Northern Ireland v Cyprus (12/06/2020)

WORDS: LIAM BLACKBURN

THE COACH: CYPRUS

Nikos Kostenoglou was hired as the manager of the Cyprus team in February 2021

A former central defender, he is best known for an 11-year spell with Greek giants AEK Athens, for whom he played over 200 times between 1994 and 2005. It was with AEK where he began his coaching career, initially as a youth coach and then as assistant manager. Kostenoglou took over the first team in February 2008 and won 10 of his 18 games in charge during the run-in, but he left in May when AEK hired Georgios Donis, the ex-Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield United and Huddersfield Town midfielder who had previously become the first Greek to play in the Premier League. After spells in charge of Greek sides Asteras Tripolis and AEL , Kostenoglou returned to AEK for a second stint at the helm before leading another of his former clubs, Skoda Xanthi. Kostenoglou moved to Cyprus to take charge of Anorthosis Famagusta in February 2014, although his time there proved short-lived as he won just one of his 16 games, losing 13 times. Following another short period managing Apollon Smyrnis, Kostenoglou joined the Greek national team as an assistant to Sergio Markarian in February 2015, however their reign lasted only three games.

Kostenoglou moved on to another Greek side, Aris, and won 12 of his 16 games, then led Doxa Drama before returning to AEK, initially as technical manager of the academy and under-19s coach before he once again managed the first team in his final club job before being hired to coach Cyprus. • Capped once by Greece, Kostenoglou only played for two clubs during his career - Skoda Xanthi and AEK Athens. He won four Greek Cup titles with AEK. • The current Cyprus boss played 222 times for AEK, while he notched up 131 appearances for Skoda Xanthi. And he scored seven times during his playing career. • Kostenoglou, 51, has been the head coach for nine different clubs and countries, but his current role is the first time he has spent longer than a year in charge of a senior team. • He won just one of his first 13 games in charge with Cyprus - against Slovenia in March 2021 - and his team failed to score in 10 of those fixtures.

IRISHFA.COM

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