Happy birthday, Dimitris!
PAOK FC family wish all the best on a personal and professional level to Dimitris Konstantinidis who celebrates his 22nd birthday.
The young player’s CV
Not many players can boast having competed for PAOK senior squad while still being members of the U17 team! Dimitris Konstantinidis played his first unofficial encounter with the “big boys”, a friendly against FK Partizan in Toumba in the summer of 2010, just a few weeks after turning 16.
Born in Korinos Pierias on 2 June 1994, he lived for a short period in Germany before his parents relocated to Greece. He started playing football from a very young age, urged by his father who was coaching Thermaikos Korinos. He was 14 years old, when he was spotted by PAOK grassroots’ staff. It was in a game against Florina and he was playing in the right midfield – they moved to sign him immediately.
Since then he found his place on the right flank and very soon he was training with the senior squad of PAOK. In the summer of 2011 he signed a professional contract and in December 2012 he extended his deal with PAOK until 2017.
In 2012-13, he made 18 appearances proving he is a promising prospect for PAOK and Greek football. At the age of 18, he was a starter for the U20 team that participated in the FIFA World Cup U20 held in Turkey. His international duty deprived him of the main preseason stage of PAOK in the summer of 2013. Adding a few injury issues, he failed to maintain his high-level performances for the “Double-Headed Eagle”.
In January 2014 he was given on loan to Eginiakos. He went on to play in 20 encounters (scored one goal) before returning to Toumba Stadium.
The season started brightly for Konstantinidis last summer. He convinced Tudor of his abilities and became the regular starter at right back. He lined up some amazing performances in the first matches of the season, but his bad luck struck again. In the last encounter of 2015, against Platanias in Toumba Stadium, he suffered a tear of his knee cruciate ligament and was ruled out for the remainder of the season.
He returned to trainings in the last week of the season and he is now working to be in shape for preseason, aiming to leave injuries behind and come back stronger.
