Kostas Nestoridis

Kostas Nestoridis (Κώστας Νεστορίδης, 15 March 1930 – 12 December 2023) was a Greek professional footballer, who played as a forward and a manager. He was amongst the best players in the history of AEK Athens and one of the greatest Greek footballers and goalscorers.

Early life
Κostas Nestoridis was born on 15 March 1930 in Drama and was the youngest of three children of the Pontian Greek Giorgos and Kyriaki, who arrived in Thrace as refugees after the Asia Minor disaster. He and his siblings, Christos and Nopi, experienced intensely the financial misery and the struggles of the refugee life during their childhood. The work difficulties that his parents repeatedly faced, affected the young Nestoridis and were several times the criteria for any decisions during his football career. With his family, he traveled from the dirt roads of Drama, to the fields of Kallithea, in search of labor and later to the fields of Preveza, where they took refuge during The Occupation. There, his talent in football charmed the crowds. Even through he loved enacting with football, it always came second in his priorities, as the need for assistance in the family finances came first, something that forced Nestoridis to work from a young age as a polisher, cigarette seller, shoemaker assistant and shepherd during his days at Preveza. After the end of the World War II, the return and resettlement of the family in Kallithea marked his most active involvement with football. In his neighborhood there was an independent club called PAO Kallitheas. They were not a recognizable team, but they provided a football kit and lemonade at the half time for their players, things that were almost considered as luxury for the then standards of the young Nestoridis. His debut, which was marked by scoring five goals, began to spread a legend around his name. That legend did not take long to cross the narrow borders of the post-war Kallithea and reached the ears of Kostas Negrepontis, who was looking for a partner to Kleanthis Maropoulos in the offense of AEK Athens. One Sunday afternoon in Kallithea, Negrepontis, impressed by his dribbling skills and shooting technique, did not hesitate and invited Nestoridis to Nea Filadelfeia for a tryout. AEK's officials were impressed by his talent, but did not ask him to sign a sport's card and responded to his persistent calls for work with some vague promises of appointment to the Water Company. After about a month, where nothing came out, Nestoridis left AEK and football training, giving priority in finding a solution to his intense livelihood problem.

Early years
Nestoridis made his next step in his football career on a night in 1946, when his neighbor and friend, Kostas Sotiriadis, who was playing for Panionios, met him in Kallithea Square and suggested that he visit Nea Smyrni for another tryout. There, the coach Roussopoulos, having received information from Sotiriadis and impressed by his abilities, made him sign a sport's card, including him in the roster of Panionios. His urgent need for daily work as a cigarette retailer did not allow him to continue training with Panionios.

He occasionally played football in his neighborhood until Karamalengos, the owner of the factory "Indiana" and a member of Hellas Moschato, heard about him. He offered Nestoridis a steady job in his business and offered him to sign in his team. The young Nestoridis, seeing that his two big dreams, the steady job and football were being materialized at the same time, did not hesitate to sign a fake sport's card under the name "Brinzos", as was the nickname of his brother, Christos and started playing in Hellas Moschato. The team became champions of their division in Piraeus Football Clubs Association, with Nestoridis scoring 48 goals and becoming their star player. He played for the club from Moschato until 1948. His career there ended ingloriously, as before the start of the crucial match for the championship against Palia Kokkinia, a rival fan recognized Nestoridis and started shouting him with his real name. The officials of Hellas, fearing the revelation of forgery and punishment, did not use him, resulting in the 2–1 defeat and the loss of the championship. Their subsequent efforts to secure a free transfer of Nestoridis from Panionios were also fruitless.

Panionios
Nestoridis stayed for the first time in his career out of football competitions for a year and in 1949 with the exhortation of the former footballer of Olympiacos, Babis Kotridis, he decided to join Panionios. There, he eventually got the chance to play under Negrepontis, who was the coach at the time and they formed a strong friendship. He wore the blue-red jersey for seven years and in 63 appearances he scored 26 goals, winning the first and only AFCA league title of the club in 1951, finishing as its top scorer with seven goals. At the same season, he had scored and starred in the victory of Panionios by 2–1 against AEK Athens in AEK Stadium and also became an international. The following season he reached the Greek Cup final, where the they lost to Olympiacos in a replay match as they first match ended in a draw. Nevertheless, Nestoridis did not spend beautiful days at the club. The "cliques" of the older players considered him a "foreigner" and did not miss the opportunity to fight him, while from the side of the management he was treated simply as a product, that at some point would fill the club's coffers by transferring to one of the big clubs of POK.

In May 1955, AEK Athens organized a "Solidarity Cup" with the earnings of the tournament going for the completion of the works in their stadium. Panionios participated in the tournament and after its end in June, their management pressured him to transfer at Olympiacos or Panathinaikos. He refused and faithful to his refugee origins and in July he signed for AEK who gave him 15,000 drachmas, without the consent of Panionios, with the actions of the vice-president of AEK, Vasilis Sevastakis. He was punished by the HFF with a two-year ban from the competitive activities.

AEK Athens
Nestoridis was boiling, as he waited for his punishment to end, competing only in friendly matches, with the only distractions being his marriage and the birth of his son. The end of his punishment and his debut with the yellow-black jersey came in September 1957. His arrival at AEK also marked a period of renewal for the club. The managerial duo of the former players Tzanetis and Negrepontis took charge of the team's renewal with the veterans such as Maropoulos, Delavinias, Arvanitis passing the torch to the younger generation of Serafidis, Stamatiadis and Poulis, with Kanakis being the "connecting spot".

"Captain Nestoras", as he was called, immediately established himself at the club and it didn't take him long enough to become a star player domestically. On the eve of a derby against Olympiacos, a photo was published, where Nestoridis was showing the up-right corner of the goalposts of Savvas Theodoridis and saying that if AEK took the kick-off of the match, he would send the ball in that corner, from the first minute. The next day, immediately with the kick-off, Nestoridis scored a goal in the corner he had indicated in the photo. In 1960, Nice and the Essen wanted to sign him, but he refused.

Nestoridis scored the first hat-trick in the history of the first division on 6 December 1959 in an away match against Panegialios. On 7 March 1961, the administration of AEK imposed a one-month ban on him, because in the match against Panionios, he showed unsportsmanlike behavior towards his colleagues and the referee, but eventually took back their decision. He is the only player to become the top scorer of the Greek championship five times in a row. He is one of only three players in the history of AEK who managed to score five goals in a single league match which he achieved on 2 June 1963 against Iraklis. He was the scorer of the first goal of AEK in the UEFA competitions, on 18 September 1963 in a heavy 7–2 defeat against Monaco, for the European Cup. Until today he remains one of the club's highest scoring players, widely regarded as one of the greatest players to ever play for the yellow-blacks. He and another legend of AEK, Mimis Papaioannou, formed one of the club's most formidable goalscoring partnerships. In the eight seasons he played for AEK, he was always the top scorer of the team with the exception of 1964, when Papaioannou surpassed him. He had scored 13 times with a direct corner kick, one of them being one of the goals the 3–3 in the play-off match against Panathinaikos on 23 June 1963, which won the title for AEK after 23 years and Nestoridis his only Greek Championship of his career. He also won with AEK a Greek Cup in 1964. In the summer of 1965, Nestoridis took the decision to leave the club, but the possible departure of Papaioannou made him reconsider his decision and stayed to the double-headed eagle for one more season, despite his advanced age.

South Melbourne Hellas
In January of 1966, Nestoridis left AEK after almost 11 years of presence and being constantly in search of a better life and a more complete professional rehabilitation he moved in Australia and signed for the expatriate South Melbourne Hellas, as a player–coach. Although being at the age of 36, in his first season at the club, he managed to become the top scorer of the state championship of Victoria with 21 goals and helped his team to win the title. In all the stadiums that he played, there was always a crowd of the people of the Greek community, as well as Australians, who flocked to watch him. The following year he returned to Greece to end his career at AEK, but was rejected by the then administration, due to his advanced age. He returned to Australia and Hellas Melbourne and scored another 12 goals with their jersey, this time finishing in 4th place in the league.

Return to Greece and retirement
In January 1967 Nestoridis returned permanently to Greece and played for Vyzas Megara However, he only manages to make only two appearances, after it is revealed that his signing date was overdue and the transfer was cancelled. Later in the season, he looked for a club and trained successively in Egaleo, Panionios and Ionikos. In February 1968, he signed as a player-coach for Aias Salamina, where he played in the second division. He debuted in a 2–1 away defeat against PAS Giannina on 3 March 1968 and he scored his first goal in the match against AO Chania in 2–1 home win on 31 March 1968. He remained until 20 April, where he resigned, thus ending his great career.

International career
In 1950 Nestoridis volunteered for the Air Force to play for the Greek Military team, where started scoring a lot of goals and participated in the CISM Football Cup. At the end of his two-year term, he declared another four years as recalled and remained in the army for a total of six years. However, in a match with against the Italian Military team in 1956, a political issue arose about how an ordinary soldier without being an officer participated in the Military team for so many years. He was then offered a job in the Air Force, but he refused and withdrew from the Military team.

Nestoridis played with Greece a total of 17 times: 2 as a player of Panionios and 15 as a player of AEK Athens, scoring 3 goals. The number of his appearances was very little for a player of his level, as he did not have good relations with the respective selectors of the national team. He made his debut in the blue and white jersey on 14 October 1951.

Managerial career
After his playing career was over, Nestoridis officially began his coaching career passing from the benches of various clubs such as Paniliakos and Kallithea, among others.

In 1981 AEK Athens were in the midst of radical changes, as the great Loukas Barlos left the club, with the ownership passing onto the hands of Andreas Zafiropoulos. At the same time, Miltos Papapostolou was removed from the technical leadership, which was assigned to Hans Tilkowski. The complete ignorance of the German regarding the Greek reality required the placement of an assistant next to him, with excellent knowledge and experience from the Greek football, as well as the club itself, which AEK found in the person of Nestoridis. The course of the team was disappointing and after seven wins, six draws and four defeats that left them behind in the standings, Tilkowski was sacked and replaced by the winner of the 1978 double, Zlatko Čajkovski. Nestoridis remained in the position of assistant of the new coach, being the connecting link between the previous and the current technical leadership, while also handling the situation in the team's locker rooms. The Čajkovski-Nestoridis duo somewhat fixed the situation by bringing AEK eventually in 4th place with 45 points, just five points from the top, however, the return of "Čik" at the wheel was nothing similar to his first term. In the summer of 1982, AEK were being prepared by "Čik-Nestoras" duo for the upcoming season, while the owner Zafiropoulos placed Michalis Arkadis as the club's president. The situation in the team was becoming more and more strange, as the communication between the technical leadership, the president and the major shareholder were becoming more confusing and Čajkovski showed that his advanced age made him lose any ambition for the club. In all this confusion, Nestoridis tried to maintain the balances within the team. On 9 January 1983, the team faced a home defeat against OFI by 3–2, while the memory of the 5-goal defeat at the hands of PAOK in Toumba Stadium three games ago was still fresh. Everyone's indignation for "Čik" was obvious and he was removed, with Nestoridis taking over the technical leadership, as an interim as it turned out, since after about forty days Helmut Senekowitsch was hired. Nestoridis, having made three wins and two draws in the away matches, delivered the club second with a little distance from the top, while he felt rather sidelined from the hiriging of the Austrian manager and temporarily resigned from the technical staff.

The following summer, there were a series of reshuffles in the long-suffering AEK, as the major shareholder Zafiropoulos assigned the management of the club to Lefteris Panagidis and Dimitris Roussakis, with the former being in charge. The Cypriot businessman, connoisseur and fan of English football immediately hired the British John Barnwell as a coach. Barnwell stayed on the yellow-black bench for just 12 games and the recently fired Senekowitsch was called as his replacement. The second spell of "Seki" lasted for only eight games, managing three defeats, three draws and just two wins. Thus, after two consecutive home draws, the contract of the Austrian manager was terminated and Nestoridis was called to take action in the technical leadership of the club. He remained on the team's bench until the summer of 1984 and achieving five wins, one draw and four defeats, where AEK finished at the 7th place, recording one of their worst appearances in the league.

After football
In June 2017 Nestoridis opened his football academies, under the name Nestoras FC. His wax figure is in the new Agia Sophia Stadium museum with other wax effigies of people who have connected their name with AEK from various positions. His name also is honoured on one of the four pillars of the Stadium, alongside other important figures of the club's history such as Stelios Serafeidis, Mimis Papaioannou and Thomas Mavros.

Personal life
Nestoridis lived in Kallithea with his wife, Eleni and their son, Giorgos, who maintains the family’s Pro-Po business. He had health problems and avoided publicity. On 16 March 2022, he was tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized at Sotiria General Hospital, from where he tried to escape, but a few days later he recovered and got out five days later. Οn 30 September 2022, he attended the inauguration of the Agia Sophia Stadium, where he was honored. Οn 18 November 2023, he had a brief hospitalization after a fall at his home.

Death
Nestoridis died on the morning of 12 December 2023, after a long-term struggle with health issues at the age of 93. On 16 December, at the Church of the Holy Trinity next to Agia Sophia Stadium, his remains lied in state, before his funeral in Kallithea Cemetery.

Style of play
From a young age Nestoridis was gifted with an innate and unrepeatable talent, that of absolute "communication" with the ball. As a little boy, without being introduced or taught anything, Nestoridis showed from the beginning that there was a magical relationship between the ball and himself, with his magic touch. Those who saw Nestoridis in action had something to say about his elaborate actions. They talked about a balancing craftsman who acrobatically leaned on one of his legs and with bursts of speed and waist fractures disoriented any opponent who aspired to stop him. When the time came for the execution, he was unbeatable. The ball seemed to obediently follow the course ordered by Nestoridis, drawing tracks inconceivable to the common sense. He was a specialist in free-kicks and corner kicks, having scored 17 goals from direct corner kicks.

He used to announce the way he would maneuver and send the ball with the final shot. And it was verified to such an extent that it "forced" the fan of Olympiacos and great laïko musician, Vangelis Perpiniadis to write and sing the success of the time: "And like Nestoridis, no one will come out, to say where the ball will be sent.” (“Και σαν τον Νεστορίδη κανένας δεν θα βγεί,να λέει πως η μπάλα εκεί θα καρφωθεί.”).

International

 * Scores and results list Greece's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nestoridis goal.


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Honours
Panionios
 * Athens FCA Championship: 1951

AEK Athens
 * Alpha Ethniki: 1962–63
 * Greek Cup: 1963–64

South Melbourne
 * Victorian State League: 1966

Individual
 * Athens FCA Championship top scorer: 1951
 * Greek Championship top scorer: 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61 1961–62, 1962–63
 * Greek Cup top scorer: 1959–60, 1960–61
 * Victorian State League top scorer: 1966

Records

 * First player to score five goals in a single Greek league match. He scored all the goals for his team in the 5–0 at home against Iraklis on 2 June 1963.
 * Most Greek championship top scorer awards: five (from 1959 to 1963, shared with Antonis Antoniadis)
 * Most consecutive Greek championship top scorer awards: five (from 1959 to 1963)