Nikos Nioplias

Nikos Nioplias (; born 17 January 1965) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. He currently manages Gamma Ethniki club Chania.

Playing career Club His career began with OFI in 1983, winning the Greek Cup in 1987, and he remained for a decade before moving to Panathinaikos. In his first season, he won the cup again and in 1994–95 they completed the domestic double. In 1988, as a member of Greece under-21, he helped his team reach the final of the 1988 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. He appeared in all three games Greece played at the World Cup, losing every one of them.

Managerial career

Greece under-19 After getting his coaching diploma, in January 2005 he was appointed as the coach of the Greece national under-19 football team. He led the team to the 2005 U19 European Championship which took place in Northern Ireland, but failed to progress past the group stage, despite a victory against the hosts.

Two years later, he led Greece to the final of the U19 European Championship after remaining unbeaten in their group, which featured Spain, Portugal and the host nation Austria. Greece than beat Germany 3–2 in the semi-final with a 90th-minute header after Greece had a player sent off in the 61st minute. The final between Spain (who beat France in the other semi-final) and Greece was played on 27 July and Greece lost 1–0, despite a convincing second half display.

Greece under-21

Nioplias was named coach of the Greece national under-21 football team in September 2007 after his success with Greece under-19 in Austria.

Panathinaikos Nioplias was appointed as the Panathinaikos head coach, alongside Krzysztof Warzycha on 8 December 2009, immediately after the former manager, Henk ten Cate, was released. Nioplias stated: "It is a great honour for me to be the manager of Panathinaikos. Starting from today, we are getting to work. My aim is to achieve as a coach what I have achieved as a player: to win titles".

He left Panathinaikos on 15 November 2010 by mutual consent due to a disappointing run of results domestically and abroad.

Cyprus In June 2011, Nioplias agreed with the Cyprus Football Association to be the manager of the Cyprus national football team until the end of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers and for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. He made his official debut in a EURO 2012 qualifier against Portugal, where his team suffered a 0–4 defeat at home. After Cyprus' 0–2 loss to Slovenia on 12 September 2013, Nioplias resigned in the wake of Cyprus's poor showing in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

OFI In January 2016, Nioplias replaced Nikos Goulis and had achieved the promotion of the club from 2015–16 Gamma Ethniki to Football League (now Super League 2). He was replaced exactly a year later by Nikos Papadopoulos.

In March 2021, after Georgios Simos's sacking, Nioplias returned to OFI and has since then resulted in a negative win/loss ratio. Nioplias was sacked in October 2022, after losing 1–0 to Super League 2 club A.E. Kifisia during the fifth round of the 2022–23 Cup.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

OFI Greek Cup: 1986–87 Balkans Cup: 1989

Panathinaikos Alpha Ethniki: 1994–95, 1995–96 Greek Cup: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 Greek Super Cup: 1993, 1994

Manager

Greece U19 U19 European Championship: 2007 (runners-up)

Panathinaikos Super League Greece: 2009–10 Greek Cup: 2009–10

OFI Gamma Ethniki: 2015–16 (Group 4)