Giorgos Koudas ( el, Γιώργος Κούδας; born 23 November 1946) is a Greek former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

. He spent his entire career in PAOK. Due to his fierce competitiveness and his Macedonian heritage, his nickname was ''Alexander the Great''.

Playing career

Club

Born in

Agios Pavlos, Thessaloniki Agios Pavlos ( el, Άγιος Παύλος), ''Saint Paul'', is a suburb of the Thessaloniki Urban Area and a former municipality. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Neapoli-Sykies, of which it is a municipal ...

, Koudas began playing football for PAOK where he made his first-team debut in December 1963, aged 17. Koudas, nicknamed ''Alexander the Great'', spent his entire football career with PAOK, making 504 appearances in the

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

from 1963 to 1984, and 607 appearances in all competitions (PAOK all-time records). Koudas won two out of nine

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

finals he appeared in and in the 1972 Cup final, he scored both goals as PAOK defeated Panathinaikos 2–1 and earned their first domestic title in club's history. During the summer of 1966,

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

unsuccessfully tried to acquire Koudas from PAOK, approaching him directly without going into a negotiation with his club. PAOK president Giorgos Pantelakis never gave his consent for the transfer to be completed and for the next two seasons, Koudas participated only in Olympiacos friendly games. In the summer of 1968, he returned to PAOK and led the great team of the 1970s to glorious days. Fueled by this incident,

Olympiacos–PAOK rivalry The football rivalry between Olympiacos and PAOK is considered the fiercest intercity rivalry in Greece and a large number of games between the two football teams have been stigmatized by nasty incidents. History Cultural rivalry Thessalonians ...

is considered nowadays the fiercest intercity football rivalry in Greece. He retired in 1984, aged 37, serving for over 20 years at PAOK. Koudas became even inspiration for a popular song by the Greek songwriter and PAOK supporter

Nikos Papazoglou Nikolaos "Nikos" Papazoglou (in Greek: Νίκος Παπάζογλου; 20 March 1948 – 17 April 2011) was a Greek singer-songwriter, musician, and producer from Thessaloniki. Papazoglou began performing in a number of Greek local groups in th ...

and lyricist

Manolis Rasoulis Emmanouil (Manolis) Rasoulis ( el, Μανώλης Ρασούλης, 28 September 19455 March 2011), best known as the lyricist of famous songs, was a Greek music composer, singer, writer, and journalist. Rasoulis was born in 1945 in Heraklion, ...

International

Koudas made 43 appearances for the Greece national team, scoring four goals, between 1967 and 1982. He appeared at

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams i ...

in Italy, along with PAOK teammates Konstantinos Iosifidis,

Ioannis Damanakis Ioannis Damanakis (Greek: Ιωάννης Δαμανάκης; born 2 October 1952) is a retired Greek footballer. Career He started his career at Chania, and after 6 years he was transferred to PAOK FC. He played 242 league games for PAOK, winnin ...

Ioannis Gounaris Giannis Gounaris (Greek: Γιάννης Γούναρης; born 6 July 1952) is a Greek retired footballer and coach. Career Born in Thessaloniki, Gounaris was a right back who played for PAOK FC and Olympiacos FC in the 1970s and 80s. He earned ...

and Georgios Kostikos. After he had retired, Koudas made a final appearance for the national team in a friendly against Yugoslavia on 20 September 1995. That made him the oldest international player (at age 48) until

George Weah George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (; born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who is the incumbent president of Liberia, in office since 2018. Prior to his election to the presidency, Weah served a ...

(at age 51) beat the record in September 2018.

Managerial career

Koudas had a short managerial career as the co-manager of Iraklis together with Kostas Aidiniou.

Honours

PAOK *

: 1975–76 *

: 1971–72, 1973–74

References

External links

Melbourne Club PAOK - Giorgos Koudas Statistics
The Official PAOK Thessaloniki Supporters Club PAOK of Australia {{DEFAULTSORT:Koudas1, Giorgos 1946 births Living people Footballers from Thessaloniki Greek Macedonians Greek footballers Association football midfielders Greece international footballers UEFA Euro 1980 players PAOK FC players PAOK FC non-playing staff Super League Greece players Greek football managers Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. managers