Anthony Koutoufides (; born 18 January 1973), also known by his

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

of Kouta, is a retired

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Considered by many as one of the most powerful and athletic players of all time, he played in almost every position and was often called the prototype of the modern footballer. Of

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming almost 99% of the 737,196 Cypri ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent, Koutoufides has been an Australian celebrity, making numerous television appearances both during and after his football career. He was a gladiator in the Australian television series ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

'' in character as Kouta, "a Gladiator touched by the gods"Kouta's new field of dreams
/ref> and won the Australian version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' in 2006.

Early life

The son of Anna (a migrant from Northern Italy) and Jim Koutoufides (a Greek-Cypriot refugee from Egypt) he was born and raised in

Lalor, Victoria Lalor () is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Whittlesea Local government areas of Victoria, local government area ...

a suburb in Melbourne near the border of Thomastown. He was raised in Thomastown and began playing football for the Lalor Football Club juniors and was schooled at Lalor Secondary College.For Mum and Dad - Kouta's multicultural story
By Tony De Bolfo, Carlton Media on 19 July 2018 Koutoufides was an outstanding

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, competing from grade six and winning gold in

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

at the 1984 Australian All Schools Championships.FORMER AFL STAR ANTHONY KOUTOUFIDES WAS ONCE A SCHOOL ATHLETICS CHAMPION
Published 23 November 2017 He also competed in the 110m hurdles and the discus. He aspired to the Olympics. His older brother Paul Koutoufides (who also played for Lalor and East Thomastown) was recruited by Carlton. The club had also pursued Anthony, however, he initially rejected a 3-year professional contract to focus on amateur athletics. After his brother made his reserves debut for Carlton on Round 22 1990 Koutoufides followed him as a career move and was officially recruited by the club. He played 50 games in the reserves, where he won the 1991 reserves best and fairest with Carlton.

AFL career

Anthony made his AFL debut in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, quickly establishing himself as one of the most versatile and athletic players ever to play the game. He was a strong mark, a beautiful kick and a hard runner. His profile grew through the early to mid-1990s, and he was a star of the game by 1995. Koutoufides was best known for both his strong mark, and his incredible one-handed capability at stoppages. He was better than any other player in the league at picking the ball up off the ground with one hand, and then looping that arm over opponents to set up clearing handpasses. He played in Carlton's 1995 premiership, earning

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

selection in that year. From 1996 to 1999, Koutoufides was a solid contributor to the team, playing more often in key positions. This was usually in defence, but played some games in the forward line, scoring his career-best 6.4 against Collingwood in 1997. He was the club leading goalkicker in 1997 with 28 goals. In 1999, he was selected in the final Victorian State of Origin team, his only ever Big V. Koutoufides rose to greatness in 2000, his best season. He played 20 games, averaging 26 disposals, over six marks and nearly two goals a game. He managed his career-high 39 disposals against

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in Round 8. He was clear favourite in the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

, but suffered a knee injury (torn

posterior cruciate ligament The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is a ligament in each knee of humans and various other animals. It works as a counterpart to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It connects the posterior intercondylar area of the tibia to the Medial condyl ...

) in Round 20 against

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

in front of 91,000 fans; he held the equal-lead in the Brownlow count at the time of his injury, but unable to poll votes in the final three games, he ultimately finished fourth. He would also fail to win Carlton's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

, that prize shared between Brett Ratten and Scott Camporeale, but he won the prestigious AFLPA MVP Award (now known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy), and would gain

selection for the second time; his knee injury would prevent him from taking part in the

International Rules International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

series. Koutoufides' PCL injury was healed before the start of 2001, and he had another stellar season, finally winning his first club best and fairest. However, in the semi-final against

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, he again sustained a knee injury, this time a very serious torn

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

. He would not play again until Round 15, 2002, playing only three games in that year and wearing a specially designed game-day knee brace. Koutoufides' capacity to jump was severely limited for the following years. Carlton's poor season was put down to his long-term injury. Following the retirement of Andrew McKay, Koutoufides was made the captain of the team in 2004, a position he held until 2006. As captain, Koutoufides won his second best and fairest in 2005, once again a key figure in Carlton's midfield. In 2007, he handed the captaincy to Lance Whitnall.

Retirement

Koutoufides announced his retirement from AFL football on 31 July 2007. The decision was made following a hip injury that he suffered against St Kilda in Round 17, 2007 which was discovered to be more severe than first expected. In Round 18, 2007, Carlton vs Collingwood game, he had a lap of honour and a standing ovation before the match from the Carlton players and the supporters. Having played 278 games, Koutoufides is eighth all-time on Carlton's list. Despite the usual practice of players changing to lower numbers after their junior seasons, Koutoufides wore the No. 43 guernsey through the prime of his career, and holds

VFL/AFL The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

record for games in that number. Koutoufides was selected in both the

and the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

teams of the century, in the latter of which he was named a vice-captain. He is a life-member of the Carlton Football Club. Furthermore, having played a total of 305 games (278 regular season games, 26 pre-season games, 1 State of Origin game), he is a life-member of the AFL. In 2014, he was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

Memorable performances

Standing out amongst Koutoufides' career are two particularly memorable performances. In Round 5, 1996, against West Coast at

Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco, Western Australia, Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood, ...

, Koutoufides dominated on the wing. He took his career-high 18 marks, including the final game-saving mark which kept the Blues ahead by one point. It was included in the "Memorable Moments" competition for the Subiaco Oval farewell. The second was his final quarter against

in the 1999 preliminary final. In the final quarter, Koutoufides moved into the midfield, and drifted forward and back, to finish with ten kicks and six marks, generating four clearances, three rebounds and two goals, helping the Blues to come from 11 points behind to famously beat the heavily favoured Bombers by one point. The performance was described by club legend (and later, president)

Stephen Kernahan Stephen Scott Kernahan (born 1 September 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and for the Glenelg Football Club in the South Australian National Football ...

as "the greatest quarter of football ever played".

Controversy

Through the mid-1990s, Koutoufides was hot property, becoming a pin-up boy for the club, appearing in the Men For All Seasons calendar on numerous occasions and being an AFL face of

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

and

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

in the mid-1990s. Competition between those rival companies for boots sponsorship caused a particular controversy in 1997, with Koutoufides having an individual adidas sponsorship, and Carlton having a team Nike sponsorship. The "Kouta's Boots" scandal nearly resulted in Koutoufides missing games unless he could fulfil his own endorsement contract, but the issue was resolved before any such action was taken. There was criticism that, in later years, Koutoufides did not deserve his $1 million contract, as he missed a vast number of matches due to injuries to his knee, hamstring and hand. However, much of Koutoufides' salary during the height of his career was deferred to later contracts for salary cap reasons.

Playing statistics

: , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 6 , , 1 , , 1 , , 49 , , 27 , , 76 , , 13 , , 1 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 8.2 , , 4.5 , , 12.7 , , 2.2 , , 0.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 8 , , 2 , , 5 , , 68 , , 48 , , 116 , , 19 , , 13 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 8.5 , , 6.0 , , 14.5 , , 2.4 , , 1.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 22 , , 6 , , 10 , , 222 , , 107 , , 329 , , 62 , , 26 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 10.1 , , 4.9 , , 15.0 , , 2.8 , , 1.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 25 , , 22 , , 13 , , 294 , , 216 , , 510 , , 128 , , 50 , , 0.9 , , 0.5 , , 11.8 , , 8.6 , , 20.4 , , 5.1 , , 2.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 24 , , 24 , , 15 , , 318 , , 201 , , 519 , , 145 , , 36 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 13.3 , , 8.4 , , 21.6 , , 6.0 , , 1.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 22 , , 28 , , 32 , , 270 , , 156 , , 426 , , 95 , , 20 , , 1.3 , , 1.5 , , 12.3 , , 7.1 , , 19.4 , , 4.3 , , 0.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 21 , , 11 , , 12 , , 225 , , 126 , , 351 , , 95 , , 23 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 10.7 , , 6.0 , , 16.7 , , 4.5 , , 1.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 20 , , 9 , , 5 , , 236 , , 164 , , 400 , , 116 , , 19 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 11.8 , , 8.2 , , 20.0 , , 5.8 , , 1.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 20 , , 36 , , 19 , , 282 , , 239 , , 521 , , 127 , , 40 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , 14.1 , , 12.0 , , 26.1 , , 6.4 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 22 , , 32 , , 20 , , 271 , , 238 , , 509 , , 126 , , 62 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 12.3 , , 10.8 , , 23.1 , , 5.7 , , 2.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 3 , , 3 , , 0 , , 14 , , 14 , , 28 , , 7 , , 4 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.7 , , 4.7 , , 9.3 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 22 , , 6 , , 7 , , 234 , , 234 , , 468 , , 55 , , 77 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 10.6 , , 10.6 , , 21.3 , , 2.5 , , 3.5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 12 , , 15 , , 10 , , 109 , , 86 , , 195 , , 43 , , 43 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 9.1 , , 7.2 , , 16.3 , , 3.6 , , 3.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 22 , , 13 , , 11 , , 223 , , 205 , , 428 , , 75 , , 62 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 10.1 , , 9.3 , , 19.5 , , 3.4 , , 2.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 18 , , 12 , , 14 , , 169 , , 172 , , 341 , , 89 , , 65 , , 0.7 , , 0.8 , , 9.4 , , 9.6 , , 18.9 , , 4.9 , , 3.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 43 , , 11 , , 6 , , 2 , , 81 , , 97 , , 178 , , 29 , , 27 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 7.4 , , 8.8 , , 16.2 , , 2.6 , , 2.5 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 278 ! 226 ! 176 ! 3065 ! 2330 ! 5395 ! 1224 ! 568 ! 0.8 ! 0.6 ! 11.0 ! 8.4 ! 19.4 ! 4.4 ! 2.0

Honours and achievements

*Team **

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1989, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

( Carlton): 1995 **

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

( Carlton): 1995 ** Pre-Season Cup ( Carlton): 1997, 2005, 2007 *Individual ** Leigh Matthews Trophy (AFLPA MVP Award): 2000 **

: 1995, 2000 ** Australian Football Media Association Player of the Year Award: 2000 ** Robert Reynolds Trophy/John Nicholls Medal (Carlton F.C. Best & Fairest): 2001, 2005 ** Carlton F.C. Leading Club Goalkicker Award: 1997 ** Carlton F.C. Captain: 2004–2006 ** Victorian Representative Honours: 1999 ** Carlton F.C. Life-Member ** AFL Life-Member ** Greek Team of the Century – Centre (VC) ** Italian Team of the Century – Centre Half-Back **

inductee: 2014

Personal life

In October 2002, Koutoufides married Susie Angeloski. They have two sons and a daughter. On 28 November 2006, Koutoufides won the fifth season of the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

's ''

''. In 2008, Koutoufides played "Kouta the Greek God" in the Seven Network's revival of ''

''. On the show he was usually referred to as "Kouta, a Gladiator touched by the gods". Koutoufides owned the Souvlaki Hut restaurant in Templestowe Lower with former Carlton teammate Ang Christou and became the advertising face for the franchise until its closure in early 2011. Koutoufides was a Lord Mayor candidate in the

2024 Melbourne City Council election The 2024 Melbourne City Council election was held on 26 October 2024 to elect nine councillors and a leadership team (consisting of a List of mayors and lord mayors of Melbourne, lord mayor and List of mayors and lord mayors of Melbourne, deputy ...

. He was unsuccessful, coming fourth place with 14.17% of the primary vote. Koutoufides stood in the

2025 Australian federal election The 2025 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 3 May 2025, to elect members of the 48th Parliament of Australia. All 150 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives were up for election, along with 40 ...

, as an independent in the

Division of Melbourne The Division of Melbourne is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the states and territories of Australia, State of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, represented since the 2025 Australian fede ...

. He polled 3.29% of the vote, with the seat ultimately being won by

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Sarah Witty Sarah Jane Witty is an Australian politician who was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the at the 2025 Australian federal election, for the Division of Melbourne. In the election, Witty defeated Adam Bandt, the leader of t ...

References

External links

Anthony Koutoufides at the Carlton Football Club website
*
Anthony Koutoufides profile in Blueseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koutoufides, Anthony 1973 births Australian people of Greek Cypriot descent Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent All-Australians (AFL) Carlton Football Club players Carlton Football Club premiership players Victorian State of Origin players Leigh Matthews Trophy winners John Nicholls Medal winners Lalor Football Club players Dancing with the Stars (Australian TV series) winners Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Living people VFL/AFL premiership players People from the City of Whittlesea