Kostas Negrepontis

Konstantinos (Kostas) Negrepontis (Greek: Κώστας Νεγρεπόντης; 1897 – 19 February 1973) was an international Greek football player who played as a center forward in the 1920s and 1930s and later a coach.

Playing career

Born in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1897, he started his football career as a young player in Turkey, playing for the Propontida Tataoulon. Later he joined Fenerbahçe S.K. where he won 3 amateur championships. In 1918 alongside other Greeks from Pera he founded Pera Club, which he joined as a player. With Pera Club he won a Turkish Championship in 1922. After the Greco-Turkish War in 1922, Pera Club did a tour in Europe with Greece being one of their stops. Negrepontis decided to stay in France where he played for a number of French football teams. Negrepontis eventually settled in Greece to play for AEK Athens F.C. in 1926, where he became a crowd favourite and the team captain. In 1932 he retired as a footballer.

He was capped twice by Greece because the Hellenic Football Federation was founed at the dawn of his career.

Coaching career

After retiring from football, Negrepontis coached a number of clubs, including AEK Athens FC, Olympiacos, Panelefsiniakos, Apollon Smyrnis, Panionios, Ethnikos Piraeus and Panegialios. He was the first (and the prewar) coach of Greece national football team which he completed above ten appearances for Greece in a total of 16 (in four different periods between 1933–1953). He was also the coach who achieved Greece's biggest victory of 8–0 against Syria in a match which took place on 25 November 1949 at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium.