Nikos Nioplias

Club

His career began with OFI in 1983, winning the Greek Cup in 1987, and he remained for a decade before moving to Panathinaikos. In his first season, he won the cup again and in 1994–95 they completed the domestic double. The next season the Athens side retained the title and Nioplias was a member of the team which reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 1995. In 1996, he returned to OFI and remained for six seasons until 2002, when he moved to Chalkidona FC. He played for the newly promoted side until summer 2004 when he ended his career, having racked up 509 Greek top-flight appearances.

International

He played for Greece under-18 at the 1984 UEFA European under-18 championship. In 1988, as a member of Greece under-21, he helped his team reach the final of the 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. He was promoted to the senior team the same year, and was a member of the squad which qualified to the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He appeared in all three games Greece played at the World Cup, losing every one of them. In total, he made 44 appearances and scored 1 goal for Greece.

Greece under-19

After getting his coaching diploma, in January 2005 he was appointed as the coach of the Greece national under-19 football team. He led the team to the 2005 U19 European Championship which took place in Northern Ireland, but failed to progress past the group stage, despite a victory against the hosts. This was due to two straight 3–0 defeats in the remaining games of the group, with Nioplias blaming the poor fitness of his players. Two years later, he led Greece to the final of the U19 European Championship after remaining unbeaten in their group, which featured Spain, Portugal and the host nation Austria. Greece than beat Germany 3–2 in the semi-final with a 90th-minute header after Greece had a player sent off in the 61st minute. The final between Spain (who beat France in the other semi-final) and Greece was played on 27 July and Greece lost 1–0, despite a convincing second half display.

Greece under-21

Nioplias was named coach of the Greece national under-21 football team in September 2007 after his success with Greece under-19 in Austria.

Panathinaikos

Nioplias was appointed as the Panathinaikos head coach, alongside Krzysztof Warzycha on 8 December 2009, immediately after the former manager, Henk ten Cate, was released. Nioplias stated: "It is a great honour for me to be the manager of Panathinaikos. Starting from today, we are getting to work. My aim is to achieve as a coach what I have achieved as a player: to win titles".…

Player

OFI

Greek Cup: 1986–87 Balkans Cup: 1989 Panathinaikos

Alpha Ethniki: 1994–95, 1995–96 Greek Cup: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 Greek Super Cup: 1993, 1994

Manager

Greece U19

U19 European Championship: 2007 (runners-up) Panathinaikos

Super League Greece: 2009–10 Greek Cup: 2009–10 OFI

Gamma Ethniki: 2015–16 (Group 4)