Demis Nikolaidis

Themistoklis "Demis" Nikolaidis (Greek: Ντέμης Νικολαΐδης, born 17 September 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the forty second president of AEK Athens FC, and is considered one of the finest footballers Greece has ever produced. In his early childhood and teenage years he lived in the city of Alexandroupoli, in the north-east part of Greece. In a sterling career with Ethnikos Alexandroupolis, Apollon Smyrnis, AEK Athens FC and Atlético Madrid, Nikolaidis earned his reputation as a "born goalscorer", scoring prolifically for club and country. His power, pace and skill on the ball have been widely praised but it was his work-ethic and enthusiasm, perhaps, that propelled him to his exalted status among Greek footballers.

Demis Nikolaidis
Nikolaidis with AEK Athens
Personal information
Full name Themistoklis Nikolaidis
Date of birth (1973-09-17) 17 September 1973
Place of birth Gießen, West Germany
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1993 Ethnikos Alexandroupolis 39 (14)
1993–1996 Apollon Smyrnis 80 (38)
1996–2003 AEK Athens 189 (125)
2003–2004 Atlético Madrid 22 (6)
Total 330 (183)
National team
1995–2004 Greece 54 (17)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

AEK Athens

In his teenage years he played for Ethnikos Alexandroupolis, the local team of his hometown. The scouts of several teams had seen his progress from these years, earning him a move to Athens. He made his professional debut at the age of 20 at Apollon Smyrnis. His fine performances sparked a bidding war between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, and the striker's childhood favorite AEK Athens, with Demis refusing to join Olympiacos and forced his club president to sell him to AEK. At AEK, Nikolaidis linked up with some of the great Greek players of his generation, including Vassilis Tsiartas, Theodoros Zagorakis, Michalis Kapsis, Grigoris Georgatos, Traianos Dellas, Vassilis Lakis. With his new side, Nikolaidis excelled, scoring on his debut against Ionikos. During his time with AEK, Demis managed to win three Greek cups and the 1996 Super Cup, he was the topscorer in the 1999 Greek league and second scorer in the 2001 UEFA Cup (1 goal behind topscorer Dimitar Berbatov). He is the top scorer for Greek teams in European competitions having scored 26 goals in 51 games. He has scored five goals in a match twice and he is the only Greek player to have scored 4 goals in a European match. Having scored a total of 21 goal in the UEFA Cup he is one of the competition's all-time topscorers. At AEK he scored an impressive 190 goals in 266 games (including European, cup and domestic league games) making him the fourth highest goalscorer for the club and a legend amongst the fans. On 24 March 2002, the International Committee for Fair Play awarded him with the Fair Play Award, an honorary diploma for his conduct in the Greek Cup Final on 8 May 2000, between the teams of AEK Athens and Ionikos, when Nikolaidis informed the referee he had used his hand to score a goal that had been allowed as valid.

Atlético Madrid

Although he failed to win the league in his time at AEK, Nikolaidis became arguably one of the most beloved players in the club's history. But after quarrelling with owner Makis Psomiadis, later indicted for forgery, and allegedly being assaulted by his bodyguards, Nikolaidis decided the time had come to leave AEK after the 2002–03 season. He asked and left the team in a mutual consent free transfer, although he was already paid for the rest of his contract. Atlético Madrid beat off several other clubs to land the striker's coveted signature, seen that his number 11 was taken, he wore the number 21 as a tribute to AEK and the Original 21 fan club. Nikolaidis' first months at the Vicente Calderón Stadium were a tremendous success, he scored six goals and formed a fearsome attacking pair with teenage sensation Fernando Torres. However, a series of serious injuries kept him out of the first team for nearly the rest of the season and severely affecting his chances of getting picked for Euro 2004. Although Atletico wanted to keep him to the roster of the team, Nikolaidis decided to retire from professional football.

International career

Demis made his debut for the Greek national football team on 26 April 1995 against Russia. Demis became the Greek national team's main source of goals. In 1999, however, along with Michalis Kasapis and Ilias Atmatsidis, Nikolaidis retired from the national team, protesting for injustice in the Greek League. Two years later, after the disappointing tenure of coach Vasilis Daniil was brought to an end following a particularly horrendous series of results, he returned to the international fold. In his first game back, Nikolaidis scored in Greece's 2–2 away draw to England during the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. New coach Otto Rehhagel focused his offense around the quick striker and was rewarded with direct qualification to the Greek team to represent Greece at Euro 2004. Even though struggling with injury, Rehhagel nevertheless included him in his Euro 2004 squad. Greece's new strike force, Zisis Vryzas and Angelos Charisteas, played well enough but Nikolaidis still figured consistently in the team, coming off the bench in all three group games before starting against France, and leading Greece to a tremendous shock victory. After that fine performance, however, Nikolaidis succumbed to a serious injury and did not even dress for Greece's last two games. He amassed 54 caps, netting 17 times for the national team and is amongst the top 6 goalscorers ever for Greece. Without a doubt, he accomplished much during his international career but there are some who wonder if his contribution could have been greater had an injury and a poor run of luck not conspired against him.

Chairman of AEK Athens

With AEK struggling terribly in the wake of Psomiadis' corruption and the prospect of relegation to the fourth division looming, Nikolaidis retired at the relatively young age of 31. His next move, supported by all AEK fans, was to establish a consortium of businessmen and purchase AEK on 27 May 2004,[2] as he had always dreamed. Becoming the club's president, Nikolaidis set a goal that he would remove all debts that AEK owed and make them a force in Europe in the space of 5 years. Himself and technical director Ilija Ivić, a former teammate, made several clever signings and fought ferociously for the league title, finishing third when many had expected a mid-table performance. In his second year as president, after signing two promising Greece Under-21 players, as well as adding former star Vasilis Lakis, Ukrainian international striker Oleh Venhlinskyi and one time Inter centre back Bruno Cirillo, AEK achieved UEFA Champions League qualification. Apart from the improvement of the economic standards and the athletic performance of AEK, Nikolaidis was determined to decrease the hooligan actions in football, and called on the league to do more to reduce violence.[3]

On 2 November 2008, Demis decided that he would quit as chairman of AEK after continuously poor results, stating that he had not achieved his goal in the 5 years plan. One of the reasons according to Nikolaidis for quitting was that the team didn't sell 30,000 season tickets; he stated "If I had managed to convince the AEK supporters to come to the stadium then I would not be leaving. In my mind we need 30,000 to become a big team". During Nikolaidis's presidency, AEK had their first wins in Champions' League and the club made about 12,000,000 euros from selling players to other teams (like Kostas Katsouranis, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Dániel Tőzsér, Sotirios Kyrgiakos etc.).

Personal life

Demis is married to a Greek singer Despina Vandi who was also born in Germany and grew up in Greece. They have a daughter named Melina (2004), and a son named Giorgos (2007). A Discovery Channel documentary entitled Europe's Richest People estimated Nikolaidis and Vandi's combined fortune to be in excess of €25 million in 2014.

Career statistics

Club

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Greece League Greek Cup Europe Total
1992–93 Ethnikos Alexandroupolis 3070000307
1993–94 971000107
1993–94 Apollon Smyrnis Alpha Ethniki 1850000185
1994–95 331751003818
1995–96 29161210204326
1996–97 AEK Athens 311973614423
1997–98 261910523221
1998–99 292200463328
1999–00 3222811834836
2000–01 251544863725
2001–02 241676853927
2002–03 2212211233616
Spain League Copa del Rey Europe Total
2003–04 Atlético Madrid La Liga 2261000236
Total Greece 30817730255226407239
Spain 2261000236
Career total 33018347365326430245

Last updated: 2009-08-31
Source: "Demis Nikolaidis". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.

International

Greece national team
YearAppsGoals
1995 04 02
1996 09 06
1997 07 00
1998 02 00
1999 08 03
2001 03 03
2002 08 03
2003 07 00
2004 06 00
Total 54 17

Last updated: 2010-3-03
Source: Demis Nikolaidis at National-Football-Teams.com

Demis Nikolaidis: International goals
GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
11995–06–11Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland Finland0–12–11996 UEQ
21995–11–15Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium, Heraklion, Greece Faroe Islands2–05–01996 UEQ
31996–04–24Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Athens, Greece Slovenia2–02–01998 WCQ
41996–05–08Zosimades Stadium, Ioannina, Greece Georgia1–02–0Friendly
51996–05–08Zosimades Stadium, Ioannina, Greece Georgia2–02–0Friendly
61996–08–14Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Athens, Greece Albania1–02–1Friendly
71996–09–01Kalamata Metropolitan Stadium, Kalamata, Greece Bosnia and Herzegovina3–03–01998 WCQ
81996–11–10Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb, Croatia Croatia0–11–11998 WCQ
91999–02–03GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus Finland1–12–1Friendly
101999–03–10Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Athens, Greece Croatia3–23–2Friendly
111999–10–09Ljudski vrt, Maribor, Slovenia Slovenia0–30–32000 UEQ
122001–10–06Old Trafford, Manchester, England England1–22–22002 WCQ
132001–11–10Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece Estonia1–04–2Friendly
142001–11–10Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece Estonia2–04–2Friendly
152002–05–12Alexandroupoli, Greece Romania1–03–2Unofficial Friendly[4]
162002–10–16Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece Armenia1–02–02004 UEQ
172002–10–16Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece Armenia2–02–02004 UEQ

Honours

Club

AEK Athens
1996
1997, 2000, 2002

International

Greece
2004

Individual

1995
1997, 1998, 2002
1999
2002[5]

Records

  • He is the second Greek goalscorer in European competitions scoring a total of 26 goals.
  • He is one of the few player who have scored five goals in a single Greek Super League game. He did so in AEK Athens' 6–1 win against Kalamata during the 1996–97 season.
  • He scored Greece's 500th goal on 6 October 2001 in a match against England.

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Ioannis Granitsas
Chairman of AEK Athens
2004–2008
Succeeded by
Giorgos Kintis
Preceded by
Stratos Apostolakis
Greece captain
1998–1999
Succeeded by
Nikos Machlas

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