Panagiotis Katsouris ( el, Παναγιώτης Κατσούρης, born 28 October 1976 in Athens) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

football player. He played for

Naoussa F.C. Naousa F.C. or F.A.S. Naousa ( el, Φ.Α.Σ. Νάουσα) is a Greek professional football club based in Naousa, Imathia, Naousa plays in the Football league 2 which last year emerged local champion (Epsi imathias) History The club was establish ...

and

PAOK FC P.A.O.K. FC ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, '' Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón'', "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of ...

until his sudden death on 9 February 1998 in a car accident outside Thessaloniki. He was 21 years old.

Career

Katsouris began his professional career in Naoussa where he transferred from Academy Platonas Athens at age 17, making his debut in the First Division in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, with Naoussa being relegated that season. After two seasons in the Second Division he transferred to PAOK in the summer of 1996, along with major players such as

Theodoros Zagorakis Theodoros Zagorakis ( el, Θεόδωρος Ζαγοράκης ; born 27 October 1971) is a Greek politician and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was the captain of Greece that won UEFA Euro 2004, and was also presid ...

, Paris Zouboulis,

Alexis Alexiou Alexandros "Alexis" Alexiou ( el, Αλέξανδρος "Αλέξης" Αλεξίου; born 8 September 1963) is a Greek former footballer and manager. He played for Apollon Kalamarias, Olympiacos, and PAOK, as well as for the national side. ...

, Giorgos Toursounidis and

Zisis Vryzas Zisis Vryzas ( el, Ζήσης Βρύζας; born 9 November 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a forward for various teams in Greece and abroad, as well as for the Greece national football team, when they won the Euro ...

. Katsouris made his debut that season in a match against OFI in the Greek League and scored his first goal in a 1–0 victory over

Athinaikos Athinaikos A.C. ( el, Αθηναϊκός Α.Σ., full name Athinaikos Athletic Club) is a Greek multisport-club, founded in 1917. It is based in Vyronas, a suburb east of Athens. Athinaikos has football, basketball, and handball teams. Its achiev ...

. By the end of his first season he had played in 21 league games, scoring 1 goal. He played a total of 29 games with PAOK, of which 24 were League appearances, 4 were Cup appearances and one was in the UEFA Cup, away against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

. His uncle was the

football manager

Babis Tennes Babis Tennes ( gr, Μπάμπης Τεννές; born 17 November 1953) is a Greek professional football manager. Managerial career Tennes began his professional coaching career with Kallithea in 1993 in Gamma Ethniki. After that he built up h ...

Death

In the night of 9 February 1998 Katsouris was returning from an amateur 5x5 match, when his car skidded due to excessive speed, hitting the barriers at the

Thermi Thermi ( el, Θέρμη) is a Southeastern suburb and a municipality in the Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. Its population was 53,201 at the 2011 census. It is located over the site of ancient Therma. Municipality The municipality Ther ...

interchange outside Thessaloniki. His death was verified in AHEPA hospital shortly afterwards. He was buried on 12 February in the Anastaseos Cemetery in Thessaloniki. A bust was erected in his memory in

Toumba Stadium Toumba Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Τούμπας) is a football stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is property of AC PAOK. The official name of the stadium is simply PAOK Stadium ( el, Στάδιο ΠΑΟΚ), but through the years it has become ...

, and a memorial was erected near the spot where he died. Memorial services are held each year, where the players and board of PAOK FC are ever present. In February 2009, PAOK FC announced that a football tournament, which bearing his name, would be held annually. Katsouris' number 17 jersey was permanently retired by the club in his memory. {{DEFAULTSORT:Katsouris, Panagiotis 1976 births 1998 deaths PAOK FC players Naoussa F.C. players Road incident deaths in Greece Association football midfielders Footballers from Athens Greek footballers