The rise and fall of Sotiris Ninis
AGONAsport’s Greg Gavalas reflects on the career of one of Greece’s biggest prospected talents, Sotiris Ninis, who ultimately failed to live up to expectations and is now close to ending his career at just the age of 30.
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It has been ten years since Panathinaikos left their most recent footprints in European Football. After being paired with AS Roma in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League Round of 32, Panathinaikos knew it would be a tough task ahead, but an outstanding Panathinaikos team got the better of the Italians, and Europe was talking about one specific player – Sotiris Ninis.
Not even 20 years young at the time, the Greek midfielder dazzled in both games and led the Greens, who boasted players such as, Giorgos Karagounis, Djibril Cisse, Sebastian Leto, Kostas Katsouranis, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Gilberto Silva, and Dimitris Salpingidis to name just a few Trifylli stars of those years.
Panathinaikos were victorious 6-4 on aggregate, winning both games 3-2. The standout performer was Ninis, who was on a high as he also helped the club win the domestic double in the same year.
Sadly, ten years later and that world seems like a different lifetime for the once so promising star, with his 30th birthday just weeks away. The attacking midfielder, who had so many admirers, is set to go an entire season without a club after he failed to come to an agreement with Atromitos FC, with whom he was training with earlier in the year.
This sad development and the fact it will be three years without a decent run at a good club could see Ninis end his career very early. In what seems to only happen to some talented Greeks, who don’t seem to get out of a certain position, the case of Ninis is truly puzzling.
In a recent extensive interview in Greece, Ninis spoke about his intentions to get back on the field, and if that meant a return to Greece, so be it. Atromitos would have been a perfect way to restart his career. Many Greek players come back home and enjoy a good return to form, including Apostolos Vellios and Giannis Fetftazidis. The latter’s return to domestic football with Aris has seen him recalled to the national team setup as a result of producing wonderful football. If there were one other player who could come back and do what Fetfatzidis is doing, it would be Ninis, despite being in the abyss for some time.
Since his amazing time and rise at Panathinaikos, the Apollon junior took off for Parma in the Serie A in 2012. Some decent performances on the field were not enough at the time, and it would be the start of his decline.
After a decent start to the first half of the 2012/13 season, Roberto Donadoni came into Parma, and Ninis did not receive playing time. As a result, he was not called up to the Ethniki under Fernando Santos due to a lack of games. Ninis then made a loan move to PAOK in 2013/14 with hopes of receiving more game time.
The PAOK move under coach Huub Stevens did not go to plan. The Dutchman played Ninis as a defensive midfielder, along with Alexandros Tziolis, however, this was not Ninis’ natural position. The fans expected goals and assists from the young Greek prospect, as he was known for during his Panathinaikos days, and his new role at PAOK did not materialize.
PAOK released Stevens due to poor results, and former Panathinaikos and PAOK player, Giorgos Girogiadis, came in as coach. Given the history, Ninis felt Giorgiadis would be someone he could work with, however, that proved to be anything but close to the outcome as Giorgiadis removed Ninis from all plans. At times, he would give Ninis hope of game time only to ask everyone on the bench to warm up, except for Ninis and the backup goalkeeper. With that, Ninis’ time at PAOK was over, as was the hope of joining Greece in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.
The period from 2012 to 2014 would hurt Ninis psychologically. He played for two teams, Parma and PAOK, and worked hard to get into both teams’ plans only for new coaches to come in and, for whatever reason, not use him at all. These developments would also hurt his national team appearances and eventually cost him a place at the World Cup, after being part of Greece’s squads at the 2010 World Cup and EURO 2012.
Ninis made a mistake in the summer of 2014. After Parma announced he was not in their plans for the new season, he terminated his contract before finding another club to sign with. This left Ninis, who was also without a manager now, without a club.
With Takis Fyssas returning to Panathinaikos and with Giannis Anastasiou at the helm, talks initiated between the club and Ninis, as the midfielder was desperate to play football again. To his delight, his return to the Trifylli was confirmed halfway through the 2014/15 season.
Despite an injury in his second game back, that left him sidelined for a month, Ninis started to play well and was even recalled back to the national team.
Ninis remained at Panathinaikos for the 2015/16 season, but a very poor start to the season saw Anastasiou let go and Italian Andrea Stramaccioni appointed as the club’s new head coach.
The Italian’s introduction was another stumbling block for Ninis. Stramaccioni told Ninis that he knew him from his time at Parma and that he was not the type of player he wanted. Despite this psychological barrier, Ninis worked hard to get the Roman’s approval, but to no avail. After the holiday season of 2015, Ninis and other players who were the selections of Anastasiou were all told they are not in Stramaccioni’s plans.
At the start of 2016 and after another disturbed first part of the season, Ninis signed with Belgian club, Charleroi. This would be his last mark at a decent level in Europe. Ninis started very well and fitted into the coach’s and team’s style of play. He finished the 2015/16 season in Belgium and remained on Charleroi’s books for the 2016/17 campaign.
Charleroi coach, Belgian Felice Mazzu, based the team’s gameplan at the start of the season around Ninis, and the team did well, as did the Greek midfielder.
Surprisingly, though, Ninis was left out of two consecutive games, despite showing great form. The team began losing, and Ninis was brought back into the starting XI. Ninis picked up where he left off and started scoring and assisting, but again, he was left out of the squad for no great reason.
Confused given his form, Ninis spoke to the coach and then to the president to get an understanding of what was happening. A confused Ninis only found out that each man would not take any accountability and pointed blame to the other. It was a bazaar scenario that left Ninis lost in confusion.
After some drama, Ninis was told by the president that he would not continue with Charleroi. Another Belgian team, Mechelen, showed interest in Ninis at the start of 2017, and the Greek midfielder signed there.
Sadly, the Mechelen move did not receive much traction and proved a terrible choice that was not well thought out. Ninis was told at the start of the year that the team core was set. However, if he was willing to work his way into the starting lineup, he could. Ninis had to please a stubborn coach but then fell unlucky as he injured his knee and was sidelined for months.
In August 2017, the coach informed him that he would not be using him, and this effectively cost Ninis the start of the 2017/18 season.
From here on in, Ninis’ tale is one of hard luck and regret. Ninis did not play for seven months after back surgery, and on return, only a team from Israel, Maccabi Petah-Tikva, showed interest in his services. While Ninis did not want to play in Israel, he had no choice if he wanted his career to continue.
After signing with Maccabi Petah-Tikva, it was the same story for Ninis as the coach who brought him on was sacked after two games. Under the new boss, it was another rollercoaster experience for Ninis as he was in and out of the starting lineup all season. In December, the club’s president informed Ninis he was no longer needed and to look for a new team. This meant another six months of no football, as Sotiris would not be able to play for a third team in one season (according to FIFA’s regulations).
Ninis made another mistake in 2018/19 when instead of returning to Greece and signing with a club at home, he signed with an Israeli second division team, Hapoel Ashkelon. There, he appeared in 21 games and registered just four goals, a far cry from his Panathinaikos glory days. One wonders if we will ever see Ninis back on the field in Greece again.
The talented midfielder will be 30 soon and, in my opinion, was one of the greatest talents that never was really. It is hard to put your finger on what really went wrong with Ninis, who was a rare player that made the Ethniki play with flowing football. Maybe it was a lot of bad luck or his experience with poor managers over his career. A perfect example was his Charleroi fiasco, where he was finally finding some good form, but ultimately fell out of favor.
Coaches either loved him or did not want him, a mystery in of itself. Ninis also had injury problems that did not help his career.
Not recently signing with Atromitos was another wrong move in his career. While COVID-19 has stopped football, for now, Ninis’ club football finished three years ago, and that is hard to comprehend.
To close, I will say this. He was a great footballer, and I enjoyed every moment when I watched him. He recorded some beautiful goals at the national level against Lithuania and Israel. His prospected talents are sorely missed in this day in age for the national team, especially during this difficult time for the Ethniki; a time when Ninis should have been at the prime of his career rather than the end.
