Leonidas Kabantais

Leonidas Kampantais (born in March 8, 1982 in Athens, Greece) is a Greece soccer, currently playing for Arminia Bielefeld. On May 21 AEK did not renew Kampantais's contract and so he was released. He was signed on a two year deal by Arminia Bielefeld.

Career

In Aris Thessaloniki FC

Kampantais began his professional career in Aris FC in 2002, appearing in 11 matches in Alpha Ethniki (from 2006 has been renamed to Superleague (disambiguation)), scoring 2 goals. He remained in Salonica for another year, scoring 1 goal in 7 appearances.

The Move to AEK Athens

He joined AEK Athens in 2004. Kampantais picked number 11, which was used by Demis Nikolaidis, who was a fan favourite and current Chairman of AEK FC).

In Season 2005, Fernando Santos (Portuguese footballer) proposed him to go on-loan, to gain the required experience. He agreed, and moved to Anorthosis Famagusta FC, where Temuri Ketsbaia (a former player of AEK Athens) was a player-manager. However, Kabantais returned after 6 months, in January 2006 in sports, after scoring only 2 goals and wasting numerous goal opportunities in 14 matches. Although Kabantais claimed that the reason Anorthosis released him due to personal problems he had with player/manager Temuri Ketsbaia which appeared to be true.
He moved then to Panionios NFC for 6 months. Panionios NFC had the option of buying the player. At first, he was not considered to play very well, even though he appeared in almost every game, scoring 2 very important goals. Additionally, the last 3-4 appearances were very good.

In 2006, Ilija Ivic told him that the best for him was to go on-loan again. However, Kampantais was unwilling to go, unless the new manager would tell him so. Llorenç Serra Ferrer (the new manager), gave him enough chances to prove his worth, as he did. However, Llorenç Serra Ferrer did not register him for the UEFA Champions League matches, which upset Leonidas, but he later showed his worth.

Even though not considered a first team regular, he was one of the best players in the friendly matches. Llorenç Serra Ferrer, trusted him in the derby vs. Panathinaikos. Leonidas, even thought he didn't score, did a good game.

The next match, in which Kampantais played, was versus Aris FC and AEL 1964. These two matches were critical for AEK, and Leonidas managed to score in each game once (in both matches he was in the first team). Versus Kerkyra FC, Kampantais, was awarded two clear penalties. He was announced as Most Valuable Player in that match. That was the first time Kampantais was given this award.

Since then he appeared in every match and scored goals. He was voted one of the two MVP in the big derby against Olympiakos early February and rumors say that Otto Rehhagel (Greek National Team coach) is seriously considering to call him up.

His contract with AEK expired summer 2007. On May 21 he was released by AEK and signed by German team Arminia Bielefeld.

In Arminia Bielefeld/Bundesliga

Kampantais began his Fußball-Bundesliga 2007-08 career in Arminia Bielefeld in 2007
and picked number 27.

International career

Kampantais played for the Greece national football team in 2004 Summer Olympics.