Kostas Nestoridis

Early years

Nestoridis made his next step in his football career on a night in 1946, when his neighbor and friend, Kostas Sotiriadis, who was playing for Panionios, met him in Kallithea Square and suggested that he visit Nea Smyrni for another tryout. There, the manager Roussopoulos, having received information from Sotiriadis and impressed by his abilities, made him sign a sport's card, including him in the roster of Panionios. His urgent need for daily work as a cigarette retailer did not allow him to continue training with Panionios. He occasionally played football in his neighborhood until Karamalengos, the owner of the factory "Indiana" and a member of Hellas Moschato, heard about him. He offered Nestoridis a steady job in his business and offered him to sign in his team. The young Nestoridis, seeing that his two main ambitions, the steady job and football were being realized at the same time, signed a fake sport's card under the name "Brinzos", as was the nickname of his brother, Christos and started playing in Hellas Moschato. The team became champions of their division in Piraeus Football Clubs Association, with Nestoridis scoring 48 goals and becoming their star player. He played for the club from Moschato until 1948. His career there ended abruptly, as before the start of the crucial match for the championship against Palia Kokkinia, a rival fan recognized Nestoridis and started calling out his real name. The officials of Hellas, fearing the revelation of…

In 1950 Nestoridis volunteered for the Air Force to play for the Greek Military team, where started scoring a lot of goals and participated in the CISM Football Cup. At the end of his two-year term, he declared another four years as recalled and remained in the army for a total of six years. However, in a match with the Italian Military team in 1956, a political issue arose about how an ordinary soldier without being an officer participated in the Military team for so many years. He was then offered a job in the Air Force, but he refused and withdrew from the Military team. Nestoridis played with Greece a total of 17 times: 2 as a player of Panionios and 15 as a player of AEK Athens, scoring 3 goals. The number of his appearances was very little for a player of his level, as he did not have good relations with the respective selectors of the national team. He made his debut in the blue and white jersey on 14 October 1951.

After his playing career was over, Nestoridis officially began his managerial career. In 1968, Kallithea hired Nestoridis alongside Takis Papoulidis as co-managers late in the season and the duo helped the club to their first-ever promotion to the second division, culminating with a 1–0 win in the extra-time over AO Koropi in a play-off match on 21 June 1969. In 1969 he was the manager of PAO Thriamvos Athens for a season. In 1970 he worked at the bench of Paniliakos for a season. On 23 July 1971 he signed for Kallithea, where spent a season. On 9 August 1972 he took over the bench of Vyzas Megara for a season. On 16 August 1973 Nestoridis returned to Aias Salamina solely as their manager. In 1977 he was the manager of the reserve team of AEK, where they won the championship. Later he worked in various clubs such as Kallithea and Pandramaikos.

In the summer 1981 AEK Athens were in the midst of radical changes, as the owner of the club, Loukas Barlos left and the ownership passed to Andreas Zafiropoulos. At the same time, the manager of the club, Miltos Papapostolou was released and Hans Tilkowski was hired in his place. The unfamiliarity of the German manager regarding the Greek reality required the placement of an assistant next to him, with knowledge and experience from the Greek football, as well as the club itself, which the management found in the person of Nestoridis. The course of the team was disappointing and they were left behind in the standings, which resulted…

Nestoridis was born on 15 March 1930 in Drama and was the youngest of three children of the Pontian Greek Giorgos and Kyriaki, who arrived in Thrace as refugees after the Asia Minor Catastrophe. He and his siblings, Christos and Nopi, experienced severe financial hardship and the struggles of refugee life during their childhood. The work difficulties that his parents repeatedly faced, affected the young Nestoridis and often influenced his decisions throughout his football career. With his family, he traveled from the dirt roads of Drama, to the fields of Kallithea in search of labor and later to the fields of Preveza, where they took refuge during the Occupation. There, his talent in football quickly attracted attention. Even though he loved playing football, it always came second in his priorities, as the need for assistance in the family finances came first, something that forced Nestoridis to work from a young age as a polisher, cigarette seller, shoemaker assistant and shepherd during his days at Preveza. After the end of the World War II, 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 Kallithea. They were not a recognizable team, but they provided a football kit and lemonade at the half time for their players, things that were almost considered a luxury for the then standards of the young Nestoridis. His debut, which was marked by scoring five goals,…