Konstantinos Tsimikas ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Τσιμίκας; born 12 May 1996) is a Greek professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and the Greece national team. Tsimikas previously played for

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

, and also had loan spells with

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

and Willem II.

Club career

Early career

Tsimikas was born in Thessaloniki, and hails from the village of

Lefkonas Lefkonas ( el, Λευκώνας) is a village and a former municipality in the Serres regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Serres, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an a ...

Serres Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northe ...

. He started his career from his village's local team and he transferred to AS Neapoli Thessaloniki when he was 14 years old. In 2013, he moved to

Panserraikos Panserraikos Football Club ( el, Πανσερραϊκός 1964), the ''All-Serres Football Club'', is a Greece, Greek Association football, football club based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and ...

and he scored 5 goals during 2013–14 season in

Gamma Ethniki The Gamma Ethniki ( el, Γ΄ Εθνική Ερασιτεχνική Κατηγορία, C National Amateur Division) is the third highest football league in Greece. History The Gamma Ethniki began in 1965 as an amateur championship, while in 198 ...

Olympiacos

Tsimikas made his

debut in the Super League in a match against AEL Kalloni on 19 December 2015.

Loan to Esbjerg

On 28 December 2016, Tsimikas signed for Danish club

on a loan until the end of the 2016–17 season. On 17 February 2017, in his debut with the club, he scored a goal in a 3–0 home win game against

SønderjyskE Fodbold SønderjyskE (full name: ''SønderjyskE Fodbold'', ) is the football department of the Danish multi-sport club Sønderjysk Elitesport. The club plays in the second tier of Danish football, the Danish 1st Division. Their home is Sydbank Park in ...

. He left the club after 13 games, and returned to Olympiacos.

Loan to Willem II

On 30 June 2017, Tsimikas made another loan move, this time to Dutch club Willem II on a season-long contract. He was a regular in the

2017–18 Eredivisie The 2017–18 Eredivisie was the 62nd season of the Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. The season began on 11 August 2017 and concluded on 6 May 2018; the Europa League and relegation play-offs took place later that month. Feyenoord wer ...

, starting 32 of the 34 matches, and also scored 5 goals. In the quarter-finals of the KNVB Cup, his deflected free kick took the tie into extra time, and Willem II went on to beat

Roda Roda may refer to: Places *Stadtroda (called Roda until 1925), a town in Thuringia, Germany *Roda, Greece, a village in Corfu, Greece * Roda, Punjab, a town and Union Council of Punjab, Pakistan *Roda, Portugal, a village in Viseu district, Portu ...

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. Tsimikas' spectacular

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

in a 3–2 win against FC Utrecht was voted ''

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but le ...

'' Goal of the Month and contributed to his being named Eredivisie Rookie of the Month for March 2018.

Return to Olympiacos

Coach Pedro Martins kept Tsimikas at Olympiacos for the 2018–19 season. In November 2018, he crossed for

Kostas Fortounis Konstantinos 'Kostas' Fortounis ( gr, Κωνσταντίνος 'Κώστας' Φορτούνης, ; born 16 October 1992) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Super League club Olympiacos and ...

' first goal in a 5–1 defeat of

F91 Dudelange F91 Dudelange (; lb, F91 Diddeleng, italic=no, ) is a Luxembourger professional football club based in Dudelange which plays in the Luxembourg National Division. It was formed in 1991 as a merger between three teams in the town: Alliance Dud ...

in the Europa League group stage; both players were named in the UEFA Europa League Team of the Week. In late 2018 he did not start many games but was still offered a new deal, keeping Tsimikas at the club until the summer of 2023.

Liverpool

On 11 August 2020, Tsimikas signed for

on a deal for reported fee of £11.75 million. He became just the second Greek footballer to become a Liverpool player after

Sotirios Kyrgiakos Sotirios Kyrgiakos ( el, Σωτήριος Κυργιάκος, born 23 July 1979) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Club career Kyrgiakos made his first football steps with a local team, Thyella Megaloc ...

who joined the club from

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

in 2009. He made his debut for Liverpool in the EFL Cup on 24 September 2020, against Lincoln City in a 7–2 win. He made his Premier League debut as a substitute for

Andrew Robertson Andrew Henry Robertson (born 11 March 1994) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Liverpool and captains the Scotland national team. Robertson began his senior career with Queen's Park in 2012 before joini ...

against Manchester City in a 4–1 loss. On 14 August 2021, he made his first league start in the 3–0 away win against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

on the opening weekend of the season. He followed this up with a man-of-the-match performance on 21 August, providing the assist for

Diogo Jota Diogo José Teixeira da Silva (born 4 December 1996), known as Diogo Jota (), is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward or a winger for Premier League club Liverpool and the Portugal national team. Jota started his car ...

's goal in a 2–0 win over Burnley. On 13 April 2022, at the quarter-finals of the

2021–22 UEFA Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madri ...

against Benfica, Tsimikas provided two assists in a 3–3 draw, helping Liverpool to secure their place in the semi-finals. He was named Player of the Match. On 14 May 2022, Liverpool faced

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the

FA Cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. With the game having finished 0–0 after 90 minutes, Tsimikas came off the bench in the 111th minute to replace the injured Robertson. Liverpool then won

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

6–5, with Tsimikas scoring the deciding penalty. He said afterwards, "The boss asked me which number (penalty) I want, and I said number seven. He asked 'why so far?'. I said 'I just want number seven' and it gave me the opportunity to win the game. I chose the right side and scored."

International career

Tsimikas received his first call-up to the Greece senior team for the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competiti ...

matches against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in October 2018. He made his international debut in the starting eleven for the match at home to Hungary on 12 October, and crossed for

Kostas Mitroglou Konstantinos "Kostas" Mitroglou ( el, Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Μήτρογλου, ; born 12 March 1988) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is nicknamed "Mitrogoal" and "Pistolero" by fans due to his go ...

to score the only goal of the game.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Olympiacos * Super League Greece: 2015–16, 2019–20 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

: 2019–20 Liverpool *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 2021–22 * EFL Cup: 2021–22 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

: runner up: 2021–22 Individual *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

Talent of the Month: March 2018 * Greek Football Player of the Year: 2019–20 * Super League Greece Team of the Year: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the Liverpool F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsimikas, Kostas 1996 births Living people People from Lefkonas Footballers from Thessaloniki Greek footballers Association football defenders Olympiacos F.C. players Esbjerg fB players Willem II (football club) players Liverpool F.C. players Super League Greece players Eredivisie players Premier League players FA Cup final players Greece youth international footballers Greece under-21 international footballers Greece international footballers Greek expatriate footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Greek expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Greek expatriate sportspeople in England Greek expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands