side South Melbourne FC.

His favourite footballer growing up was Marco van Basten.

Samaras was also a keen basketball fan and his father, Ioannis Samaras, often let him stay up until the early hours of the morning so he could watch his hero Michael Jordan.

He left the club at the end of his contract in 2014 and returned to the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion, where he featured rarely and had an unsuccessful loan to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.

In March 2016, he joined North American Soccer League expansion team Rayo OKC, and when they shut down after one season he signed for Real Zaragoza.

He then played for Turkish team Samsunspor before retiring in 2018.

Although eligible to play for Australia, because his father Ioannis Samaras was born in Melbourne, Samaras chose to represent his country of birth, Greece.