Apostolos Nikolaidis (athlete)

Apostolos Nikolaidis (Greek Απόστολος Νικολαϊδης, * 1896 in Philippoupolis, today Plovdiv, † October 15, 1980 in Athens ) was a Greek athlete and sports official.

Apostolos Nikolaidis is one of the largest Greek athletes and all-rounders of all time. Nikolaidis excelled not only in a single sport, but managed to deliver excellence equal in several areas. In addition to football, he practiced at the highest level for over ten years, this was especially basketball, volleyball and decathlon. Since moving to Athens in 1917, he joined the Greek club Panathinaikos grassroots Athlitikos Omilos and remained faithful to this until his death.

In 1920, Nikolaidis at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, where he went to the start at football and athletics. In 1926 he was elected president of the Greek Football Federation (EPO) and 1945 President of the Greek Athletics Federation ( SEGAS ). The latter he was 20 years ago. During the same period he was a board member of Panathinaikos Athens until he finally in 1974 there took over the post of club president. 1929 and 1934-1935 Apostolos Nikolaidis was the coach of the Greek national football team.

Special mention deserves the fact that his coffin were worn by athletes of various departments as a sign of special recognition of his work for the club Panathinaikos at his funeral. Specifically, these were: Ikonomopoulos Kamara, Antoniadis ( football), Garos, Kalogeropoulos ( basketball), George Antis, Iliopoulos ( volleyball), Zaharopoulos.

After his death in 1981, the football stadium of Panathinaikos was named in honor of his name, in the presence of Prime Minister of Greece, Georgios Rallis, renamed him.