Kostas Nestoridis

Κostas Nestoridis was born on March 15, 1930 in Drama and was the youngest of three children of the Pontian Greek parents,[2] George and Kyriaki who had arrived in Thrace as refugees after the Asia Minor disaster. Him and his simblings, Christos and Nopi, experienced the financial misery and the struggles of the refugee life intensely in their childhood. The work difficulties that his parents repeatedly faced deeply engraved the soul of the little Kostas Nestoridis and were several times the criterion for any moves and decisions during his career. From the dirt roads of Drama to the fields of Kallithea where his family was forced to move in search of work and to the fields of Preveza where they took refuge during "The Occupation", the dazzling talent of the little one dazzled experts in football and not. Of course, dealing with his favorite football always took second place as the need for assistance in the family finances prevailed, something that forced Nestoridis to work from a young age as a polisher, cigarette seller, shoemaker assistant and shepherd in Preveza. After the end of the war, 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 reached the limits of luxury for the then standards of the little Kostas. His amazing debut which was marked by scoring five goals began to weave the legend around his name. The legend did not take long to cross the narrow borders of post-war Kallithea and reach the ears of Kostas Negrepontis, who was looking for a partner to Kleanthis Maropoulos in the attack of AEK Athens. One Sunday afternoon in Kallithea, Negrepontis was enchanted to see for himself an air dribbler overcoming everyone and scoring at will, and without hesitation he invited Nestoridis to Nea Filadelfeia. AEK's officials were impressed by his talent but did not ask him to sign a sport's card and responded to Nestoridis' persistent calls for work with some vague promises of appointment to the Water Company. After about a month and after nothing had finalized the appointment, Nestoridis left AEK Athens and football training, giving priority to his intense livelihood problem and finding a solution to it.

He wore the jersey of Greece 17 times, 2 as a player of Panionios and 15 as a player of AEK Athens, scoring a total of 3 goals.[7] The number of his participations is disproportionate to his value and offer as it is said that he did not have the best relations with the respective selectors of the team. He made his debut in the blue and white jersey on October 14, 1951.[8]

His tenure in the Greek Military Team is also quite episodic. In 1950 he volunteered for the Air Force and started scoring goals without recording how many and in which teams he scored with the National Armed Forces that participated in the CISM Football Cup. At the end of his 2-year term, he declared another four years as retired and remained in the army for a total of 6 years. However, in a match with the in Italy Military Team in 1956, a political issue arose about how an ordinary soldier without being an officer participated in the National Military Team for so many years. He was then offered a job in the Air Force, but Nestoridis refused and withdrew from the Military Team.

From a young age Nestoridis was gifted with an innate and unrepeatable talent, that of absolute "communication" with the ball. Without being introduced him and taught him anything, the petite and delicate little boy showed from the beginning that there was a magical relationship between the ball and himself, and that her handling of him reached the limits of the metaphysical. 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.

When Nestoraridis went to Australia to play for Hellas Melbourne, he instantly provoked the acceptance and worship of his new fans. Two thousand fans are running to see his first training session, some are spoke about a Brazilian with a Greek name, goals from straight corner kicks begun and Nestoridis became an idol again. In 1967 coach of Hellas Melbourne, Ljubiša Broćić, having previously worked at Barcelona, Juventus and Eindhoven, when he took over the club and asked by reporters about Nestoridis, said: "All the great players I saw, including Di Stéfano, Puskás and Pelé, did things humanly. What I saw Nestoridis doing is neither taught or learned.".

Zlatko (Čik) Čajkovski

After his playing career was over, Nestoridis officially begun his coaching career passing through the bench of Paniliakos, Kallithea and other smaller teams. The beginning of the 1981-82 season found AEK Athens in the midst of stormy changes as the great Loukas Barlos left the team, with the ownership passing onto the hands of Andreas Zafeiropoulos. 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 imposed the placement next to an assistant with excellent knowledge and experience around Greek football and AEK that was in the face of Nestoridis. The course of the team was disappointing and after 7 wins, 6 draws and 4 defeats that left them behind in terms of points, Tilkowski was sacked and was replaced by the winner of the 1977-78 Double Zlatko Čajkovski. Nestoridis remains in the position of assistant and the new coach, being the connecting link with the previous technical leadership and managing, in essence, the situation in the team's locker rooms. The duo Čajkovski-Nestoridis would somewhat exceed the pretexts by bringing AEK at the end of the Championship in 4th place with 45 points, just 5 points behind the champions Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, but of course nothing predicted that Čik's deja vu would be similar of his first term. In the summer of 1982, AEK was being prepared by "Čik-Nestoras" for the upcoming season while the owner Zafeiropoulos placed Michalis Arkadis as the club's president. The situation in the team was becoming more and more strange, the communication between the technical leadership, the president and the major shareholder looked like a labyrinth and Čajkovski showed that his advanced age had turned him into a bon vivacious fan of his tastes. In all this confusion, Nestoridis tried to do what he could by keeping the necessary balances. On 9/1/1983 the team faced a home defeat against OFI with 2-3 while the memory of the 5 goals from PAOK in Toumba before 3 games was still fresh. Everyone's indignation for Čik was obvious and he hurried away with Nestoridis taking over the technical leadership, as a temporary service as it turned out, as after about forty days the Helmut Senekowitsch was hired. Nestoridis, having made 3 wins and 2 draws in the away matches with Iraklis and PAS Giannina, delivered AEK second and a breath away from the champion Olympiacos, while he feeled rather reduced from the recruitment of the Austrian and temporarily resigned from the technical staff. Next summer, there were a series of reshuffles in the long-suffering AEK as the major shareholder Zafeiropoulos assigned the management to the duo Teris Panagidis - Dimitris Roussakis, the leader of the former. The Cypriot businessman, connoisseur and fan of English football immediately hired the British John Barnwell as a coach. Barnwell stayed on the yellow and black bench for just 12 games, the recently fired Senekowitsch was called as his replacement and the phrase "changes coaches like shirts" takes on flesh and blood in the tested AEK. The "kingdom" of "Seki" would last only 8 games in which the summary was 3 defeats, 3 draws and just 2 wins. Thus, after the two consecutive home draws, with the Apollons of Athens and Thessaloniki, the cooperation with the Austrian was terminated and the "lifeline" Nestoridis was called to take action as the technical leader of the club. He would remain on the team's bench until the end of the 1982-83 season and with the results of 5 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats, AEK would finish in 7th place, recording one of their worst appearances in the Championship.[9]

AEK Athens

• Alpha Ethniki: 1962–63
• Greek Cup: 1963–64

South Melbourne

• Victorian State League: 1966

Individual

• Greek Championship top scorer: 1958–59 (21 goals), 1959–60 (33 goals), 1960–61 (27 goals), 1961–62 (29 goals), 1962–63 (23 goals)
• Greek Cup top scorer: 1959–60, 1960–61
• Victorian State League top scorer: 1966

• First player who scored 5 goals in a single Greek league match. He did so in AEK Athens' 5–0 win against Iraklis in 1962–63 season.
• Most Greek championship top scorer awards: 5 (from 1959 to 1963, shared with Antonis Antoniadis)
• Most consecutive Greek championship top scorer awards: 5 (from 1959 to 1963)

• Katsaros, Nikos (2008). Κώστας Νεστορίδης - Ο μάγος της μπάλας: Βιογραφία [Kostas Nestoridis - The magician of the ball: Biography]. Ankara. ISBN 978-960-422-625-2.

• Kostas Nestoridis – FIFA competition record (archived)