Kostas Katsouranis (; born 21 June 1979) is a Greek former professional footballer. A versatile midfielder, who won the Super League Greek Footballer of the Year Award in 2005 and 2013, as well as the Cosme Damião Award for Footballer of the Year in 2008.
Katsouranis qualified with Greece for international play between 2002 and 2015. They won the UEFA Euro 2004, and played in the UEFA Euro 2008, 2010 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2012 and 2014 FIFA World Cup tournaments. With 116 appearances, he is a member of a close club of players who had more than 100 caps in the history of Greece.
Club career
Panachaiki Katsouranis was not even 17 years old when he debuted in 1996 for the Patras-based club Panachaiki. In his first season, Panachaiki reached the Greek Cup semi-finals, tying an all-time best result in the competition. In the following season, Katsouranis made three appearances in the Intertoto Cup, scoring one goal as Panachaiki finished fourth out of five in their group. He spent six seasons in Patras and by the third, he was a regular.
In the summer of 2002, when his contract with Panachaiki expired, Katsouranis opened negotiations with Panathinaikos. However the manager Fernando Santos, decided to sign Portuguese Carlos Chaínho, a player he knew when at Porto. Katsouranis was then approached by Olympiacos. The talks with the vice-president of the club, Giorgos Louvaris, seemed final, but Louvaris asked Katsouranis to wait until the president, Sokratis Kokkalis, returned from a business trip to the United States for the final negotiations. However, the boss of AEK Athens Chrarilaos Psomiadis took advantage of the situation and convinced the Katsouranis to sign a three-year contract with AEK Athens.
AEK Athens Coming off the bench and making an impressive debut for the club, Katsouranis immediately became an integral part of the club. His continuing progress in the top-level rapidly made him one of the team's best players with great performances, both domestically and internationally. He was used mainly as a central midfielder but also can be used in the wings. In his first season, alongside his teammate in the national team, Thodoris Zagorakis he formed an amazing "duo" in the midfield of AEK. In fact, he had an excellent performance in the UEFA Champions League group stage matches of that season and also scored a historic goal against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. He also scored the winning goal against Olympiacos in Rizoupoli Stadium at the stoppage time.
In the summer of 2004, Katsouranis remained at AEK, despite several offers, having agreed a new three-year contract, while most of his teammates from the previous campaign had acted on their frustration and left. In the fevered atmosphere that saw AEK's gates quadruple as fans flocked to support the club under new president and former teammate, Demis Nikolaidis, Katsouranis adopted a special place in supporters' hearts. That season was one of greatest seasons of Katsouranis with the club, as under Fernando Santos he scored 10 times in 28 appearances despite playing in the midfield, leading the club for the title race, while he was voted as the best Greek footballer of the championship. AEK managed to finish third despite the big cut in the team's budget. Werder Bremen expressed strong interest for the Greek international, but both Katsouranis and Nikolaidis decided to reject the offer.
Despite radical changes to the squad in the first season under the management of Nikolaidis, the supporters and staff came together and created an electrified atmosphere at every home match of AEK. Led by captain Katsouranis, the team responded with great performances, only missing the championship on the final day of the campaign. Everyone connected with the club was united for one purpose: the team, said Katsouranis. First we had to make the club financially healthy, and then to make sure everything was well organised. In the following season, Katsouranis was among the key players of the club that achieved a second-place finish in the league, which brought them to the UEFA Champions League.
Benfica At the end of the season, Santos left the club and Katsouranis wanted to play to a bigger club and further his career abroad. The Portuguese manager was signed by Benfica and indicated to the management the acquisition of Katsouranis. Thus on Katsouranis signed a four-year contract for the Portuguese club in a transfer that cost €2.3 million plus the proceeds of friendly match in Athens between the two clubs. Apart from Santos, Katsouranis was also reunited with his teammate at Greece, Giorgos Karagounis. When he arrived in June, he said "Even if Fernando Santos or Karagounis were not here, I still would have joined. Benfica to me is one of Europe's top clubs and they proved that in the UEFA Champions League. I am here to achieve that same objective and joining Benfica can also help my international career." In his first Clássico against Porto, he followed on to score for Benfica with a header following a corner kick, the second goal he has scored for Benfica in the league in just a few matches. Katsouranis quickly became a key player for Benfica, scoring some important goals and also captaining the team on a few occasions. He proved to be one of the most important imports into the 2006–07 Portuguese Liga, playing in 29 league matches and scoring six goals.
Despite interest from Valencia, Werder Bremen, Tottenham, and Juventus, Benfica refused to sell the player, despite Juventus willing to trade Tiago for the Greek international. Benfica were reluctant to sell and, on 14 September 2007, Katsouranis agreed to a contract extension with Benfica for another two years. During his last season there, he was given a chance to captain the side, which was a huge honour. On 2 March 2009, Katsouranis was named "Benfica Player of the Year".
Panathinaikos Katsouranis returned to Greece and signed a four-year contract with Panathinaikos, on 1 July 2009 on a fee of €3.5 million. He has stated that it's the team he supported since childhood. He scored his first goal against Sparta Prague for the Champions League. He scored his first league goal against Skoda Xanthi on the 2nd matchday of the 2009–10 season. Katsouranis scoring abilities were a key part of Panathinaikos' good run during the first half of the season, as the defensive midfielder scored 8 goals in just half a season. In his first season with Panathinaikos, he managed to win the domestic double with the 2009–10 Greek Cup final against Aris Thessaloniki. Katsouranis was the team's second top scorer behind Djibril Cissé with eight goals in the Super League Greece triumph.
In October 2012, Panathinaikos president Giannis Alafouzos terminated his contract with the club, with Katsouranis paying the price for team's bad performances at the start of the 2012–13 season. Katsouranis has been serving a six-match suspension for verbally abusing a referee in a Greek Super League match in August. Alafouzos reportedly told the rest of the squad that the player was "history" at Panathinaikos, whilst also expressing his displeasure about "two or three other(s)", without going into specifics. Katsouranis left Panathinaikos with rumours for a lot of problems with foreign players and the accusation of controlling the changing rooms. Katsouranis never replied to a series of miseries which were released and related to him.
PAOK On 11 December 2012 he agreed with PAOK, not only because he wanted to prove that it can be helpful to club plans to become a champion, but also because he wanted to make it clear that working with people who trust him and with a serious administration, he will never be a problem for those who want to hide in the seatbacks and ask severe criticism. He succeeded in both. In fact few people know that he went to PAOK without the blessing of his former manager Georgios Donis and needed only a few weeks to become one of his favourites. Katsouranis would get €700,000 for a year and a half, plus any bonuses. It formed part of the policy of the new PAOK owner, Ivan Savvidis, who insisted on the acquisition of Greek internationals in order to boost both the strength of the roster and the prestige of the club.
He made his debut with his new club on 6 January 2013 against Panthrakikos. On 24 January, he scored his first goal with PAOK in the cup against Kallithea. On 3 March 2013 Katsouranis scored his first goal in the Greek Super League with PAOK in a 4–2 win against Panionios. He formed a strong partnership with Gordon Schildenfeld in the defence reducing to a great extent the goals which PAOK conceded. On 27 August 2013 Katsouranis scored against Schalke 04 in the Champions League playoff in a 2–3 loss.
In the following season he was named vice-captain of the club behind Dimitris Salpingidis. He believed that PAOK needed time and patience to identify changes to a club that really tries to make a break with problematic situations and detach from stereotypical stories. He said, "What I see is that there is a plan. The fact that acquires so many Greek international footballers, shows in itself that is aiming a target. The challenge is to remain faithful to it and not skewed along the way. I have lived the same with AEK in summer of 2004. Then was not given so much money to the extent that PAOK does by acquiring reputable players. Along the way in AEK made other things than those envisaged in the initial plan leading the team to tabefaction. This should avoid PAOK. To remain faithful to the plan is the key not to lose the opportunity to build something big." On 27 February 2014, he was sent off in the 69th minute in a 3–0 UEFA Europa League loss against Benfica, and he received a standing ovation from the Benfica fans as he exited the field in recognition for the seasons he spent with Benfica.
On 16 April 2014, in an episodic semi-final game for the cup, where fans of both Olympiacos and PAOK put the mental in monumental as they greeted their heroes with a ring of fire, he had a key role in helping PAOK eventually went through on away goals after a 1–0 win following a 2–1 defeat in the first leg in Athens. It was a tremendous game as the fans then use the pitch as a giant ashtray by throwing their flares onto the grass and set fire to one of the dug outs. Five minutes before the end of the game for the sake of a ball he falling out with his team player in Greece, Giannis Maniatis leading to his drop-off from the game.
Pune City In September he signed a contract with Pune City, the team of Bruno Cirillo and David Trezeguet coached by the Italian coach Franco Colomba. Speaking on Kostas' arrival, Gaurav Modwel, CEO, FC Pune City said, "We would like to extend our heartiest welcome to Kostas. Apart from being a great player, he is an amazing human being his passion for football, down to earth personality and desire to learn and share sets him apart. His vast experience as a midfielder shall bring great balance to the FC Pune City team."
Katsouranis became the first player and captain of this year's FIFA World Cup to feature in the ISL. He played the first mach with the new club against Delhi Dynamos who contained Alessandro Del Piero in an away draw which ended 0–0. In a match against FC Goa, Katsouranis scored his first goal for the club and put in a man of the match performance in a 2–0 home win. Kostas made a very impressive play along with the Dutchman John Goossens and scored a beautiful goal in the away match in Kolkata against Atlético de Kolkata with the final result of 1–3 in favour of Katsouranis's club. This goal was awarded as the goal of the ISL's first season.
In its inaugural season, the Indian football league featured several internationally experienced players. Katsouranis, scored four goals in the season emerging as the club's top scorer and in the sixth place of the league’s goalscorers, four goals behind the top scorer, Elano.
Atromitos