Kostas Negrepontis


Kostas Negrepontis was a Greek international football player who played as a center forward in the 1920s and 1930s and later a coach.

Career

Playing career

Born in Constantinople 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, he joined The Greek Football Team, the football department of Pera Club, 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 SC Douai, probably for other French teams, too. He eventually settled in Greece to play for AEK Athens F.C. in 1926, where he became a crowd favourite and the team captain. Late in 1931, after winning the 1931–32 Greek Football Cup title, he retired as a footballer.
He was capped only twice by Greece, because the Hellenic Football Federation was founded 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 coach of Greece national football team which he completed above ten appearances for Greece in a total of 16. 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.