Salpingidis joined PAOK in 1999. He stayed with the team until 2006, except for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2002 periods when he played for Larissa and Kavala respectively.

In 2006 “Salpi” shocked the Greek football world when signing with the greens. The four-year contract brought PAOK €1.5m and €800 000 per year for Salpi. The amount was a record for a local transfer in Greece, but the player held a strong position with 100 games at the Thessaloniki stadium as the scorer of the team.