Stelios Konstantinidis ( el, Στέλιος Κωνσταντινίδης; born on 6 June 1947) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. His nickname was ''"The Wardrobe"'' ''( el, "Ντουλάπας")'', due to his immense, at the standards of the time, physique.

Club career

Konstantinidis started football in 1963, when at the age of 16, he joined the infrastructure departments of

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

. When the manager of the club,

Jenő Csaknády Jenő Csaknády (20 September 1924 – 7 January 2001) was a Hungarian football manager. Csaknády studied football at the Budapest Sports Academy for 8 semesters, while for 8 years he was the coach of the Hungarian team Czepel. He wrote a bo ...

saw him play in 1967, impressed by his physique, he immediately promoted him to the first team, where the career of the legendary goalkeeper, Stelios Serafidis, was approaching to its end. A ferocious goalkeeper who "filled" the area and had proverbial exits, Konstantinidis established himself permanently in the starting eleven in 1968. Under

Branko Stanković Branko "Stane" Stanković ( sr-Cyrl, Бранко "Стане" Станковић, ; 31 October 1921 – 20 February 2002) was a Bosnian Serb footballer and manager, from Sarajevo. Playing career Club He started his career in SK Slavija Saraje ...

, he was a key contributor to the team's course to the

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...

of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

in 1969, where he kept his club with his performances in very crucial matches, as well in the success of 1971 and consisted an irreplaceable member of the team until 1973. He was also key member of the team that won second place in the

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establ ...

, losing only in the final by Fenerbahçe. After a fracture in his arm, on 3 October 1971 in a home match against

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891 ...

, he began losing his position in the starting eleven. With AEK he won 2

Championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

in his 5-year presence at the club. With the presence of

Néstor Errea Néstor Errea (27 April 1939 – 3 June 2005) was an Argentine professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His nickname was ''"El Flaco"'' ''( eng, "The Skinny")'' because of his tall, slender body physique. Club career Errea started fo ...

and the promising

Lakis Stergioudas Triantafyllos "Lakis" Stergioudas ( el, Τριαντάφυλλος "Λάκης" Στεργιούδας; born 11 December 1952) is Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Stergioudas started playing football ...

from 1972, as well as the transfer of Giorgos Sidiropoulos the following summer, made Konstantinidis leave the club and sign for

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou Atromitos Yeroskip ...

, where he played until 1977, where he ended his career at the age of only 30.

After football

Konstantinidis actively participates in the events of Veterans Associations of AEK Athens, where he served as their vice president, and follows the team closely.

Honours

AEK Athens *

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 1967–68, 1970–71

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konstantinidis, Stelios Men's association football goalkeepers 1947 births Living people Greece men's international footballers Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Atromitos F.C. players Footballers from Athens Greek men's footballers