Angelos Charisteas
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Angelos Charisteas (Άγγελος Χαριστέας) (born February 9, 1980 in Serres, Greece) is a striker on the Greece national football team. At the 2004 European Football Championship, he scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over France to lead his team to the semifinals. He went on to score the only goal in Greece's 1-0 win over Portugal in the final.
Professionally, Charisteas plays for Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie. He was signed from German Bundesliga side Werder Bremen in December 2004, after both leagues went on their annual winter break, thereby opening the transfer window. He was largely a fringe player at Bremen before Euro 2004, and his heroics did not change his status there, as he was the fourth-choice striker at Bremen. Greece national team coach Otto Rehhagel publicly urged Charisteas to try to move to another club during the January 2005 transfer window in order to get first-team action.
The deal was logical for both clubs. Bremen wished to raise money and clear payroll in order to make a bid for Monaco striker Shabani Nonda. For its part, Ajax was hoping to find a replacement for Swedish international striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was sold to Italian power Juventus before the 2004-05 season.de:Angelos Charisteas et:Angelos Charisteas nl:Angelos Charisteas ja:アンゲロス・ハリステアス pl:Angelos Charisteas sv:Angelos Charisteas