Apostolos Nikolaidis ( el, Απόστολος Νικολαΐδης, 19 April 1896 – 15 October 1980) was a Greek athlete, football manager and businessman. He was a leading board member and president of Panathinaikos A.C.

Life and career

He was born in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, a member of the Greek community. After his graduation from the

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi or ), often shortened to Robert, or RC, is a highly selective, independent, co-educational high school in Turkey.The Turkish education system divides schools ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, he moved first to

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

(where he competed as an athlete of

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

) and later to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

in 1917 and joined the family of Panathinaikos. He was an athletic phenomenon, as he successfully competed in

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

and also a successful

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. He was member of the Greek team of 1920 (in Antwerp), both as a football player and as a track athlete. He played football for more than ten years and contributed to all sports departments of PAO. He became also manager of the

Greece national football team The Greece national football team ( el, Εθνική Ελλάδας, ) represents Greece in men's international football matches and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece play most ...

. In 1926–27 he was elected president of the

Hellenic Football Federation The Hellenic Football Federation (HFF), also known as the Greek Football Federation ( el, Ελληνική Ποδοσφαιρική Ομοσπονδία; ΕΠΟ, translit=Ellinikí Podosferikí Omospondía; EPO) is the governing body of football ...

and for a period of more than twenty years president of the

Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association The Hellenic Athletics Federation (Greek: ; abbreviated SEGAS) is Greece's governing body for amateur sport. SEGAS was created in 1897 and has been the principal organiser of many international sporting competitions held in Greece. The associati ...

(1945–67). Moreover, he was president of the Automobile and Touring Club of Greece. For many decades, he was a board member of Panathinaikos A.C. and in 1974 he became president of the club. His contribution was significant to the transformation of Panathinaikos to a successful multi-sports club, apart from football. From 1974 to 1976 he was also president of the

Hellenic Olympic Committee The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) ( el, Ελληνική Ολυμπιακή Επιτροπή) is the governing Olympic body of Greece. It is the second oldest National Olympic Committee in the world (after the French Olympic Committee), it ...

. He was also a businessman and owner of

Softex Softex S.A. is a Greek paper towel company, headquartered in Athens, west of downtown. The company is located at the Acteon Building in Irinis Street, Neo Faliro, Athens. The first owner of the company was Apostolos Nikolaidis. It manufactures ...

. Upon his death, as an honour, his coffin was carried on the shoulders of eight athletes from different PAO departments: Ikonomopoulos, Kamaras, Antoniadis (football), Zacharopoulos (track), Georgantis, Iliopoulos (volleyball), Garos, Kalogeropoulos (basketball). The home stadium of Panathinaikos at Alexandras Avenue was named after him in 1981, at a ceremony presided by the then Prime Minister

Georgios Rallis Georgios Ioannou Rallis ( el, Γεώργιος Ιωάννου Ράλλης; 26 December 1918 – 15 March 2006), anglicised to George Rallis, was a Greek conservative politician and the 2nd Prime Minister of Greece from 1980 to 198 Ancestors in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolaidis, Apostolos 1896 births 1980 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Robert College alumni Greek decathletes Greek footballers Greek men's basketball players Greek Basket League players Greek men's volleyball players Bulgarian expatriates in the Ottoman Empire Bulgarian emigrants to Greece Olympic athletes of Greece Olympic footballers of Greece Association football midfielders Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Panathinaikos F.C. players Sportspeople from Plovdiv Panathinaikos A.O. Panathinaikos F.C. presidents Panathinaikos F.C. managers Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff Panathinaikos Athletics Greek male athletes Bulgarian people of Greek descent Olympic decathletes Greek football managers Greece national football team managers Constantinopolitan Greeks Footballers from Istanbul Basketball players from Istanbul Volleyball players from Istanbul Sportspeople from Istanbul Businesspeople from Istanbul