Nikos Anastopoulos

Nikos Anastopoulos

Personal information
Full name	Nikolaos Anastopoulos
Date of birth	22 January 1958
Place of birth	Dafni, Greece
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
	Dafni
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1977–1980	Panionios	117	(25)
1980–1987	Olympiacos	187	(115)
1987–1988	Avellino	16	(0)
1988–1989	Panionios	11	(5)
1989–1992	Olympiacos	72	(30)
1992–1993	Ionikos	19	(7)
1993–1994	Olympiacos	3	(0)
Total		425	(182)
National team
1977–1988	Greece	75	(29)
Teams managed
1995–1996	Panelefsiniakos
1997–1998	Panserraikos
2000–2001	Panetolikos
2001–2002	PAS Giannina
2002	Panachaiki
2003	Kallithea
2003–2005	Kerkyra
2005–2006	Aris
2008	Ionikos
2008	PAS Giannina
2008–2009	Kavala
2010–2012	OFI Crete
2012–2013	Atromitos
2013–2014	Platanias
2014	Panionios
2015	OFI Crete
2015–	Aris
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Nikolaos "Nikos" Anastopoulos (Greek: Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Αναστόπουλος) is a Greek former football player, one of the most prolific strikers in the Greek league during the 1980s and widely regarded as one of the best strikers in the history of Greek football. With 29 goals he is the all-time top scorer for the Greek national football team. He is considered as one of the greatest players in Olympiacos history,^[1] where he scored 159 goals in 291 official games for the Greek powerhouse and won the Bronze Boot as the third scorer in Europe in the 1982–83 season. Since retiring as a player he has become a football manager, currently coaching Aris F.C..

Playing career

Club career

Anastopoulos was born on 22 January 1958. He started his career at Dafni before transferring to Panionios with whom he debuted in the Alpha Ethniki in the 1977–1978 season. Thanks to Anastopoulos, Panionios won the Greek Cup in 1979 upsetting AEK 3–1. His debut in European competition was also impressive as he scored twice against Twente Enschede of Holland and once against IFK Göteborg in the Cup-winners' Cup. His performance brought an immediate transfer offer from Twente as well as other Greek and foreign clubs. Finally, in 1980, he went to Olympiakos Piraeus.

As an Olympiakos player, Anastopoulos, also known as "Moustakias" (the moustachioed one), won top scorer honours in 1982–1983 season (29 goals), 1983–1984 season (18 goals), 1985–1986 season (19 goals) and 1986–1987 season (16 goals). His goal-scoring exploits in 1982–1983 won him the Bronze Boot as third scorer in all Europe.

In 1987, Anastopoulos left Greece to play for Avellino in Italy. Though he performed well in the Italian Cup, he failed to score a single goal in Serie A and returned to Greece the following season.^[2]

After coming close to signing with AEK, Anastopoulos chose to return to Panionios. He later played for Olympiakos, Ionikos and closed out his career with Olympiakos (once more) after the 1993–1994 season.

Club Statistics

Team	Period	League		Cup		Europe		TOTAL
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Average	Position
Panionios	1976–77	32	11			—		32	11
	1977–78	27	03			—		27	03
	1978–79	28	04			—		28	04
	1979–80	30	07			4	03	34	10
	1980–81 a'	00	00			—		00	00
	1976-1980	117	25			4	3	121	28
Olympiacos	1980–81 b'	20	04			—		20	04
	1981–82	0033[3]	14[3]			02	01	35	15	0,43
	1982–83	31	29			04	01	35	30	0,86	1st (3rd in Europe)
	1983–84	30	18			04	03	34	21	0,62	1st
	1984–85	28	15			04	02	32	17	0,53	2nd
	1985–86	24	19			—		24	19	0,79	1st
	1986–87	21	16			04	03	25	19	0,76	1st
	1980-1987	187	115			18	10	205	125	0,61
Avellino	1987–88	16	00			—		16	00
Panionios	1988–89 a'	11	05			—		11	05	0,45
Olympiacos	1989–90	22	07			06	02	28	09
	1990–91	26	17			04	02	30	19	0,63	3rd
	1991–92	24	06			—		24	06
1989-1992	72	30			10	4	82	34	0,41
Ionikos	1992–93	19	07			—		19	07
Olympiacos	1993–94 a'	03	00			01	00	04	00
WHOLE 18-years'CAREER		425	182			33	17	458	199	0,43
CAREER in Panionios		128	030			04	03	132	033	0,25
CAREER in Olympiacos		262	145			29	14	291	159	0,55

International career

On 21 September 1977 was participated for first time in National Football Team of Greece and during his playing career Anastopoulos was capped 75 times^[4] scoring 29 goals – more than any other Greek international.He was a member of the Greek squad in the finals of Euro 1980 and scored the only Greek goal of that competition with a brilliant header against Czechoslovakia.

International statistics

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Greece	1977	1	0
	1979	2	0
	1980	5	2
	1981	6	2
	1982	9	4
	1983	9	3
	1984	10	5
	1985	6	2
	1986	8	4
	1987	8	3
	1988	9	4
Total		73	29

Coaching career

After his playing career was over, Anastopoulos coached a variety of clubs:

• Panelefsiniakos (1995–96)
• Panetolikos (1997–98)
• PAS Giannina (1999, 2004, 2006–07)
• Panserraikos F.C.
• Panachaiki
• Kallithea FC
• Kerkyra FC (2005)
• Aris (2006)
• Ionikos (2008)
• PAS Giannina (2008)
• Kavala FC (2008–09)
• PAS Giannina (June 2010)
• OFI Crete (2010–12)
• Atromitos (2012–13)
• Platanias F.C. (2013–14)
• Panionios (2014)
• OFI Crete (2015)
• Aris (2015–)

Honours

As Player

• Olympiacos F.C.
  • Greek Championship: 1980, 1981, 1983,1987
  • Greek Cup: 1990, 1992
  • Greek Super Cup: 1992

As Coach

• PAS Giannina
  • Greek Second Division: 2002
• Kavala F.C.
  • Greek Second Division: 2009
• OFI Crete
  • Greek Second Division, third place: 2011

References

1. The Legend's "Golden Eleven"! Olympiacos Official Website, 8/6/2015
2. Rota, Davide (3 September 1998). "Greek Players in Italy". RSSSF.
3. include rank match in the 1981-82 period for first place against Panathinaikos F.C. in which he scored one goal
4. Οι συμμετοχές του Αναστόπουλου στην Εθνική Ελλάδας. epo.gr

External links

• Nikos Anastopoulos at National-Football-Teams.com