Traianos Dellas
Traianos Dellas (Τραϊανός Δέλλας) (born January 31, 1976 in Thessaloniki) is a Greek football player. A towering, strong defender who plays for the Greece National Football Team and AEK Athens.
Dellas had an exceptional tournament at Euro 2004 partnering Michalis Kapsis in the centre of what became an almost unpenetratable Greek defence, leading to his being voted onto the tournament All-star Squad. He scored the goal that put Greece in the final of the tournament, a "silver goal" in the last minute of the first half of extra time against the Czech Republic. (Strictly speaking, this was the only silver goal ever scored, all other silver goals having been scored in the second half of extra time and thus not forcing the game to end sooner than it otherwise would have done.)
Dellas got his start with Greek side Aris (1994 - 1997) before moving on to Sheffield United in England. He returned to Greece with AEK Athens before securing a transfer to Perugia FC of Italy, where his spectacular defensive performances and technical ability earned him a transfer to AS Roma in 2002.
After finally establishing himself as a starter following the move of coach Fabio Capello to Juventus, Dellas' play was outstanding. He earned the peculiar honor, in fact, of being one of only three players, (including playmaker Francesco Totti and striker Vincenzo Montella), who were not consistently booed by the fans during training and games during Roma's disastrous 2004 and 2005 seasons. After failing to renew his contract with the club, Dellas became a free agent. Wary of the player's form and fitness, he missed nearly 8 months of football due to back and hernia injuries, and thus, expected offers from the big clubs of Europe failed to materialize. He recently signed a contract with old-club AEK Athens where he will rejoin his former teammate, club president Demis Nikolaidis and previous coach Fernando Santos.
