 Kostas Negrepontis playing forAEK Athens. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Konstantinos Negrepontis | ||
| Date of birth | (1897-10-31)31 October 1897[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Constantinople,Ottoman Empire | ||
| Date of death | 19 February 1973(1973-02-19) (aged 75) | ||
| Place of death | Athens, Greece | ||
| Position(s) | Striker,Inside/Outside right | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1912–1916 | Enosis Tataoulon | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1916–1917 | Pera Club | ||
| 1917–1918 | Fenerbahçe | ||
| 1918–1923 | Pera Club | ||
| 1923–1925 | CASG Paris | ||
| 1925–1926 | SC Douai | ||
| 1926–1933 | AEK Athens | 6 | (2) |
| International career | |||
| 1929–1930 | Greece | 2 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1929–1932 | AEK Patras | ||
| 1933–1934 | Greece | ||
| 1933–1936 | AEK Athens | ||
| 1937 | Ethnikos Piraeus | ||
| 1937–1948 | AEK Athens | ||
| 1938 | Greece | ||
| 1948–1950 | Greece | ||
| 1948–1949 | Fostiras | ||
| 1949–1950 | Olympiacos(director of football) | ||
| 1950–1954 | Panionios | ||
| 1952–1953 | Greece military | ||
| 1953 | Greece | ||
| 1955 | Olympiacos | ||
| 1955–1957 | AEK Athens | ||
| 1958–1959 | AEK Athens | ||
| 1959 | Atromitos | ||
| 1960–61 | Panachaiki | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Kostas Negrepontis (Greek:Κώστας Νεγρεπόντης; 31 October 1897 – 19 February 1973) was aGreekfootballer who played as acenter forward in the 1920s and 1930s and a later manager.[2] He was considered a great virtuoso of the ball, a football intelligence and a great shooter. He was a figure and was so dear to his fellows that never left their memory. Those who lived near him, those who worked with him, spoke with admiration about "Negro", as the fans called him. Calm, likeable and always optimistic, Negrepontis was the idol of fans and opponents. Negrepontis was one of the pillars of Greek football in his first steps and contributed to it both as a footballer, as a coach and as well as a football teacher for prospective coaches. He was distinguished for his passion, selflessness in terms of the progress of the Greek football, but especially for his beloved AEK.[3]
Negrepontis became an official member of the sports family for the first time in 1912. He started his football career as a young player inTurkey, playing for Enosis Tataoulon, where he stayed for four years. In 1916 he moved to the "Greek football team", the football department ofPera Club, where in 1918 he became the team's captain. He also played forFenerbahçe in the period 1917–18. Negrepontis was a pole of attraction and for the Greek youth of the region, as his influence was great. The kids were playing in the arenas with canvas balls full of shavings and trying to imitate "Negro's" shots, dribbles and moves. It was remarkable that whenever Pera Club played, the expression "Children, today Negrepontis is playing" prevailed, with the young people going to the stadium to admire him. With Pera Club he won a Turkish Championship in 1922. After theGreco-Turkish War in 1922, Negrepontis, as the team's captain, took the initiative to take Pera Club on a tour inEurope, withGreece being one of their stops and in a total of 47 games they achieved 43 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. Both the team and Negrepontis were admired by European fans for their achievements.
In 1923 after Pera Club was dissolved, he moved toCASG Paris, where he became their captain in 1925. In 1925 he joinedSporting Douai, where he also became their captain.
In 1926 Negrepontis returned to Greece and joinedAEK Athens. In 1932 he led AEK to the conquest of the firstGreek Cup, which was also the first trophy in their history, beatingAris by5–3, with Negrepontis scoring the last goal for his team.[4] In the same year, AEK won the Acropolis Cup, defeating the Austrian club,Wacker 4-2, from which bothOlympiacos andPanathinaikos had been defeated. In 1933 Negrepontis ended up his career as a footballer, at the age of 36.[5]
In June 1929, Negrepontis became a member ofGreece. He made his debut againstBulgaria in a friendly match that ended 1–1 coming of the bench at the 46th minute.[6] That was the second ever Greece's game and the first game that didn't lose. His second and last game was in March 1930 on a friendly match againstItaly B in 3–0 defeat. Since the establishment of theHFF occurred at the dawn of his career, he did not make any more appearances for Greece.[7]
Even before the end of his football career Negrepontis also enacted with coaching. He became the first coach in the history of AEK Patras, from their foundation in 1929, until their promotion to theAchaea first division in 1931.[8][9] In 1933, when AEK Athens were playing a qualifying match againstGoudi. Their coach at the time was Emil Rauchmaul and Negrepontis was on holiday atSamos. The importance of the occasion brought him to prepare AEK for this crucial match and thus he was the first Greek coach of a big club, at a period when mostly foreign coaches were selected. AEK were the first club to work as a coach and the services he offered to the club lasted 16 years. During this period AEK won once the Greek Cup in1939 and twoPanhellenic championships, while Negrepontis gave to AEK and Greek football players such asMaropoulos,Tzanetis,Goulios,Delavinias,Kontoulis,Magiras,Manettas andXenos.[10]
After leaving AEK in 1948, he joinedFostiras, while in September 1949 he took over the technical leadership ofOlympiacos. In September 1950 he became the coach ofPanionios. Negrepontis also worked as the coach ofGreece in four different periods between 1933 and 1953. He was the coach who achieved Greece's biggest victory of 8–0 againstSyria in a match which took place on 25 November 1949 atLeoforos Alexandras Stadium.[11] He won as the manager of the Greek military team theWorld Military Cup in 1952.[12] In 1955 after a brief spell at Olympiacos, Negrepontis returned to AEK, where he won the Greek Cup in1956. In February 1957 Negrepontis left AEK, but returned to their bench in 1958. In 1959 he took over the wheel ofAtromitos. He also managed teams of the likes ofPanelefsiniakos,Apollon Athens,Ethnikos Piraeus,[13]Panegialios andPanachaiki.[14][15]
In 1965 Negrepontis retired from football, but did not stop watching his beloved AEK, even when he fell ill. Due to his great sporting activity in Greece, was honored byKing Paul and by the Association of Sports Editors.[16]
Οn 19 February 1973 at 11pm, Negrepontis died after a 2-year struggle with illness. The former president of AEK Athens and author of the first history book about the club, Panos Makridis wrote in the Greek newspaper,"Athletic Echo" about the death of Negrepontis:
"As a former president, but also as one of the founders of AEK, together with the whole world of the fans, I mourn the loss of Kostas Negrepontis. He was one of the creators of the glory of AEK, but also a brave and honest fighter in the stadiums, whether Greek or foreign. With the death of Kostas Negrepontis, perhaps the last of the old honest football fighters is lost, who fought only for the idea and the honor and the colors of Greece as an international football player, but also of the club he served. Kostas Negrepontis left an era as a moral footballer without wages and "bonuses". He was the creator of a football school, the coach of the National team and the Military team."[3]
Pera Club
AEK Athens
AEK Athens
Panionios
Greece military
Final 23.03.52 Greece 3-2 Belgium
