Theofanis Gekas

At 43 years old, Theofanis Gekas has this physical status:

Theofanis "Fanis" Gekas, born on May 20, 1980, is a Greek former professional footballer who has competed in Superleague Greece and the Bundesliga as a top goalscorer.

The bulk of his career has been spent in those two countries and Turkey, but he has also played top-flight football in England and Spain. Gekas has represented Greece at two European Championships and as many World Cups, winning 78 caps between 2005 and 2014.

With ten goals, he was the top goalscorer of the European section of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification.

He is Greece's third highest all-time goalscorer with 24 goals for his national football team.

Personal life

Vasso's wife gave birth to twins Nikolaos and Mikaela-Lamprini shortly after the 2008 European Championships.

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Club career

Gekas began his career in 1998 with his hometown team AEL (then of the Greek Second Division).

He migrated to Kallithea in 2001, and after three years at Larissa. Kallithea was promoted to the Greek top division in his first season with the club. In 26 league games, Gekas scored 14 goals and became the top goalscorer of the 2001–02 league. In addition, Gekas was in 87 second division matches against Larissa and Kallithea, scoring 30 goals.

Gekas and the club agreed to a transfer to Panathinaikos after scoring 46 goals in 80 games for Kallithea in second and first Greek divisions and the Greek Cup. Gekas made the Greek league's top goal scorer in 2005 with 18 goals at his new club. He was welcomed to the national team for his debut in the 2–0 World Cup qualifying rounds over Albania's March 2005 victory. Gekas has served in the Confederations Cup 2005 as a member of the national team. Gekas scored 23 goals in 41 appearances with Panathinaikos. Gekas made his debut in the UEFA Champions League and ranked second in the Greek top goalcorers list for the season from 2005-06.

The 2nd edition of the magazine. VfL Bochum, a Bundesliga club, expressed an interest in Gekas as early as 2006, but Panathinaikos demanded €2 million for the forward.

Panathinaikos signed Greek top scorer Dimitris Salpingidis from PAOK FC in the summer of 2006, and Gekas was supposed to commit to a transfer to PAOK. Gekas refused and Panathinakos loaned Gekas out to VfL Bochum, which had just been promoted to the top division for €300,000, with the German club having the option to buy out Gekas' rights until the season's end if they stayed in the top division for another €700,000.

VfL Bochum was battling relegation during the 2006-07 season, but Gekas became one of the team's stars and became popular among fans within a short period. His aspirations were lauded by the stadium's loudspeakers. Since Bochum did not only prevent relegation but gained their position in the Bundesliga a few matchdays before the last, coach Marcel Koller called him "life insurance" in November 2006. Gekas continued to play in the Bundesliga as the league's top scorer with a total score of 20 goals.

VfL Bochum agreed to move Gekas to Bayer 04 Leverkusen for the upcoming season at the end of April 2007. The transfer agreement was as follows: Bayer 04 Leverkusen will pay €700,000 to Panathinaikos at the end of the season, and Bochum would earn €1.5 million from Leverkusen. Bochum would have €4 million from Leverkusen if they were to stay in the Bundesliga's First Division.

Bayer Leverkusen's first game was a friendly, with Bayer Leverkusen winning 15–1, with Gekas scoring seven of those 15. However, despite being the top scorer for Bayer Leverkusen in the 2007–08 season, Gekas was consistently dropped from the squad by coach Michael Skibbe, making mainly substitute appearances. Gekas was promoted to the starting XI after teammate Dmitri Bulykin's injury and scored three goals in three games, including two more against Hamburg in a match that earned Leverkusen a quarter-final appearance in the UEFA Cup in March 2008.

Gekas was loaned by Leverkusen to Portsmouth for the remainder of the 2008–09 season on February 2nd, 2009.

Gekas was taken into custody by boss Tony Adams in the hopes of a long-term contract. However, Adams was dismissed and replaced by caretaker Paul Hart shortly after the transfer was made. Gekas was not allowed any games and went on to announce his desire to leave the club, with Zenit St. Petersburg apparently being interested in him.

He arrived at Fratton Park as a replacement for one minute, replacing Jermaine Pennant in a 2–2 draw with West Bromwich Albion in his first Portsmouth match. His loan term was ended by Portsmouth on May 21, 2009, two weeks earlier than anticipated, and he returned to Bayer Leverkusen.

Gekas, who was playing for his national team, became the top scorer in the Europa section of the qualification for the 2010 World Cup. But he was competing in Leverkusen with Stefan Kießling, Eren Derdiyok, and Patrick Helmes for a spot in the starting lineup, but he didn't know himself. He left the team after half a year.

Bayer Leverkusen signed a half-year loan of Gekas with Hertha BSC on December 17th. Gekas scored in the team's 0–3 away victory over Hannover 96 on January 16, 2010. Despite the promising start, Hertha continued to struggle at the bottom of the Bundesliga table. Gekas' most notable result came on March 21, 2010, when he scored a hat-trick in the 1–5 away victory over German champions VfL Wolfsburg. Hertha did not manage to relegate hertha until the time of relegation. In 17 appearances for the club, Gekas scored 6 goals in 17 games.

Gekas first signed a two-year deal with Eintracht Frankfurt on May 19, 2010. In 34 appearances, he scored 16 goals, but this did not stop Eintracht from being relegated to the German second division.

Gekas left Eintracht under a cloud after not having trouble learning the language during his nearly six years in Germany. "I wonder how it is possible for someone to be living in Germany for five years but not be able to learn the language," Eintracht legend Egon Loy said. "I am being paid to accomplish goals, not to speak" when Gekas was told of the criticism.

Gekas signed a six-month deal with Samsunspor, Slovakia's Süper Lig side. In a game against Fenerbahçe, he scored his first goals against Orduspor and scored a hat-trick two weeks later.

Gekas made the move to the Spanish La Liga in August 2012, when he signed a two-year deal with Levante UD. He joined the club on November 27th, the same year.

Gekas signed a one-and-a-half-year deal with Turkish Süper Lig side Akhisar Belediyespor on January 25, 2013, then had trouble avoiding relegation. On his debut against Kayserispor on February 1, he scored a goal. In the 15 games he played during the remainder of the 2012-2013 season, Gekas scored 12 goals overall. Akhisar did not relegation because of his age.

Gekas signed a one-year deal with Süper Lig club Torku Konyaspor on September 5, 2013, wearing the number 22 shirt.

Gekas completed his return to his former club Akhisar Belediyespor on Friday, signing a two-year deal. Despite the fact that Gekas had no injuries and was the club's top scorer, he was left out of the team's squad on April 3, 2015, a surprise move by manager Roberto Carlos.

Gekas signed a one-year deal with Süper Lig club Eskişehirspor on July 7, 2015. Gekas left Eskişehirspor on November 20, 2015, after his deal was terminated by mutual consent.

Gekas joined Sion for three years in Turkey on February 1st, but he continued his studies in Switzerland. He made his Swiss Super League away win match against FC Zürich six days later on his debut with the club as a late replacement. He made his UEFA Europa League debut as a late replacement in a match against Sporting Braga in the round of 32 on February 17th. Gekas' victory over Sporting Braga on February 24, 2016 wasn't enough for Sion to qualify for the last 16 of UEFA Europa League. The Greek striker scores two spectacular goals against the Portuguese team, but his side didn't make it to the next round after a 2–2 draw. In a 3–2 home win over FC Luzern on February 27, 2016, he scored a brace against FC Luzern on February 27. In Sion's victory over FC Lugano on Sunday, he scored a hat-trick, becoming the second scorer of the team in just 12 games. In a 2–2 away draw against FC Luzern on May 25, he scored a brace. In his first season in the Swiss Super League, he scored at ten goals. In a 3–1 home victory over FC Valiant on August 27, he opened the scoring. It was his first goal for the 2016-2017 season. In his return to his first XI on October 29, 2016, he scored two goals in his return to help his club win a landslide victory over FC Lugano.

Sivasspor officially announced the signing of Gekas until the summer of 2018 for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal in the league at the game's late hour on Sunday, giving his club a crucial 3–2 away victory over Denizlispor in their fight for promotion. He suffered a dilatation joint in the medial team that had suffered cruciate ligament damage, requiring him to stay out of action for about 1 to two months. In a 3–0 home win over Bandrmaspor on May 7, 2017, he returned to the squad as a replacement.

International career

Gekas helped his country's team reach UEFA Euro 2008 and later became the top scorer among the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers among UEFA countries with ten goals. He was on the team's first victory at a World Cup at the 2010 World Cup. Gekas also ranks fifth in the top scorer rankings of Greece's national team. Gekas revealed on September 9, 2010, "extraordinary circumstances within the team," he explained. Following Sotiriakos and Ioannis Amanatidis, this was the third player to leave after coach Otto Rehhagel's departure.

Gekas said it was a mistake for him to resign from the national team, bringing him right back to the front page for manager Fernando Santos.

He was a member of the Greek squad at UEFA Euro 2012, where he appeared in every match and scored one goal against the Czech Republic in the group stage as his team advanced to the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Gekas started the team's first match against Colombia, which ended in a 3–0 loss. In the subsequent games against Japan (0-0 draw) and Ivory Coast (a 2–1 victory), Gekas came as a replacement, bringing Greece through the World Cup's knockout stage for the first time. Gekas came on as a replacement in Greece's round of 16 matches against Costa Rica in the 69th minute and assisted Sokratis Papastathopoulos' 91st-minute equalizer with a shot parried into the defender's path by Keylor Navas. The match was decided by a penalty shootout, with Gekas the only one to miss in a 5-3 Costa Rican victory.

Gekas's decision that returning to the Greek national team is not among his options: "The door of the Greece National Team has been closed." I would like to thank all the people who worked with the team over the past decade, and I hope that the current players will lead the team back to the former glory days."

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