Nikos Anastopoulos was born on January 22, 1958, in Athens, although his descent was from the town of Lechaina, in Ilia (Elia) prefecture, southwestern Greece. In fact, the local football stadium in his hometown today is named in his honor.
He began his amateur career at a neighborhood club in south-central Athens, AO Dafni – where many years later he served as president of the basketball team – before then joining first division Panionios, which is based in the adjacent Nea Smyrni district. It was with historic Panionios that he won the Greek Cup in 1979, while recording an impressive performance in the subsequent 1979-80 Cup Winners’ Cup competition, scoring three times against the Dutch side Twente and Sweden’s Göteborg.
In 1980 he was acquired by Olympiacos, making his childhood dream come true, with the Reds paying Panionios a then astronomical sum of 40 million drachmas and offering striker Christos Kaltsas to achieve his transfer.
Perhaps better players than Nikos Anastopoulos have played for Olympiacos, but in terms of popularity, few can compare with him. Noted Greek journalist and author Freddy Germanos once called him “the man with the mustache,” a nod to his lush and characteristic “lip foliage”.
Anastopoulos always ranks as among the most popular Olympiacos players in polls of fans, always finding a place in the best Olympiacos roster of all time. In fact, many vote for him without ever having seen him play, simply fascinated by his legend.
He’s widely known to fans as “Anastó”, when they see him in person at the Karaiskakis Stadium, when they ask for a photo with him, something they’ve waited for their entire lives.
Anastopoulos is bigger than the sum of his individual achievements, such as being a Greek player in Italy’s Serie A league at a time in the late 1980s when some 20 foreign players in all played in the revered Campionato, as opposed to 20 per team today. It’s not that he remains the top scorer for the Greek national team, or the whopping 197 goals he scored for Olympiacos on the way to picking up four championships.
Freddy Germanos once called him ‘the man with the mustache’
Give it all for Olympiacos
Fans love him because they see in him an example of rare and above all selfless devotion to the Club. Even his polite refusal in February 2004 to take over as coach was appreciated for what it was: a brave decision that had to do with the dignity that distinguishes him as a person. Anastopoulos loves Olympiacos and the fact that he didn’t serve as its trainer is something that clearly hurt him. However, he was never an opportunist. He wanted to win the coaching spot because management would appreciate the potential of his contribution and not as a last resort and without any commitment that he would stay at the Club he loved.
Fans understood that Anastó preferred to have an authentic coaching career without “guardian-agents” who build up his profile, or lackeys hanging on. Fans always love him, not only because he won titles for Olympiacos in difficult times, but because they see him as one of the few authentic stars of Greek football. He’s one of the few players or ex-players who can appear on a TV show and spark discussions even about the jacket he wears.
His ‘connection’ with opposing teams’ nets was almost metaphysical. He could score in every conceivable manner.
A real star is not without sin, he is unique. This is the case for Anastopoulos as well, who’s able to tell stories about veteran players, performers, coaches and personalities that no one has heard before. He can discuss where to eat in Milan, what wine to accompany seafood, what to order at Il Trοvatore and even why Olympiacos’ basketball team needs another big man.
His authenticity is the reason he has friends practically everywhere – and outside the Olympiacos world. He’s been friends with former Panathinaikos star goalkeeper Vassilis Konstantinou for more than 30 years. He would call the keeper on the eve of Olympiacos – Panathinaikos Derbies from the hotel the team was staying and half-jokingly tell him exactly how he’d score the next day. He was also friends with basketball coaching legend Giannis Ioannidis for three decades. Anastopoulos used to say that he’d ask to be buried next to him, if he passed after Ioannidis, in a section of the cemetery entitled “coaches”.
He’s still friends with well-known Panathinaikos fan Giannis Zouganelis, a performer and comedian, as well as AEK supporter Giorgos Mitsikostas, another comedian.
“They love him…even if they weren’t raised with his great goals,” according to Thodoros Theodoridis, the son of Olympiacos legend Savvas.
“I can tell you dozens of stories about Anastopoulos. We’ve toured Europe together, I have seen scenes that are hard to believe. For instance, I’ve seen Sven-Göran Eriksson tell Ruud Gullit that he does not have Anastopoulos’ scoring ability; I’ve seen (Marcello) Lippi propose that he be his assistant; (Fabio) Capello asking him about suits! I’ve seen (Louis) van Gaal explaining to him on a notepad what the vertical 3-4-3 system is, on the eve of the Champions League final between Juventus and Ajax; I’ve seen the waiters at the Paper Moon, at one point the most expensive restaurant in Milan, request his autographs. Yet Anastopoulos is more than all these things,” sportscaster and columnist Antonis Karpetopoulos once said about him.
One season Anastopoulos emerged as the third top scorer in Europe. He scored with a reverse “bicycle-kick” against PAOK Thessaloniki at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, doing the same on a gravel pitch against a Lamia team. He’s the fleet-footed forward who once eliminated Ajax. As a coach he assumed the reins of a down-and-out Aris Thessaloniki and helped promote the Club back to its rightful place in the first division (Super League). As a result, when he’d rarely visit one of Thessaloniki’s music bars, a chorus of the song “My Piraeus, my Piraeus” would be sung in his honor.
Anastó may not have been the most talented Olympiacos forward, but he was among the most authentic, however
First places
He is the one who scored the first goal for the Greek national team in a Euro tournament, against Antonín Panenka’s Czechoslovakia, even though he played while injured. He is the one who, as a coach, rightfully boasts that he salvaged the careers of players like Mantzios, Pamboulis, Tavlaridis, and so many others who adore him.
Anastopoulos remembers all the games he has played in, all of the wins and losses, all the goals and all the players who came before him. He’s proud that as the coach of Panachaiki he pulled away with a huge draw against Panathinaikos, saying later that “he had the Greens’ ‘number’, both as a player and as a trainer.”
For anyone who doesn’t know him (although everyone knows Anastos…), it’s safe to say that his season in Italy as a player with Avellino transformed him. It’s there that he acquired a taste for fine food and expensive suits. In the present day, even when he plays in pick-up matches, he sends the ball into the opposing side’s net by the dozen, “because goals are the quintessence of football, otherwise all matches would end 0-0″.
One of his phrases still stands out, among the dozens he has uttered. He was once asked why he didn’t go to Panathinaikos, then owned by Giorgos Vardinoyannis, in order to sign a good contract with loads of money, like many Olympiacos “player-banners” did in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
“In life there are those on this side, and those on the other side, and I chose to be with those on this side, regardless of how much they had wronged me or made me bitter – I am what I choose.”
This is Anastopoulos’ worldview, and he has never strayed from it.
“This side” includes his close friends and Olympiacos. The “other side” is everyone else…
