Antonis Nikopolidis (; born 14 January 1971) is a Greek professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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and former player. He is regarded among the best Greek goalkeepers of all time having been awarded the most goalkeeper caps in the Greece national team and playing an integral part in the

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triumph.

Club career

Anagennisi Arta

Nikopolidis made his first steps at his local team of Anagennisi Arta, from which he was transferred to Panathinaikos in the summer of 1989.

Panathinaikos

He made his debut during the 1990–91 season in a match against his future club,

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

. In his early years as a Panathinaikos player, he was a back-up for Józef Wandzik. In 1995, he played five games as Panathinaikos won the

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and three as they retained it the following year. However, it wasn't until the 1997–98 season that he established himself as the first choice goalkeeper at the age of 26. In the 2002 Champions league campaign, he helped the club reach the quarter-finals. In the 2003–04 season, he lost his place to Konstantinos Chalkias when his contract negotiations broke down. Panathinaikos offered him

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400K per year which, although a pay-rise, he thought was not in line with his contributions to the team over the past 15 years nor with his current market value. As he did not immediately accept the offer the management became suspicious and decided to relegate him to the bench for the rest of the 2003–04 season. The Greek sports media and Panathinaikos fans at first took his side in the conflict and criticised president Vardinogiannis. Just before

, rumours were circulating that Nikopolidis had been approached by arch-rivals Olympiacos. It was discovered later that he had signed an agreement just before the tournament begun earning him

600K per year for three years. After that, the fans' disappointment in him was displayed during the celebrations following the team's 2003–04 season double when Nikopolidis, while raising the trophy, was booed by the majority of the crowd.

Olympiacos

Soon after being instrumental in

helping

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to lift the trophy, Nikopolidis joined Olympiacos, making an immediate impact for his once rival team. Keeping a clean sheet in the first derby against his former club in the process, he went on to win two Doubles in a row, making him the only Greek player to win three consecutive doubles with two different clubs. At his new team, Nikopolidis also earned a reputation for making game-winning saves in the most important games. Displaying his

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-saving abilities, Nikopolidis saved three penalty kicks against

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Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, and

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, making him undefeated from the penalty spot in UEFA Champions League football in the Olympiacos shirt. In the 2007–08 season, he also equaled the Greek league record for the most penalty kicks saved in one season, which included saves against

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

and former club Panathinaikos. Nikopolidis announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2009–10 season. However, he took back his decision to stop his career after

Sokratis Kokkalis Sokratis Kokkalis (Greek: Σωκράτης Κόκκαλης; born 1939) is a Greek businessman, founder and principal shareholder of Intracom Holdings. He was the son of Petros Kokkalis and spent his youth as a political refugee in East Ge ...

's insistence. The veteran goalkeeper stated that he would delay his retirement for one more year, to retire as champion. He signed an extension on 16 June that would keep him at Olympiacos for the 2010–11 season. He also took part in the international match "8th Match Against Poverty", on 14 December 2010, in

Karaiskakis Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium (), commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium (, ), is a Association football, football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the home ground of the Piraeus football club Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos. It i ...

in Greece, as the UNDP team's goalkeeper. In January 2011, IFFHS released a list with the best goalkeepers of the first decade, and Nikopolidis was in. He was also listed as one of the best goalkeepers of the years 1987 to 2011. On 20 March 2011, Olympiacos won the championship in a 6–0 win against rivals

AEK Athens F.C. A.E.K. Football Club (), known simply as A.E.K. (; ) in Greece and AEK Athens internationally, is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica, Greece. Established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the ...

, in Karaiskakis Stadium. He made his final appearance on 17 April 2011 in a home 6–0 victory against Larissa F.C. in Karaiskakis Stadium. As a final curtain call, he was replaced by Balázs Megyeri in the last minutes, so he could wave goodbye to the Olympiacos fans. As the Olympiacos captain, he was the player to accept the championship trophy, after the match.

International career

Nikopolidis made his debut for the

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on 18 August 1999 against

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. He played in the qualifying rounds of the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

and

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

where he excelled as Greece qualified for the finals. Nikopolidis was one of the cornerstones of the Greek win in Portugal, where he kept three clean sheets in the knockout stages. He was also voted goalkeeper of the Euro 2004 All Star team. On 15 June 2008, Nikopolidis announced his retirement from international football after

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

, claiming that he had made this decision before the tournament started, and also stating that it is about time for a major change in the Greece national team.

Managerial career

After retirement, Nikopolidis became the assistant manager of

in 2012. He was promoted to manager in January 2013 on an interim basis following the dismissal of Leonardo Jardim. After the arrival of Míchel, he remained in the team as his assistant. After the end of

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season, Nikopolidis left Olympiacos in order to start his career as a head coach. On 1 October 2015, he was named as manager of the

Greece national under-21 football team The Greece national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Greece and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Ch ...

Style of play

Despite not being particularly tall or agile, his excellent positional sense made him an effective shot-stopper and his ability to read and understand the game helped him rush quickly off his line in order to face one on one situations or act as a

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Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Panathinaikos *

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2003–04 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2003–04 *

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup (), formerly known as the Friendship and Solidarity Cup () is a Greek association football one-match competition, which is contested annually either between the champions of the previous Super League Greece season and the hold ...

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 ...

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 ...

Olympiacos *Super League Greece: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

*Greek Cup: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09 *Greek Super Cup:

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 ...

Greece *

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

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 ...

Individual * Greek Best Goalkeeper (8): 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09 (Record) * UEFA European Football Championship Team of the Tournament Member:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nikopolidis, Antonios 1971 births Living people Footballers from Arta, Greece Men's association football goalkeepers Anagennisi Arta F.C. players Greek men's footballers Olympiacos F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. players UEFA Euro 2004 players European champions for Greece 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA European Championship–winning players Greece men's international footballers Super League Greece players Greek football managers Proodeftiki F.C. managers Panionios F.C. managers