Nikos Nioplias

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.

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.

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

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 managed to do the double in 2010, winning both the Greek Superleague and the Greek Cup.

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

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. This was due to two straight 3–0 defeats in the remaining games of the group, with Nioplias blaming the poor fitness of his players.

In 1996, he returned to OFI and remained for six seasons until 2002, when he moved to Chalkidona FC. He played for the newly promoted side until summer 2004 when he ended his career, having racked up 509 Greek top-flight appearances.

He played for Greece under-18 at the 1984 UEFA European under-18 championship. 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 was promoted to the senior team the same year, and was a member of the squad which qualified to the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He appeared in all three games Greece played at the World Cup, losing every one of them.

His career began with OFI Crete 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. The next season the Athens side retained the title and Nioplias was a member of the team which reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 1995.

Nikos Nioplias (Greek: Νίκος Νιόπλιας ; born 17 January 1965) is a Greek football manager and former professional footballer.