Dimitris Salpingidis

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Dimitris Salpingidis (alternative spelling Salpigidis or Salpiggidis) is a retired Greek football forward.

Salpingidis was born in Thessaloniki on August 18, 1981. He was a member of the Greek under-21 side that played in the finals of the European Championship and made his Alpha Ethniki debut for PAOK on August 25, 2002, against Panathinaikos, a game PAOK won 4-1.

He eventually came to be crowned top scorer of the 2006 season.

Salpingidis transferred to Panathinaikos on the final day of the Summer 2006 transfer window - which was the eve of his 25th birthday - for a reported 1.7 million euros plus players Sandor Torghelle, Tsingas and Kostas Charalambidis who went the other way.

The investment paid dividends on the very first day of the 2007 season as Salpingidis scored a hat trick against Aegaleo FC. After three successful seasons with Panathinaikos, in June 2010, Salpingidis signed once more to play for PAOK. Salpingidis retired on August 24, 2015 being PAOK’s second best scoring player in European competitions with 14 goals in 60 appearances (most of all PAOK-players). He played 262 league games for PAOK scoring 90 goals, what makes him #3 at the the list of league topscorers for PAOK.


He also scored 46 league goals for the “Greens” what makes a grand total of 136 goals at the highest level in Greece. In Beta Ethniki Salpingidis scored another 25 goals for Kavala during his time as a loanee there (2000-2002). He did not score on loan at AE Larisa (1999-2000).


Salpingidis was first capped by the National Football Team of Greece in 2005. Since then, he has had the distinctions of:

  • scoring the lone goal for Greece in their playoffs against Ukraine (0-0, 1-0) which secured a place for Greece in the World Cup 2010 Finals
  • Scoring the first ever goal for Greece in a World Cup Final (June 17, 2010 in the 44th minute of a 2-1 victory over Nigeria)
  • Scoring the first and last goals for Greece in Euro 2012
  • Being the first Greek to have scored at the World Cup and the EURO

Salpingidis ended his career at the National Football Team of Greece after 82 games, scoring 13 goals. 9 of those goals as player of PAOK, making him the most scoring PAOK-player for a national team.